Thursday at the 2024 AT&T Pro-Am: Detry in the lead, McNealy makes a big recovery

What a difference a day makes. Wednesday at Pebble Beach, the final practice day before competition rounds began, was a day of high winds and little rain – until the evening, when another “Pineapple Express” atmospheric river pounded the Central Coast with over an inch of rain. Thursday morning dawned with a mix of towering cloudscapes, rain showers, and patches of blue sky – a day when a jacket, an umbrella, and sunglasses would all come into play.

It was in this mixed bag of weather conditions that the first day of competition began in the “new look” Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Even with just 80 pairings and two courses in play, the traditional two-tee (#1 and #10) start was still in play; tee times ran from 8:45 to 10:33 at comfortable 12-minute intervals – still a desirable procedure when amateurs are in the mix. With the weather outlook for the weekend looking less than rosy – and positively nasty on Sunday, conversation around the lunch table in the media center touched on the possibility of play delays, one 36-hole day, a shortened event, or even the dreaded Monday finish. For today’s opening round, however, players and spectators alike enjoyed the light breezes and crashing surf, with – for most of the day – just the occasional brief rain shower bringing out jackets and umbrellas.

Big names in the mix

Ulster’s Rory McIlroy, back at Pebble Beach for the first time since the 2019 U.S. Open, rose to the top of the leaderboard briefly as he hit 6-under through 14 holes at Spyglass – before a bogey, double-bogey, bogey finish dropped him well down the leaderboard (the double-bogey on #8 involved a penalty for an improper drop.) Patrick Cantlay, meanwhile, playing three groups behind him, took over the top spot at 6-under after a birdie on #13, a string of four birdies at holes #17 through #2, and another at hole #5.

Cantlay went on to birdie his 16th and 17th holes to take over the top spot at 8-under. A late charge by Korea’s Si Woo Kim came up short, as a bogey at #9 dropped him to 6-under – but wait, there’s more…

Another “who is that guy” early leader at the AT&T Pro-Am

Late in the day, Thomas Detry of Belgium, also playing at Spyglass Hill, was 6-under through 16 holes and challenging for the outright lead. A birdie at #17 put him level with Cantlay – and then he took sole possession of the top of the leaderboard with a dramatic chip-in birdie from the right rough at Spy’s par-four 18th. With the new format dictating only one round at Spyglass Hill for all players, can Detry, an eighth-year pro still looking for his first win on Tour, follow up with three good rounds at Pebble Beach?

Maverick McNealy’s up-and-down round

Former Stanford Men’s Golf great Maverick McNealy coasted through most of the front nine on pars, with a lone birdie at #6, the par-five hole that plays up a five-story cliff on Arrowhead Point, but came to grief at holes 9 and 10. These two daunting par-four’s form part of the three-hole stretch (holes 8, 9, and 10) that sportswriter Dan Jenkins dubbed “Abalone Corner”, echoing the “Amen Corner” moniker given to Augusta National’s 11th through 13th.

After a par on #8, McNealy bogeyed #9 after going down the left side of the hole bunker-rough-green; he then flipped the script on #10, sailing his approach shot wide right, over the cliff but hanging up in the rough, luckily not falling all the way to the beach below. His recovery shot sailed over the green to the left rough, thence to the green and two putts for a double-bogey six and a mid-round score of 2-over.

After his adventure at #10, another string of routine pars got McNealy to Pebble’s picture-postcard closing hole, the par-five 18th, where in 2021 he narrowly missed a shot at forcing a playoff against Daniel Berger. That year, on the 72nd hole of the tournament, he sailed a beautiful high-draw 3-iron shot to 22 feet above the hole, only just missing the eagle putt that would have put the tournament into extra holes (after Berger did make eagle there, a few minutes later.)

In today’s round he followed a 304-yard drive to the right edge of the fairway, threading the needle between the cypress tree and the bunker complex there, with an absolutely stiffed second shot, a hybrid from 236 yards, to a scant eight feet above the hole. This time he made the eagle putt, making up the two-shot deficit from #10 to finish even for the round. A little more in the way of play of that caliber and we may see another high finish here at Pebble Beach from the young man who literally grew up on this golf course though his early teens.

The other NorCal-associated golfers in the field finished the day as follows:

• Collin Morikawa, former Cal golfer and 2020 PGA Championship winner at Harding Park – 5-under, T5
• Kurt Kitayama, Chico native and UNV grad – 3-under, T15
• Max Homa, 2013 Cal grad – 3-under, T15
• Former SJSU Men’s Golf standout Mark Hubbard – 3-under, T15
• Patrick Rodgers, Stanford Men’s Golf star who tied Tiger Woods’s 11-victory record – 4-over, T77

Big names not missed as AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am comes to an exciting climax

The absence of most of the PGA Tour’s big names this week didn’t take away from the excitement of professional golf’s most scenic tournament, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

With the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson—both multiple winners of this event—and many others opting to take Saudi blood money just for showing up at the Saudi International, it was left to Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Beau Hossler and a host of less recognizable names to bring the excitement from the Monterey Peninsula.

