Fry's Electronics Open round one: Welcome to the rust belt

Be careful if you’re thinking of walking round the Raptor course in Scottsdale - the place is covered in rust. Strikes me a combination of a long layoff and general end-of-seasonitis are the main factors behind the lacklustre openings of Phil Mickelson, Aaron Baddeley et al. In Lefty’s case, maybe it’s also the fact that he is trying out new irons.

Of course, it had to be the Scottsdale resident I left off my list that came good on day one. But Michael Allen would not have been leading if Nick Watney hadn’t quadruple-bogeyed the seventh - 11 birdies on a track he’s never played in his life! Beginner’s luck maybe: it’ll certainly be a hard act to follow Friday.

It was suggested players would be punished if they strayed into the tough rough, but the numbers hardly bear that out. Allen missed four fairways, Watney five and Rich Beem, tied with him for second place, six. Nor did the bombers particularly prosper. Allen ranked 94th for distance off the tee. Again it was down to irons and putters, with the top four on the leaderboard all top 10 for greens in regulation.

The market, clueless as to what’s coming next, is left clinging to hopes of a Mickelson recovery. His price has more than doubled from the start, but he’s still the favourite at a shade over 13 - not bad for someone lying joint 80th in the leaderboard. Punters had better hope he gets to like those irons in a hurry.