Phil Mickelson maintained a one-shot lead going into the weekend rounds of the Northern Trust Open.
A stroke in front of the chasing pack when the delayed first round was completed earlier in the day, the American left-hander carded a one-under-par 70 in breezy sunshine at Riviera Country Club.
Mickelson holed out with a lob wedge from the fairway to eagle the par-four eighth on the way to a 6-under total.
Pat Perez fired a six-birdie 65 to lie second, a shot in front of fellow Americans Jimmy Walker (66), Jonathan Byrd(70) and Matt Kuchar (69), Swede Carl Pettersson (70) and Australian Jarrod Lyle (65).
"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," Mickelson, who also recorded two birdies and three bogeys, told reporters. "That was kind of a nice little bonus.
"I left myself uphill par putts on seven and nine, and that's really not a good thing to do here. If you're going to make five or six-footers, you really have to have them uphill where you can hit them aggressive enough to hold the line.
"They just kind of wobbled off, so I ended up missing those," added the four-times major champion, who totalled 25 putts while hitting only eight of 18 greens in regulation.