First-round leader Tom Hoge book-ended his tournament in the best fashion possible, facing down a surging Jordan Spieth to hoist his first trophy on the PGA Tour, bank a cool $1.5M, lock up two years’ worth of eligibility, and earn invites to the Masters and the Open Championship.

As many as five players were tied for first place mid-round as the likes of Patrick Cantlay, Troy Merritt, Beau Hossler and Jordan Spieth made moves early to mid-round.

Merritt was as low as seven-under after a birdie at the par-five 14th hole, even after a bogey at #8, but a double bogey at the par-three 17th killed his chances for a meaningful look at a win.

Cantlay came into the final round 65-68-68–201, 14-under and T-4, one stroke back of third-round co-leaders Tom Hoge, Beau Hossler, and Andrew Putnam. Strong iron play but poor putting stymied a move up the leaderboard by the SoCal pro, and a pair of late bogeys sealed his fate; a birdie on 18 boosted him into a share of fourth place alongside Troy Merritt.

First-round co-leader Beau Hossler stuttered early with a bogey on the par-five second hole and a bunker-to-fringe-to-three-putt adventure at the par-3 fifth hole. This usually relatively benign one-shotter played more difficult today as a new tee box, to the right of the usual position, was put into use for the first time. Birdies at 9, 10, and 11, and later at 17, buoyed his chances at a run for the win, but he still came to 18 needing an eagle to force a playoff. His last chance was a hole-out from the right-hand greenside bunker, which didn’t happen, and three putts later he had slipped from possible contender to solo third place.

Jordan Spieth was the hopeful story of the round for most of the day. Starting the final round 11 strokes out of first place, he marched ahead as the first-round leaders slipped back. His hopeful fans held their breath as he came to the 8th hole, where he danced with death at the edge of the cliff yesterday, his ball actually beyond the red line at the precipice. They clung to hope as he birdied 12 and 13 to take the solo lead; his birdie at the notoriously tough par-three 12th was only the second of the day.

Meanwhile, another first-round co-leader, TCU grad Tom Hoge, was struggling to an even-par front nine after a double-bogey on #5 and a bogey from the rough above the green on #8. Known as a player who doesn’t give up late in the game, Hoge righted the ship with birdies at 11 and 14, and pulled up on Spieth with another, at #16.

Now it was Spieth’s turn to stumble in the stretch. A slightly mishit 8-iron off the tee at #17 landed short, leaving him with a mediocre lie in the yawning front bunker. Not known for his excellent sand play in recent years, Spieth blasted out to five feet above the hole and missed the crucial par putt, handing the lead to Hoge, one hole behind him on the course.

More woes attended for Jordan Spieth on the 18th hole. His tee shot came to rest to the right of the strategically placed cypress tree mid-fairway, and a slight mis-hit off a bare lie resulted in a plugged lie in the seawall fairway bunker. Another poor shot left him short of the green, over 50 feet from the flag—long story short: chip short, par putt, solo second.

Hoge, in the mean time, played conservatively down the famously scenic fairway that curves around the blue expanse of Carmel Bay, getting to the green in a regulation three shots and taking two putts to get to the hole from 37 feet. It took Hossler’s botched run at the 18th hole (described above) to clinch the win for Hoge, but there was little doubt of the outcome once Hossler’s second shot landed in the greenside bunker.

In the final equation, it was two Texans and a man from North Dakota who went to school in Texas who provided the drama in the final round of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; three names that ranged in rank from well-known to “Oh, yeah—him,” to “Who?”, and nobody really missed the guys who bailed on one of the most historic, and certainly the most scenic, events on the PGA tour.

Power fades, Hossler hustles, and Spieth makes a giant leap on Saturday at the AT&T Pro-Am

In your run-of-the-mill PGA Tour event, Friday is Cut Day, when players have to play their way into the weekend, and Saturday is Moving Day, when the lucky 60+ who survived to play for a paycheck are playing to attain, or hold, a position close to the top of the leaderboard and be poised for a run at a high finish. As it is in so many ways, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am is exceptional in this regard. Played on three courses—Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Golf Club—this tournament cycles the players through all three courses, with the cut coming on Saturday, after 54 holes of play.

