FanHouse Prayad Marksaeng

On Thursday at Firestone Country Club, Tiger Woods showed us two things very important to his 2009. First, that he is the only man on the planet who could break 70 (by two shots!) hitting his driver like he did. Woods continued to block his driver right, hitting just 39 percent of the fairways, but was able to scramble around the course for a 2-under 68. Second, he showed why, at times, he's been very un-Woods like.

On Friday, the driver came around (Tiger managed to hit 50 percent of his fairways) but his putter abandoned him, leading to Tiger's second round 70. The six-time winner of the Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger has only shot par or worse twice when he hoisted the trophy, averaging a 67.1 on Fridays at Firestone.

It's been six weeks since Phil Mickelson walked off Bethpage Black carrying a barrel of emotions which pulled at the left-hander. Mickelson finished second at the U.S. Open that week, but his mind went immediately from the golf to the family, to caring for wife Amy and mother Mary as they battled breast cancer simultaneously.

Now, back in the field at his first PGA Tour tournament since June 21, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Mickelson struggled on his first nine holes before closing with a 3-under inward nine to shoot an even-par 70. The round, which was capped with a 12-foot par save on his final hole of the day, has Lefty four shots back of the leaders, but in a better position than he was in when he started the round.

The 2009 Masters are underway, and unlike last year, when Arnold Palmer hit the ceremonial first shot into a cloud of fog, it has been an incredible day, weather-wise, from the start.

Palmer's first shot this year found the middle of the fairway and the first group built on that momentum. In the second group of the day was Par-3 Tournament winner Tim Clark, who, in typical form, bogeyed his first two par-3s before getting it together and reeling off four birdies on his closing 12 holes before posting a 4-under 68, leading the tournament in the clubhouse.

Right behind Clark are Ross Fisher, Kevin Sutherland, and Prayad Marksaeng who all posted 3-under 69s and will enjoy the rest of the mid-70 degree day fine-tuning their game while other golfers try to put the finishing touches on some rather salty (read: "good") rounds.

You hear a lot about Phil Mickelson and his short game, which he's able to keep relevant more from muscle memory (the brain is a muscle, right?) than from any recent success he's had. His short game is fabulous, sure, but it seems that people speak more about the crazy shots he has pulled off over his career than the simple ones he's missed of late.

Well, on Thursday at the WGC-CA Championship, Phil's short game was back on, and I mean on. On a day people were focused, once again, on Tiger Woods returning to the golf world, this time in a stroke-play event, Mickelson reminded everyone that he was still around too. Phil went out on his front nine in a mediocre 35, that included a chip-in par on the par-3 4th hole, but went bananas on the back, making six birdies that included consecutive chip-ins to close his round.