PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – The wind was so strong, the conditions so demanding, that Jimmy Walker felt like Saturday at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was competing against the golf course instead of the rest of the field.

Golf’s hottest player wound beating them both.

Walker finally made his first bogey of the tournament, and that was only a nuisance. He ran off five birdies at Monterey Peninsula for a 4-under 67, the best score of a blustery day, giving him a six-shot lead going into the final round.

Walker went 187 starts on the PGA Tour without winning. He now has a chance to win for the third time in his last eight tournaments. He won the Frys.com Open last fall about an hour away at CordeValle. He won for the second time this season last month in Honolulu. In both those tournaments, Walker was trailing going into the last day.

This time, he has the largest 54-hole lead at Pebble Beach since Phil Mickelson led by seven in 2005. Mickelson went on to win by four shots.

“I’ve never had whatever big lead this is going into the last round,” Walker said. “Just go out and hit good shots and play good golf and see what happens.”

He was at 13-under 202.

Tim Wilkinson of New Zealand had a 69 and Hunter Mahan had a 72, both at Monterey Peninsula. They were at 208.

Havoc happened on Saturday on all three courses, particularly at Pebble Beach.

The third round was not completed because of a delay lasting 2 hours, 19 minutes due to gusts at 30 mph that made golf balls roll off the green, mostly at Pebble Beach. In a three-course rotation, play has to be stopped at all three courses.

The average score at Pebble Beach was just over 75.

Jordan Spieth caught the brunt of it. Tied with Walker going into the third round, Spieth was 5-over through 15 holes when the round was halted by darkness. That included a pair of three-putts on the front nine when he went out in 40, and another three-putt from 18 feet. Spieth missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, and then chose to mark the 5-foot par putt he had coming back.

Walker opened with a 66 at Pebble Beach when it was calm, the best time to play it. That doesn’t mean he was off the hook on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula. He just had to play his best, and he did.

On the par-3 ninth, typically a 6-iron, Walker smashed a 5-wood into the wind and couldn’t reach the green. He made one birdie with an 8-iron from 140 yards, and was hitting 4-iron that went only about 165 yards.

“It just feels like a battle,” Walker said. “You’re not battling really anybody else. You’re not battling the field or a tournament. You’re just out there trying. The golf course is trying to beat you up.”

Richard Lee had a 72 at Spyglass Hill and was alone in fourth at 209. Phil Mickelson had a 71 at Spyglass and was among those eight shots behind. Only three players broke par at Pebble _ none better than Dustin Johnson’s 70. Brendon Todd looked as if he might have one of those rounds until bogeys on the last two holes.

“Nine and 10 are par 5s today. I couldn’t reach either one,” Todd said. “There were no birdie holes out there.”

Play was stopped about an hour after the last group teed off. It was a peculiar sight to see clouds gathering on the Pacific horizon, and officials trying to spray water on the greens to help balls stay on the putting surface.

It didn’t work.

And when play resumed, Brian Gay was given relief on the fourth green at Pebble Beach because of standing water left from hosing down the greens. He was able to move his ball some 15 feet to the other side of the green.

But the big trouble was the wind.

Kevin Chappell’s approach to the par-3 fifth sailed over the cliff, and he ambled down toward the beach to play the shot. The par-5 sixth at Pebble, usually reachable with a long iron, was a true three-shot hole. On the 109-yard, downhill seventh hole into the wind, the club of choice was a chip 8-iron.

It was most difficult with the putting _ being able to stand over the ball, trying to hit it as it wobbled and judging the speed. Geoff Ogilvy three-putted from 3 feet twice in a three-hole stretch on his way to an 81. Spieth had a pair of three-putts that sent him tumbling out of contention. The worst was on the ninth, when he gunned his 12-footer for par about 4 feet by the hole, sent the next one 5 feet by on the other side and raised his arms in mock triumph when he made the third one.

D.A. Points might have had the best time. His score didn’t count.

Points was disqualified Friday for using a sponge ball as a training device while waiting on the 18th tee. He returned Saturday to contribute to the pro-am side of the competition with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The team shot 77 and missed the cut.

“It meant an enormous amount to me,” Rice said. “He didn’t have to do that. It speaks really well for him and for the tour that he came out played, anyway.”

