SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Robert Allenby feared the worst Thursday at the Phoenix Open in his first round since his mysterious misadventure in Hawaii.

Two days after saying he was preparing mentally for one of the toughest weeks of his life, Allenby drew only a few boos and comments on the rowdy par-3 16th stadium hole and the crowded 18th. He had mostly quiet, apathetic galleries in his round of 1-under 70.

On Tuesday, the 43-year-old Australian stood by his story that he was robbed and beaten after missing the cut two weeks ago in the Sony Open, basing the account on what he remembered and what he was told by a homeless woman who came to his aid. He said he has “no memory” from about 11:06 p.m. to 1:27 a.m. that night.

Honolulu police are investigating it as second-degree robbery. No arrests have been made.

“I was a little bit nervous going into 16,” Allenby said. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But I just knew it was going to be loud. I was just like, `You know what? Just go with the flow and have fun with it. Just don’t let it get to you.’

“And they were actually really good. I was actually really surprised,” he said. “They were fantastic. There was nothing mean at all. … I think some of the comments were actually pretty funny.”

He played through headaches.

“For some reason I had really bad headaches in my left eye before I teed off and I don’t know if that was just nerves, anticipation, what it was,” Allenby said. “But I took some (pain relievers), just to sort of take the edge off a little bit. It sort of went away a little bit. But it was there. It could be allergies, as well, with the desert.”

Allenby bogeyed the par-4 11th – his second hole of the day – after hitting his approach over the green, birdied the par-5 13th with a delicate downhill chip to 3 feet, and bogeyed the 16th after hitting into the right front bunker. On his final nine, he made an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth and a 14-footer on the par-4 sixth.

“Felt a little bit nervous on the first nine holes,” Allenby said. “Just understandable with what’s been going on, and very hard to put it all to the side when you’re out there. I tried my absolute best and I think I did a really, really good job overall.”

Allenby has 22 worldwide titles, four on the PGA Tour. His last victories came in consecutive weeks in 2009 in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and Australian PGA.

SYDNEY – Kel Nagle, a former Canadian Open (1964) and British Open (1960) winner, as well as a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has died. He was 94.

The PGA of Australia said in a statement Thursday that Nagle died overnight at a Sydney hospital. It did not give a cause of death.

The Australian golfer, who won a tournament every year for 26 years after turning professional in 1946, collected 61 victories on the PGA Tour of Australasia and two on the U.S. tour.

His win at St. Andrews came by one stroke over Arnold Palmer, who was attempting to win his third consecutive major that year after taking the Masters and U.S. Open.

Nagle finished second to Gary Player at the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive in St. Louis, losing an 18-hole playoff to the South African. Player said then that Nagle was “one of the best short-game players” he had seen.

Nagle also won the Australian PGA championship a record six times and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.

He also played on the PGA Senior Tour (now Champions Tour) in the United States in 102 events from 1981-1989.

Nagle’s other achievements included wins at the 1954 World Cup in Montreal and 1959 World Cup in Melbourne with partner Peter Thomson, a five-time British Open champion.

“It’s a sad day for golf, we’ve lost a champion of our game,” said PGA chief executive Brian Thorburn.

In 1980, Nagle was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the sport of golf and was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986.

“Kel was a giant of the game,” said Golf Australia chief executive Stephen Pitt. “But much more than that, he was an ambassador for his sport and his country, universally liked and admired by his peers.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – A defiant and at times angry Robert Allenby stood by his story Tuesday that he was robbed and beaten in Honolulu, basing the account on what he remembered and what he was told by a homeless woman who came to his aid.

“There has definitely been a lot of confusion,” Allenby said. “But I think the No. 1 thing that you should all remember is that my story stays exactly the same as the way I told it. I told you what I knew, and I told you what someone told me. That’s the bottom line. I never lied to anyone.”

Honolulu police are investigating the Jan. 16 incident as second-degree robbery. No arrests have been made.

Allenby says he was at Amuse Wine Bar with his caddie and a friend from Australia on the night he missed the cut at the Sony Open. He said surveillance tape shows him leaving the bar with three people he doesn’t recognize, and that his next memory is being in a park. He said a homeless woman told him he had been thrown out of a trunk, which he said caused his injuries.

