CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Phil Mickelson’s best round of the year wasn’t enough for him to stay in the lead Saturday in the Wells Fargo Championship, just enough to give him a chance to end his slowest start to a season in 11 years.

J.B. Holmes overpowered Quail Hollow on a good day for scoring, and he made a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the final hole for a 6-under 66. That wound up giving him a one-shot lead when Martin Flores made his only bogey on the final hole. Mickelson had a 63 and was two shots behind.

Flores hit his tee shot into the creek left of the 18th fairway and missed a 20-foot par putt, settling for a 69 that at least put him in the final pairing with Holmes.

They’ll be looking at Mickelson, who filled the course with one big cheer after another. Mickelson rolled in birdie putts of 30 feet on No. 4 and 40 feet on the par-3 sixth hole and went out in 29. He took the outright lead with a 7-iron from 216 yards into 10 feet on the 13th hole and closed with a par as exciting as some of his birdies. After having to lay up out of a fairway bunker, his wedge spun by the hole and left him a tap-in for par.

“I don’t think I’ll be leading at the end of the day because I think there are some birdies out there,” Mickelson said. “But just to be in contention, and to have a chance at a golf course that I’ve become so close to over the years, I’m excited about tomorrow’s round.”

Not since 2003 – his last winless year on the PGA Tour – has Mickelson gone this deep into the season without a victory. This year has been so difficult, mainly through injuries, that he doesn’t even have a top 10.

Holmes only last week secured his card for the rest of the year through a medical extension from ankle surgery last year. He hasn’t won since the Phoenix Open in 2008, though he can be scary when he’s finding fairways with his enormous length.

He birdied all the par 5s and only dropped one shot.

“A good week so far,” he said.

Holmes was at 13-under 203, and he’ll have inexperience at his side. Flores is in his fourth full year on the PGA Tour, and he has never finished in the top three. That would have been hard to guess by the way he played. Flores kept it simple on a gorgeous afternoon and never had more than 4 feet left for par until his final hole. He blew past Mickelson and built a two-shot lead after the turn when he made three straight birdies, the last one from 40 feet just off the 12th green.

Only the finish knocked him out of the lead.

Even so, the strong player by Holmes and Flores on the back nine at least gave them some separation. Midway through the third round, nearly two dozen players were separated by only four shots.

When it ended, the list of serious contenders was considerably smaller.

Kevin Kisner had a 68 and was alone in fourth at 10-under 216.

Justin Rose (71) and Jason Bohn (67) were four shots behind. Former PGA champion Martin Kaymer bogeyed his last two holes for a 70 and was five behind.

Rory McIlroy set the tone for the low scoring. Coming off a 76 in which he missed five putts from 6 feet or less, the two-time major champion made five birdies in his opening eight holes and saved par on the 18th for a 65. But at the end of the day, that left him seven shots behind.

Mike Weir carded a 70 Saturday – his lowest round of the event – and is sitting at 3-under 218. He’s tied for 38th. David Hearn is 2-shots back at 1-under 220. A third-round 71leaves him tied for 50th heading into the final round.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -Bernhard Langer shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to open a three-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s Insperity Invitational.

Langer had a 10-under 134 total at The Woodlands Country Club.

The 56-year-old German player won the 2007 event at Augusta Pines and successfully defended his title in 2008 at The Woodlands. He won the season-opening event in Hawaii for his 19th Champions Tour title.

“Every win is a thrill and it’s exciting,” Langer said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever won any other tournament three times. That would be a first and it would be a lot of fun.”

Colin Montgomerie was second after a 66, the best round of the day. He eagled the par-5 13th.

In his second year on the tour, Montgomerie’s best finish is a second in March in Newport Beach, California.

Montgomerie is hoping to get the upper hand over “good friend” Langer when they’re grouped together Sunday.

“I’ve been trying all bloody year to do it and I’ve not done it yet,” he said. “Not many people have, to be honest. But he’s playing some superb golf and it’s nice to have an opportunity anyway tomorrow to give it another go and see if I can win out here.”

