<p class="title">Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri shot a two-under 70 for a share of the 70th spot after the opening round of the Desert Classic golf tournament here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lahiri lay tied-70th at the event where the cut would be applied after three rounds.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Phil Mickelson, 48, showed age is just a number when he began his 27th full season as a pro by coming tantalisingly close to 59, which he has never shot.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He shot a 12-under 60, tying his career-low score he last shot in the Waste Management Phoenix Open six years ago. He became the first player to shoot 60 or better three times in PGA history.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Adam Long is in second at nine-under while Australian Curtis Luck is in third at eight-under. Defending champion Jon Rahm is tied-eighth after shooting six-under.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lahiri found nine of 14 fairways and 12 of the 18 greens in regulation. But he missed at least two putts inside 10 feet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On fifth, he messed a bunker shot and missed the regulation and two-putted for a bogey. On the very next, par-three, he had a six-footer for par, which he missed and went to one-over.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 559-yard par-five eighth hole brought some cheer as Lahiri reached the green in three and sunk a 24-foot putt for birdie. This moved Lahiri to even for the round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On the back-nine, Lahiri drilled a neat 108-yard approach shot to set up a birdie, that he holed. The very next hole, the 195-yard par-three 13th, Lahiri hit a tee shot 204 yards at the green and holed a 17-footer for birdie to move to two-under for the round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On a cloudy and rainy day, fog forced a delay in start at both La Quinta Country Club's Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament Courses by an hour and 15 minutes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mickelson, needing to play the final two holes in two-under to shoot 59 on the foggy, rainy day at La Quinta Country Club, missed a 15-foot birdie try on the par-four 17th before holing out a nine-footer for birdie on the par-four 18th.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Desert Classic is the only PGA Tour event to yield two sub-60 rounds. David Duval had a 59 at PGA West's Palmer Course when he won in 1999. Adam Hadwin shot 59 at La Quinta in 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"...it just clicked. Some days you have those days where it just clicked. And the bad shots that I hit, I got away with. I was able to kind of not have the big score," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mickelson held a three-stroke lead over Adam Long, the 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie who finished off a 63 in the dark on PGA West's Nicklaus Tournament Course.</p>
<p class="title">Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri shot a two-under 70 for a share of the 70th spot after the opening round of the Desert Classic golf tournament here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lahiri lay tied-70th at the event where the cut would be applied after three rounds.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Phil Mickelson, 48, showed age is just a number when he began his 27th full season as a pro by coming tantalisingly close to 59, which he has never shot.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He shot a 12-under 60, tying his career-low score he last shot in the Waste Management Phoenix Open six years ago. He became the first player to shoot 60 or better three times in PGA history.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Adam Long is in second at nine-under while Australian Curtis Luck is in third at eight-under. Defending champion Jon Rahm is tied-eighth after shooting six-under.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lahiri found nine of 14 fairways and 12 of the 18 greens in regulation. But he missed at least two putts inside 10 feet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On fifth, he messed a bunker shot and missed the regulation and two-putted for a bogey. On the very next, par-three, he had a six-footer for par, which he missed and went to one-over.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 559-yard par-five eighth hole brought some cheer as Lahiri reached the green in three and sunk a 24-foot putt for birdie. This moved Lahiri to even for the round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On the back-nine, Lahiri drilled a neat 108-yard approach shot to set up a birdie, that he holed. The very next hole, the 195-yard par-three 13th, Lahiri hit a tee shot 204 yards at the green and holed a 17-footer for birdie to move to two-under for the round.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On a cloudy and rainy day, fog forced a delay in start at both La Quinta Country Club's Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament Courses by an hour and 15 minutes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mickelson, needing to play the final two holes in two-under to shoot 59 on the foggy, rainy day at La Quinta Country Club, missed a 15-foot birdie try on the par-four 17th before holing out a nine-footer for birdie on the par-four 18th.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Desert Classic is the only PGA Tour event to yield two sub-60 rounds. David Duval had a 59 at PGA West's Palmer Course when he won in 1999. Adam Hadwin shot 59 at La Quinta in 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"...it just clicked. Some days you have those days where it just clicked. And the bad shots that I hit, I got away with. I was able to kind of not have the big score," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mickelson held a three-stroke lead over Adam Long, the 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie who finished off a 63 in the dark on PGA West's Nicklaus Tournament Course.</p>