LA QUINTA, Calif. — For Phil Mickelson, the CareerBuilder Challenge has acted as the official start to the golf calendar for the five-time major winner for the last seven years. It’s an opportunity to knock off the competitive winter rust and see where the game stacks up. Despite opening with a 2-under 70 that left him eight shots adrift of leader Jon Rahm — who briefly flirted with 59 Watch at La Quinta Country Club — Mickelson remained pleased with the progress he made over the last week-and-a-half working with coach Andrew Getson. “I think you’re a little bit more nervous in seeing where your game is at,” Mickelson said, “but the last week-and-a-half where I’ve been getting ready and preparing has gone really well.” For Mickelson, this offseason was decidedly different from the previous year when he underwent two sports hernia surgeries that kept him from getting in the necessary practice time on the course and in the gym in preparation for the season. “Last year was a tough start for me,” Mickelson said. “I had a couple of setbacks in the offseason and wasn’t quite as ready as I wanted to be when the season started. And so I was playing without the strength speed and practice time I wanted to. But this year is totally different. I’ve been able to get a lot of good work in these last couple of weeks. My game feels good.” With a clean bill of health, the challenge for Mickelson during the offseason was trying to rectify a balky driver that’s plagued him for much of his career. Never one to shy away from tinkering, Mickelson switched to a Callaway Rogue Sub Zero that was four swingweight points lighter than his previous driver — a significant change for a player who has typically gone with a heavier overall weight in an attempt to find more fairways. Save for a tee shot that was blown out of bounds on the par-4 8th hole at La Quinta — he would still go on to make bogey — Mickelson looked comfortable and confident with the new club in the bag, routinely pulling it out on tight driving holes and finding the fairway. “[The new driver] was great with one exception, which was a little flinch,” Mickelson said. “Other than that, I drove it very well. I’m excited about the year driving the ball. I feel like I had a nice little breakthrough and I feel like the new technology is much more stable on that Rogue that allows me to miss it not as big. I’m very optimistic.” The only part of Mickelson’s game that wasn’t working on Thursday was his iron play. Normally one of his strengths, he hit just nine greens in regulation and found himself in trouble a number of times during the round, including on the last hole where made bogey from the center of the fairway. “The strength of my game — my iron play — was not as tight today,” Mickelson said. “I didn’t hit it as close as I needed to and didn’t make as many birdies as I should have.” In addition to the new driver, Thursday marked the first time in 24 years that Mickelson started a season with someone other than Jim “Bones” Mackay on the bag. The two mutually parted ways during the offseason, opening up the opportunity for brother Tim to take on the duties on a full-time basis. With a new caddie and driver in the bag, Mickelson appears ready for the challenges that lie ahead this season, and the opportunity to once again chase down the U.S. Open trophy that’s eluded him his entire career. For now, though, he’s concentrated on the challenge at hand: trying to get back into contention in the desert. “I feel like I’ve been playing really well, even though they haven’t been competitive rounds,” Mickelson said. “I’ll have to get a couple of hot rounds to get back into the tournament, but I enjoy the challenge of it.”
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