Woods leads, Mickelson by two at Quail Hollow

Charlotte, North Carolina - Three weeks after being paired in the final round at the Masters, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are heading towards a weekend pairing at this week’s Quail Hollow Championship.

Woods fired a seven-under-par 65 Thursday to take a two-stroke lead after the opening round at the Quail Hollow Club. Mickelson carded a five-under 67 and shares second place with Robert Allenby, Steve Marino and Jason Dufner. Woods, the 2007 champion, played the back nine first and carded eight pars and a single birdie. That birdie came at the 12th, where he dropped his approach shot 15 feet from the hole and sank the putt. The world’s No. 1 caught fire on the front side. Woods hit his second within a foot at the first and tapped in for birdie. At the third, he rolled in a 12- foot birdie effort to move to three-under. Woods got up and down for birdie from just short of the green at the par-five fifth. At the next par-five, the seventh, Woods two-putted for birdie to get to minus-five. At the short par-four eighth, he tried to drive the green, but came up short. Woods, in his own words, ‘hit a bad chip to about 15 feet,’ but still made the birdie putt. Woods closed his round with his third straight birdie, as he sank a 13-foot birdie putt to cap a bogey-free round. “I hit the ball actually not bad today,” Woods stated. “I hit a couple loose shots here and there, but I really putted well. I had a couple key saves, made a nice little up-and-down at two and just a really good save at four that kept the round going. It’s always nice when you birdie the last three.” Mickelson looked as though he was going to give Woods a run for his money as first-round leader, but he posted just one birdie over his final 11 holes. Mickelson birdied the first and fifth to get his round going. The 38-year-old Mickelson chipped in for eagle on the par-five seventh to jump to four-under. After three straight pars around the turn, he drained an 11- footer for birdie at 11 to move within two of Woods. Mickelson started to struggle off the tee late in his round. He scrambled to par from behind trees left of the 12th, then got up and down for par from a bunker on 13. After finding the rough off the 14th tee, Mickelson pitched his second over the green, but again managed to get up and down for par. He had a look at birdies on 15 and 17, but could not convert from 12 and 27 feet respectively. Mickelson scrambled for par at the last after finding sand off the tee before having to take a drop from a grandstand near the green after a poor second shot. “It’s nice to finish with a par because obviously I didn’t put the ball in a spot that was great,” Mickelson said. “I finished out with a par and ended up playing a good round.” Allenby, who hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2001 played the back nine first and carded birdies on 15 and 17 to go with seven pars. Around the turn, he climbed into contention late in the round as he birdied five, seven and nine. Marino also started on 10 and posted three birdies in a six-hole span. After stumbling to a bogey on the fourth, Marino birdied three of the next four holes to gain a share of second. Dufner flew up the leaderboard late in the opening round. He tripped to bogeys on 12 and 14, but recovered those strokes with birdies at 15 and 17. Around the turn, he traded a birdie for a bogey from the second. After a par on the third, Dufner ran off five birdies in the next six holes to end at minus-five.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen carded a four-under-par 68. He was joined in a share of sixth by Jeff Maggert, Lucas Glover and Hunter Mahan. Ten players — Mark Calcavecchia, Steve Flesch, Nick O’Hern, Charles Warren, Cliff Kresge, Jeff Klauk, Bo Van Pelt, George McNeill, Bill Haas and Sean O’Hair — are tied for 10th at minus-three. Defending champion Anthony Kim heads a large group tied for 20th at two-under- par 70.