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.  — The wind and the rain arrived Friday, perhaps a prelude to a nasty weekend. Leave it to a pair of Texans – Jimmy Walker and Jordan Spieth – to thrive in Crosby Clambake conditions at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Walker made some tough par saves and wound up bogey-free at Spyglass Hill with a 3-under 69. Spieth was down the coast at Monterey Peninsula, where he called the birdie on his final hole the best of his life. He’s only 20, but it was a proud moment.

They were tied for the lead going into the third round, one shot to par ahead of Hunter Mahan.

The slight advantage would go to Walker, who was at 9-under 135. Already a two-time winner this season, Walker next goes over to Monterey Peninsula, the easiest of the three courses in the rotation. Spieth was at 9-under 134 and headed to Pebble Beach, which can be brutal in nasty weather.

And the forecast for Saturday was not particularly pleasant.

Along with a three-club wind on the exposed sections of all three courses, steady rain began coming down sideways toward the end of the second round. There was about a 75 percent chance for more rain Saturday.

More than looking ahead, Spieth was looking behind. He was happy to at least get Spyglass out of the way already, having opened with a 67 on Thursday. That didn’t make the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula a picnic.

“Today was very difficult,” Spieth said. “We started out in the rain and wind, and we finished in rainier and windier,” he said.

Spieth caught Walker for a share of the lead on the 187-yard ninth hole, which typically requires a 6-iron. He watched Kevin Chappell hit first with a 3-iron, and the ball rolled back down off the front of the green. Spieth doesn’t carry a 3-iron.

“I went to a hybrid,” he said. “And I just kind of hit a little stinger cut about 20 feet away. And then it was normally a straight putt and Michael (Greller) and I, my caddie, are looking at each other saying, `Well, we’ve got to play this about a foot out to the right with the wind.’ And so I hit it a foot out. With about 3 feet to go, the wind just blew it right, just broke perfectly right into the hole.”

Walker’s best holes were his pars, particularly the par-5 14th. His 8-iron came back down into a bunker, leaving him such an awkward lie that he had to plant his feet outside the sand. With a shallow swing, he did well to blast out 12 feet away, and he made the par putt.

“That was pretty big to keep it feeling like things were still in my favor,” Walker said.

He made two long birdie putts, and then hit a drive of nearly 390 yards on the seventh hole – with the aid of a cart path. It left him only an 8-iron to the green, and he had an easy up-and-down for his final birdie.

Mahan had a 68 at Spyglass Hill, with half of his six birdies on the par 5s. He was at 8-under 136.

“Coming up these last few holes are tough,” Mahan said. “They’re uphill, they got the wind, it’s getting cold, raining. You just don’t want to throw away shots. Because this can be a long week, and it could be mentally more grinding than anything.”

Andrew Loupe, who has missed every cut in his rookie season so far, followed his 63 at Monterey Peninsula with a 73 at Pebble Beach. That wasn’t too bad, for Pebble Beach was playing to an average of 74.1, about 2 1/2 strokes more difficult than Thursday. He was at 7-under 136 and plays Spyglass on Saturday.

Phil Mickelson finished off his 66 at Monterey on Friday morning, and then got an early indication at Pebble Beach that this might be a long day. He three-putted from 5 feet above the hole on the par-5 second for a double bogey. Mickelson holed some good birdies, but missed plenty of short ones. He switched from a conventional grip to the claw during his round, searching for answers. A three-putt bogey on the 18th at Pebble gave him a 73. He was at 4-under 139, still very much in the game.

“Tee to green, I’m playing very well, but I haven’t putted this poorly in a year,” he said. “For the way I’m hitting it, it’s a little disappointing because I should have a really good opportunity. And I’ll have to turn it around. It’s not too late, but I’ve got to get it turned around here.”

This is his last tournament until the Florida swing.

David Duval showed some promise in his first PGA Tour event of the year with a 68 at Spyglass, a course that traditionally gives him fits. He was at 4-under 140.

“What’s the forecast tomorrow? More of this? Cool,” Mickelson said with a deadpan delivery. “We’ve had a great run of weather … so we certainly can’t complain. It’s sometimes a fun challenge to play out here as the reigning Scottish and British Open champion. I don’t really mind the elements, but I do have to get this putter worked out.”