Montgomerie played in college at Houston Baptist.

Defending champion Esteban Toledo, Gary Hallberg and Bart Bryant were four strokes back. Hallberg had a 67, Toledo shot 71, and Bryant – tied for the first-round lead with Langer – had a 72.

Fred Couples, the 2010 winner, was tied for sixth at 5 under after a 70. The former University of Houston player won the Newport Beach event.

Rod Spittle climbed eight spots up the leaderboard Saturday after a 2-under 70. The St. Catharines, Ont. native is sitting at 3-under 141 and tied for 12th with four others including Bob Tway and Jeff Maggart.

Jim Rutledge of Victoria, B.C. (77) was 5-over on the day. He dropped 20 spots into a tie for 52nd at 5-over 149.

SINGAPORE – Anders Hansen of Denmark holed three straight birdies to close his round of 5-under 67 and move into a share of the lead with Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat after the third round of The Championship at Laguna National on Saturday.

Hansen, who won the last of his three European Tour titles at the Joburg Open in 2009, is playing in just his fourth event since returning from a six-month layoff due to a wrist injury. He was tied for fifth last week at the China Open.

“It was nice to finish with those three birdies,” he said. “It was a little more windy today so it was more tricky. It was a great finish.”

Panuphol, the leader after the first two rounds, made four birdies but dropped only his second shot of the week on the par-3 17th. He shot a 69.

The 21-year-old Thai will be the underdog in the final round on Sunday – he has never won on the European Tour and hasn’t even made the cut in three events on the Asian Tour this year.

“I’ve been in contention a couple of times where I got to play with some great players. I will try not to think about how they are doing and just do my best,” he said. “My performance so far this week has definitely given me a huge confidence boost.”

Hansen’s comeback has been quick after undergoing wrist surgery last year. He missed his first two cuts but has now shot below 70 in five of his last six rounds.

“Every time you are up there you have to be pleased so I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” he said. “I love competition and I love playing under the gun – it gets your attention.”

Both golfers were at 16-under 200 overall, two strokes ahead of Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen and American David Lipsky.

Derksen last won on the European Tour nine years ago and is planning to retire at the end of the season. He had eight birdies – and three bogeys – in a round 67.

“It would be lovely to go out at the end of the season with one more win,” he said.

France’s Gregory Bourdy and England’s Chris Wood were in joint-fifth, three shots off the pace.

IRVING, Texas – Natalie Gulbis plays with tape wrapped around her achy left wrist. She has an appointment with a specialist next week to finally figure out what is causing the pain she has dealt with for much of the season.

In the meantime, Gulbis is contending for her first LPGA Tour victory in seven years.

Gulbis was tied with Texan Stacy Lewis at 7-under 135, putting the Americans a stroke behind leaders Meena Lee of South Korea and Caroline Masson of Germany after two rounds in the North Texas LPGA Shootout.

With a 65 on Friday, Gulbis had her first sub-70 round this year.

“I haven’t played a lot this year, and I haven’t played very well in the events I’ve played in, so it felt really good to get a good round in the 60s and to get around making some birdies,” Gulbis said. “It felt more like how I played at the end of last year, which I hadn’t seen yet this year.”

Masson, who led after the first two rounds of the inaugural North Texas event last year before tying for 15th, had five birdies and a bogey for her second 67.

Lewis, the No. 3 player in the world, had a bogey-free 64 to match Lee for the best second-round score at Las Colinas Country Club. Lewis had four consecutive birdies before finishing with seven straight pars, and Lee played her first nine holes – the back nine – without a par.

“I didn’t really do anything really crazy different from yesterday other than I putted a lot better, but just played really solid,” said Lewis, who had her sixth runner-up finish last week in San Francisco since winning the Women’s British Open in August. ” I felt nice and relaxed out there, so it was a nice day.”

