Mickelson gets 36-hole mark

Phil Mickelson looked as if he were headed for a runaway. He had to settle for another record Friday in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Coming off a course-record 62 at tough Spyglass Hill, Mickelson had more wild adventures that he somehow converted into birdies and pars before stalling on his back nine at Poppy Hills for a 5-under-par 67, giving him a four-shot lead over fellow southpaw Mike Weir at Pebble Beach, Calif.

Mickelson was at 15-under 129, breaking by two shots the 36-hole tournament record. The previous mark was set by Matt Gogel in 2001 and matched by Pat Perez in 2002, neither of whom went on to win.

Michelson is a different breed of player is picking up more confidence each round.

He had a four-shot lead going into the final round last week when he won in Phoenix, and the four-shot lead at Pebble is the largest of his career.

“It’s different,” Mickelson said of his role as the front-runner. “But I enjoy it. I was able to get one more shot on the field.”

As always, he kept it entertaining.

Mickelson pulled his opening tee shot on No. 10 so badly he had to take an unplayable lie, then pitch out sideways. That left him a 6-iron into the green. He holed a 30-footer for par.

He hooked another tee shot on the par-5 12th, but it caromed off a tree and left him an opening for a 7-iron to the green and a simple two-putt birdie.

Then came an 8-iron he had to carve out of the woods for another birdie.

“I just cut it around the tree,” he said. “It was not that big of a deal.”

Defending champion Vijay Singh has some work to do. Singh had a 40 on his second nine at Poppy Hills – traditionally the easiest course in the rotation — and had a second straight 73. He was 17 shots back.

Canada, Italy lead World Cup

Lorie Kane made seven birdies and Dawn-Coe Jones added some momentum-saving pars as Canada shot 7-under 66 in the better-ball format and shared the lead with Italy after the first round of the Women’s World Cup at George, South Africa.

Diana Luna and Guilia Sergas overcame a double bogey on the par-5 ninth by finishing with five straight birdies to match Canada on the Links course at Fancourt.

Australia, Japan, Sweden and the Phillipines are two shots behind. Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel of the United States made four birdies on the front nine before stalling with pars and wound up with a 69.