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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Packers #21 Jersey . -- From the moment Phil Mickelson set foot at TPC Scottsdale early Thursday morning, it was clear that the back pain that sidelined him last weekend was gone. It also was quickly evident that his game was a little off. "My back is fine. My game was a little rusty," Mickelson said after opening his Phoenix Open title defence with an even-par 71. After effortlessly hitting his opening drive 300 yards down the middle on the par-4 10th, Mickelson dumped a 90-yard wedge shot into the left greenside bunker. He blasted 10 feet past the hole and sighed in relief when his par putt slid in. A few minutes later on the par-3 12th, Mickelson found the water hazard along the right side of the green. His chip from the fringe stopped about 15 feet short and he two-putted for a double bogey. He three-putted twice, once for par and another for bogey. "I threw away a lot of shots," Mickelson said. "I made some careless swings. Hitting it in the water on 12 was just pathetic." He was seven strokes behind leaders Bubba Watson and Y.E. Yang. "I got off to a poor start, played a couple over, and finished poorly," Mickelson said. "In the middle of the round, though, I hit a lot of good shots and had a good little run, but it just wasnt quite sharp. I wasnt quite focused on every shot the way I need to be and let way too many shots slide." Mickelson first felt soreness in his back two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi, and pulled out of his hometown event in San Diego after making the 36-hole cut at Torrey Pines. He flew to Georgia to see back specialist Tom Boers and was told his facet joints locked up. "Its fine. Honestly, its no big deal," Mickelson said. "It was a five-minute fix. I just have to be careful for a week or two as it heals up. Its fine. Mobility is back. Its just not a big deal. ... It happens every now and then. Last time was about four years ago." After the double bogey on 12, he rebounded with 20-foot birdie putts on the next two holes, but three-putted for par on the par-5 15th after hitting a hybrid pin-high from 245 yards. "Fifteen really stung," Mickelson said. "It was only a 12- or 15-footer, and I am thinking eagle. I roll it 6 feet by and I miss it coming back. That was costly. Mickelson got to 3 under with birdies on Nos. 17, 1 and 4, then bogeyed three of his last five holes. He three-putted the par-4 fifth -- missing from 5 1/2 and 3 1/2 feet -- and failed to get-up-down for par after finding greenside bunkers on Nos. 7 and 9. "Playing the last five holes at 3 over ... that was really bad," Mickelson said. He hit five of 14 fairways, 11 greens in regulation and had 30 putts. "I wasnt as sharp as I need to be, for sure," Mickelson said. In his victory last year, he opened with a 60 -- lipping out a birdie putt on the final hole -- and matched the tournament record at 28-under 256. The 43-year-old former Arizona State star is making his 25th appearance in the event that he also won in 1996 and 2005. "Its fun to be back here," Mickelson said. "I love playing here." Watson and Yang shot 64. Watson birdied four of the final six holes. The 2012 Masters champion had eight birdies and a bogey in the afternoon session. "This golf course, if your ball-striking is good, you can shoot some good numbers here," Watson said after hitting 17 greens in regulation. "Hit a lot of greens, didnt make too many mistakes, didnt miss too many fairways. Just played solid." Yang birdied the final two holes. The 2009 PGA winner also had eight birdies and a bogey, playing the back nine in 6-under 30 in his morning round. "I think you have to be aggressive," the South Korean player said through a translator. "At the same time, you cant be too aggressive. ... You have to really balance it out, but you still have to be a little bit more aggressive than other tournaments." Scottsdale residents Pat Perez, Kevin Stadler and Matt Jones were a stroke back at 65 along with Harris English, William McGirt, Greg Chalmers and Chris Kirk. English birdied Nos. 12-15 to top the leaderboard at 8 under, but bogeyed the par-3 16th -- the rowdy stadium hole -- and the par-4 18th. He hit an 8-iron over the green on the 178-yard 16th. "I guess I was a little juiced up on that tee," English said. "I left myself with an impossible up-and-down." Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., fired a 4-under 67. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., is another shot back at 68. Amateur Ki Taek Lee of Vancouver shot a 2-over 74. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., carded a 75, and Calgarys Stephen Ames had a 76.. The crowd was estimated at 88,113, a record for the first round. Packers #76 Jersey . - Guillaume Gelinas scored twice, including the winner, as the Val-dOr Foreurs edged the host Baie-Comeau Drakkar 4-3 in overtime in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action on Saturday. Packers #92 Jersey . Buehrle enters with a major league-best 0.64 ERA through four starts. He looks to become the first pitcher in the majors to reach five wins as well as the first Blue Jays pitcher ever to begin a season with five straight victories. VIENNA, Austria -- Canadian Vasek Pospisil dropped a 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-2 decision to Robin Haase in second-round play Thursday at the Erste Bank Open. Pospisil, the seventh seed, saved match points in each of the last two sets before falling to the unseeded Dutchman. "I wasnt very happy with the way I was playing,"said Pospisil. "He played well and went for his shots. Im aware that I didnt and its something Ill work on. "I wasnt feeling that great today in general, even in the warmup. But thats the way it goes. You have to do the best you can with what you have." Pospisil jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker before dropping seven straight points. The 23-year-old Canadian faced a match ball in the last game of the second set before pulling even and taking the tiebreaker. However, Haase overwhelmed Pospisil in thhe deciding set on the cramped secondary court of the Statdhalle, completing the win in two hours 19 minutes. Packers #27 Jersey. . Pospisil, a native of Vernon, B.C., had nine aces and kept the pressure on Haase with 12 break points, but the Dutchman saved 10 of them. The Canadian had his serve broken four times. Pospisil is looking to close out the season strong so that he can achieve his goal of earning a seed for the Australian Open in January. Pospisil is currently ranked 40th in the world. "Ive had a great season," said Pospisil, who reached the Rogers Cup semifinals last August in Montreal. "Myself and my coach have set a goal of trying to get a seeding for Melbourne. "Its a tough ask and I have to beat some good players to get there." Pospisil defeated Lleyton Hewitt -- a former world No. 1 -- in the first round. ' ' '