SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Scottsdale resident Michael Allen brought several dozen friends to Grayhawk Golf Club.
He gave his hometown gallery plenty to cheer about, matching his career-low round with a 7-under-par 63 to take the first-round lead at the Fry’s Electronics Open on Thursday.
Nick Watney, Rich Beem and Frank Lickliter II were two strokes back, with Lickliter posting the day’s only bogey- free round.
“It’s nice just to have friends around out there,” said Allen, who lives about 10 minutes from the course. “I had 20, 30, 40 friends out there yelling, and that’s always really nice. You don’t get that very often. So when you get things going, it’s nice to have some fun.”
It wasn’t as much fun for Grayhawk member Phil Mickelson, No. 2 on this year’s money list and the biggest name in the tournament.
Mickelson hit three balls into the desert and wound up at 1-over 71, eight strokes behind Allen.
Mickelson attracted the biggest flock of followers on a sunny, 81-degree day.
The first day of the new tournament had a more intimate feel than Scottsdale’s other PGA Tour event, the FBR Open, which has become a four-day corporate party just down the road at the TPC Scottsdale. There were open seats in the greenside bleachers and plenty of room to roam along the fairways.
