Yet it still was not enough to lead. Japan’s Toshi Izawa holed his pitch to the 340-yard 13th as he and Shigeki Maruyama took over at the top.

With three to play the pair were 11 under for the day themselves and 28 under par overall, one ahead of the United States and overnight leaders Fiji, who still had five to go.

England’s Justin Rose and Paul Casey were joint top after Casey’s 15-foot eagle putt on the eighth helped them to an outward 29, but after 14 holes the two youngsters were joint fourth on 25 under par.

Alongside them were Scots Paul Lawrie and Alastair Forsyth, who began the back nine with four successive birdies and then had another on the short 15th.

With only foursomes to come, Ireland and Wales were leaving themselves a lot of ground to make up. Playing the last Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley were joint 10th on 22 under and Welsh pair Ian Woosnam and Bradley Dredge 14th two strokes further back.

Three opening birdies by Mickelson had sparked America into life.

They turned in 30, then the world number two eagled the 536-yard 10th, birdied the next three and picked up further shots on the final three greens.

He had been the last of the 48 players to arrive for the event and last week spoke about how he may have made a mistake in playing so much recently.

He typically takes at least two months off when the PGA Tour season ends to spend time with his family, but because his wife Amy is expecting their third child, a boy, in late March he added a few tournaments.

“I’m not playing well, and I’m having a hard time getting motivated to work on it,” Mickelson said at last week’s Target World Challenge in which he finished 10th of the 16 players.

Yet he believed he and Ryder Cup partner Toms had the potential to be just as effective in Mexico as he and Tiger Woods would have been.

Woods withdrew his name three months ago and on Thursday underwent knee surgery.

Woods and Mickelson have never been partners at the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, but Mickelson said: “I think the reason (for Woods’s non-appearance this week) is that Tiger has played a lot the last month.

“Last week was the tournament he hosts and before that he played a Skins game, the PGA Grand Slam and the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan.

“You can only play so much golf, so we had talked about it and I understood his situation.”

Replacement Toms commented: “Number one, I think Phil and I get along well on the course. We have fun playing and I think that’s a big part of it.

“I like his style of golf and I think I can complement that. When I’m playing well I’m kind of a steady player and he likes to go for it at times.”

The pair won two, halved one and lost one in the Ryder Cup, the defeat coming in the second afternoon fourballs to Harrington and Colin Montgomerie.