Phil Mickelson surges at Charles Schwab Cup Championship, co-leads with Kirk Triplett, Jim Furyk

PHOENIX — During his college days at Arizona State some 30 years ago, Phil Mickelson and his Sun Devil teammates made monthly visits to Phoenix Country Club.

The course has been renovated since then and now hosts the PGA Tour Champions season finale but during Thursday’s first round, Lefty must have had plenty of memories flood back during his seven-birdie, one-bogey opening-round 65 at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

“I really had a lot of fun today. The course is in such pristine shape and to play a golf course where you can play some holes aggressive, there are a few parallel fairways, I like that,” Mickelson said. “It allows me to be a little bit more aggressive and play to some safer areas. And then I’m able to take advantage of some short iron play, so I ended up making some birdies.

“This was a good, solid start, but I’m excited to get back out here and make another run at it.”

Mickelson opened with a birdie, had two more before a bogey on No. 8, then had four more on his back nine, including a tap-in on the last. He didn’t sound like he was crazy about his putting on the first day.

“It was okay. I made some good ones on the back nine. I missed some on the front nine, so I’ve got a little work to do. The greens are so perfect, you feel like you should make everyone. The ball rolls so purely on these greens and it’s a matter of matching the speed with the line, reading it right, and getting that good touch. So I’ll have to get a little bit sharper.”

Mickelson’s round matched the 65 posted earlier in the day by Kirk Triplett, a long-time Phoenix-area resident.

“I don’t know why everybody doesn’t live in Phoenix, right?” he quipped after his round. “Eighty-five degrees, no wind, perfect conditioned golf course. Why would you live anywhere else? I don’t know what else to say. It was a beautiful day. Scores are going to be good and I’m sure there will be scores lower than mine, but I’m thrilled to shoot 65.”

Playing a home game, though, doesn’t excuse Triplett from some household chores.

“When you’re on the road, you’re just kind of focused on your golf,” he said. “When you’re home, sometimes you’re doing things like cutting up cardboard boxes first thing in the morning to get them in the recycle bin before the trash guy gets there at 6.”

Late in the day, Jim Furyk, second in the standings and playing in the final group with leader Bernhard Langer, stuffed his approach on the 18th hole and then sank his birdie putt to make it a three-way tie atop the leaderboard at 6 under.

Furyk, who had five birdies on his front nine, is one of four golfers still alive in the race for the season-long Schwab Cup title.

“Not a lot of mistakes today,” he said. “Hit a couple bad putts on the back nine on 12 and 15 that bothered me a bit, then a couple bad drives on 17 and 18 but overall I hit the ball extremely well today.”

The former Arizona Wildcat’s final-hole four created a three-way tie atop the leaderboard of golfers with strong local ties.

“That’s a good point, we got Arizona connections all the way around.”

Fred Couples, Steven Alker, Brandt Jobe, K.J. Choi, and David Toms are all tied for second, one-shot back at 5 under.

Bernhard Langer, who leads the standings and is gunning for his record sixth points title, shot a 68 and is 3 under.

Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els are the other two other golfers in the field with a shot at the title. Jimenez opened with a 1-under 70, while Els carded a 3-under 68.

Kevin Sutherland, who won the tournament a year ago, is T-34, last place, after shooting a 1-over 72. He is one of just four golfers to not break par on Thursday.