PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- On Wednesday afternoon at the Players, a TV crew was testing its audio by throwing ice cubes in the pond that surrounds the 17th green to mimic the sound of a golf ball plopping in the water. That audio got a workout during Thursday's opening round, when 20 balls found the pond, leading to a bunch of double bogeys, a couple triples and one quadruple-bogey 7. At just 148 yards, a wedge for most players, No. 17 could be had in the morning calm but caught up fast thanks to a gusty afternoon tailwind. In the end, 105 of 141 players hit the green and 22 made birdie, but more good rounds died at 17 than anywhere else. Here's how five pros played it on Thursday:

MATT KUCHAR
Score on 17: 7
First-round score: 78
When Kuchar stepped onto the 17th tee, the wind was blowing harder than it had all day. His tee shot landed just past the pin but took a giant leap into the pond. Hitting from the drop area (85 yards from the hole), Kuchar again flew the ball too far. Rinse and repeat. A second try from the drop area, his fifth shot, cleared the bulkhead fronting the green by two steps, setting up a two-putt for quad and 41 on his opening nine (he started on No. 10).

TIM CLARK
Score on 17: 6
First-round score: 77
One of the few players to hit 9-iron on 17, Clark liked his shot in the air, only to see it bounce once, twice, three times and dribble off the back and into the water. He nearly dumped his next shot, from the drop area, into the hazard. Big relief, but it didn't last long. Three putts from the front of the green led to a triple-bogey 6.

ERNIE ELS
Score on 17: 6
First-round score: 72
Els' triple on 17 was particularly tough to swallow because he played the first 16 holes in two under. With the wind gusting at his back, he tried to lay off a wedge, after putting his sand wedge back in the bag, but chunked it in the water short. He played from the drop area, skidding his next shot through the green and nearly into the pond again, then took three to hole out. The good news: He regrouped and birdied the difficult finishing hole to post an even-par round.

ANDRES ROMERO
Score on 17: 4
First-round score: 77
In Wednesday's practice round, Romero was horsing around behind 17 green, hitting flop shots and chipping up the walkway that leads onto the island. Little did Romero know he'd actually have to hit one of those shots on Thursday. His tee shot carried the green and rolled down the walkway into the rough. It didn't help that the path is surfaced in fast-running artificial turf; his ball might have stopped in real grass. After hitting a spectacular pitch off a downslope that released 15 feet by the hole, Romero two-putted for bogey. Disaster averted.

PHIL MICKELSON
Score on 17: 2
First-round score: 70
Playing in the calm morning conditions, Mickelson went back to his bag three times before settling on a wedge for his tee shot. It proved worth the extra strategizing, as Mickelson stuck his ball to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt. He bogeyed 18 but still finished  two under, four off Sergio Garcia's first-round lead.

TOP 5 SHOTS OF THE DAY ON 17:
Tommy Armour III: 17 inches (birdie)
Dean Wilson: 2 feet, 5 inches (birdie)
Paul Casey: 2 feet, 10 inches (birdie)
Johnson Wagner: 3 feet, 5 inches (par)
Phil Mickelson: 4 feet (birdie)

--Peter Morrice

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The marquee pairing among the morning groups at TPC Sawgrass is the threesome of Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Rory Sabbatini. All three wowed the gallery by making birdie on the par-5 16th, before Mickelson got the fans into a frenzy by hitting his approach on the island-green 17th hole to four feet. He made the putt for birdie to get to two under through eight holes but couldn't keep the momentum going on 18, making bogey on his ninth hole of the day to finish his first half of the course at one under. (Stenson, who bogeyed 17 after his tee shot into the water, finished the front nine at one over, while Sabbatini was at even par).

Mickelson, the defending champ, is looking to become the first player to repeat as Players champion, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy. "The greens are faster and firmer, and because of that, the greens being so small, they're tough to hit," Lefty said in a pre-tournament interview. "They're two feet faster on the Stimpmeter than they were last year and because of the firmness the ball runs out a lot more on your approach shots, and it's difficult chipping."

