Sunday afternoon start of final round leads to a Monday finish at AT&T Pro-Am

Despite a smörgåsbord of “Crosby weather” conditions Sunday morning, third-round play in the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am wrapped up just before noon, setting the stage for the start of final-round play.

Conditions in the afternoon were breezy and slightly brisk, but mostly dry. Towering cloudscapes drifting downwind on northwesterly zephyrs enhanced the already picturesque views from the course across Carmel Bay and Stillwater Cove toward Point Lobos, but the afternoon was generally uninterrupted by the rain squalls that had plagued the morning’s wrap-up of third-round play.

Despite the breezy conditions, there were players from back in the pack making big moves as the day progressed. Denny McCarthy, a pro since 2015 out of Rockville, Maryland, and the University of Virginia, went out in 7-under 29 on Pebble’s front nine, climbing 16 spots on the leaderboard to an eventual three-way tie for second with only one blemish on his scorecard, a bogey five at the par-four 13th hole. Also in the tie for the runner-up spot are Peter Malnati, who remained static through today’s play, and UG grad Brendon Todd, who moved up eight places carding 5-under through twelve holes, including an eagle three at the par-five second hole.

Canada’s Taylor Pendrith made the biggest move on the day, moving up 27 spots on the leaderboard to solo 5th to sit at 8-under through 16 holes.

Smaller gains, and reversals, held the NorCal players in the field back from keeping up with the big gains that were being made ahead of them, and when play was called at 5:33 p.m., Kurt Kitayama had dropped four shots, and 27 spots on the leaderboard. His precipitous drop came as the result of opening with a trio of bogeys and making a double-bogey six at #8, the cliff-hanging par-four that opens the difficult three-hole run of par-four’s—8, 9, and 10—that famed sportswriter Dan Jenkins dubbed “Abalone Corner”.

Former Stanford golfer Brandon Wu made the strongest showing of the NorCal trio, sitting at 3-under for the round through ten holes to hold at T-5. San José’s Joseph Bramlett played even par through ten holes, birdies at 2, 4, and 6 being offset by a bogey at the par-three 5th hole and a double-bogey at #8 after flying the green to the topside bunker and taking a chip and three putts to get down. He had dropped eight spots to T-13 when play was called.

Justin Rose goes into the final holes of the round the solo leader at 15-under after posting 3-under through 9 holes. Rose had teed off at 10 when the horn blew calling play, so he marked his ball—in good position on the right side of the tenth fairway—and headed for the clubhouse.

Twenty players had completed their rounds by the time play was called, and players within the top twelve when the horn blew have anywhere from one to nine holes left to complete when play resumes Monday morning at 8 a.m.