This unique configuration turns Saturday into a combination of “moving day” and “cut day”. This unique circumstance becomes even more significant when, as has happened this week, the 36-hole leader rides a record-tying five-stroke lead into the weekend.

Ireland’s Séamus Power opened his run at an AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title on Thursday with a noteworthy bogey-free eight-under 64 at Spyglass Hill, which is acknowledged to be the toughest of the three courses in the tournament rota. Rotating to Pebble Beach on Friday, Power kept the pedal down, and with two bogeys against ten birdies, carded a second eight-under 64 to set a new 36-hole scoring record of 128.

The new record is one stroke better than the previous record of 129, jointly held by Nick Taylor (2020) and Phil Mickelson (2005)—each of whom went on to win.

Power’s pursuers got the help they needed as the firm and fast MPCC course kept a lid on the Irishman’s game. Beau Hossler, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, and Andrew Putnam playing at Pebble, and Tom Hoge, at Spyglass, all made moves to close the gap.

Hossler, who led the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club briefly in the third round as an amateur, caught up to Power in the latter part of their respective rounds. The Texan traded off between co-leading and trailing by one over a run of several holes before Power sputtered to a 3-over 74 on the Shore Course, eventually falling to T-7, while Hossler ascended to a tie for the lead with Andrew Putnam and first-round leader Tom Hoge. Hossler carded a 7-under 65 on five birdies and an eagle, on the par-five 6th hole.

A few groups behind Hossler, Patrick Cantlay endured a string of pars and one bogey, at 15, on the back nine before a 22-foot putt at the 17th hole yielded a timely birdie and gave his game a boost that had been missing to that point. He followed it with a birdie at 18 after getting on in two with driver–3-wood, cementing a 4-under round and -14 for 54 holes, good enough for T-4 going into the final round.

The biggest move on the day was made by the 2017 Pro-Am champ Jordan Spieth, who rode a run of sterling iron play to a 9-under 63, lifting him to 14-under for the tournament and into a three-way tie for 4th going into the final round.

Cantlay and Spieth were joined at T-4 by Joel Dahmen, who posted a sneaky-good six-under 66 at Spyglass Hill to join Cantlay and Spieth in the three-way tie for fourth.

NorCal notables who made the field include 2021 runner-up Maverick McNealy; Nick Watney, who squeaked in with 4-under, T-65 finish*; Austin Smotherman, who opened 65-68 in the first two rounds and sputtered to a 3-over 75 at Spyglass today, and former San José State golfer Mark Hubbard, who stitched a light-running 7-under 65 on MPCC Shore for an 8-under T-21 placement going into the final round.

Sunday promises to be a long day on the course, with 77 pros in the field*. Interestingly, the fate of the twelve other players who were tied with Sahith Theegala at 4-under lay in his hands when he got to the 18th hole. If he birdied the final hole to move to 5-under and solo 65th, the dozen at 4-under would fall to the wrong side of the cut line; par or worse and they are all playing for a paycheck tomorrow.

Theegala placed his third shot in the back fringe, 28-1/2 feet from the hole, and then missed that birdie putt. There are twelve guys in the field tomorrow* who owe Theegala a steak dinner.

* (Late update – Given the size of the field, and the presence of amateurs, the PGA Tour invoked the MDF rule—so just the top 64 pros are playing on Sunday. It would have been very difficult to get a finish in before dark, otherwise.)

Friday is a Power-play day at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

At the end of the first round of play at the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Fargo, North Dakota native Tom Hoge stood atop the leaderboard after posting a 9-under 63 at Pebble Beach Golf Links—but as anyone who is familiar with this tournament knows, not all rounds are created equal here in the Del Monte Forest.

It is generally acknowledged that of the three courses in the tournament rota—Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Golf Club—Spyglass Hill, with its more severe elevation changes and coastline to forest routing, is the toughest test of golf, with Pebble and the Shore Course trading off second and third depending upon the strength and severity of the wind.

That being the case, it was generally acknowledged among the cognoscenti that Hoge’s Friday 63 at Pebble, under clear skies and in calm conditions, had to take a back seat to the 8-under 64 put up by Irishman Séamus Power at Spyglass Hill in the first round. Starting on the tenth hole, Power opened with a 3-under 33 for nine holes, opened the front nine with another birdie and caught another gear toward the end of hit round, dropping a string of birdies in the last four holes to close out the round in style.

Teeing off at #1 at Pebble Beach on Friday morning, Power kept his foot down, coming out of the gate with another 3-under 33 on the home course’s front nine, with birdies at the second, sixth, seventh, and ninth holes, marred only by a three-put bogey at #5.

