Nitties and Glover set early pace in Scottsdale

Australian James Nitties and American Lucas Glover both posted rounds of six-under-par 65 to lead the way as yesterday’s first round of the FBR Open was suspended due to darkness.

Nine players will conclude their rounds before second-round play begins.

Looking nothing like the player who missed the cut in the first two events of the year, Nitties enjoyed a scintillating start at TPC Scottsdale, reeling off four consecutive birdies from the 3rd hole.

Following his only bogey, he immediately responded with another birdie at the par-four eighth hole.

Nitties played a solid back nine before birdies at the 17th and 18th gave him the clubhouse lead.

“I hit it pretty solidly, obviously. I putted well today, I fixed a little bit of my putting issues last week,” Nitties said. “I didn’t really get into too much trouble all day and if I did, I’d sort of make the smart decision and it worked together well.”

Glover started his round on the back nine and registered seven birdies against a solitary bogey.

After birdieing the 13th, 15th and 16th, he dropped his only stroke on the par-four 17th hole.

“Any course like this, you hit it in the wrong place, you’ve got to be careful,” Glover said.

“But they grew it (the rough) up on us this year and it looks like some of the fairways are pinched in a little bit. Either that or it’s just higher in places.”

The American concluded his first nine holes with a birdie on the 18th then picked up shots at the first, fourth and sixth in a bogey-free second nine.

Phil Mickelson’s 2009 debut got off to a rocky start in a tournament that has netted him US dollars 2,455,813 in 17 previous appearances.

A local favourite having played his college golf at Arizona State and capturing the title here in 1996 and 2005, Mickelson posted a five-over 76.

“Well, it really wasn’t what I was hoping for,” Mickelson said.

“I guess that’s a good way to say it. I had three penalty shots. That hurts.

“But it didn’t feel that far off. I felt like I hit the ball pretty solid. I was hitting it hard. I had some good speed. I just didn’t have it obviously going very straight.”

After opening his round with a double bogey, he bounced back with a birdie on the par-five third hole.

However, Mickelson‘s round went downhill from there as a bogey on the sixth was followed by another double bogey on the par-four ninth and back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th.

“I feel like I can come back out tomorrow and shoot a good round and play the weekend,” Mickelson added.

“I probably have to shoot about five-under but that doesn’t feel out of the question, even though the first-round scores might look disgusting. But it doesn’t feel far off.”

David Berganio Jr and Charley Hoffman carded rounds of 66 to lie one shot off the lead heading into the second round.

Berganio, who started his round on the back nine, enjoyed a prolific start as he birdied four of his first five holes, including three in a row from the 12th. He added his final birdie of the day at the par-four first hole.

Hoffman, coming off a tie for 19th last week at the Bob Hope Classic, birdied two of his first three holes on the front nine. He also enjoyed success coming home, birdieing the 10th, 13th and 15th.

“If you keep the ball in the fairway here you can attack some of the pins and make some birdies,” Hoffman said.

“Luckily enough I was able to keep the ball in the fairway the majority of the time, which obviously gave me some birdie chances, and took advantage of the par-fives and birdied all of them.”

JB Holmes, attempting to win this event for a third consecutive year, started his round in excellent fashion.

Following a birdie on the 11th and a bogey on the par-three 12th hole, Holmes birdied five straight holes to climb the leaderboard.

However Holmes, who overcame Mickelson in a play-off last year, lost all momentum on the front nine, registering four bogeys without a birdie to card a one-under 70.