Pebble Beach, Calif ? Phil Mickelson finally showed signs of turning the corner Thursday.

Nowhere near the leaderboard since his collapse at the U.S. Open last summer, Mickelson hit 4-iron from 230 yards into 18 feet for eagle on his final hole at Poppy Hills for a 7-under 65 to share the lead with rookie John Mallinger and Nick Watney at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

“I didn’t think it would take three tournaments to get to where I wanted to be,” said Mickelson, playing for the fourth straight week. “But each tournament, I saw progress.”

Mickelson and the rest of the 180-man field also saw a return of the notorious weather – known in these parts as “Crosby” weather as a tribute to when Bing Crosby was host of a tournament that featured every element just about every hour.

Cold. Windy. Wet.

It was better to be at Poppy Hills than the other two courses in the rotation because it is the farthest from the Pacific Ocean and protected by tree-lined fairways. That’s where Mickelson and Watney played.

The best round belonged to Mallinger, who was on the wrong course, but at the right time.

Pebble Beach sits along the bluffs of the Pacific, bare to the wintry wind that was so strong at times it toppled a tree on the 17th fairway around the corner at Spyglass Hill.

“There’s nowhere to hide there,” Jim Furyk said after his 67 at Spyglass.