Rickie Fowler has share of lead at suspended Phoenix Open

Rickie Fowler overcame some bad shots for a share of the lead Thursday in the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. Phil Mickelson compounded his mistakes and fell back.

After an hour-long frost delay at chilly TPC Scottsdale, Fowler played the first six holes in five under. A group behind, Mickelson took the lead at five under with a birdie on his eighth hole.

While Fowler finished with a six-under 65 to tie Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama for the lead in the suspended first round, Mickelson had a 69 after dropping four strokes in a two-hole stretch.

“I made some good putts to start,” Fowler said. “Just kind of got everything going. Made a couple of bad swings. Cost me a little bit, but other than that, nice way to get off to a good start.”

Mickelson bogeyed the par-three fourth after hitting short and right and failing to reach the green with his second, and unraveled with a triple bogey on the par-four fifth. He drove out of bounds to the right, hit his second tee shot into the right bunker and three-putted from 50 feet.

“I hit a bad shot at the wrong time,” Mickelson said. “It’s the tightest hole out there. You miss the fairway 5 yards left, you’re in the wash, in the hazard. You miss it right of the bunker, you’re out of bounds. … I’m not going to dwell on the one bad one because there were really a lot of good ones.”

The best one was on the par-five 13th — his fourth hole of the day — when he hit a 252-yard hybrid approach to within 2 1/2 feet to set up an eagle.

Winless in 48 events since the 2013 British Open, the 45-year-old former Arizona State player is working with swing coach Andrew Getson after splitting with Butch Harmon. Lefty tied for third two weeks ago at La Quinta in his season debut and missed the cut last week at Torrey Pines.

“When you don’t score as low as you feel like you’re playing, it can be frustrating, but for me, I find it to be more encouraging that I’m making a lot of birdies,” said Mickelson, the tournament winner in 1996, 2005 and 2013.

Fowler also missed the cut at Torrey Pines after winning the European Tour event in Abu Dhabi the previous week. He has four worldwide victories in the last nine months.

“I know I have been swinging well and playing well,” Fowler said. “I just didn’t make anything last week.”

Fowler opened with a birdie on the par-four 10th as the temperature crawled into the 40s, holing a 16-foot putt. He made a 35-footer on the 12th, two-putted for birdie on the 13th and made a 28-foot eagle putt on the par-five 15th after hitting a 258-yard shot over the water.

“I had a good number in there,” Fowler said. “Actually, put a five-wood in play last week, a new one.”

India’s Anirban Lahiri was a stroke back at 66, and Bryce Molder also was at five under with two holes left. He was one of 33 players who failed to finish.

Bubba Watson opened with a 69, finishing in fading light a day after saying he doesn’t like the renovated course and is only playing the tournament out of loyalty to his sponsors. The two-time Masters champion tied for second the last two seasons.

Ko tied for LPGA tournament lead

Lydia Ko played enough golf Thursday to catch up to the lead. She just didn’t play enough to finish the rain-delayed second round of the Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Fla.

Ko, the No. 1 player in women’s golf making her 2016 debut, was at four under for her round and had a 15-foot birdie putt on her final hole at the par-four ninth hole at Golden Ocala when the horn sounded to stop play because of thunderstorms in the area.

Ko was seven under for the tournament, tied with Ha Na Jang.

Jang, who opened with a 65, was not scheduled to tee off until Thursday afternoon. Within an hour of play being stopped, several greens already under flooded and rain was in the forecast for the rest of the day.

The 72-hole tournament is scheduled to end Saturday.