Amy Olson placed second at U.S. Women’s Open, but she won in resilience

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Phil Mickelson has gone nine months since he finished among the top 20, and it looks as though that streak is about to end at the Wells Fargo Championship. RELATED: Leaderboard | Rickie Fowler solid in return The 50-year-old Mickelson kept his focus Thursday at Quail Hollow and blistered the course for a 7-under 64 to build a two-shot lead after the opening round. All but one of his eight birdies was longer than about 5 feet. Mickelson ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch around the turn. He closed with two birdies and a superb par save on the par-4 ninth for his best score since a 63 in the second round of the Travelers Championship last June. Lefty missed the cut last week in the Valspar Championship and said he was concerned about losing concentration and dropping shots during stretches of a round. That wasn’t an issue at Quail Hollow, a course he loves for its mixture of birdie holes and tough par holes. “The biggest thing for me was I was able to say in the present and focus on each shot,” Mickelson said. “My mind has been prone to wander.” K.H. Lee had a 66 in the morning, while Innisbrook runner-up Keegan Bradley had a 66 in the afternoon. The group at 67 included former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Tommy Fleetwood and Keith Mitchell, who reached 6 under until a sloppy double bogey on the long par-3 sixth hole and closed with a bogey. Still, Mitchell was 15 shots better than his previous round, an 82 on Sunday at Innisbrook. Mickelson attributed most of the fun to his grouping of everyman Joel Dahmen (68) and old-soul Lanto Griffin, who struggled to a 75 as he tries to secure a spot in the U.S. Open. Dahmen had tweeted that a round with Mickelson was on his bucket list and that he looked forward to see how his game would stack up against the best on the PGA TOUR Champions. Mickelson has won twice on the senior circuit since turning 50 last summer. “He’s a great guy,” Dahmen said. “He’s so full of … information, would be a good way to put it. I poked him a little bit, and he played awesome. I was trying not to get my butt kicked too bad.” Mostly, though, this was Phil looking like the old Phil. His lone bogey came on No. 11, his second hole of the afternoon round. His longest birdie putt was 15 feet on the 341-yard 14th, reachable off the tee but tough to get it close to the back right pin. Mickelson got up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 15th hole. From there, he barely missed with his irons. It started with an approach into 5 feet on No. 16. After a par save from right of the green on the par-3 17th, Mickelson hit into 3 feet on the 18th, 5 feet on the 507-yard first hole. He finished out his round with a long two-putt birdie on the par-5 seventh, and a beautiful pitch to 5 feet with the pin on an upper shelf. Quail Hollow wasn’t easy for some of the other stars. Rory McIlroy, a two-time winners at the Wells Fargo, opened with a 72 as he tries to make it to the weekend for the first time since Bay Hill two months ago. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau birdied two of his last three holes for a 70. DeChambeau was going along fine until a big drive found a bunker, and he sent his next shot out-of-bounds to the right, leading to double bogey. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele each shot 72. Jon Rahm had eight bogeys in his first tournament since the Masters and shot 76. Justin Thomas held his own with a 69 in the morning. Mickelson said he has been doing some mental exercises, though maybe he should have just asked the TOUR earlier to put him with Dahmen and Griffin. Dahmen said some of the discussions inside the ropes were different from other players. “We got in some dopamine talk, frontal lobe and dopamine, and then the units of it, which I was actually impressed with,” Dahmen said. “Then he hit a 6-iron to 3 feet, so he must have had his dopamine correct on that one.” Mickelson is No. 115 in the world and still not eligible for the U.S. Open. His last victory was more than two years ago at Pebble Beach. His last good opportunity to win was at the World Golf Championship in Tennessee last summer. “There’s nothing physically holding me back from playing at a high level, but you cannot make mistakes at this level,” he said. “The guys out here are just so good, and I’ve been making a lot of errors, just simply not being mentally sharp.”

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Martin Flores would prefer not having his back against the wall. But it seems to bring out the best of him, especially at the Wyndham Championship. A year ago, he entered Wyndham ranked 139th in FedExCup points but made the Playoffs thanks to an ace and a birdie down the stretch on Sunday. He began this week in even more of a precarious spot, ranked 162nd in points, which means he’ll likely need a solo third place or better in order to again bust the Top 125 bubble and retain his TOUR card for another season. FEDEXCUP: Latest projected standings | This week’s scenarios He took a big step Thursday with a 6-under 64, his lowest score in 83 rounds this season. It’s the same score he shot in last year’s opening round at Sedgefield and has left him tied for fourth. Asked if he feels comfortable in these do-or-die situations, Flores said: “I don’t really like it, but I seem to perform well when that is the case. I definitely have unfortunately made a small habit of it of late. I would like to change that, for sure.â€� Flores needed to finish inside the top 10 a year ago. That opening 64 left him tied for 10th but he had fallen to T-23 entering the last round. He was still outside the Playoff cutline going into the final three holes. He then aced the par-3 16th and birdied the 18th to finish with a 63, moving him into a tie for seventh and 118th in the FedExCup standings – good enough to make the Playoffs for the fourth time in his career. “I can draw a lot of positives from last year,â€� Flores said. “This is definitely not the situation you want to be in. You cannot come here and expect to do that every time.â€� It hasn’t been a productive season for the Texan, whose best finish is a T-13 in March at the Corales Puntacana Championship. But he started working last week with Dallas-based coach Josh Gregory, who altered his putting grip and set-up. Flores also changed putters. On Thursday, he rolled in 160 feet of putts, ranking first in the field in strokes gained: putting. He had entered the week ranked T-184 in that category. “I really felt like I couldn’t putt any worse, to be honest,â€� Flores said. “It was time for something different.â€� PROJECTION AFTER 59: Brandt Snedeker’s 59 on Thursday not only gave him a four-shot lead after the first round, it moved him up significantly in the projected FedExCup standings. The 2012 FedExCup champ is projected to finish 30th in points after starting the week in 80th. Only the top 30 after the third Playoffs event, the BMW Championship, will have a shot to win the FedExCup at the TOUR Championship. PERFECT STREAKERS: Sergio Garcia and Bill Haas entered this week outside the top 125 and in danger of missing the Playoffs for the first time in the FedExCup era. Garcia (131st) opened with a 66 while Haas (150th) shot a 69. Both remain projected outside the 125. Garcia said he wasn’t aware of his perfect attendance record in the Playoffs. “I’ve never been a big fan of records,â€� he said. Garcia’s playing for the fifth straight week and has missed the cut in three of his previous four starts. “We’ll see what happens,â€� he said. “If I play well, great. If I don’t, it’s also good because I’ll get to rest. … It’s a lot of golf – and at the age that I am, even more.â€� BUBBLE BOY UPDATE: Tyrone Van Aswegen is No. 125 in points and likely needs to finish 45th or better to make the Playoffs. He opened Thursday with a 2-under 68 that included a double bogey and is currently projected to fall outside the 125. “I’ve got to do something fairly well this week in order to keep my card,â€� the South African said. “I can’t just coast and I can’t miss the cut.â€� PROJECTED IN/OUT Here are the players who are projected to move in and out of the top 125 after Thursday’s first round at Sedgefield. PROJECTED IN Corey Conners (128 to projected 122) – The rookie shot a 5-under 65, with four birdies in his last six holes. Nick Taylor (129 to projected 123) – Taylor – who, like Conners, is Canadian – also shot a 5-under 65, fueled by a string of four straight birdies on his back nine. PROJECTED OUT Martin Piller (124 to projected 126) – Piller shot an even-par 70. Tyrone Van Aswegen (125 to projected 127) – The South African shot a 2-under 68.

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