It already was a challenge for so many others. John Daly shot 79 at Monterey Peninsula. Four players failed to break 80. Two-time champion Dustin Johnson fell back with a 73 at Monterey. Jason Day of Australia shot 77 at Pebble Beach with one birdie.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Graeme McDowell twisted his back and swung a club to loosen his joints in the morning chill of February at Pebble Beach, a course that looked nothing like he remembered it.

“I was a little more warmed up the last time I played here,” he said.

The first fairway, once lined with thousands of fans, was empty on this day. The putting surfaces were emerald green. McDowell recalls them being closer to brown. That was the U.S. Open, his first major. This is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am.

For three years, McDowell had little incentive to return to the scene of his greatest individual feat.

“It’s not going to get any better than how it felt last time I was here,” McDowell said. “It was pretty tough to top the experience that weekend — the emotions, my dad, winning my first major championship. Doesn’t get any better than that. So I really wasn’t in a rush to come back.”

He found two good reasons to return, starting with the silver-haired man who joined him on the tee with a smile bigger than Stillwater Cove.

Kenny McDowell walked at least 108 holes the week of the 2010 U.S. Open, which included two practice rounds. McDowell’s father was on the 18th green after the final shot, embracing him as he said “You’re something, kid.”

They are partners this week, a treat for both of them.

“Being here brings it all back,” the father said. “Being able to play in the tournament, it’s a dream come true. I don’t think I’ll be able to do it justice, but I’ll be trying.”

Kenny McDowell has a handicap index of 12. He was never a great golfer, just a great father for an aspiring golfer. McDowell recalls his father organizing tournaments for the kids at Portrush, driving them across Ireland for competitions. He was involved in golf without knowing enough about the swing to meddle.

He talked about the long summer days when his son would sneak onto Portrush and play into the darkness.

“We used to have to go looking for him,” Kenny McDowell said. “My wife would say, ‘He could be playing golf at night.’ I said, ‘I’ll tell you exactly where they are.’ I would drive out to the car park. There’s a big bush at the back of 17 green and the next thing you’d hear is, ‘I’m coming out.”’

They played together in the Dunhill Links Championship, a European Tour event in Scotland modeled after Pebble Beach. It doesn’t attract the kind of crowds expected for Saturday for all the celebrities. The McDowells are playing with Jason Bohn and actor Chris O’Donnell. Right behind them will be two-time Pebble winner Dustin Johnson with Wayne Gretzky (his future father-in-law), and John Daly with Kid Rock. In front of them will be actor Lucas Black and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith.

Peyton Manning was a late entry into the field, just a few days after a Super Bowl loss to Seattle. He played a practice round Wednesday with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who will be playing with his own quarterback (Tom Brady) when the tournament starts Thursday.

Pebble Beach is serious business on Sunday, all about the celebrities on Saturday and plenty of fun leading up to that point.

For the McDowells, the week already got off to an ideal start.

They played San Francisco Golf Club, Cypress Point and Monterey Peninsula even before getting to Pebble Beach. There were memories on every hole, such as the shot into 8 feet on the par-3 fifth for his lone birdie of a brutal final round. Kenny McDowell couldn’t help but think of Dustin Johnson’s triple bogey as he walked up the second fairway.

“If that had been Graeme, I’d have been back in the bar,” he said.

The 18th was special, without being over the top. McDowell called it a “poignant moment,” though he didn’t want to get too wrapped up in the memory that he is defined by it.

“Emotionally, I don’t think that moment will be beaten in my career,” McDowell said. “But I’m not going to put Pebble up there on a pedestal and say, ‘That is the highlight of my career,’ because I want more. I want more Pebbles, I want more major championships, I want more things.

“So there’s a fine balance between getting too obsessed by it emotionally,” he said. “It’s fun to be out there and just reconnect a little bit with my thoughts and feelings that day.”

More than the ultimate Father-Son golf trip, McDowell has a big season ahead of him in a Ryder Cup year. He hasn’t played since the World Challenge two months ago. He typically starts his year at Riviera, a tough place to shake off the rust. Along with playing Pebble with his father, McDowell said it would be a good week to play without putting too much emphasis on results before heading into the meat of his season.

“At least by the end of the week, I’ll know where I’m at,” McDowell said.

Until then, he’ll have no trouble remembering where he is at Pebble Beach.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Even without the math associated with the Official World Golf Ranking, it might not be easy to determine which players get into the 64-man field for the Match Play Championship in Arizona at the end of the month.

