WGC-Cadillac Championship 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Phil Mickelson. Adam Scott. Jordan Spieth. Bubba Watson. If the first round is any indication, it'll be a star-studded affair on the leaderboard at the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami.   

Oh, and a couple of dudes named Marcus Fraser and Scott Piercy will be there standing atop them all.

Fraser and Piercy each carded a six-under 66 in Thursday's first round to give them a one-stroke lead over the field at Doral. Mickelson (at five under) stands alone in third place followed by a foursome of players at four under highlighted by Scott. 

Fraser carded seven birdies with only one over-par score, turning in a sensational day on the greens.

The 37-year-old Aussie has been on a hot streak of late, and it showed immediately in his late-day round. Starting on the back nine, he carded consecutive birdies on No. 10 and No. 11 before draining another at No. 14 to make the turn at three under. He didn't truly hit his stride until he made it to the fifth tee box, where he carded his first of three consecutive birdies.

A mess of a hole on the par-five eighth, which featured a bunker and a water shot, forced him to give up a stroke. However, Fraser finished the round with a solid par to calm things down. Justin Ray of Golf Channel pointed out Fraser's multi-continental success:

The bulk of Piercy's success was likewise on the front nine, where he carded five of his eight birdies. He had a stretch of four birdies in five holes from No. 1 to No. 5, atoning for a back nine where he carded a pair of bad bogeys. A three-time winner of the PGA Tour, Piercy is trying his first tournament since the 2015 Barbasol Championship.

Both men were able to put themselves of a field stocked with elite talent. The Doral tournament almost has the feel of a pre-major, with the world's top 13 golfers in action.

Spieth, who has a stranglehold on the No. 1 ranking, sits in a tie for eighth after shooting three under. He had five birdies against two bogeys, both of which came on the front nine. The 22-year-old hit only half of his fairways but atoned for his mistakes with brilliant iron play, getting to 83.3 percent of his greens in regulation.

“I would certainly sign up right now for three more rounds with the same score,” Spieth said, per Ewan Murray of the Guardian. “I think we did a great job approaching this course like a major championship, giving it some respect, taking our medicine when we needed to and waiting for chances.”

Spieth is returning to competitive golf for the first time since being cut at last month's Northern Trust Open. He's finished in the top 10 in only one of his three tournaments so far in 2016.

Nevertheless, Spieth got the best of both of his playing partners Thursday, as Rory McIlroy and Jason Day sit outside the top 10. McIlroy is in a tie for 16th after an up-and-down round that finished in frustration. The former No. 1 carded five birdies against two bogeys and went into the day's final hole tied with Spieth at three under.

Then the whole thing fell apart on the par-three ninth. McIlroy smacked his drive into the water and hit his recovery shot well out of contention for a bogey save. He wound up doubling the hole, a mistake he talked about after the round. 

"The good stuff's in there, it's just a matter of not hitting shots like the one I hit on nine," McIlroy said, per Ali Stafford of Sky Sports. "I just overdid it. Maybe leaned on it a little bit too much and maybe being a little bit overly aggressive after making a par on the eighth hole.

"So it's all these little things. It's tiny margins and when you're playing well and you're sharp and you're really on your game, you don't make those mistakes. Right now, I'm struggling with that part of the game and I just need to tidy it up."

Ray noted a grip change on the green hasn't exactly helped Rory:

Day struggled to get much going in his round, posting a quartet of birdies and bogeys. Long off the tee, Day played the par fives at two under and all other holes at two over. He's in a tie for 26th at even par. Despite the underwhelming round, Day did have perhaps the most impressive shot of the afternoon:

Watson (at three under), Rickie Fowler (at two under) and defending champion Dustin Johnson (E) are all hanging out within the top 30 on the leaderboard. Thus far, the weekend has all the makings of a pre-Masters Tournament bonanza. Patrick Reed (at five over) and Justin Rose (at three over) are the only top-10 players who had truly miserable days, and Doral plays tough enough that the field should coalesce as the difficulty ramps up on Saturday and Sunday.

That said, a pair of dark horses have put themselves in place to play the spoiler. We'll have to see if this keeps up.