Allenby posted a photo of his bloodied forehead and a swollen eye to his private Facebook account. He said he was robbed of wallet and phone, though the credit card he used to pay for dinner and wine was still in his front pocket.

In the last week, however, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser quoted the homeless woman, Charade Keane, as saying she never told Allenby she saw him in a trunk and did not how he was injured. The newspaper quoted another homeless man in the park, Chris Khamis, as saying Allenby told him he was depressed and drugged at a strip club and that he passed out and hit his head on a lava rock.

Exactly what happened remains a mystery, even for Allenby. He said Tuesday he has “no memory in my brain” from about 11:06 p.m. to 1:27 a.m. on that date.

“I have been trying and overlooking and going backward and forward, and there is just nothing,” he said. “I can’t tell you how frustrating that is because we all want to know the truth.”

The 43-year-old Australian said headaches subsided a few days ago and he chose to play in the Phoenix Open to try to get his life back on track.

His face looked relatively clean as he spoke to reporters – his injuries drew more attention than any of his 22 wins around the world – and the crowd was even larger because the podium was in front of the caddie hospitality tent.

Allenby saved his anger for the media, whom he sarcastically claimed to be “amazing experts at investigations.”

“I was a victim, and all of a sudden you’re putting all the blame on me,” Allenby said. “I take full responsibility if I did do something wrong. … At the end of the day, I was in a place having a nice dinner and having a nice night, and then I became a victim. And now, it’s all been turned around.

“The police will come out with the right story.”

Pressed for details, Allenby kept referring to the 2 1/2-hour stretch where he blanked out. He previously told The Associated Press he had two receipts in his front pocket – along with his credit card used to pay for dinner and win – that were time stamped at 10:06 p.m. and 10:48 p.m.

Allenby said he was not drunk. “There’s no way in the world what I drank could do what was done to me – not a chance in the world,” he said. He also said he had blood tests to see if anything was detected in his system. He told the AP last week that doctors chose not to do a drug test the day after the incident because whatever was in his system likely would not be there for more than a few hours.

The photo, first shown on Golf Channel during the third round of the Sony Open, is what generated so much attention. Allenby said he posted it as a way to reach his family – he is divorced with a 15-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter – because he was so disoriented he couldn’t remember his phone number.

Tiger Woods, returning from his own dose of a photograph gone viral, was asked about Allenby before anyone quizzed him on how he lost his front tooth.

“I know he got beat up. I don’t know much about it. I just saw a quick headline,” Woods said. “I saw a photo. He didn’t look very good.”

Allenby has had a contentious relationship with the media throughout his career. He got into a public argument with fellow Melbourne native Geoff Ogilvy that Australian media said was close to a fight. And at the Presidents Cup in 2009 in San Francisco, he accused Anthony Kim of being out partying until the wee hours of the Sunday matches – this after Kim beat him in a singles match, 5 and 3.

The reception is gets at the TPC Scottsdale could be brutal. This is the rowdiest tournament of the year, especially at the par-3 16th that is set up like an arena.

“Mentally, I’m preparing myself for probably one of the toughest weeks of my life,” Allenby said. “It hasn’t been an easy week last week, and it wasn’t an easy decision to come to this tournament. But I thought that I need to get my life back on track. I’m a professional golfer. And why should I let controversy put me out of the game that I love?”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Tiger Woods was all smiles Tuesday – and with a full set of teeth.

Woods gave a play-by-play of getting his front tooth knocked out when he was in Italy to celebrate girlfriend Lindsey Vonn breaking the World Cup ski record. He says he was wearing his skeleton-patterned mask to try to blend in and was standing behind photographers at one of two podium presentations. Woods says a videographer stood up and banged into his mouth.

He says the mask covered the blood and he was in pain.

Woods says one tooth was chipped and the other was knocked out. He says they were permanent teeth – not caps – and he had them replaced.

A race official says he was not aware of the incident and nothing was reported.