The first World Golf Championship of the year is for the top 64 in the world ranking.

Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott already have confirmed they won’t be playing — Scott because of his poor record (especially at Dove Mountain), Mickelson because his children are on spring break that week. Tiger Woods also is unlikely to play, which would be the first time he missed Match Play when healthy and it was played in America.

There was talk that Justin Rose might miss that week, though that was before he injured his shoulder. Rose now is scheduled to make his 2014 debut next week at Riviera, and depending on how it goes, he is likely to play in Arizona to make up for lost time.

So the absentee list could include three or four players, meaning the magic number is either No. 67 or No. 68 — or deeper if anyone else withdraws. Scott Piercy, for example, has been dealing with an elbow injury. He’s at No. 65 in the world.

This is the final week to qualify for the Match Play, though players have until next Friday (Feb. 14) to officially commit.

So who’s on the bubble?

The only players competing this week are Richard Sterne (No. 64) in the Joburg Open, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (No. 66) at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Bo Van Pelt (No. 73) at Pebble and D.A. Points (No. 75) at Pebble.

Brooks Koepka finished third in Dubai last week and moved to No. 68, one spot of Florida roommate Peter Uihlein. Neither is playing this week. Uihlein, a former U.S. Amateur champion, missed the cut in Dubai by one shot after his 3-wood to the par-5 18th in the second round caromed off the grandstands and back across the green into the water. That missed cut could end up costing him a spot in a WGC.

Four players worked their way into the top 64 by winning this year — Patrick Reed (Humana Challenge), Scott Stallings (Torrey Pines), Pablo Larrazabal (Abu Dhabi), Stephen Gallacher (Dubai) and Kevin Stadler (Phoenix). Mikko Ilonen also secured a spot by finishing second in Qatar and fifth in Dubai.

Kevin Stadler won the Phoenix Open on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title when playing partner Bubba Watson missed a 5-footer for par on the final hole.

Stadler, the 33-year-old son of PGA Tour winner Craig Stadler, closed with a 3-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over Watson and Canadian Graham DeLaet.

Stadler won in his 239th PGA Tour start, earning a spot in the Masters — a tournament his father won in 1982. The Stadlers are the ninth father-son winners in tour history.

Stadler finished at 16-under 268 at TPC Scottsdale, his home course. Raised in Colorado, he played in Denver Broncos colours, wearing an orange shirt and blue pants and hat.

Watson finished with a 71, while DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask. carded a 65. After hitting it into the water on the 15th, DeLaet rallied with birdies on the final two holes. He also tied for second last week at Torrey Pines.

DeLaet gains momentum after back-to-back second place finishes

On the heels of a second place finish last week at the Farmers Insurance Open, Graham DeLaet fired a pair of 65’s over the weekend at TPC Scottsdale to record his fourth top 10 finish of the season.

“I have been playing well for the last few months, I really feel like I worked super hard in the off-season. It’s nice to see it paying off,” DeLaet said. “Disappointing here to be within one, I think this is the fourth time now, but I’ll be back I hope.”

After dunking his tee shot into the pond on the par-5 15th hole, DeLaet rebounded with a birdie on the short par-4 17th and rolled in a second birdie on his closing hole to grab a share of the lead.

“I knew that I needed probably to birdie the last two, that back pin on 17 is really, really tough, and I hit what I thought was a pretty good shot there, but I still had 12, 15 feet,” he said. “To birdie the last, I knew that I had to, I was trying to hole it, but, you know, birdie is second best.”

The second place finish earned DeLaet $545,000 and moved him into 11th place in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s currently the highest ranked Canadian in world at No. 26.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open drew an estimated 563,008 fans, breaking the seven-day record of record of 538,356 set in 2008. The tournament set records the last five days, drawing agolf-record 189,722 on Saturday and 60,232 on Sunday.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – A desert critter saved leader Bubba Watson at least a stroke Saturday in the Phoenix Open. Some pigskin play cost Phil Mickelson to the chagrin of the rowdiest fans in the largest crowd in golf history.

The estimated 189,722 fans had a lot to see on a sunny, cool day at TPC Scottsdale.

Watson’s drive on the par-5 13th went into a desert bush and settled next to a burrowing animal hole that would have interfered with his swing. He got a free drop, ended up saving par on the way to a 3-under 68 and a two-stroke lead at 15 under.