After her round, Lewis was headed to hit some balls with her 3-year-old nephew wearing a shirt that read, “My aunt is a better golfer than yours.”

In the last five LPGA events, Gulbis has a 67th-place finish while missing three cuts and withdrawing from the Hawaii tournament two weeks ago. The newlywed has completed only 17 rounds this season while dealing with the balky wrist.

“I had a really great offseason. I had a lot of time to work on my game and I felt really good coming into the season, and then I got hurt in like the second or third event of the year and took some time off, so that’s been a bummer,” Gulbis said. “But I had a really nice offseason, so I’ve been trying to fall back on the work that my coach and I did.”

Christiana Kim (69) was alone in fifth at 6 under, one stroke better than first-round leader Suzann Pettersen (71) and four other players. Pettersen had a birdie at the par-5 third hole before consecutive bogeys and then a steady string of pars until a closing birdie.

“I gave myself a lot of good looks for birdies, just couldn’t make much. Good conditions,” said Pettersen, in her only second tournament since missing a month with more back issues. “All good, no complaints.”

Also at 5 under were Julieta Granada (66), Dewi Claire Schreefel (66), Cristie Kerr (70) and Dori Carter (70).

Lee, who won the last of her two LPGA Tour titles in 2006, started Friday with an eagle-3 on the 510-yard 10th hole. She followed with a bogey, consecutive birdies, another bogey, three birdies in a row and then a bogey on the par-5 18th.

Her scorecard for the front nine was much cleaner, with birdies on Nos. 3-5 and only pars aside from that. She started the tournament Thursday with a double bogey on the very first hole.

“I’m happy to be done with the second round. I’m really happy,” said Lee, who has her best 36-hole score this season.

Top-ranked Inbee Park, the defending champ in North Texas, was 3 under after a 68.

Michelle Wie was 2 under after rounds of 67 and 73. She won the Hawaii tournament.

Lexi Thompson, the 19-year-old American playing for the first time since become a major champion the first weekend in April, followed her opening 70 with a 71 to reach 1 under.

Seventy-four players made the cut, which was 2 over. There will be a second cut after Saturday’s third round to the top 50 and ties.

Lorie Kane likely won’t have to worry about the second cut. She’s sitting at even par 142 thru 36 holes and sitting tied for 38th.

Sue Kim and Alena Sharp are 1-over and tied for 47th.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.– Angel Cabrera never knows when he’s going to play his best golf. This could be shaping up as one of those weeks at the Wells Fargo Championship.

On a Quail Hollow course that lets the Argentine hit driver on just about every hole, two exquisite short-game shots late in the second round carried Cabrera to a 3-under 69 on Friday and a share of the lead with Martin Flores going into the weekend.

It was the first time Cabrera had at least a share of the 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour since the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. The last time he was part of the lead after any round was in the 2013 Masters.

With one of the most powerful and reliable swings in golf, the mystery about the 44-year-old Argentine is that his only two on the PGA Tour are majors – Oakmont for the U.S. Open, and Augusta National when he won the Masters in a playoff in 2009.

“I’m of course happy to be in position to win this tournament, but every time I go out and play, I’m hoping to win,” Cabrera said. “It’s difficult to know exactly when you’re going to play well. I don’t think anybody knows when they’re going to play well.”

Flores couldn’t ask for a better start, and his finish wasn’t too bad, either. Flores began his second round birdie-eagle when he holed out with a wedge from 105 yards in the 11th fairway. He added a pair of birdies late in his round for a 68.

They were at 9-under 135, one shot ahead of Justin Rose, who had a 67.

Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy went the other direction.

Mickelson, one shot out of the lead to start the second round and perfect conditions ahead of him, seemed to miss every putt that he made on Thursday. He had a 75 and fell seven shots out of the lead.

“I can’t believe the difference in putting from yesterday to today,” Mickelson said. “Yesterday, I saw every ball go in the hole. And today I couldn’t get them to fall and was three-putting, which is funny because the greens today were so perfect. … I struggled today. I don’t have any great reason. It didn’t feel far off.

