LA QUINTA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson’s 2013 season is already off to a hazy start.
Mickelson, who is making his season debut this week at the Humana Challenge, has been under the weather for more than a week and is unlikely to play a practice round here at PGA West before the tournament begins Thursday.
Mickelson’s spokesman, T.R. Reinman, said in an email, “His lack of energy has kept him from prepping as intensely as he usually does at this point in the year, but he fully planned to be on the tee Thursday morning.”
Starting at La Quinta Country Club, one of three courses used in the tournament rotation, Mickelson tees off at 9:10 a.m. local time Thursday with Matt Kuchar and two amateurs. Mickelson won’t formally meet with reporters before the opening round; he typically reserves his season-opening news conference for next week’s Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, his hometown.
Last year, in his first start in the California desert since 2007, Mickelson opened with 74 and eventually tied for 49th. He is a two-time winner of this event (2002, ’04).