PHOENIX – Waste Management has announced that the RBC Canadian Open was named the winner of the second annual Sustainability Challenge, a contest sponsored by Waste Management to encourage all PGA TOUR tournaments to engage in and advance sustainable practices at their respective events. With this distinction, the RBC Canadian Open joins the ranks of the Sustainability Challenge inaugural winner, the Shell Houston Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open as PGA TOUR tournaments that demonstrate the value of responsible sustainability practices.

The RBC Canadian Open received the highest cumulative score for Materials Management, Natural Resources Tracking and Conservation, Economic Impact and Overall Sustainability. Waste Management sustainability experts scored participating tournaments’ submissions and were pleased to note that ninety-one percent of the 22 PGA TOUR tournaments that submitted applications have a recycling program in place and track their diversion of waste from landfills. As the winner, RBC Canadian Open leadership will attend the upcoming Waste Management Phoenix Open and Waste Management’s fifth annual Executive Sustainability Forum.

RBC Canadian Open employs numerous sustainable practices at the carbon-neutral tournament including: diverting waste from landfills through recycling and organics collection; providing free filtered water at water stations located across the grounds; donating unused food to local food banks; offering sustainable transportation options and more. The Royal Montreal Golf Club, home of the 2014 RBC Canadian Open, is also certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary golf course, a designation earned for its certification in six categories: Environmental Planning, Chemical Use Reduction & Safety, Water Conservation, Water Quality Management, Wildlife & Habitat Management, and Outreach & Education.

“We are committed to making the RBC Canadian Open a green event,” said Bill Paul, Chief Championship Officer for Golf Canada. “We are proud to work with RBC and all of our partners to ensure our tournament continues to be a positive example of best practices to reduce the event’s environmental impact within the markets we conduct the championship.”

“RBC is proud of our work with Golf Canada and our other event partners to ensure that the RBC Canadian Open continues to be a positive example of best practices to reduce the event’s environmental impacts,” says Sandra Odendahl, Director, Corporate Sustainability, RBC.

“As a zero waste event, the award-winning Waste Management Phoenix Open has set the ‘green’ standard for sustainability in sports,” said Jim Trevathan, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Waste Management. “The Sustainability Challenge provides Waste Management the opportunity to recognize the successes of a growing number of PGA TOUR tournaments like the RBC Canadian Open that are expanding their green initiatives so that others will continue to be encouraged to ‘green’ the game of golf.”

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Bill Haas pulled ahead with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th and parred the final two holes for a one-stroke victory Sunday in the Humana Challenge.

Haas closed with a 5-under 67 for his sixth PGA Tour title and first since the 2013 AT&T National. He won the 2010 event at PGA West for his first tour victory.

Haas was making his first start since November. He took the long break to rest his left wrist, fractured in April when he fell down stairs at Hilton Head.

Part of a six-man tie for the lead after a par save on the par-3 15th, Haas got to 22 under with the birdie putt on 16 on the Arnold Palmer Private Course.

Haas two-putted for par from 20 feet on the par-5 18th after pulling off an awkward layup with his ball perched on the front lip of a right-side fairway bunker.

His father, Jay, won the 1998 tournament. Haas’ great uncle, 85-year-old Bob Goalby, watched the final holes. Goalby won the 1968 Masters.

Matt Kuchar, Charley Hoffman, Brendan Steele, Steve Wheatcroft and Sung Joon Park tied for second. Hoffman and Steele shot 64, and Park had a 65, and Kuchar and Wheatcroft shot 67.

Kuchar had a two-stroke lead with four holes to play Saturday, but bogeyed three of the last four holes in the third round to fall a stroke back.

Haas eagled the par-5 sixth for a share of the lead, setting up his 15-foot putt with a 260-yard, 5-wood from the dormant left rough with the ball below his feet.

The 32-year-old former Wake Forest player birdied the par-4 eighth, punching a low, spinning wedge from 70 yards to 8 feet, and got to 21 under with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th.

He made a key par save on the 131-yard 15th to keep a share of the lead. Short-sided in the left bunker, he blasted to 6 feet.