Only four defending Players champions have finished in the top-10 the following year: Jack Nicklaus (T-5) in 1977; Mark McCumber (T-6) in 1989; Tom Kite (T-5) in 1990; and Adam Scott (T-8) in 2005. McCumber came the closest to repeating. He was two shots off the lead entering the final round, but shot 74 Sunday to finish four back of winner  Kite.

Meanwhile, Masters champion Trevor Immelman withdrew before his round because of an illness. Immelman said he woke up early in the morning with an upset stomach and vomiting and returned to his Orlando home to recover.

--John Antonini

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- If slow play on tour was the talking point in last week's players meeting in Charlotte, then ADD sufferers will have a hard time watching the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Phil Mickelson recently played a practice round there, and made it sound like six-hour rounds will be the norm.

"It was funny watching some of the amateurs play," Mickelson said at his Players Championship news conference Tuesday. "I was getting ready to tee off, and this group in front of us, probably an 8-handicap player, hit a nice drive out there, 230, he hits it in the first cut of rough, not even the thick stuff but the first cut. They could not find it and he takes a hack at it with an iron, and it dribbles a foot. He hacks again and it dribbles a foot, until he finally picks up and puts it in the fairway."

Asked how long it took to play behind that group, Mickelson never gave a definitive answer. "Fortunately he kept dropping it in the fairway," Mickelson said. "He looked like Hogan hitting it from the middle of the fairway. We kept stepping on balls in the rough, and it wasn't anything nearly like what it will be. It wasn't overgrown like last year where they overgrew it and then cut it back. But that kikuya grabs the club so much that it's going to be an interesting test."

In those conditions, how does Phil Mickelson think Matt Lauer, Justin Timberlake, Tony Romo and contest winner John Atkinson, an 8-handicapper, will do in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge that will be played on the Friday before U.S. Open week begins? Armed with information from short-game coach Dave Pelz, Mickelson had devised an answer:

"The biggest area of difference is off the fairway," Mickelson said. "But it will be very interesting and comical to watch that challenge of trying to break 100. There's just no way that statistically (it will happen). You know, Pelz brought the ShotLink out to the World Amateur and had thousands of players and did all the statistical analysis on it. And a 10-handicap when they get moved back to tour-caliber-distance golf courses, just yardage alone, not counting greens or the rough, shoots 92, on average. It is what it is; that's the numbers.

"When you throw them on a 7,600-yard golf course, you don't even need rough; it's going to be in the 90s. You throw rough in there, you don't have the pin placements and the greens, it'll be 90 or 100. And when you throw in the pin placements and the greens, it's not even a fair challenge."

—-Tim Rosaforte

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- At five-under 139, tied for third with Ian Poulter and Steve Flesch only three strokes behind 36-hole leader Trevor Immelman, Phil Mickelson starts the weekend not only with an excellent chance to win but also to polish his reputation as a golfer who has made a significant mark despite competing in the Age of Tiger.

A victory would be Mickelson's third at Augusta National, which would tie him with Jimmy Demaret (1940, 1947, 1950), Sam Snead (1949, 1952, 1954), Gary Player (1961, 1974, 1978) and Nick Faldo (1989, 1990, 1996) on the all-time Masters victory list. Moreover, it would give him a distinction that none of Jack Nicklaus' rivals were ever able to achieve when they were going against the best player of his day.

From the time Nicklaus won his first Masters (1963) until his sixth and final triumph (1986), no other player was able to claim more than two green jackets -- not even Tom Watson, who supplanted Nicklaus as golf's No. 1 in the late-1970s. And several golfers -- notably Lee Trevino, Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller -- couldn't find the secret to winning a single Masters title during the Golden Bear's reign.

-- Bill Fields

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It's starting to build now. If Tiger Woods isn't going to make a charge at this Masters--and even if he does--Phil Mickelson's legion of fans is beginning to think ahead. When the left-hander came to the No. 12 tee Friday, he was 3,000 miles from home, and yet he was accorded a standing ovation as if he were born across the street from Augusta National. After he completed the hole with par, the bleachers at Amen Corner emptied as though someone yelled "FIRE!" And remember. This was Friday.