“I just struggled getting the ball in the hole.”

So did McIlroy, starting with a three-putt from 18 feet on the second hole. He drove behind a tree on the third hole and hit into a bush on the fourth hole, both times taking a penalty drop and making double bogey. He wound up with a 76 and made the cut on the number at 1-over 145.

McIlroy missed five putts from 6 feet or closer.

“I just didn’t have my game today,” McIlroy said. “Off the tee it was good. I didn’t get the ball close enough. My putting didn’t feel as comfortable as it did yesterday.”

The 16th hole sized up his day. McIlroy blasted a tee shot beyond the crest of the hill, a 375-yard drive that left him a simple wedge to the green. He wound up making bogey when he missed from just inside 4 feet.

The biggest turnaround in the other direction belonged to Brendon de Jonge, who grew up in Zimbabwe and now lives in Charlotte. He opened with an 80, and followed that by tying the course record at Quail Hollow with a 62. Now he’s tied with Mickelson.

“Strange game,” de Jonge said.

The leaderboard was filled with players trying to win for the first time. Flores is in his fourth full season on the PGA Tour and has never finished in the top three. Shawn Stefani had a 68 and was two shots behind, while Kevin Kisner had a 66 and was three back.

And there are plenty of major champions who haven’t been heard from much over the last few years.

Martin Kaymer (2010 PGA Championship) had his second straight round of 69. Stewart Cink (2009 British Open) salvaged bogey from the water on the 17th and finished with a birdie for a 70. They were in the group at 6-under 138. Geoff Ogilvy (2006 U.S. Open) had seven birdies in his round of 67 and was four shots behind.

Leading the way was Cabrera, who only seems to win majors.

He made his move late with four birdies, and the last two were superb. Cabrera hit 8-iron over the lip of a fairway bunker on the par-5 seventh hole, but left himself 40 yards from a front pin. He played a pitch-and-run to about 5 feet behind the hole for a birdie to tie for the lead.

“The chip was more complicated,” he said. “I needed to decide if I wanted to bring it up or keep it low and let it bump, so I ended up doing that. It was a great shot.”

Then, he judged perfectly with a flop shot out of the rough from in front of the short par-4 eighth hole, and made the 3-foot putt for birdie to take the lead. He drove into the rough on the ninth, clipped the top of a tree and sent his ball into a bunker and failed to save par.

Mike Weir and David Hearn both made the 36-hole cut. Weir is tied for 39th at 1-under 143, Hearn is sitting at even-par 144 and tied for 47th. Stephen Ames did not qualify for weekend action.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Bernhard Langer birdied the final six holes for a share of the lead with Bart Bryant on Friday in the Champions Tour’s Insperity Invitational.

Langer matched Bryant at 6-under 66 at The Woodlands Country Club. Langer won the 2007 event at Augusta Pines and successfully defended his title in 2008 at The Woodlands. The 56-year-old German player won the season-opening event in Hawaii for his 19th Champions Tour title and has 20 straight under-par rounds.

Bryant won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open last year for his lone victory on the 50-and-over tour.

Defending champion Esteban Toledo was a stroke back. Last year, he became the first Mexican winner in Champions Tour history, beating Mike Goodes with a par on the third hole of a playoff.

Woodlands resident Jeff Maggert, Fred Funk and Joe Daley shot 68. Maggert won in Mississippi in March in his first start on the 50-and-over tour. Fred Funk won the 2012 event and the 1992 Houston Open on the course.

Fred Couples, the 2010 winner and a former University of Houston player, had a 69. He won in March in Newport Beach, Calif.

Two Canadians are in the field this week in Texas. Rod Spittle opened with a 1-under 71 and is tied for 20th. Jim Rutledge was a shot back of his Canadian counterpart after an even par 70. He’s tied for 30th.

Mother Nature hasn’t been kind this winter, causing many golf courses to have less than ideal conditions to start the season.

