Phil Mickelson Struggles During His First 2009 PGA Tour Event

Phil Mickelson made his 2009 PGA Tour debut on Thursday in Scottsdale, AZ at the FBR Open, but it certainly wasn’t the start he was looking for.

Mickelson severely struggled off the tee, so much so that he probably could have given his caddie, Jim "Bones" McKay, the afternoon off in exchange for a camel as he spent a significant amount of time hitting balls from the Arizona desert rather than from the pristine fairways. 

Mickelson hit just 3-of-14 fairways on Thursday, which ranked 126th out of a field of 132 players. Not quite what you would expect from the No. 4 player in the world.

Although Mickelson was able to woo the crowd at times with his trademark Houdini-esque recovery shots, it is difficult to put yourself within reasonable birdie range when you are hitting approach shots from the desert sand.

Although Mickelson was a little more erratic than usual off the tee on Thursday, his inability to find the fairway is nothing new, and has always been the Achilles' heel of his game.

In 2008, Mickelson found the fairway off the tee just 55 percent of the time, which has been about his average throughout his career.

The bread and butter of Mickelson’s game has always been his short game and his putting.

Mickelson is normally so good around the greens that it doesn’t really matter if he hits his drive 20 yards off target; all he needs to do is hit his second shot somewhere in the vicinity of the green and he is very likely to get up and down for a par, or a birdie in the case of a par-five.

However, on Thursday, Mickelson made just two birdies all day en route to a first round score of 75 on a course where he has won before, and knows like the back of his hand.

Every golfer has a bad day here and there, and this being Mickelson’s first tournament round of the year, some rust on his clubs should be expected. But the most surprising thing about Mickelson’s round on Thursday was how he struggled with every single aspect of his game.

His driving was horrendous, his iron play was bad, and even his typically flawless short game left something to be desired.

Mickelson completely flubbed one of his trademark flop-shots, which he has all but perfected over the years.  He also sent several approach shots clear over the green, and his usually solid sand game also let him down. 

Combine those issues with his 31 putts over 18 holes, and you have yourself a round of golf that sounds as if it were played by a 10-handicapper—not the fourth-ranked player in the world.

After 18 holes, Mickelson’s name was in unfamiliar territory—near at the bottom of the leaderboard.

Mickelson will most likely have to shoot at least a five-under par 66 today if he wants to play golf this weekend, which is by no means out of the question. Mickelson carded a 60 on this course back in 2005.  

If Mickelson continues to struggle with virtually every club in his bag on Friday, this self-proclaimed football fanatic will be watching the Super Bowl from his couch instead of firing up the 20,000 strong crowd at the stadium hole in Phoenix.