Wind is at Mickelson’s back

PEBBLE BEACH —  Thursday’s opening round of the AT&T; Pebble Beach Pro-Am was perfect for everyone who enjoys hanging out in the frozen foods section, stuffing trays of ice cubes in their pockets and receiving an Arctic air face-lift.

Catching a breeze, Phil Mickelson eagled his last hole at Poppy Hills to catch John Mallinger and Nick Watney at seven-under-par 65 to share the 18-hole lead. Highlights were probably relegated to the Weather Channel.

There is still a bunch of golf to come and plenty of bad weather on the way, but that’s expected. So was the re-emergence of Mickelson, who seemed to pull his act together, for at least one round.

Mickelson, who missed the cut at Phoenix last week, piled up nine consecutive pars until he reached his closing hole, the 555-yard ninth. Mickelson drove in the fairway and from 230 yards, knocked a four-iron to 18 feet, then rolled in the downhill putt for the eagle.

It wasn’t the longest putt Mickelson made -- he also had a 35-foot birdie putt at the 13th. That a good sign for Mickelson, who has been looking for them. He ended last year ranked fifth in putting, but he’s 40th so far this year.

It hasn’t been anything close to a quick start to the season for Mickelson, who tied for 45th as defending champion at the Hope, tied for 51st at Torrey Pines and missed the cut at the FBR Open. His debut at the Hope was his first tournament since August, a 4 1/2 -month break.

He said he is surprised about how slowly he’s come along.

“I didn’t think it would take three tournaments to get where I want to be, but I’ve seen improvement,” he said.

“Even though the results are not good, I don’t feel like I’m trying to get my game back, I feel like I’m getting better.”

Mickelson said he was considering entering the Nissan Open next week at Riviera to take advantage of the improvements in his play. Mickelson hasn’t played at Riviera since 2001, when he missed the cut, and doesn’t have a great record there. He has missed the cut three times in seven appearances at Riviera as a pro.

Jim Furyk, Arjun Atwal and Jason Schultz shot 67 and are tied for fourth, two shots off the lead.

Furyk’s only slip-up at Spyglass was a double bogey at the sixth, but with an early starting time, he managed to avoid most of the wind issues. He still got buffeted after he made the turn.

For anyone not familiar with Mallinger, you’re forgiven. The 27-year-old Escondido native is ranked 454th, a PGA Tour rookie who has missed two cuts and tied for 67th at Torrey Pines.

Mallinger, who went to Long Beach State, was fortunate to start on the 10th hole at Pebble Beach when the weather was still calm and already had finished 13 holes before the wind started howling.

“Brutal,” he said. “It was blowing 40 and the flags were sideways.”

Poppy Hills is the course least affected by wind, because none of its holes are along the ocean. Watney said he caught a break by playing there, but that didn’t rescue him from a bogey at his 10th hole, when he missed a 2 1/2 -foot putt for par. He said he didn’t have an explanation.

“I am going to say it took a hop,” he said. “I’m going with that.”

Watney, who tied for seventh here last year, played with amateur Jerry Chang, a former Stanford teammate of Tiger Woods. Chang was Woods’ amateur partner the last time Woods played here seven years ago.

Watney said Chang mentioned Woods to him.

“He told me he upgraded his pro,” Watney said.

The round was played under winter rules, allowing the players to lift, clean and place their golf balls. That slowed play. Plus, the combination of wind and 180 amateurs led to rounds that lasted more than six hours.

“It looks like we’ve got some very difficult conditions coming up,” Furyk said.

Would you expect anything less?

thomas.bonk@latimes.com