Mickelson made a double bogey on the par-3 16th hole, the 20,000-seat stadium hole where he “lost focus” thinking about throwing footballs into the crowd. He had a 72 to drop to 3 under.

Canadian Graham DeLaet shot himself up the leaderboard with a 6-under 65. DeLaet, from Weyburn, Sask., is six shots off the pace at 9-under 204.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot a 73, and is 13 shots back at 211.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Phil Mickelson made it to the weekend in the Phoenix Open. Another popular left-hander and a fellow former Arizona State player set the pace.

A week after withdrawing from Torrey Pines because of back pain, Mickelson shot a 4-under 67 in his afternoon round Friday at cool and breezy TPC Scottsdale. The defending champion was eight strokes behind leaders Bubba Watson and Matt Jones.

“I’m not totally out of it,” Mickelson said. “Obviously, heading into the weekend, I’d like to be closer, but as we have seen in the past, there is that 8-, 9-, 10-, in some cases 11-under par round out there.”

Indeed, the three-time champion has shot 11-under 60 twice in the event, in the second round in his 2005 victory and last year in the first round.

Watson, the long-hitting left-hander who won the 2012 Masters, followed his opening 64 with a 66 to reach 12 under. Jones, the Australian who played at Arizona State and lives in Scottsdale, had his second straight 65.

“It’s right where I want to be going into the weekend,” Watson said.

The 43-year-old Mickelson felt soreness in his back two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi, and pulled out at Torrey Pines after making the 36-hole cut. He flew to Georgia to see back specialist Tom Boers and was told his facet joints locked up.

“My back feels great,” Mickelson said. “Like I said, it was a simple fix. I just don’t want to overdo it.”

Lefty saved par with a 12-footer on the par-5 15th hole after hitting his second shot into the water. On Thursday in his opening 71, he reached the green in two and three-putted for par from about the same distance.

“Very difficult conditions to go really low,” Mickelson said.

Harris English and Greg Chalmers shot 67 to reach 10 under, and Pat Perez, Kevin Stadler and Hideki Matsuyama were 9 under. Matsuyama had a 67, and Perez and Stadler shot 68.

Watson opened with a birdie on the par-4 10th. In 50-degree conditions with the wind hours away on the cloudy day when it barely reached the mid-60s, he hit a 315-yard drive to set up a 70-yard shot that he hit to 4 feet.

“Back is not as loose as you want it to be, weather is not as warm as you want it to be,” Watson said. “But I hit a good tee shot, and then I hit my wedge in there close and I made the putt. … That got me going.”

Wearing lime greens shoes and an otherwise all-black outfit, Watson bogeyed the par-3 seventh after driving right. He made a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-4 eighth and closed with a bogey on the par-4 ninth after his wedge shot spun off the green.

“I had two sloppy bogeys coming down the stretch, but I will take it,” Watson said.

Jones birdied four of his last six holes. He also played in the morning.

“We definitely got the good side of the draw,” Jones said.

Despite the cooler weather, the tournament set an attendance record for the third straight day with an estimated crowd of 123,674. Since Monday, an estimated 313,054 people have attended the event. The seven-day record of 538,356 was set in 2008.

It also was expected to be cool over the weekend, with highs in the low-60s.

Jones is a regular at the course, but doesn’t consider that an advantage.

“The golf course is so different tournament week than it is when you play out here regularly,” Jones said. “It’s a lot harder, a lot faster. The greens are a lot quicker. The pins are a lot more tucked out here. So, it’s like a new golf course when you come here for a tournament.”

Brandt Snedeker had the best round of the day, a 64 in the morning to reach 8 under.

“My putting, plain and simple,” Snedeker said. “I hit the ball extra good yesterday and had some of the worst putting I had all year. Today, I kind of did the opposite.”

La Quinta winner Patrick Reed also was 8 under after his second 67. Playing alongside Watson, Reed hit to a foot for a birdie on the par-3 16th stadium hole.

Making a statement about the PGA Tour’s decision to ban caddie races to the green on the rowdy hole, players Robert Garrigus and Morgan Hoffman sprinted to the putting surface. Garrigus made a birdie, and Hoffman had a bogey.