Problems that have arose because of unfavourable winter weather include: tree destruction, turf issues (especially on greens and fairways) and bunker deterioration. The result for many courses is having a few to the majority of their greens out of play – likely well into June.

At Golf Canada, we’ve been receiving many concerned calls from courses, clubs, leagues and golfers about how this impacts them and their golf season. Here’s a look at some of the concerns facing golfers, clubs and courses:

Score posting for golfers:

Golfers are wondering if their scores can be posted for handicapping purposes if less than 18 holes are completely played.

In such cases where holes are completely out of play or temporary greens are in use, our trusty Golf Canada Handicap Manual describes a procedure often refereed to as Par Plus. This means the player would count the PAR the hole, plus any handicap strokes the he/she is entitled to receive on that hole.

For example: A player with a Course Handicap of 15 receives ONE handicap stroke on the first 15 allocated handicap-stroke holes. If the player does not play the sixth allocated handicap-stroke hole which is a par-4 because of construction on the green, the player must record a score of par plus one for handicap purposes, or a 5 in this case. If at least seven holes are in play on one nine, a nine-hole score must be posted, and if 13 or more holes are fully in play (no temporary greens, etc) an 18 hole score is to be posted, with the remaining holes posted using the par plus procedure.

How clubs/courses can run events and score them on a course with temporary greens or holes out of play:

Questions I’ve received from courses and clubs have predominantly revolved around their events and how to score them equitably if less than 18 holes are played.

Each situation is a little different in terms of the number of holes which may be out of play or under temporary setup, but the procedure in dealing with the situation is the same. For example, we have a course that only has 12 holes in play and they have severe damage on the other six holes. They were wondering if it is possible to conduct their annual match play competition because all 18 holes cannot be played until August.

If we reference the definition of “Stipulated Round” from the Rules of Golf, we would find “stipulated round: consists of playing the holes of the course in their correct sequence, unless otherwise authorized by the Committee. The number of holes in a stipulated round is 18 unless a smaller number is authorized by the Committee.”

That definition is designed to help in just such cases where conditions will not allow 18 holes to be played. Should a club/league decide to proceed using less than 18 holes for their events, some adjustments must be made to handicaps of participants. As handicaps in this situation would normally be for 18 holes, we need to reduce handicaps by an appropriate number of holes that are to actually be played, in this case 12. We would need to take 12/18 of handicaps (or 2/3 if we reduce our fraction to lowest terms, don’t be alarmed this will not turn into a high school math class).

The last step to have an equitable event/match is to modify your stroke hole table (Handicap Stroke Holes). As there are six holes out of play, we need to reduce our stroke hole table by six as well (to a total of 12). To modify the stroke hole table equitably, it will depend on which holes are actually taken out of play and what number the stroke hole is. If one of the holes out of play in our example was stroke hole #2, stroke hole #4 would now become stroke hole #2 for the event, and so on.

I hope these explanations have helped to clear up some of the looming questions about handicapping and temporary greens or closed holes. If you have any questions, please contact our Golf Canada membership team at members@golfcanada.ca or 1-800-263-0009 ext. 399.

Additionally, you can check out our Handicapping section online here.

SINGAPORE – Panuphol Pittayarat of Thailand birdied two of his last three holes to maintain a one-stroke lead after the second round of The Championship at Laguna National on Friday.

Panuphol, the overnight leader, shot a 4-under 68 for a two-round total of 13-under 131, a stroke ahead of Scott Hend of Australia, David Lipsky of the United States, and Felipe Aguilar of Chile in a tie for second place.

The Thai, ranked 451st in the world, has never won on the European Tour and missed his last three cuts this year on the Asian Tour.

“The two birdies in my last three holes were nice to end off my round,” he said. “It’s nice to be putting myself in a good position heading into the last two rounds. I would rather stay up there than to be chasing the lead actually. I just want to grab my chance and not let it go.”

