Verplank leads after opening round of 63

Scott Verplank made good use of a hot putter and an accurate driver to take a one-shot lead on eight-under-par 63 after the first round of the $4 million Phoenix Open on Thursday.

Playing in the second group off the first tee on an unusually cold morning that brought frost to the Arizona desert and delayed tee times, Verplank fashioned a bogey-free round to move one stroke ahead of Phil Mickelson.

Jonathan Kaye was another shot back on 65 while Rod Pampling of Australia, Steve Flesch, Jeff Sluman, Chris Riley and South Africa's Brenden Pappas were tied for fourth on 66 at the TPC of Scottsdale course.

Canada's Mike Weir, one of 27 players who failed to complete their rounds before darkness fell, was six-under with one hole remaining.

Defending champion Vijay Singh of Fiji, the world number two, had an even-par 71.

Verplank, without a win since the 2001 Canadian Open, hit every fairway but one and needed only 24 putts.

"I'm hitting the ball pretty solid and I feel pretty comfortable driving it in the fairway," he told reporters.

"Today I found the feel for the greens to make some putts. Last week at the Bob Hope Classic was my first tournament since the Tour Championship (in November), and I really struggled with my putting."

Verplank began a run of three successive birdies when he sank a 15-footer on the par-five third. He holed an eight-foot putt at the fourth before draining a 10-footer at the fifth.

Throughout the round, he continued to hole middle-distance efforts. The only long putt he put away was a 35-footer for birdie at the ninth.

Mickelson's charge up the leaderboard was late getting underway.

One of the back-nine starters, the left-hander, last week's Bob Hope winner, made the turn at two-under. But the fireworks then began as he birdied five of the next six holes before finishing with another birdie at the ninth.

"It was a fun day," Mickelson said. "It didn't look like it was going to be anything special.

"It just looked like it was going to be a solid few-under-par round, and something just kind of clicked there. I don't know what it was but I started hitting some good shots and the putts started going in."

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