Keegan Bradley followed his opening 66 with an 80, The score was the second-highest of his PGA Tour career, following an 82 last year in the Masters. He made a triple-bogey 8 on No. 3 and had eight bogeys and two birdies.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., is eight shots back, with a 1-under 70 leaving him at 4-under 138 for the tournament. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., is another stroke back after turning in a 72.

The rest of the Canadian contingent missed the cut, which was 1-under 141. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., finished at 145. Amateur Ki Taek Lee of Vancouver wound up at 147, while Calgary’s Stephen Ames was another shot back.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – From the moment Phil Mickelson set foot at TPC Scottsdale early Thursday morning, it was clear that the back pain that sidelined him last weekend was gone.

It also was quickly evident that his game was a little off.

“My back is fine. My game was a little rusty,” Mickelson said after opening his Phoenix Open title defence with an even-par 71.

After effortlessly hitting his opening drive 300 yards down the middle on the par-4 10th, Mickelson dumped a 90-yard wedge shot into the left greenside bunker. He blasted 10 feet past the hole and sighed in relief when his par putt slid in.

A few minutes later on the par-3 12th, Mickelson found the water hazard along the right side of the green. His chip from the fringe stopped about 15 feet short and he two-putted for a double bogey. He three-putted twice, once for par and another for bogey.

“I threw away a lot of shots,” Mickelson said. “I made some careless swings. Hitting it in the water on 12 was just pathetic.”

He was seven strokes behind leaders Bubba Watson and Y.E. Yang.

“I got off to a poor start, played a couple over, and finished poorly,” Mickelson said. “In the middle of the round, though, I hit a lot of good shots and had a good little run, but it just wasn’t quite sharp. I wasn’t quite focused on every shot the way I need to be and let way too many shots slide.”

Mickelson first felt soreness in his back two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi, and pulled out of his hometown event in San Diego after making the 36-hole cut at Torrey Pines. He flew to Georgia to see back specialist Tom Boers and was told his facet joints locked up.

“It’s fine. Honestly, it’s no big deal,” Mickelson said. “It was a five-minute fix. I just have to be careful for a week or two as it heals up. It’s fine. Mobility is back. It’s just not a big deal. … It happens every now and then. Last time was about four years ago.”

After the double bogey on 12, he rebounded with 20-foot birdie putts on the next two holes, but three-putted for par on the par-5 15th after hitting a hybrid pin-high from 245 yards.

“Fifteen really stung,” Mickelson said. “It was only a 12- or 15-footer, and I am thinking eagle. I roll it 6 feet by and I miss it coming back. That was costly.

Mickelson got to 3 under with birdies on Nos. 17, 1 and 4, then bogeyed three of his last five holes. He three-putted the par-4 fifth – missing from 5 1/2 and 3 1/2 feet – and failed to get-up-down for par after finding greenside bunkers on Nos. 7 and 9.

“Playing the last five holes at 3 over … that was really bad,” Mickelson said.

He hit five of 14 fairways, 11 greens in regulation and had 30 putts.

“I wasn’t as sharp as I need to be, for sure,” Mickelson said.

In his victory last year, he opened with a 60 _ lipping out a birdie putt on the final hole – and matched the tournament record at 28-under 256. The 43-year-old former Arizona State star is making his 25th appearance in the event that he also won in 1996 and 2005.

“It’s fun to be back here,” Mickelson said. “I love playing here.”

Watson and Yang shot 64.

Watson birdied four of the final six holes. The 2012 Masters champion had eight birdies and a bogey in the afternoon session.

“This golf course, if your ball-striking is good, you can shoot some good numbers here,” Watson said after hitting 17 greens in regulation. “Hit a lot of greens, didn’t make too many mistakes, didn’t miss too many fairways. Just played solid.”

Yang birdied the final two holes. The 2009 PGA winner also had eight birdies and a bogey, playing the back nine in 6-under 30 in his morning round.

“I think you have to be aggressive,” the South Korean player said through a translator. “At the same time, you can’t be too aggressive. … You have to really balance it out, but you still have to be a little bit more aggressive than other tournaments.”

Scottsdale residents Pat Perez, Kevin Stadler and Matt Jones were a stroke back at 65 along with Harris English, William McGirt, Greg Chalmers and Chris Kirk.

English birdied Nos. 12-15 to top the leaderboard at 8 under, but bogeyed the par-3 16th – the rowdy stadium hole – and the par-4 18th.

