Wednesday 26 August 2020 09:54, UK
Phil Mickelson is in pole position to making a winning start to his PGA Tour Champions career after opening up a four-shot lead in the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National.
Mickelson, who turned 50 in June, is making his debut on the seniors circuit after missing the cut at the Northern Trust on Friday and failing to qualify for the final two events of the FedExCup play-offs.
The five-time major champion followed up his opening-round 61 with a seven-under 64 on Tuesday to get to 17 under for the week and build a commanding lead over nearest challengers Rod Pampling and Tim Petrovic.
"I hit some good shots, made some good birdies, but I want to work on a couple of things," Mickelson said. "I hit a couple of drives that I hung a little bit left that I want to work on."
Mickelson birdied five of his opening seven holes and salvaged a bogey at the par-four tenth after losing his ball off the tee, before adding a two-putt birdie at the par-five next and picking up further shots at the 12th and 14th.
A final round of 65 or better will see Mickelson break the PGA Tour Champions' 54-hole scoring record of 191, jointly held by David Frost, Bruce Fleisher, Loren Roberts, Bernhard Langer and Rocco Mediate.
Former PGA Champion and Sky Sports pundit Rich Beem, also making his debut after turning 50 on Monday, is in tied-65th spot after carding a level-par 71.
Tee times have been brought forward on Wednesday due to the threat of bad weather, with Mickelson teeing off at 9.10am local time (3.10pm BST)
