Sixty-two is a magical number in golf. Maybe not as magical as 59, but when you put up a 62 at Pebble Beach in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, you’re in pretty good company, sharing that distinction with the likes of Tom Kite and David Duval. Patrick Cantlay did it today in the first round, putting up the kind of stats that generally result in a spot atop the leaderboard: 16 greens in regulation, 18 putts, leading the field in strokes gained tee-to-green, and T4 in strokes gained putting.
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PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 11: Patrick Cantlay of the United States plays a shot from a bunker on the fourth hole during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links on February 11, 2021 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Another record-tying performance was turned in today by 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia, who joined Jack Nicklaus, Peter Jacobsen, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, and Ryan Palmer on the roster of players who have hit all 18 greens in regulation in a round at Pebble Beach. Bhatia, a native of Northridge, California, currently resides in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He was an accomplished junior player who played on winning Junior Presidents Cup and Junior Ryder Cup teams before deciding to pass up college golf and turn pro.
Bhatia, who weighs in at a wispy 6-feet tall and 130 pounds and may be in trouble if the winds pick up over the weekend, capitalized on his record-tying tee-to-green performance, posting a final score of 64 to close out the day tied for second with Swede Henrik Norlander.
Another player who has the eyes of the golf world watching him closely this week is Jordan Spieth. The young Texan, who notched up 11 wins in his first four years on Tour, including three majors, has been laboring under the twin burdens of a two-way miss off the tee and an on-and-off ice-cold putter, resulting in a winless drought since his 2017 Open Championship victory at Royal Birkdale.
Spieth raised the hopes of his fans last week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, posting a third-round 61 at TPC Scottsdale after opening with a pair of 67s. Tied for the 54-hole lead with Southern California’s Xander Schauffele, Spieth couldn’t muster the magic on WMPO Sunday, staggering home in 1-over 72 to finish T4, his best finish since his solo 3rd-place at the 2018 Masters, and one of only eight top-ten performances in that time.
Today at Pebble Spieth showed some more of the spark that was on display through 54 holes last week, carding a 7-under 65 on the strength of six birdies and an eagle against a lone bogey, the result of three putts on the notoriously difficult eighth hole. The eagle came two holes later, when his approach from 113 yards out landed just past the hole, checked up, rolled back, and dropped in the hole for a two. Spieth currently sits T-4, three strokes behind Patrick Cantlay.
Overnight rain in the area is expected to clear off before sunrise tomorrow, with Friday forecast to be partly cloudy and slightly breezy, with even windier conditions anticipated for the weekend. The wind is Pebble’s best defense against low scores, so we may not see any repeats of today’s record-tying performances.
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