Haas broke out of the tie on 16, and then missed a 10-foot birdie try on the par-3 17th with a bighorn sheep grazing nearby at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

On the par-5 18th, with water running the length of the hole on the left, his drive stopped on the top edge off the right-side bunker. Standing in the bunker with the ball in the dormant grass at nearly waist level, he choked up on an 8-iron and slashed 80 yards down the fairway. That left him 170 yards to the green and he hit safely to the middle.

Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson and Boo Weekley tied for seventh, two strokes back.

Thomas, playing alongside Haas and two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton in the final group, dropped out of the lead on 16 with a double bogey after hitting his approach from a bunker into the All-American Canal. The 21-year-old former Alabama player birdied 18 for a 69.

Simpson finished with a 64, and Weekley shot 65.

Compton had a 70 to tie for 10th, three strokes back at 19 under.

Phil Mickelson shot his second straight 68 to tie for 24th at 15 under in his first start since the Ryder Cup in September.

Graham DeLaet finished as the top Canadian, tying for 30th at 14-under. Adam Hadwin was the other Canadian to make the cut, he tied for 48th at 13-under.

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Matt Kuchar’s ball crashed into the rocks at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains and shot sideways into the All-American Canal.

More rocks and water gobbled up another ball — and with it, his third-round lead on Saturday in the Humana Challenge.

“It’s too bad, but it’s what happened,” Kuchar said. “I still got one more day left to try to make some birdies and still pull this thing out.”

Two strokes ahead after a birdie on the par-5 14th, Kuchar bogeyed three of the final four holes for a 1-under 71 on PGA West’s Arnold Palmer Private Course. That left him a shot behind two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, Bill Haas, Justin Thomas and Michael Putnam.

The highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11, Kuchar lost a shot on the par-3 15th when he drove to the right, sent his second to the back edge and missed a 14-footer.

“Just nearly an impossible up-and-down if you miss the green right,” Kuchar said.

He bogeyed the par-3 17th after his tee shot went right, bounced off the mountain rocks and raced across the green into the canal.

“With a pitching wedge, you’re looking to hit a good shot,” Kuchar said. “Unfortunately, I let it hang too much and it caught a rock and went in the water.”

The seven-time tour winner closed with another rocky bogey, ending his birdie-eagle string on the par 5s. On the first 12 pars 5 of the week, he had an eagle and 11 birdies.

On 18, his 235-yard approach sailed long and left into the rocks and water. After his ball rolled away on a penalty drop, he placed it deep in the dormant grass, blasted out to 8 feet and two-putted.

“I hit a great drive and was in between a 3- and 4-hybrid,” Kuchar said. “I went with a 3-hybrid, trying to get it back to the hole and hit a solid shot that just didn’t fade.”

Compton shot a 67 on the Jack Nicklaus Private Course to join Haas, Thomas and Putnam at 17-under 199. Haas, the 2010 winner, had a 69 on the Nicklaus layout. Thomas shot 68 on the Palmer course, and Putnam had a 69 at La Quinta Country Club.

Compton birdied three of his last five holes in breezy, warm conditions.

“I had a couple shots that were loose on the drives, but I salvaged the round,” Compton said. “Tomorrow’s a new day.”

On the final day of the pro-am competition, Compton played in a group with amputee Chad Pfeifer and Baltimore Orioles pitcher Bud Norris. Pfeifer lost his left leg in Iraq.

“On the third hole, he said, ‘Hey, listen, you know, you really inspired me learning about your story,'” Compton said. “And I’m kind of speechless, because I see him with a huge adversity that he’s gone through and it speaks volumes.”

Haas is making his first start since November. He took the long break to rest his left wrist, injured when he fell down stairs at Hilton Head.

“So far, something to build on, but I also know in the back of my head I don’t think I’m a hundred percent,” Haas said. “So, I’ll go on the range and work on it. I just got to stay in the moment and try not to hit too many foul balls tomorrow.”

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Thomas birdied two of the last three holes. The 21-year-old former Alabama player hit a 91-yard shot to a foot for birdie on the par- 4 16th and two-putted for birdie on the 18.

“I’m pleased where I’m at going into tomorrow,” Thomas said.