A couple hours later, Mickelson completed his four-under 68 for a five-under total, three behind leader Trevor Immelman. When he left the Champions Room at about 4:30, it completed a rather full shift for the two-time Masters champion. He reported to the course at 7 a.m., when the sun had yet to awaken, for marathon putting drills before his 10:34 tee time--not an unusual session for Mickelson.

He converted a four-footer on No. 3 for birdie and a 10-footer for birdie on No. 8 toward 33 on the front side. He missed birdie putts on Nos. 15 and 16, but canned a 30-footer for birdie at the 17th for his only birdie on a breezy back nine. Uneventful, but effective. Earlier Mickelson was fortunate when his second to No. 13 drifted right and stayed up just by the hazard line, barely above the water. He failed to birdie that par 5, and could do no better at the 15th, also a par 5. But he pronounced himself pleased with a well-managed round of golf.

"I would love to be in the lead, but I would have had to press the issue at some spots and I didn't want to do that," said Mickelson, who noted what everybody is noting--Augusta National does not lend itself to the theatrics as it once did. As a result, roars are few instead of frequent. Mickelson's most spectacular act occurred on his first hole Thursday, when he made birdie from well off the green. "I would have had a tough up-and-down even for bogey there," said Mickelson. "That was a two- or three-shot swing right there." Then there was that lucky 13th, Thursday and Friday.  "I hit two shots in there that should have gone in the creek, and both stayed up," he said. "In 2004, when I hadn't won a major, I hit a shot there that Bones (caddie Jim Mackay) and I were sure went in the creek. But it stayed up and I wound up making birdie."

Omens? Perhaps. The galleries would like to think they are following him for a reason.

--Bob Verdi

The winds at Doral were blowing so hard on Wednesday even Tiger Woods cut his practice round at the CA Championship short, seeing more potential for harm than for good. The 18th was playing into a Blue Monster of a gale with many players hitting 3-woods into the green and some barely reaching the front edge. Phil Mickelson, on the other hand, spent his day jetting back and forth to Augusta National.

Mickelson and his caddie, Jim Mackay, left Miami at 6:30 a.m., stopped in St. Simons Island, Ga., to pick up Augusta member Fleming Norvell and then joined another member, Warren Stephens, for a casual round. They got a tour of the latest course changes, particularly the extension of the seventh green, courtesy of Masters Chairman Billy Payne and were back in Miami by 6 p.m.

"The course is in tremendous shape," Mickelson said of Augusta. "There's great coverage with the grass. It was windy up there too, not as bad as it was here. The point was to see the changes and just kind of get a visual because the ball chips and putts so different on those greens than anywhere else. Going into my off week next week (when he's scheduled a practice session in San Diego with Dave Pelz) I want to kind of have that mental picture of what I need to practice and how to do it."

While Augusta's 17th seemed like an even tighter driving hole than it had been and there was some minor softening of the ledges on the ninth green, the biggest change was the room added to the back of the seventh green. "It changes the hole because now long is OK," says Mickelson. "You can go over the green and get up and down possibly. Whereas before that wasn't really realistic."

On Thursday, Mickelson got off to a five-under-par 67 at Doral that included a double-bogey on the third hole when he hit 3-wood off the tee into a horrendous lie and his 9-iron from the rough shot right, hit the bank short and ended up in the water. By Mackey's reckoning, Mickelson hit 17 greens in the opening round but, coming off his putting performance last week at Bay Hill when he averaged over 30 putts per round, making a few birdies was crucial.

"It was important to get a few to go in," Mickelson said. "It meant a lot coming in to make those four birdies because I had to make putts on all of them. The shortest one was five or six feet. I have a lot of confidence on these greens. It's the same grass as TPC Sawgrass and they just putt and track so nice." While Mickelson's ball-striking has, for the most part, been superb this season, his putting has faltered. In a stark contrast with Woods, who ranks 14th in putting between 15 and 25 feet, Mickelson is 164th from that distance. Overall, they rank first and 39th, respectively, in putting. "It's coming," Mickelson says. "I just have to get it all together, the whole thing together."

