Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington Continue Their Slow Start to the Season

Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington each continued his slow start to the 2009 season on Thursday at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. 

Mickelson is making his third appearance of the 2009 season, while Harrington is making just his second on the PGA Tour. 

In his first two events, Mickelson missed the cut at the FBR Open and finished in a tie for 42nd at the Buick Invitational last week. 

Heading into this week’s event, virtually every aspect of Mickelson’s game appeared to be extremely rusty, including his usual round-saving short game.

Playing at Spyglass Hills yesterday, Mickelson carded an even-par 72 in yet another very erratic, up-and-down round.

Mickelson made the turn at one under par but double-bogeyed the 10th, which he followed with birdies at the 11th and 12th before carding another bogey at the 13th.

Although Mickelson did putt better than he had in previous weeks, his driving and iron play was still very erratic.

Michelson hit just 64 percent of fairways off the tee on Thursday, which ranked 125th in the field.

As has been the case all year, Mickelson also struggled with his approach shots, hitting just 61 percent of greens in regulation, which ranked 118th in the field.

Although the scorecard doesn’t show it, Mickelson actually did look at least slightly closer to regaining the game one would expect from the fifth-ranked player in the world.

Hitting 64 percent of fairways and 61 percent of greens in regulation is an improvement upon his first two events, and any improvement means that he is at least moving in the right direction.

Mickelson will play his second round at Poppy Hills today before moving on to the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

After finishing in a tie for 47th at his PGA Tour debut last week at Torrey Pines, Harrington also entered the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am anxious to burn off some of the remaining rust on his game.

However, the rust was still very visible during his first round on Thursday.

Playing at Poppy Hills, Harrington carded a two-over-par 74, which places him in a tie for 138th and well outside of the cut line after 18 holes.

Harrington’s statistical performance on Thursday was virtually the exact opposite of Mickelson’s.

Harrington hit 92 percent of fairways off the tee and 83 percent of greens in regulation, which demonstrates that at least the rust is beginning to fall from his ball striking.

However, Harrington, who is usually a very steady-handed putter, needed an incredible 37 putts to make it around Poppy Hills on Thursday, which ranked second to last in the entire field.

Harrington, who is playing at the more difficult Pebble Beach Golf Links today, will need to card low scores today and tomorrow if he wants to continue enjoying the majestic views of the Monterrey Peninsula on Sunday afternoon.