The unique format of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which is played on three golf courses, dictates a major difference between this event and your standard, week-to-week Tour event: Saturday becomes cut day and moving day in one. Factor in the differences in level of difficulty between the courses – weather being equal, hardest to easiest: Spyglass Hill, Pebble, MPCC; and throw in the fact that Pebble is more likely to get windy, and is more affected by the wind, and Saturday becomes a real crap-shoot when it comes to predicting how the field will shake out at the end of the day on Saturday.
One could have been excused, then, for being only cautiously optimistic about 36-hole leader Nick Taylor’s chances of retaining the lead after 54 holes, with similar caution applied to Jason Day’s second-place position – each played MPCC and Pebble over the first two days in pristine conditions, and Spyglass Hill on Saturday. Phil Mickelson, who closed out 36 holes in solo third place, got there by way of Spyglass and MPCC, in that order, landing that sweet pick that puts him on Pebble for back-to-back rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
A third round at Spyglass has quashed more than one player’s chances over the years, but neither Day nor Taylor showed any signs of being slowed down by the Robert Trent Jones course about which Jack Nicklaus famously said, “…it makes you want to go fishing.”
Starting on the par-4 tenth hole at Spyglass, Taylor faltered early with an opening bogey and another at #13, a 460-yard par 4 that is the #1 handicap hole on the course, but recovered quickly with birdies at the 17th, second, and fifth holes, then put a little distance between himself and his big-name pursuers with an eagle-3 on the 549-yard par-five seventh hole. The Winnipeg native brought it to the house with a 3-under third round for a 17-under 54-hole total, which turned out to be good enough to retain his lead going into the final round.
Jason Day slipped back slightly while finishing at Spyglass Hill, carding a two-under 70, offsetting four birdies with two bogeys. He finished his Saturday in solo third at 14-under after having held a share of the lead earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, over at Pebble Beach, Phil Mickelson was being Phil, opening his round with a pair of birdies at holes one and two, then notching another bird at the par-5 sixth hole. Despite its daunting aspect, with a second shot that has to negotiate a looming cliff for a blind approach shot, has played easier than any other hole on the course in this year’s tournament.
The real “Phil-the Thrill” fireworks began at the next hole, the world-famous seventh, a jewel-like par-3 perched out on the tip of Arrowhead Point. His frankly mediocre tee shot caromed off the more-than-usually-firm putting surface into a fried-egg lie in the back bunker. Squaring up with a wedge, Mickelson hit a low pitch shot that would have run well past the flag if it hadn’t checked in the rough short of the green; instead, it pulled up at kick-in range for a par save that people will be talking about for quite a while.
After three pars to close out the front nine at 33, Mickelson continued with pars at 10 and 11 before making a slight misstep at the par-3 twelfth, landing in the front bunker, wedging out and two-putting for bogey.
At 13, the recently renovated 407-yard par-4, his tee shot went wide left, his second landed in the left-front bunker, followed by a highlight-reel chip-in for birdie. Similar drama followed at the next hole, the intimidating 582-yard par-5 fourteenth. Wide left off the tee – again, Mickelson’s second found the fairway some 90 yards short of the green. Coming up short when his approach checked up short of the flag and rolled back to below the false front of the green, his fourth, a back-foot chip-and-run drew a beeline for the hole, rattling the flagstick to drop in for his second consecutive birdie.
After par out of a left-of-the-fairway bunker on the fifteenth hole, a routine par at the sixteenth and a disappointing two-putt par from nine feet at the second most famous par-three on the course, #17, Phil found trouble right (for a change) with his second shot at the eighteenth hole.
After getting relief from an obstruction in the wood chips right of the green, he fired a skyhook flop shot that rolled past the hole by inches; he then drained the 4-1/2-foot putt for another birdie. After hitting nine of fourteen fairways, nine of eighteen greens and only 22 putts, Mickelson closed with a 5-under 67 to finish in solo second at 16 under.
Today’s round puts Mickelson in great shape to renew his oldest-winner title, and to share the back-to-back winner title with Sam Snead (1937, 1938), Jack Nicklaus (1972, 1973), Tom Watson (19777, 1978), Mark O’Meara (1989, 1990), and Dustin Johnson (2009, 2010). Most significantly, a win on Sunday will put Mickelson in sole possession of the “Most Wins in the AT&T Pro-am” title.
Mickelson and his amateur partner, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, are second in the Pro-Am contest going into the final round, behind Kevin Streelman and his amateur partner, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. They will tee off with third-round leader Nick Taylor and amateur partner Jerry Tarde, editor-in-chief of Golf Digest magazine, Sunday morning at Pebble Beach.
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