Power grinds for 71 as Phil returns with deceptive 65

Seamus Power with his tour bag sporting the name of his brother’s civil engineering company, Power & Rock Ltd.

Seamus Power finished with three birdies to open with a one-under 71 in a rollercoaster start to his third season on the PGA Tour at the Safeway Open in California.

The West Waterford star struggled on the greens on the North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa, three-putting twice as he mixed an eagle with one birdie and five bogeys in his first 13 holes.

He was two-over par with three to play but two-putted for birdie at the par-five 16th, hit a wedge to five feet at the 17th and then chipped to five feet at the 18th to set up a closing birdie four.

On a low scoring day, his 32-putt, one-under 71 left him tied for 78th, eight shots behind Austrian rookie Sepp Straka, who shot a nine-under 63 to lead by a shot from Chase Wright with Phil Mickelson (48) rebounding from his Ryder Cup disappointment by firing a seven-under 65 that featured six straight birdies.

"I've been putting well, like I can putt," Mickelson said. "But I was surprised at some of the shots I've hit. Honestly, I hit it just terrible and today was kind of an anomaly. Don't let the good round fool you. I'm not at all at my best. A few things clicked and it was fun."

He added: "I had two terrible weeks at BMW and the Tour Championship. But I've become a great putter week in and week out with a few bad weeks as opposed to in the past I've kind of an average putter with a few spikes. I'm back to putting well again and rolling it in the way I did all last year."

Two-time defending champion Brendan Steele had a 67 alongside Mickelson while Fred Couples, who turned 59 on Wednesday, carded a 73.