He hit an 8-iron over the green on the 178-yard 16th.

“I guess I was a little juiced up on that tee,” English said. “I left myself with an impossible up-and-down.”

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., fired a 4-under 67. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., is another shot back at 68. Amateur Ki Taek Lee of Vancouver shot a 2-over 74. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., carded a 75, and Calgary’s Stephen Ames had a 76.

The crowd was estimated at 88,113, a record for the first round.

SAN DIEGO – J.B. Holmes made another return from surgery at San Diego, this time with far less fanfare.

Then again, tennis elbow doesn’t sound nearly as bad as brain surgery.

What kept Holmes off the PGA Tour for the longest spell of his career was surgery on his left elbow. He had not played in nearly a year – a 78 to miss the cut in the Honda Classic last March – but is finally feeling as healthy as he has been in four years.

In a roundabout way, the elbow might have been connected to the brain.

Holmes had been dealing with vertigo symptoms in 2011 when he eventually was diagnosed with structural defects in the cerebellum known as Chiari malformations. He had surgery twice in 2011, once to remove a piece of his skull, another because of an allergic reaction to the adhesive on the titantium plate at the base of his skull.

He was trying to get ready for the Shark Shootout at the end of 2011 when he started hitting balls – too many, too hard, too soon.

“I pushed it too hard that day, and I’ve been fighting the tennis elbow ever since,” Holmes said Sunday after he tied for 19th at Torrey Pines.

The blessing in disguise might have come last March when he was on roller blades as part of his fitness routine and broke his left ankle after an awkward fall. Holmes wasn’t sure he could have played anyway, because his arm was so sore. While recovering from the ankle, he figured he should take care of his elbow.

“The ankle was not that big of a deal,” Holmes said. “I had surgery on my arm. It was more getting past that.”

At least this time, Holmes is taking it slow.

He was able to chip and putt as the FedEx Cup playoffs were getting started (he failed to qualify for the first time). He was taking easy swings in the fall, and then waited until the Farmers Insurance Open to return. He is playing this week in the Phoenix Open, where he won as a rookie fresh out of Q-school in 2006.

“I want to get out there and beat balls, but I want to make sure it doesn’t come back,” he said.

Holmes said he was at 95 per cent strength. He is playing this year on a major medical exemption and believes he’ll be back on track in no time. The last time he was healthy?

“Probably the year before brain surgery,” he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Tiger Woods doesn’t sound too worried over matching his worst score in America on a course where he had won eight times.

“I wouldn’t read anything into what happened Saturday at Torrey Pines,” Woods said Tuesday after an 18-hole exhibition for past winners of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Woods was the defending champion at the Farmers Insurance Open when he sent seven straight holes making bogey or worse – including consecutive double bogeys for the first time in more than two years, on his way to a 79 as he missed the 54-hole cut.

“It was just one of those days that happens, and it was one of the trains I just couldn’t get off,” said Woods, who was speaking for the first time since the third round in San Diego on Saturday. “There was nothing different with my ball-striking today (Tuesday) compared to last Saturday.”

Woods had three early birdies in the “Former Champions Challenge,” but lost momentum and finished with a shot into the water for double bogey on the par-5 18th hole. He shot 71 and tied for eighth.

Henrik Stenson, who won the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai last year, and Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain, each had 66. They tied for first and each earned $250,000. Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros tied for third at 68.

Woods said he spent Sunday at home in Florida working on his putting before heading to Dubai.

He is a two-time champion of this event and has finished no worse than fifth all but one time in six appearances. That was in 2011, his worst year as a pro.

“I went home and had a nice day off,” Woods said. “Worked on putting a bit in the backyard and that was it. I am not that far off. It’s just that I had one bad day, and that happens.”

Woods will play the opening two rounds with McIlroy and defending champion Stephen Gallacher. Woods played the Tuesday exhibition with Gallacher and Fred Couples. He said he hasn’t played with Gallacher since the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl. Woods and John Harris defeated Gallacher and Gordon Sherry in a foursomes match.

Woods and McIlroy also played together a year ago in Abu Dhabi, where both of them missed the cut. Woods was one shot inside the cut until being assessed a two-shot penalty for taking what he thought was a free drop from an embedded lie in a sandy area.

McIlroy began his season two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi and finished one shot behind. He was penalized in the third round for not taking full relief from an area marked ground under repair.