GOLF

Defending champion and tournament favorite Phil Mickelson of San Diego shot a 2-over-par 72 at the par-70, 6,557-yard Honors Course at Cleveland (Tenn.) Country Club in the first round of the U.S. Amateur tournament. Two other San Diego players shot better, including Manny Zerman, Michelson’s former high school teammate at USDHS who lost to him in the 1990 final, 5 and 4. Zerman shot a 69, while Fallbrook’s Craig Anderson was two under at 68.

Mickelson, who bogeyed three holes on the front nine, trailed leader Franklin Langham by seven strokes. Langham, from Thomson, Ga., opened with a 65. Todd Demsey of Rancho Santa Fe, Mickelson’s teammate at Arizona State and the 1991 San Diego City Amateur champion, shot a 74 and Jim Almand of San Diego shot a 76.