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After Round 1 of the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open, Bill Haas leads at 7 under, but Rickie Fowler is tied for second at 5 under along with Bryson DeChambeau (!), Chesson Hadley, Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel. There's an even more intriguing group just behind those six vying for the top of this board.

Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Ollie Schniederjans are all inside the top 12 after the first day of play. So it's shaping up to be a fun and wooly weekend in which any number of stars could take home a pre-Super Bowl title on Sunday afternoon.

Here are five takeaways from the first round.

1. Rickie's bounce: Fowler was fantastic on Day 1 following a disappointing missed cut at the Farmers Insurance Open last week. This is likely not the first time that sentence has been written about him in the last few years. 

Fowler is currently the +550 favorite just ahead of Rahm at +700 (Rahm is three back of Haas). His putting continues to rock (12th in strokes gained on the greens), and his stroke has evolved into one of my favorite on the PGA Tour. If he can tighten up his approach shots just slightly, he should be in prime position on Sunday to take home a title he should have won two years ago.

2. This tournament kind of rocks: The 16th hole remains overrated, but on the whole, this event has risen in the ranks since I started covering golf back in 2013. This year's field is world-class, and this course has produced winners that are top-10-type players in the world. This reality has probably been true for a while, but it really crystallized for me this year.

3. However, the record-setting crowds are on the verge: I would say it's a horse race between Phoenix and the Ryder Cup for the most borderline atmospheres. Fowler and Thomas both talked about that after their rounds on Thursday. Thomas addressed a fan who yelped during his playing partner Jordan Spieth's swing on No. 18, and Fowler talked about the masses on the par-3 16th.

"It's fun to play in a crowd like this and with all these people and cheering you on, but [a] girl just yelled right in Jordan's downswing and, I mean, he hit a great tee shot for that ..." said Thomas after his round. "I had no idea where he hit it because I was so upset that that even happened. It doesn't matter who it is, whether it's me or Jordan or anybody else in the field, I mean there's just no place for that. You saw it with Tiger last week. I get it, late in the day, at a place like Phoenix. I'm sure they're a couple in, but it's still not appropriate, and I hate that it could affect someone's score because of that."

"I was a little disappointed in some of the stuff that was said (on No. 16)," said Fowler. "I don't want much negativity ... the normal boos for missing a green, that's fine, but leave the heckling to a minimum and make it fun."

4. Oh no, Ollie: This was the strangest (and for Schniederjans, worst) moment of the day on Thursday. The former No. 1 amateur in the world putted his ball on the 17th green into the drink. Putted it into the water! He went on to just make bogey on the hole because he'd driven the green at this par 4. That's one shot to the green and four while on it, if you're keeping track.

Incredibly, it might not have even been the strangest shot of the day.

5. Thumbs up: On the five-year anniversary of his indelible lip-out for 59 at this event, Phil Mickelson shot a 1-under 70 to get inside the top 50. He was lousy around the greens, but he did hit a 351-yard (!) drive.

In each of the last two years, Lefty has gone super low on Saturday (65 on both accounts), so maybe if he can string something good together on Friday, we'll be in for another treat over the weekend. Also, I may or may not have just written about him so I could post this unbelievable GIF from the 2013 event in which Jim "Bones" Mackay may or may not have laid prostrate for an entire minute following Mickelson's missed putt for a 59.