The momentum from his birdie at the intimidating par-4 ninth, the centerpiece of the three-hole string of cliff-top par fours—eight, nine, and ten—that sportswriter Dan Jenkins dubbed “Abalone Corner”, carried over to the next three holes as the course turned inland. Birdies on both of the back nine’s par-fives, 14 and 18, and the par-four 16th hole, rolled back by a tough bogey from a green-side bunker on the par-three 17th, brought Power home in 31, for back-to-back 64s, 16-under for the tournament, and a new 36-hole tournament scoring record of 128.

The previous holders of the 36-hole scoring record of 129, Nick Taylor (2020) and Phil Mickelson (2005), each went on to win the tournament.

Meanwhile, a mile or two or three down the 17-Mile Drive, first-round leader Hoge was slipping off the pace a bit with a two-under 69 at the par-71 Shore Course that dropped him to second, five strokes back of Power at 11 under, after 36 holes. Andrew Putnam, who posted a 6-under 65 on the Shore Course in the first round, carded a 5-under 67 at Spyglass Hill and moved up into a tie with Hoge for second; they were joined by Canadian Adam Svensson who followed a first-round 69 at Pebble with a blistering 8-under 63 at the Shore Course.

Power’s five-stroke lead after 36 holes ties another record; former Cal golfer Charlie Wi held a five-stroke lead after 36 holes in 2012—only to lose to Phil Mickelson, and Bob Rosburg held a five-stroke lead after 36 holes in 1958, but lost to Billy Casper (Rosburg would go on to win the Pro-Am in 1961.)

A five-stroke lead is nothing to sneeze at going into the third round, but there are some players not so far behind that are capable of putting up a low score late to pounce on any potential missteps that might be made by Power, Hoge, Putnam, or Svensson. Patrick Cantlay put up a second-round 68 at Spyglass to wrap up 36 holes at 10-under, T-5, while a resurgent Jason Day followed up Thursday’s 4-under 68 at Pebble with a 5-under 66 at the Shore Course and is currently seven strokes back—but with the tougher test of Spyglass Hill to come on Saturday.

Something to consider for a look ahead to Saturday’s round is the fact that Power, who seems to be thriving under the benign conditions that have prevailed so far, and which should continue through the weekend, will be playing the easier of the three courses, MPCC’s Shore Course, while his closest competitors, Hoge and Putnam, will be at Spyglass Hill and Pebble Beach, respectively.

That’s something to look forward to for Saturday/cut day at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Thursday at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Who are those guys?

It’s a recurring theme at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: the first round goes into the books on Thursday evening, and the universal reaction to the name at the top of the leaderboard is “Who?”

Mind you, I’m not talking about the fans walking back to their shuttle buses at the end of the day, or the punters propping up the bar at the 19th Hole—I’m talking about in the media center, where some of the finest minds writing about golf today are gathered to ponder, pontificate, and promulgate their wisdom via the various forms of media, social and otherwise.

This phenomenon has been known to extend through Friday and Saturday, and even persist to the final round—who can forget Vaughn Taylor in 2016; or maybe the ultimate “Who dat?” winner, Ted Potter, Jr., the Orlando Mini-tour King, in 2018? (Potter’s win is even more remarkable when you consider the group that tied for second behind him, which included Jason Day, and multiple Pebble Beach champions Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.)

This year’s first-round leaderboard treated fans and the media to such well-known names as Knous, Hoge, Putnam, Malnati, Lipsky, and Eckroat. You can be forgiven for thinking that this lineup sounds more like a firm of auto-accident lawyers that advertise on local cable than the top of the leaderboard at a prestigious PGA Tour event.

To be fair, the absence of most of the biggest names in PGA tour golf has left the venerable Del Monte Forest beach bash awash in lesser-known players, so the odds are good that this year’s winner could be someone with a low recognition factor.

A veritable who’s-who of men’s professional golf, most of whom could have been reliably counted upon to be in the field here at Pebble Beach, decamped to Saudi Arabia to play for a smaller purse ($5M vs $8.7M) but big appearance fees (reportedly larger, in some cases, than the winner’s share here at Pebble Beach).

The list includes five-time Pebble Beach winner Phil Mickelson; two-time winner Dustin Johnson; Graeme McDowell, the winner of the 2010 U.S. Open, held here at Pebble Beach; and sundry other golf luminaries and recognizable names such as Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, and several more.