Hend had eight birdies and just one bogey to shoot a 7-under 65, the low round of the day.

The Australian, who’s also looking for his first European Tour title, said it was difficult to stay focused in the hot, humid conditions at Singapore’s Laguna National golf course.

“I am used to this kind of weather but it still comes to a point where your body just cannot take it and it makes you lose concentration,” he said. “I’m managing well so far. Two more rounds to go and we will see what happens.”

Aguilar, playing with a sore wrist after a recent mountain biking accident, birdied his last three holes to card a 67.

“(The wrist) doesn’t bother me much, but I still have pain. It will be there for the next four or five months,” he said. “Everything you do is dangerous so you have to be careful, but I’m playing good golf because I’m happy, and so the mountain biking helps.”

Anders Hansen is also returning from a wrist injury that required surgery and kept him off the tour for six months last year. He missed the cut at his first two events this year, but finished in a tie for fifth last week at the China Open.

The Danish golfer shot a 66 on Friday to move into a share of fifth place at 11 under, two strokes off the pace. He dropped a stroke on his final hole when he three-putted for bogey.

“It’s always hard coming back after an injury,” he said. “I’ve never had six months off before so I didn’t know what to expect. It was tough the first four rounds I played, the first two in Spain and Malaysia, but then last week something kicked in and it has carried on this week.”

Canada’s Richard T. Lee is sitting at 1-over par 144 thru two rounds.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Phil Mickelson was entertaining to the very end Thursday and finished one shot behind Angel Cabrera in the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship.

Cabrera played in early, calmer conditions and thrived on the new Bermuda greens at Quail Hollow. He made seven birdies, including a 40-footer from just off the green, and turned in a 6-under 66 that stood as the lead the rest of the day.

Mickelson caught him twice and couldn’t hold it.

Coming off his first missed cut at the Masters in 17 years, Mickelson handled the strong, swirling wind in the afternoon for a 5-under 67, tied with Martin Flores. Mickelson hit only one fairway on the back nine. He bogeyed both the par 3s. He chipped poorly and atoned for that with long par putts.

And he wound up with the start he wanted at a tournament he badly wants to win.

“It was important for me to get off to a good start today because I haven’t played as well as I would like to this year, and I haven’t been getting off to great starts,” Mickelson said. “So I’m always playing from behind. And it feels great to get off to a quick start where I don’t have to feel like I’m playing catch-up.”

Webb Simpson, the former U.S. Open champion and a member at Quail Hollow, might have joined Cabrera except for the way he finished each nine. He took double bogey on No. 9 when he hit into the trees and three-putted, and made bogey on No. 18 with another wayward tee shot. Other than that, his card was filled with seven birdies for a 68.

Stewart Cink and Jonathan Byrd also were at 68.

Rory McIlroy also had a few patches of wild play – a tee shot down the side of the hill toward the water on No. 16, another that hit a tree and bounced so far left that Boy Wonder thought about playing a shot down a service road behind the corporate tents. Wiser heads prevailed – his caddie’s, in this case – and he limited the damage to bogey.

He still made six birdies and was in the large group at 69 that included U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer, who played his final four holes in 2-under par despite not making a birdie or a par. Kaymer went bogey-eagle-eagle-bogey.

“Two eagles in a row, pretty rare. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before,” Kaymer said. “I missed a lot of short putts today as well, so therefore, 3-under par is OK.”

Cabrera’s round was not nearly that dramatic. He made a couple of long putts, most of the birdie chances one would expect to make and hit it close enough times to post his lowest score of the year, and only his fourth round this year in the 60s.

“It was a very good first round, and we have a lot to go,” the Argentine said through a translator.

Even though he struggled to hit fairways, this wouldn’t classify as a wild round by Mickelson’s standards. But there was rarely a dull moment.

