Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry, Hideki Matsuyama atop Phoenix Open

Rickie Fowler hits out of a bunker on the 16th hole during the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament at TPC Scottsdale, Arizona February 4, 2016.

“I made some good putts to start the round”, Fowler said.

Fowler had a total of six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys, while Lowry and Matsuyama had eight birdies and two bogeys each.

Take a lofted club, blast out of the bunker and hope to get up-and-down from the fairway to save par. “My shots hadn’t been very good, so I was extremely nervous”. “Opened up a 7-iron, … hit a big, high cut, and caught it pretty much ideal”.

“A lot more confident as far as coming off four wins in the last nine months”, Fowler said.

“I love this week”.

“It’s not one that you try and pull off a lot”, he said.

Lowry also teed off on 10 and birdied five of his first nine, including a run of three straight birdies at 16, 17 and 18. “Just kind of went with it. I knew I could hit it, but I had to hit it flawless”. “I just didn’t make anything last week”. “It was pretty exciting”.

“A couple of stretches at Kapalua (Tournament of Champions) and the weekend at Tiger’s event in the Bahamas I was putting together some good rounds of golf where it was just easy hitting it close, making some putts, and it was great to see that and knowing that there is still a lot of room for improvement and continuing to get better”. “That’s something that I need to work on”.

He rebounded with a 26-foot birdie at the seventh to join Fowler atop the leaderboard.

“I hit a bad shot at the wrong time”, Mickelson said.

In 2014, Fowler shared second at the US and British Opens, third at the PGA Championship and fifth at the US Masters, where he again will seek a major breakthrough in April.

“To come out here and shoot a decent score in the first round I’m obviously fairly happy”, said Lowry, before outlining his battle plan for the remainder of the week.

The frost delay in the morning meant a one-hour delay and that led to 33 players being unable to finish the opening round.

Anirban Lahiri of India was second with a 5-under 66.

Two shots off the lead are Danny Lee, James Hahn, Greg Owen, defending champion Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker, who recently triumphed at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Phil Mickelson, a three-time victor of this tournament, shot a 2-under 69 and is tied for 31st, four shots off the lead.