Ryan Palmer, Scott Pinckney and Steve Wheatcroft were a stroke back along with Kuchar.

Palmer followed his 61 on Friday on the Nicklaus course with a 68 on the Palmer layout. Wheatcroft had a 68 on the Nicklaus course, and Pinckney shot 69 in the Palmer.

Defending champion Patrick Reed, paired with Kuchar, was tied for ninth at 14 under after a 67. He’s coming off a playoff victory two weeks ago in Hawaii in the Tournament of Champions.

Phil Mickelson was 11 under in his first start since the Ryder Cup in September. He had eight birdies and four bogeys in a 68 on the Palmer course.

“It was a day that could have been really low,” Mickelson said. “It had a lot of potential and I ended up making too many bogeys and letting some birdie opportunities slide.”

The 44-year-old Mickelson won the event in 2002 and 2004.

Both Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask. and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. posted a third-round 66. DeLaet is tied for 24th at -12, while Hadwin sits tied for 63rd at -8.

Dustin Johnson is returning to the PGA Tour from a six-month break in which he said Friday “it was time to grow up,” though he refused to discuss a published report that a positive test for cocaine is what led to his leave of absence.

“I’m not worried about what people think or what they say,” Johnson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I’ve just got to be me. I’ve got a son, a future wife, and I’m really happy. I’m going to enjoy my life.”

Johnson has not competed since he missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open July 25. Five days later, he said in a statement he was taking a leave of absence to seek professional help for what he described only as “personal challenges.”

Golf.com reported that he failed a drug test three times – for marijuana in 2009, and for cocaine in 2012 and 2014. The report said the PGA Tour suspended him for six months, though the tour took the rare step of publicly refuting that he was suspended.

Still, the fact Johnson returns exactly six months from announcing his leave of absence is sure to raise questions. His first tournament back will be the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Feb. 5-8.

Asked if the report was true that he failed a cocaine test, Johnson replied, No.” And then he declined to say more.

“With that, I’ve said all I’m going to say,” Johnson said. “I think I’ve answered them, and I don’t think I need to answer them again.”

He gave an interview earlier this week to Sports Illustrated and to ESPN, part of a strategy to ease back into golf. Still to be determined is how Johnson is received by the public and by his peers. He said he hasn’t talked to many players except for the occasional round of golf and workout session with Keegan Bradley because they have the same trainer.

Johnson is engaged to Paulina Gretzky, the daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky. She gave birth to a son, Tatum, on Monday in Los Angeles. Johnson said they are renting a home in Thousand Oaks, California, but he plans to live in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“The baby is healthy and we’re really happy,” he said.

Johnson declined to say whether the tour threatened to suspend him or recommended he get help. He said he has never been to rehab in his life. He said his issue was how he handled stress – drinking and partying – though he said he did not drink to the point that he felt he needed outside help.

“It was more of a compounded thing,” he said. “I was not enjoying myself. I was not playing the way I wanted to play. I did my fair share of partying. It’s not like I was drinking every day. It was more like alcohol abuse – that’s not the right word, but more along those lines. When I drank, I drank too much.”

As for seeking professional help that he mentioned in his statement in August, Johnson said he was working with “a few different people,” including one man whom he described as a life coach.

“He’s someone who helps me, give me advice,” Johnson said, adding that what he was taught was “nothing I didn’t already know.”

“What I’ve learned a lot is … with what I do, there’s a lot of stress that comes with it,” he said. “I never really learned to deal with it. To party was more my way of dealing with stress instead of going to the gym or going for a run. Things that were unhealthy, that was my way to get away.”

Johnson, 30, is among the most talented Americans and certainly among the most athletic figures in golf. He already has eight victories – last year was the first year he failed to win since he joined the PGA Tour in 2008 – and has contended in three majors. One of those was at Whistling Straits, where he grounded his club without realizing he was in a bunker on the final hole and was given a two-shot penalty. That kept him from a playoff in the 2010 PGA Championship.

In his most recent major, Johnson played in the final group on Saturday at the British Open with eventual champion Rory McIlroy. He wound up tying for 12th.