Maybe the most visible change Mickelson has made is to his physique. He appears trim and in shape. "It's kind of a mixture of a lot of things," he says of his workout routine. "StairMaster is kind of my cardio thing. Overall I'm trying to build up strength. I'm not trying to lose weight as much as I'm trying to get physically stronger and quicker through the golf ball to accommodate some of the changes, the shorter backswing, that I've been implementing in my game. I don't want to lose distance."

--Jim Moriarty

A shoulder injury has caused Brett Wetterich to withdraw from the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship next week and casts doubt on the long hitter's entire 2008 season. Wetterich played the 2007 season with a sore left shoulder and injured it further when he slipped on some ice in the off-season. An initial MRI showed a torn labrum. An operation could sideline him for 6-9 months, but Wetterich is seeking a second opinion.

Anthony Kim is the immediate beneficiary of Wetterich's withdrawal from the Match Play. The 66th-ranked player in the world now qualifies for the matches at The Gallery at Dove Mountain in Tucson and gets the unenviable task of playing Tiger Woods in the first round. (Ernie Els had already announced his intention to skip the event, getting 65th-ranked J.B. Holmes into the field.)

Arron Oberholser, who withdrew from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am because of bursitis in his right shoulder, was considered a candidate to skip the Match Play, but he said Monday afternoon that he's going to play. "I'm going to play for sure," he said. "In my mind there's no doubt. Sooner or later I have to test it out in competition."

Barring more withdrawals before the championship begins Feb. 20, here's a look at first-round matchups:
Tiger Woods vs. Anthony Kim
Arron Oberholser vs. Tim Clark
K.J. Choi vs. Rod Pampling
Scott Verplank vs. Soren Hansen
Vijay Singh vs. Brad Dredge
Paul Casey vs. Nathan Green
Aaron Baddeley vs. Justin Leonard
Lee Westwood vs. David Toms
Sergio Garcia vs. Peter Hanson
Niclas Fasth vs. Boo Weekley
Justin Rose vs. Brendan Jones
Toru Taniguchi vs. Nick O’Hern
Geoff Ogilvy vs. Robert Allenby
Trevor Immelman vs. Brandt Snedeker
Steve Stricker vs. Pat Perez
Stuart Appleby vs. Andres Romero
Adam Scott vs. Daniel Chopra
Richard Sterne vs. Woody Austin
Angel Cabrera vs. John Senden
Martin Kaymer vs. Nick Dougherty
Henrik Stenson vs. Jerry Kelly
Stewart Cink vs. Shingo Katayama
Jim Furyk vs. Jonathan Byrd
Retief Goosen vs. Charles Howell III
Rory Sabbatini vs. Colin Montgomerie
Stephen Ames vs. Robert Karlsson
Padraig Harrington vs. Camilo Villegas
Iam Poulter vs. Miguel Angel Jimenez
Zach Johnson vs. Anders Hansen
Luke Donald vs. Mark Calcavecchia
Hunter Mahan vs. Mike Weir
J.B. Holmes vs. Phil Mickelson

LA JOLLA, Calif.--The Buick Invitational will be played with heightened interest this week, starting with the fact that Tiger Woods will be attempting to win here for the fourth straight year. He also is seeking his third straight PGA Tour victory in this, his season debut.

There also is the fact that Phil Mickelson is making his season debut, though for a time that seemed in jeopardy as a result of a respiratory ailment that kept him in bed for a few days. After three days of antibiotics, he said he felt good enough to play in the pro-am Wednesday morning and expects to work with teacher Butch Harmon in the afternoon.

"I'm feeling much, much better," Mickelson said in a statement through his representatives, Gaylord Sports Management. "I'm happy about that and looking forward to working with Butch to make sure everything's in order for this week."

There is the site, too, Torrey Pines G.C. in La Jolla. The South Course at Torrey Pines is the 2008 U.S. Open venue, so the Buick Invitational is doubling as a homework assignment for many in the field.

The tournament marks the return of Kelly Tilghman to the Golf Channel booth, ending her two-week suspension.

Finally, there were the mandatory players' meetings on Tuesday in which the PGA Tour's new drug policy was explained in detail.

In other words, it's not just another week on the PGA Tour.

-- John Strege