Phil Mickelson leads the Desert Classic two shots before taking crunch rounds

Phil Mickelson birdied four of his last five holes in the Desert Clbadic on Saturday morning (NZT) to take a two-run lead halfway through his first race of the year.

A day after scoring his lowest career score with a first round under 60 at La Quinta Country Club in California, Mickelson, 48, had a score of 68 on PGA West's Nicklaus tournament course to reach 16 under.

"I hit the ball just as well, I just did not succeed as much as I did yesterday," said Mickelson, winner of the tournament in 2002 and 2004.

Lefty will play the last two rounds on the PGA West Stadium course.

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"I'm starting to drive the ball a lot longer and straighter than I've been in a while, which allows me to prepare well for this course," said Mickelson. "I feel able to play aggressively with the way I hit it's gone."

Curtis Luck was second after a 66 on the Nicklaus track. The 22-year-old Australian bounced back after a boguey on the normal 3, eighth with a closing birdie on the normal 4 ninth.

Adam Hadwin and Steve Marino were under 13 and defending champion Jon Rahm was another shot back with Wyndham Clark and Joey Garber.

Mickelson birdied holes 5 and 6 of the normal 4, seventh of the normal 5 and closed with another on the 9th place. the water on the 18th par 4.

"It was really not as difficult as I had made it appear," Mickelson said of his approach to the 18th.

"I had a good lie after leaving the path of the basket, but I had the ball a little below my feet and a slight climb lie, the tendency on these shots is to shoot him and I did not not adjusted to that very well and I shot it in the water. "

Mickelson has begun his first tour since the beginning of October and his first appearance in competition since the victory against Tiger Woods in Las Vegas in November as part of a day devoted to television.

He won the world golf championship in Mexico last year for his 43rd title on the PGA Tour, and a first since the 2013 British Open.

"There are two areas in which men tend to decline when they are in their mid-forties," said Mickelson.

"One is speed and the other is putting. The last two years, I managed to improve my putting. In fact, I am doing better than in recent years in my career. The last thing is speed, because if I'm fast with the driver, I can worry more about precision. & # 39; & # 39;