Lefty shares lead at Doral

Mickelson part of four-way tie at top

? Phil Mickelson started making birdies and figured he better not stop, not with so many world-class players taking aim on a Blue Monster that lost its bite Thursday in the Ford Championship at Doral.

Lefty was right.

But it wasn’t just the marquee names crowding the top of the leaderboard.

Mickelson made 10 birdies, including six on his last eight holes, for an 8-under 64 that gave him a share of the lead with Jose Maria Olazabal, Brian Davis of England and Marco Dawson.

Ninety-seven players in the 144-man field broke par on the Blue Monster, a record for the opening round at Doral. The previous mark was 90 sub-par scores in the first round of 2001.

Tiger Woods did his best to keep pace, making three straight birdies before the turn, settling for pars on the two par 5s on the back nine and making a 15-foot par putt on the last hole for a 65.

Doral has 11 of the top 12 players in the world ranking, one of the strongest fields of the year, and most of them delivered the performance everyone expected.

U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen was at 67, while No. 1 Vijay Singh birdied three of his last four holes for a 68.