Mickelson pressures early leaders at Doral

Phil Mickelson's scores from Doral over the past two years clearly suggested the redesigned Blue Monster wasn't completely to his liking.

He had to reacquaint himself with a course he played for more than 20 years, and indicated on Thursday that he finally has the new Doral figured out.

Mickelson shot a 5-under 67 in the opening round of the Cadillac Championship, the first World Golf Championships event of the year.

Seeking his first win since the 2013 British Open, Mickelson made seven birdies and finished the day one shot back of leaders Scott Piercy and Marcus Fraser.

"There is a bit of a learning curve on some of the contours and where you have to go and the best place to be," Mickelson said.

"It's not like I came in here weeks before and mapped it out like a major. You're here only the week of. But this is our third year here now and it continues to get better each year."

Fraser had seven birdies before his lone bogey of the day, and Piercy also got to 7-under at one point before settling for his 66.

Mickelson made bogey only twice, immediately erasing each with a birdie on the following hole, and the 67 was nearly six full shots better than his average round score at Doral in his previous two visits.

Before Thursday, his best round on the Blue Monster was a 69 in 2014, and his lowest score at Doral last year was 71.

"It was a good day," said Mickelson, who feigned disbelief when his chip on the par-5 8th - his 17th of the day - stopped inches from the hole.

"I hit a lot of good shots, made some good putts and drove well. It was a good day."

Danny Willett, Adam Scott, Jason Dufner and Charley Hoffman were all two shots back of Piercy, each carding 68s.

World No 1 Jordan Spieth was in a group another shot back, three off the pace at 3-under, and said that even on a relatively calm day by Doral standards, it felt like a grind.

"It always is here," Spieth said. "And this would be a day that should play about as easy as it possibly can with just a 5-to 10-mile-an-hour breeze. The standard wind here I think. Still, the scores aren't extremely low."

Spieth was in a featured group, with world No 2 Jason Day and No 3 Rory McIlroy with him. McIlroy shot 1-under, Day finished at even par.

(China Daily 03/05/2016 page12)