His leave of absence kept him from playing the PGA Championship, the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup, where he was assured a spot on the team. Johnson said he watched a little bit of the matches from Gleneagles and felt bad that he wasn’t there.

But he doesn’t feel he owes an apology – or an explanation – to anyone.

“I don’t care what people think,” he said. “I mean, do. I want my fans to know I do care about them, and I’m glad for all the ones who have stuck by me. I’ve had an unbelievable amount of support from my family, friends and fans. And those who aren’t fans anymore, that’s their choice.”

Johnson said he more excited than nervous about his return, and mostly he is happy about becoming a father.

“Obviously, I needed to better myself,” he said. “I used this time to work on me, and to work on becoming a better fiancée, soon-to-be husband, father. The son has been born now, and it’s given me a whole new perspective. Nothing else in the world matters.”

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Humana Challenge leader Matt Kuchar was asked if was surprised that there have only been six 59s on the PGA Tour and that no one has shot 58.

“No. We’re talking about golf,” Kuchar said. “It’s a difficult game. It’s a very challenging game. Fifty-nine, that’s a lot under par. That is quite an amazing feat.”

Ryan Palmer was in position to do it Friday after playing an eight-hole stretch in 10 under. Needing to go 3 under on the final eight to shoot 59, he bogeyed the next two holes and ended up with an 11-under 61.

“Walking off 10, after I got to 10 under, I was staying calm, trying not to think about anything, just trying to keep my momentum going, my pace with my walk,” Palmer said. “It’s hard not to think about it.”

After opening with two pars, Palmer had two eagles and six birdies on the next eight holes to match the longest eagle-birdie streak in PGA Tour history. He stumbled with the bogeys on the par-4 second and par-3 third and couldn’t get a couple of late putts to fall.

“Couple loose swings there,” Palmer said. “I guess the bogeys did kind of calm me down a little bit more and I didn’t worry about, obviously, the number.”

Palmer birdied the fourth and sixth holes and made another on the par-5 eighth after missing an 8-foot eagle try. A 59 no longer possible, he missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the ninth in a closing par.

The 38-year-old Texan holed out from 97 yards for eagle on the par-4 12th to start the streak on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Private Course. He birdied the next three holes, made a 20-foot eagle putt from the fringe on the par-5 16th and added three more birdies.

“I putted well,” Palmer said. “I didn’t make anything long, except for the eagle on 16.”

He tied the birdie-eagle streak record set by Billy Mayfair in the 2001 Buick Open and matched by Briny Baird in the 2003 FUNAI Classic. Mayfair and Baird were 9 under during their runs, making seven birdies and an eagle.

At 9-under 27, Palmer matched the tour record for relation to par for nine holes and was a stroke off the record of 26 set by Corey Pavin on a par-34 nine in Milwaukee in 2006.

Six players have shot 59 on the PGA Tour. Al Geiberger did it in the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational, David Duval on the Palmer course in the final round of his 1999 Bob Hope victory, Paul Goydos in the 2010 John Deere Classic, Stuart Appleby in the 2010 Greenbrier Classic and Jim Furyk in the 2013 BMW Championship. Ryo Ishikawa shot the lowest round on a major tour, a 58 to win the 2010 Crowns on the Japan Tour.

Palmer had a 12-under 132 total after opening with a 71 on Thursday at La Quinta Country Club. He was three strokes behind Kuchar.

Kuchar, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11, had a 64 on the Nicklaus course. He tied for third last week in Hawaii in the Sony Open.

“Game feels solid,” Kuchar said. “I feel like I know where it’s going, feel like I’m hitting it in the center of the clubface.”

Bill Haas and first-round leader Michael Putnam were a stroke back. Haas had a 63 at La Quinta. He had nine birdies in a 10-hole stretch, making seven in a row on Nos. 2-8.

“The putter was what’s got me in the hunt,” Haas said. “We don’t play better greens on tour than these greens here.”

Putnam shot a 67 on the Arnold Palmer Private Course.

Justin Thomas, Nick Watney and Scott Pinckney were 13 under. Thomas had a 63, Watney shot 64, and Pinckney 67 – all on the Nicklaus course.

Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton had a 66 at La Quinta to get to 12 under.

