Mickelson opens CareerBuilder with 68, 4 behind leaders incl. Dufner

Phil Mickelson delivered some hope to his fans on Thursday that his 2016 will mark the beginning of one last hurrah.

The 45-year-old opened the CareerBuilder Challenge with a first-round, 4-under 68 at La Quinta Country Club that has him four shots off the lead of four players: Jason Dufner, Anirban Lahiri, Jerry Kelly and Jeff Overton.

The highlight of Mickelson’s round was a two-hole stretch in which, at the eighth hole, Mickelson holed a wedge from 100 yards for an eagle 2. On the very next hole, Mickelson chipped in for birdie to make the turn in 5-under 31. The left-hander improved to 6 under par before a pair of disappointing bogeys in the final five holes left him with the final tally.

“It was a fun start to the year,” Mickelson said. “I’ve had a lot of time off, it was fun to get back into the swing of it. We had a beautiful day here, the weather’s spectacular, the golf course was great and I had a good, solid round.”

Dufner and Overton made their hay on Thursday at PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament course, one of two new courses in the three-course rotation this year.

Kelly, who, at 49, petered out at 8 under after 12 holes, and Lahiri, in his first full season as a PGA Tour player, both move from La Quinta on Thursday to the PGA West TPC Stadium course. The Stadium course, a Pete Dye-designed track deemed in the 1980s too difficult even for PGA Tour players, was the most challenging of the three courses on Thursday, playing more than two strokes more difficult on average than the other two courses in the rotation. The Stadium course will also host the final round after a 54-hole cut.

Defending champion Bill Haas is two shots behind the lead at 6 under par.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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