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After sitting out since January with a stress fracture in one of his ribs, Rory McIlroy stepped to the 10th tee at the WGC-Mexico Championship, his first hole of the day. He waggled his Callaway Epic driver a couple of times and pummeled a 341-yard shot into the thin air of Club de Golf Chapultepec to mark that he was indeed back.

McIlroy made one birdie on his front nine for the day and played mostly even golf until he came to the par-5 sixth a few hours later. He had 256 yards to go on his second shot when he ripped a long iron past the hole. He made the 30-foot eagle to get to 3 under on the day.

“The rib is fine,” McIlroy said to Golf Channel. “It’s great actually, how it responded over the last couple of weeks ramping up the practice and then playing my first full competitive round today. I didn’t feel it at all. It’s all positive in that regard.

“I probably could have played Honda (Classic) last week, but I didn’t know how my body would react after playing four days in a row so I thought this was great. You get four guaranteed rounds, and I’m taking the week off next week to see how everything reacts and responds. I stayed patient, and I think the week longer will pay off.”

McIlroy was unsurprisingly No. 6 in the field in strokes gained off the tee and is one stroke back of a group of six golfers that includes Jon Rahm, Lee Westwood and 46-year-old Phil Mickelson.

After a solid west coast swing that showed Lefty still has a ways to go when it comes to finishing tournaments strong following two offseason sports hernia surgeries, he shot a 4-under 67 in Round 1 that included six birdies.

Mickelson was stunningly good off the tee, putted like his usual self and now holds the co-lead with 54 holes left. 

He could not close out 72 holes in the tournaments he played on the west coast as he often posted a final nine-hole score well over par so there is a long way to go. But this is certainly the start Mickelson needed as he looks for his first win since summer 2013.

Mickelson has two WGC wins in his career including this event when it was held at Doral in 2009. He has finished in the top 10 at WGC events 16 times, so this is not new territory for Lefty. 

Mickelson shares the 4-under lead with Ross Fisher, Jimmy Walker, Lee Westwood, Jon Rahm and Ryan Moore.