Despite having only two birdie chances inside 15 feet, Mickelson holed out from the eighth fairway for eagle and chipped in for birdie on the par-3 16th. That carried him to a 1-under-par 70 and a one-shot lead over Pat Perez in the Northern Trust Open at Los Angeles.

Mickelson made three par saves from outside 10 feet, starting with his opening hole at the par-4 10th. He went from the front bunker to the back bunker, blasted out safely to 18 feet and curled in the par putt.

That set the tone for a day that only looked good on the scorecard.

“I probably didn’t play the greatest today, but I was able to kind of salvage a good round and had a good break on eight where I holed out from the fairway,’’ he said. “That was a nice little bonus.’’

Perez had a tournament-best 65, without a bogey on his card.

Mickelson was at 6-under 136, assured of being atop the leaderboard for the third straight round.

The group at 4-under 138 included Jimmy Walker (66), Carl Pettersson (70), Jonathan Byrd (70), Marc Leishman (69) and Matt Kuchar (69), who had a solid day without too much excitement until he drilled his tee shot to a back left pin on No. 6 and left himself 5 feet for birdie.

Before he could putt, he was stung by a bee in his arm.

“I haven’t been stung by a bee in probably 20 years,’’ Kuchar said. “I had stopped being scared of bees. The thing got me, and it was really painful. It was not much fun.’’

Bubba Watson had a 69 and was in the group another shot back, while world No. 1 Luke Donald had a 72 and was only six shots out of the lead.

As usual, the 144-man field could not finish before darkness. Eight players will have to return this morning to finish, with the cut likely to be at 3-over 145.

Mickelson and Perez will be in the final group, both of whom grew up playing each other in San Diego. This is different. Perez hasn’t missed a cut this year on the West Coast Swing, but has only one career win. Mickelson is going for his 41st, and trying to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win consecutive tour events.

Mickelson is coming off a big win last week at Pebble Beach.

LPGA - Karrie Webb had a birdie and three pars today in the completion of the lightning-delayed second round of the LPGA Thailand to increase her lead to three strokes.

Webb finished with a 7-under 65 to reach 11 under, which included an ace on the 159-yard 12th hole with a 6-iron yesterday. Jiyai Shin (66) and Na Yeon Choi (68) were tied for second.

Top-ranked Yani Tseng, the defending champion, topped the group at 6 under with a 65.

European Ladies - Fourteen-year-old Lydia Ko shot a 3-under 69 to finish two strokes behind the first-round leaders in the New Zealand Women’s Open at Christchurch.

Ko, the world’s top-ranked amateur, became the youngest winner of a pro tour event last month in the Women’s New South Wales Open in Australia.

Champions - Larry Mize shot a 10-under 62 to grab the first-round lead at the ACE Group Classic at Naples, Fla. Mize eagled No. 17 and birdied the 18th to finish off his round.

European - Peter Whiteford shot 68 to take a two-shot lead after the second round of the Avantha Masters at New Delhi.