Two-time champion Phil Mickelson sailed to a five-under 67 and a share of the lead with Jim Furyk at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Friday.
Mickelson had to cope only with the cold and rain, but not much wind, which made the oceanside Pebble Beach course tame.
”It was a good day. We got a pretty good draw,” Mickelson said. ”It was a little windy the last three or four holes, but I’m not going to complain. We had a great day to take advantage of scoring.”
He had chances to score even lower, but three straight birdies on the back nine, and a simple up-and-down for birdie on the par-five 18th, enabled him to catch Furyk and reach 12-under 132.
Furyk also was pleased to see the flags drooping instead of flapping when he arrived at Poppy Hills, especially after seeing a forecast of 24km/h wind and heavy rain. The rain was brief and light, and he birdied all but one of the par fives on his way to a 65.
”I think we got out of it pretty good today,” Furyk said. ”Hoping for the same tomorrow.”
That gave the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am a good one-two punch at the top from the two highest-ranked players in the field.
Furyk (number two) and Mickelson (number six) had a three-shot lead over rookie John Mallinger and Kevin Sutherland, who turned in the best round of the dreary afternoon by firing off 10 birdies for a 63 at Spyglass Hill.
Sutherland thought briefly about the course record of 62 at Spyglass, just long enough to snap-hook his three-wood into the trees and out of play on the par-five seventh. He reloaded with a two-stroke penalty, reached the green in two, escaped with a bogey and didn’t let one bad hole take away from his round.
”Spyglass is one of my favourite courses in the world,” said Sutherland, who has played it countless times dating to his amateur days. ”I’d rather play there than Pebble Beach. But a 63 was not the score I was thinking about when I teed off.”
Sutherland plays his best golf on the United States West Coast — his only victory was the 2001 Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa — and was in the final group two weeks ago at Torrey Pines until he finished in a tie for 14th. The attention that week was on Tiger Woods, who isn’t at Pebble again.
The names atop the leader board were still enough to get his attention. ”I’m very much aware I need to make a lot more birdies,” Sutherland said with a smile.
Davis Love III made a quiet climb into contention with a 67 at Pebble Beach, but perhaps the biggest surprise came from the group behind Mickelson — 57-year-old Tom Watson, playing this tournament for the last time.
Watson asked to play with his son, Michael, and the old man showed he still had a few tricks. He birdied three of his first four holes, and showed that he wasn’t out for a few laughs after slapping his thigh in disgust when he missed birdie putts inside eight feet on the sixth and seventh holes.
He also made birdie on the par-three 17th, but not with a chip from behind the green, as he did in 1982 when he won the US Open. The flag was on the other side of the green, and Watson only had to make a 15-foot birdie putt. It led to a 68, leaving him six shots behind at six-under 138.
”He’s playing great,” Mickelson said. ”I saw him birdie 17, which was nice.”
This tournament still won’t come into clear view until after Saturday, when everyone completes the three-course rotation. Mickelson heads to Spyglass Hill, where he opened with a 62 two years ago on his way to victory. Furyk takes on Pebble Beach, and he can only hope the wind stays away for one more day. Pebble is a beast when the wind blows, and a pushover when it doesn’t.
Sutherland gets Poppy Hills, but he pays so little attention to these matters that his only concern is getting on the right shuttle. ”Is Poppy notoriously the easiest of the three?” he asked.
That’s usually the case, although without the wind, Pebble was the place to be on Friday. It was the only course in the rotation that played under par (71.66), and Mickelson did his best to take advantage.
”I probably let a few shots go in the first nine or 10 holes, and I picked up some shots on the last eight or nine holes that I probably shouldn’t have,” he said. ”So it was a good day.” — Sapa-AP