From the trees on the par-5 10th, he escaped with a strong shot just short of the green, only to hit his chip too hard and nearly roll off the green. He holed that from 10 feet for birdie. From the pine straw left of the 11th fairway, he hit a low bullet in good shape just short of the green, only to catch his chip too heavy and leave himself 25 feet short. He made that one for par. And he caught Cabrera at 6 under for the first time with another shot from the pine straw to 4 feet.

But then, Mickelson hit another chip too hard and failed to save par from 15 feet. He tied for the lead again with a solid pitch to 2 feet for birdie on the par-5 15th.

The final three holes were symbolic of the grind.

He rammed a 30-foot birdie attempt some 6 feet past the hole and made that for par. He left a 45-foot birdie putt about 5 feet short and missed that for a three-putt bogey on the 17th. And made a remarkable recovery from a tough lie in a bunker on the 18th.

Being left-handed, his feet were up the slope of a bunker and the ball was well below his feet. Mickelson hit 6-iron from 210 yards and caught it so perfectly that it rolled up the hill and onto the collar of the green just over 40 feet away.

And then he blasted the putt 10 feet past the hole – and made that with a sigh of relief, a par and a good start going into a morning tee time Friday.

“I made a lot of really good putts today, and it covered up some very poor chips – a number of poor chips 15, 20 feet from the hole that should be tap-ins,” Mickelson said. “Ended up making three out of the four, so it covered up a lot of mistakes.”

Leading the Canadians is David Hearn, who opened with a 2-under 70 to sit tied for 16th.

Stephen Ames and Mike Weir are two back of Hearn after shooting matching 70’s.

Brad Fritsch struggled to a 79 and withdrew. After his round, he tweeted…

WD’d today for personal reasons. Thanks to all who asked and showed concern. Trying to move ahead and look forward to the Byron Nelson.

— Brad Fritsch (@BradFritsch) May 1, 2014

IRVING, Texas – Suzann Pettersen was prepared for a much longer break from LPGA Tour when she started having more back problems.

When she had similar pain a decade ago, she was out of action for about eight months.

But Pettersen missed only a month this time, and the 33-year-old Norwegian is already on top of the leaderboard again after a bogey-free 5-under 66 on Thursday in the first round of the North Texas LPGA Shootout.

“I feel good. I mean very patient. Just really just trying to enjoy being back,” Pettersen said. “I got to kind of pace myself a little bit. I can’t do too much early in the week. So I have a lot of spare time to fool around with. … I really can’t go hit balls on the range. I play whatever I need to play and then just try to give my body a little bit of break.”

Pettersen had a one-stroke lead over playing partner Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie, Caroline Masson, Christina Kim, Cydney Clanton and Dori Carter.

Pettersen is playing her second tournament since withdrawing before the Kia Classic in late March, and being told rest was the way to heal her back. The world’s fourth-ranked player tied for 28th in San Francisco last week.

“It’s been a little bit achy early this week. So taking it a little bit careful,” she said. “But last week was nice to be back. It’s always tough when you come back from something like that when you’re so out of play. You’re not even close to be playing. And then next thing you know the pain is gone and you can start hitting balls, and to bring back the mentality straightaway.”

Pettersen took sole possession of the lead when she birdied Nos. 7 and 8, her 16th and 17th holes of the day at Las Colinas Country Club.

Among the 35 players under par was Juli Inkster, the 53-year-old with eight major victories who shot 69. The last of Inkster’s 31 career victories came in 2006.

Wie is playing with confidence and just trying to have fun, and had her 15th consecutive round of par or better. All have come in a stretch when she was the runner-up in the season’s first major, won at home in Hawaii for his first LPGA Tour victory in nearly four years and then had another top-10 finish last week in San Francisco, not far from alma mater Stanford.

“Definitely, my confidence level is up from last year, `’ said Wie, whose five top-10 finishes are already one more than she had in 26 tournaments all last season.

Canada’s Lorie Kane is sitting in a tie for 11th after a 2-under 69.

Other Canadians in the mix are Sue Kim (71) Alena Sharp (73) and Jennifer Kirby (76).