PGA Tour: Phil Mickelson birdied four of the last five holes to charge four strokes clear of a congested leaderboard in the third round at the Northern Trust Open. Mickelson fired a flawless nine-under-par 62 to regain control of the tournament.
The American left-hander, who had slipped back on Friday with an erratic 72 after setting the first-round pace with a blistering 63, piled up seven birdies and an eagle for a 16-under total of 197.
"I hope the weather stays good tomorrow, I want to get out and play with the same feelings and thoughts," Mickelson told reporters of his bid for a 35th PGA Tour title.
"I haven't been in contention for the first three events (this season) and it's frustrating. I need more of these heading into Augusta," he added, referring to the April 9-12 U.S. Masters, the opening major of the year.
Mickelson missed the cut in his first start at the Phoenix Open before posting finishes of 42nd at the Buick Invitational and 55th at last week's Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Argentina's Andres Romero, who birdied the last three holes for a 65, was alone in second place with PGA Tour veteran Fred Couples another stroke adrift in a group of four on 11 under.
Champion here in 1990 and 1992, Couples rolled back the years with a sparkling 65 to end the round level with fellow American Scott McCarron (70), South African Rory Sabbatini (67) and South Korea's KJ Choi (67).
On another calm day at Riviera with conditions ideal for low scoring, the leaderboard fluctuated wildly. At one point, five players were in a logjam at the top.
World number five Mickelson, who launched his round with a 12-foot eagle putt at the par-five first, birdied the fourth and 10th to break clear of the pack with Couples at 11 under.
The pair duelled for the lead midway through the back nine before Couples bogeyed the 15th after his drive hit a sprinkler head and ricocheted down the fairway into a poor lie in the left rough.
Mickelson, who won last year's title by two shots, took charge over the closing stretch.
He struck his tee shot to four feet at the par-three 14th before calmly knocking in the putt and then holed an eight-footer at the 15th to move two strokes clear.
At the 16th, he rammed in a 34-footer before collecting his seventh birdie of the day at the par-five 17th where he reached a greenside bunker in two and splashed out to two feet.
The three times major champion had a chance to birdie the par-four last but narrowly missed his attempt from 10 feet.
Collated Scores
(USA unless stated, par 71):
197Phil Mickelson 63 72 62
201Andres Romero (Arg) 66 70 65
202Scott McCarron 64 68 70, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 67 67, KJ Choi (Kor) 66 69 67, Fred Couples 67 70 65
203Steve Stricker 68 66 69, Dustin Johnson 66 70 67, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69 64
204J.B. Holmes 73 67 64, Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69 69
205Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 68 67, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 67 68, Dean Wilson 66 72 67, Briny Baird 67 70 68
206Brendon De Jonge 69 70 67, Brian Davis (Eng) 69 69 68, Hunter Mahan 69 69 68, Chris DiMarco 68 72 66, Rich Beem 68 69 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 67 71, Ben Curtis 68 69 69, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 72 66, Tommy Armour III 67 67 72
207Kenny Perry 70 68 69, Jeff Klauk 67 72 68, Graeme McDowell(NIrl) 70 71 66, Bill Lunde 69 67 71, Woody Austin 68 70 69, Kevin Sutherland 72 67 68, Jason Bohn 73 66 68
208Kevin Na 67 69 72, Bubba Watson 69 71 68, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 68 68, Marc Turnesa 69 68 71, Rocco Mediate 70 68 70
209Jerry Kelly 72 68 69, Chad Campbell 72 68 69, John Merrick 66 71 72, Joe Ogilvie 70 70 69, Jimmy Walker 69 70 70
210Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 70 71, Charley Hoffman 68 72 70, Pat Perez 69 66 75, Kirk Triplett 67 70 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 71 71, Jeff Quinney 69 71 70, David Duval 70 69 71, Bob Estes 72 65 73, Brandt Jobe 68 72 70
211Mike Weir (Can) 70 71 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 69 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 67 73, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 73 71, John Mallinger 70 68 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 71 72, D.J. Trahan 67 72 72
212Michael Letzig 70 71 71, Brad Adamonis 70 70 72, Nick Watney 71 68 73, Bart Bryant 74 67 71, Jim Furyk 66 71 75, Cameron Beckman 70 71 71, Scott Verplank 71 70 71, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 70 71
213Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 70 72, Bo Van Pelt 68 71 74, Matt Kuchar 70 68 75
214Ben Crane 72 68 74, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 67 74, Jason Gore 69 70 75, Charles Howell III 72 67 75
215Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 71 74
216Ryan Moore 68 71 77
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