“I’m kind of surprised, but I had a really good offseason,” Compton said. “I’m more surprised with my emotions and temper. It’s been a goal of mine just to be as steady as I can and to control the emotions.”

Phil Mickelson was 7 under in his first start since the Ryder Cup in September. He birdied his final five holes for a 66 on the Nicklaus course.

“It took me 31 holes to get my game to click,” Mickelson said.

The 44-year-old Mickelson won the event in 2002 and 2004. He’s winless in 27 PGA Tour starts since the 2013 British Open.

Canada’s Nick Taylor is tied for 11th after a second-round 67 left him at 11-under par.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson got most of the attention in his return to competition after a four-month break. Blake Adams got a lot more out of his comeback round.

Mickelson shot a 1-under 71 on Thursday in the Humana Challenge in his first event since the Ryder Cup, leaving him eight strokes behind leader Michael Putnam.

“Even though this score is the worst I’ve had in a long time, in months, I’m excited about my game and getting back out tomorrow,” Mickelson said. “I can’t wait to get started again, because I just feel like I played a little tight today, kind of steered it a little bit.”

Adams had a 64 on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Private Course in his return from hip replacement surgery. He last played a PGA Tour event in March and had surgery in July.

“Very, very blessed to be back out here,” Adams said. “It’s been a long road to get back. You never know what you’re going to get when you have total hip replacement.”

The 39-year-old Adams had six straight birdies from No. 14 to No. 1, added three in a row on Nos. 5-7 and closed with a bogey. Playing on a major medical extension, he has 16 events to earn $497,044 to keep his tour card.

“If the putts fall, great, if they don’t, so be it,” Adams said. “I had a great day today. I’m going to go out there tomorrow and do my best and if I shoot 64 again, great. If I shoot 74, so be it.”

Mickelson opened at tree-lined La Quinta Country Club. He made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 third, holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker on the par-4 fourth and made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 sixth. After dropping shots on Nos. 12, 14 and 16, Lefty hit a wedge to 2 feet for birdie on the par-4 17th.

“It was the first round in four months and I’ll loosen up,” Mickelson said. “Hopefully, the way I’m playing will show in the score. But today, it just didn’t.”

The 44-year-old Mickelson, the 2002 and 2004 champion, is winless in 27 PGA Tour starts since the 2013 British Open. He has lost weight and gained strength working with trainer Sean Cochran during the long break from competition.

“My body hasn’t felt this good in years,” Mickelson said.

Putnam made nine birdies in an 11-hole stretch in his 63. He birdied Nos. 7, 9 and 10 on the Nicklaus course and ran off six in a row on Nos. 12-17.

“The course is in perfect shape,” Putnam said. “Greens are good. … I made a lot of birdies at the end. Hit a lot of close shots, a lot of 5-, 10-foot putts. I made them all, so I got to be happy about that.”

Mark Wilson, John Peterson, Francesco Molinari and Scott Pinckney matched Adams at 64. Wilson and Peterson played the Nicklaus course, Molinari opened on the Arnold Palmer Private Course and Pinckney was at La Quinta.

The 40-year-old Wilson won the 2012 tournament for the last of his five PGA Tour titles.

“I came in feeling OK, nothing great about the game, but it was ideal today,” Wilson said. “I made some saves when I needed it and capitalized on my good shots.”

Defending champion Patrick Reed had a 65 at La Quinta. He’s coming off a playoff victory over Jimmy Walker two weeks ago in Hawaii in the Tournament of Champions. Last year, Reed shot three 63s to open a seven-shot lead and closed with a 71 for a two-stroke victory.

“I feel like I left a lot out there, but it’s always good to shoot 7 under,” Reed said. “My confidence is as high as it could be and the main thing is just not getting ahead of myself and not really being over-confident where I take too many unnecessary risks.”

Playing partner Matt Kuchar, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11 in the world, also had a 65. He closed with a bogey.

Canada’s Nick Taylor opened with a 66 and held a share of 11th, while Graham DeLaet was two-shots back after a 68. He had a share of 29th.

Here are the complete opening-round Canadian scores.