It didn't take long for it to unfold. Rose hit is opening tee shot into the bunker, the start of a nightmarish nine holes. He flew over the green and made bogey, and his lead was gone one hole later when his wedge again was too strong and landed in the front row of the gallery for another bogey.
The scorecard for the front nine -- six bogeys, three pars, one stunning collapse.
Mickelson and DiMarco wasted no time taking advantage.
DiMarco made the only birdie on the round on the par-3 fourth and also picked up birdies on the par 5s for a share of the lead.
Mickelson electrified the gallery with a collection of smart shots and key putts. Cheers burst from the third green when Lefty drained a 20-foot birdie, and they were even louder when his 25-foot dropped for a par on No. 6 that kept him in a share of the lead with DiMarco and Els.
More than that, it seemed to give Mickelson a surge of confidence. He stuffed a wedge into 2 feet for birdie on the seventh. Then Mickelson showed why he was golf's best wedge player by following that with a pitch on the par-5 eighth that skipped over the ridge and slid slowly past the hole for another easy birdie.
Els was poised to stay with him, but a solid round suddenly veered way off path.
He hooked his tee shot so far left into the trees at No. 11 that he was lucky to have a shot out to the fairway. Els had to remove one large branch, then seek three rulings -- all the way to rules chairman Will Nicholson -- to be able to get a clean lie. Els was happy to escape with bogey.
Els is only three shots out of the lead and trying to catch a couple of guys trying to win their first major.
RSS