Mickelson returns for inaugural Fry's Electronics Open

2007-10-18

Share this article:  Digg |  StumbleUpon |  del.icio.us |  Reddit

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA (TICKER) -- The PGA Tour opens a new event this weekend when players take to the Grayhawk Golf Club for the inaugural $5 million Fry's Electronics Open, which begins Thursday.

Phil Mickelson will make his return to the Tour following a month-long absence after finishing 20th at the Tour Championship in mid-September.

Mickelson has seven top-10 finishes this season and has won championships at the AT&T Championship at Pebble Beach, The Players Championship and the Deutsche Bank Championship.

The 2006 Masters champion, Mickelson makes it a habit to play in Scottsdale after attending college at nearby Arizona State University.

Mickelson has finished in the top 10 during his last four tournaments in Scottsdale and claimed the title at the 2005 FBR Open at the TPC Scottsdale.

This is the fifth event of the Tour's Fall Series and the second time the PGA has stopped in Scottsdale this year. In February, Aaron Baddeley won his second career title here at the FBR Open.

Baddeley, like Mickelson, will be playing in his first tournament since the Tour Championship, where he finished 24th.

Prior to that event, the 26-year-old Australian was in the midst of turning around a rather dismal season - four top-10 finishes and three missed cuts in 17 events - with a fifth-place finish at the Deutsche Bank Championship and a runner-up appearence at the BMW Championship.

John Rollins will try to duplicate his best finish of the season when he returns to the desert for this tournament.

Rollins was the runner-up at the FBR Open and has only two top-10 finishes since that tournament - both were ties for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Buick Open.

Rollins will try to turn around his struggling play at the Grayhawk Golf Clubs after finishing in a tie for 18th at his last tournament, the Turning Stone Resort Championship near the end of September.

First prize is $900,000.