NORTON, MASS. (AP) - Phil Mickelson keeps saying how much he loves playing with Tiger Woods. He shot an 8-under 63 at the Deutsche Bank Championship to prove it.
In a feature grouping of the top three players in the world ranking, Mickelson turned in the star performance Friday morning with a front-nine 28 that allowed him to consider _ but only briefly _ another shot at 59.
By the end of the day, when he played a risky shot from deep in the trees on his final hole to salvage bogey, he was happy to have a share of the lead. Mickelson was tied with Brian Davis, who made a 25-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
In January in Mickelson’s Phoenix Open victory, he lipped out a birdie putt for 59 and settled for a first-round 60.
Woods had a 68. Masters champion Adam Scott, rounding out the 1-2-3 pairing, struggled to a 73 and joked later that he rolled out of the wrong side of the bed.
Kevin Stadler birdied his last four holes for a 64. Sergio Garcia, Hunter Mahan and Roberto Castro shot 65.
SAFEWAY CLASSIC
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum birdied three of her last four holes to maintain a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Safeway Classic.
The 23-year-old Phatlum, winless in five seasons on the LPGA Tour, followed her opening 8-under 64 with a 66 for a tournament-record 14-under 130 total at rain-softened Columbia Edgewater.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, the 2011 tournament winner at Pumpkin Ridge, was a stroke back at 13 under after a bogey-free 63. Germany’s Sandra Gal was 12 under after her second straight 66, and countrywoman Caroline Masson was another stroke behind after a 64.
A 72-hole event for the time, the tournament is back at Columbia Edgewater after four years at Pumpkin Ridge. Columbia Edgewater also was the tournament site from 1990-2008.
Cristie Kerr, the winner in 2008 at Columbia-Edgewater, was 10 under along with fellow Americans Lizette Salas and Sandra Changkija. Changkija had a 66, and Kerr and Salas shot 68.
HOTEL FITNESS CHAMPIONSHIP
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) _ Patrick Cantlay grabbed a share of the second-round lead in the Hotel Fitness Championship, a week after the former UCLA star squandered a chance to wrap up a PGA Tour card.
Fighting a back injury, the 21-year-old Cantlay birdied four of his last five holes for a 7-under 65 to match 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman and Web.com Tour money champion Michael Putnam at 11-under 133 at Sycamore Hills in the Web.com Tour Finals opener. Putnam had a course-record 63, and Immelman shot 66.
Cantlay missed the cut last week in the Cox Classic in Omaha, Neb., to drop from 25th to 29th on the Web.com Tour money list. The top 25 after that event secured PGA Tour cards for the 2013-14 season, while Nos. 26-75 are fighting with Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings for 25 additional cards in the four-event Web.com Tour Finals series.
Arron Oberholser, Scott Harrington and Bud Cauley were a stroke back. Oberholser had a 68, and Harrington and Cauley shot 69. Troy Matteson was 9 under after a 70.
SHAW CHARITY CLASSIC
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) _ Rocco Mediate eagled two of the final four holes to take the first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s inaugural Shaw Charity Classic.
The 50-year-old Mediate, the Allianz Championship winner in February in his first Champions Tour start, had an 8-under 63 at tree-lined Canyon Meadows. He played the final five holes in 6 under, making eagles on the par-5 15th and 18th and birdieing the par-3 14th and par-4 17th.
Bart Bryant, Jeff Sluman, Bobby Clampett and Canada’s Rod Spittle were a stroke back.
Fred Couples opened with a 69.
The tournament is the 50-and-over tour’s third event in Calgary. Don January won the 1983 Peter Jackson Champions at Earl Grey, and Brian Barnes won the 1998 AT&T Canada Senior Open at Glencoe.
WALES OPEN
NEWPORT, Wales (AP) _ Welshman Liam Bond shot a 3-under 68 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the European Tour’s Wales Open.
Bond, ranked No. 1,528, got into the field Wednesday. He had a 5-under 137 on Celtic Manor’s Twenty Ten Course, the site of Europe’s victory in the 2010 Ryder Cup.
South Africa’s Tjaart Van Der Walt and Norway’s Espen Kofstad were tied for second. Van Der Walt had a 71, and Kofstad shot 74. American Peter Uihlein was in the group at 3 under after a 70.
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