Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson Finish Strong In Round One At Quail Hollow

Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson haven’t seen their names at the top of the leaderboard during a tournament too often this season, but that might change after this weekend as both are off to a strong start at Quail Hollow. Two of golf’s most prominent figures, McIlroy and Mickelson made a charge to the front on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Championship .

McIlroy is currently tied for the lead after finishing with an opening round of 67. He went on a run of four straight birdies starting on the fifth hole.

His run began when he perfectly placed a 61-foot pitch shot within five feet of the hole and sunk his putt for birdie. Three more followed before he made bogey at the ninth to drop back to 3-under.

The 23-year-old made birdie at the 10th and 11th holes to move to five-under but gave another shot back at the 12th. He made par over the next five holes before finishing his round with a birdie at the 18th green.

Phil Mickelson put together a complete round and only made bogey once, on the par-4 eighth hole, while stringing together five birdies to finish 4-under. Mickelson is coming off a disappointing 54th-place finish at The Masters and it didn’t seem to affect him on Thursday.

The short game specialist didn’t have to pull out any tricks in his first round as he was very consistent throughout the day. The 42-year-old didn’t have a single blemish on his scorecard on the back nine as he sunk back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th holes while making par on every other hole.

Mickelson’s only win this season came at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in the beginning of February while Rory McIlroy has yet to win on the PGA Tour in 2013.

Will Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy win this weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship? If not, whose name will sit atop the leaderboard after Sunday?

[Images via Ed McDonald | Steven Newton]