Allenby flies over the radar with a 63

The question at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic became: How low did Robert Allenby really go?

The Australian appeared to be flirting with a sub-60 round Wednesday at La Quinta Country Club, ready to duplicate the 59 that David Duval shot at the Hope in 1999.

It was a mirage.

Turns out that the volunteer scorekeeper who was tracking Allenby’s group inadvertently relayed some wrong scores back to command central and, for a brief period, it was thought Allenby might be in at 12-under-par 60.

“The scorekeeper was trying to be nice to me, but I don’t think he was all there today,” Allenby joked afterward. “...But I knew what was going on.”

Allenby had the correct score on his card.

He signed for nine-under 63, good for a two-shot lead over Mark Calcavecchia and Craig Kanada, who shot seven-under 65s in the first round of the 90-hole event.

Calcavecchia holds the distinction of being the only player to reach 30 under twice at the Bob Hope event and not win it.

“Thanks,” Calcavecchia said when reminded of that fact.

Kanada was the other short guy who fared well at last week’s Sony Open.

Tadd Fujikawa, the 5-foot-1, 16-year-old amateur powder keg, garnered most of the headlines by becoming the youngest player in 50 years to make a cut on tour. Fujikawa tied for 20th.

But Kanada, who measures 5-9 and 150 pounds, finished tied for 10th. After a stint on the Nationwide Tour, Kanada is back in the big leagues for the first time since 2001 -- and hoping to stick for good.

Eight players, including Scott Verplank and Jason Gore, were at six-under 66, with Corey Pavin, the former UCLA star and a two-time winner at the Bob Hope, one of seven players who shot five-under 67.

Another at 67 was Duval, who is using a career-earnings exemption to stay on tour as he tries to recapture the magic he had here eight years ago.

Missing among the leaders were Chad Campbell, the defending champion, and Phil Mickelson. Both are tied for 46th place after shooting two-under 70.

Mickelson could have used Allenby’s scorekeeper.

Making his 2007 debut, Mickelson played the front nine at La Quinta in one-over 37. He started birdie, bogey, bogey, double bogey. He was three over after four holes in a tournament where 30 under might not win -- ask Calcavecchia.

“It was erratic,” Mickelson said of his round. “I hit a lot of great shots. I hit a lot of poor shots.”

He rallied on the back, making four consecutive birdies and shooting a three-under 33.

This is only the early stages of the Mickelson makeover -- his first competitive round since September’s Ryder Cup. He devoted his off-season to fitness and reworking the driver that foiled him on the finishing hole at last year’s U.S. Open.

He’s still a re-work in progress. Mickelson hit only six of 14 fairways.

“I was nervous a little bit today,” he said. “I haven’t been nervous on a first tee in quite some time. I had a little butterfly.”

Allenby had no such worries.

He finished tied for eighth at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii and carried that momentum from the sea to the sand.

Allenby is a four-time winner on tour, last starring in the Southland when he won the 2001 Nissan Open in a six-man playoff, making birdie in the rain on the first extra hole to take home first prize at Riviera.

The only thing holding Allenby back at the start was that he came to the course without his putter, leaving it back at the hotel.

“I came all the way out to the golf course and realized it wasn’t there and so I sent my trainer back to get it,” Allenby said.

It was a wonder Allenby, or anyone else, could crawl out of bed.

It was another cold morning in the desert.

In fact, frost delayed the start times on all four courses.

Dudley Hart, who shot a 66 at the Classic Club, said the temperature in his car read 32 degrees when he left for the course.

“It only got colder when I got here,” he said.

The weather did eventually warm, but not before Hart sacrificed some golf accessories to the frozen tundra.

“I did break my tee trying to fix a ball mark,” Hart said.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com