The biggest names in the field this week at the Clambake are Jordan Spieth, who is among the stable of players affiliated with presenting sponsor AT&T; #3-ranked Patrick Cantlay, a California kid (if SoCal…) who acknowledged, but resisted, the temptation of Saudi gelt and came to Pebble Beach this week because he loves the place; Maverick McNealy, local boy and Stanford Men’s golf star who grew up in a house on Pebble’s 16th fairway before his family moved to Hillsborough; and former World #1 Jason Day, who showed some long-missing form at the Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines last week before fading over the closing holes of the final round.

There is an old saying that goes: “The race doesn’t always go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong—but that’s the way to bet”, so the chances are good that one of the four names I mentioned in the preceding paragraph will top the leaderboard come Sunday evening. The odds are even better that, even if none of them do top the field, one or more of them will be in the hunt on Sunday, and will end up in the Top 5 after 72 holes are played.

As far as Round One went, an 11-year pro from North Dakota by way of Texas Christian University (“Go Frogs!”) named Tom Hoge (pronounced “hoagie”, like the sandwich) topped the leaderboard after 18 holes.

Starting on the tenth hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links under clear skies in a dead calm, Hoge opened with birdies at 10 and 11, carded another at 18, and went on a six-hole birdie run on holes 3 through 8 after pars at 1 and 2. His clean-card 9-under 63 is one off of the tournament course record of 62 that is jointly held by Dave Kite (1983 – win), David Duval (1997 – runner-up), and was most recently equaled by Patrick Cantlay in last year ’s first round.

Hoge is trailed by Irishman Seamus Power, who carded an 8-under 64 at Spyglass Hill, and NorCal’s own Austin Smotherman, a native of Loomis, CA, a small town straddling Hwy 80 just east of Sacramento, who carded a 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach, more than offsetting a pair of bogeys with eagles at the par-5 sixth and eighteenth holes. Swede Jonas Blixt, who played at Spyglass Hill today, is tied with Smotherman at 7-under.

Patrick Cantlay is the highest-place of the bigger names in the field, T-5 at 6-under after his opening round at Spyglass Hill; Jason Day is T-14, 3-under at Pebble Beach; Jordan Spieth sits at T-31 after a 3-under round at MPCC, and Maverick McNealy is T-51 with a 2-under round, also at MPCC.

A little rain, a little wind, a little luck—and once again Jordan Spieth sleeps on a 54-hole lead

Looking more and more like a man on the comeback trail since grabbing a 54-hole co-lead last week in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Jordan Spieth took over the lead at the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after the second round, 65-67–132, to lead by a single stroke over Daniel Berger, and two strokes over Patrick Cantlay. Memories of his final-round woes in Phoenix were coursing through people’s minds when he stepped up to the first tee this morning to start his third round, and for a while there it looked as though the spectre of the previous week’s collapse might be riding his shoulders.

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 13: Jordan Spieth reacts to his tee shot at the par-three 17th hole during the third round of the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. (photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

The short par-5 second hole at Pebble Beach generally plays as the easiest hole on the course, but a stubbed 5-iron approach and a woeful performance on the green left Spieth with a bogey six, on a hole that players expect to birdie, and which, in fact, played nearly a half-stroke under par in the third round.

He appeared to set things right with birdies at the par-four 4th, where he drove just short of the green, chipped up to 7 feet below the hole and sank the putt; at the long par-five 6th, where he just missed an eagle three from the right-hand greenside bunker; and at the notorious par-four 9th, where a beautiful approach shot from 110 yards set him up for an 8-foot below-the-hole birdie putt.

Then came the turn. Strictly speaking Pebble makes the turn between 10 and 11, reversing course from SSW to NNW, and on days like today, turns into the chill, blustery wind. Pebble’s tenth hole, the final stanza in the three-hole stretch of rigorous par-4s that the late, great sportswriter Dan Jenkins dubbed “Abalone Corner”, is frequently to be found in the #1 spot when the course handicap is tallied—as it did today, playing to a stroke average of 4.209.

Number Ten started the string of holes where Spieth gave back the birdies he had earned on holes 4 through 9, with bogeys at 10, 12, and 14. Bad shots, bad judgment, and what appeared to be a growing level of confusion as to how hard to rap his putts set him back to where he had been when he walked off of #2—plus-1 on the day, and looking up at the top of the leaderboard from a few steps below where he had started in the morning.

Then came 16. One hundred and sixty-odd yards out in the fairway, two strokes behind Daniel Berger, wind in from the right and a bit of mud on the ball. He took eight iron, and slung it up and into that quartering wind and, in his words, “…kind of let the wind and the mud do most of the work.”

Mother Nature’s factors did a wonderful job, and as seen on the television coverage, the ball described a great tilted arc through the afternoon sky, slamming into the green about a flagstick’s length above the hole before trickling down ever so slowly, until, with its last erg of energy, it dropped into the hole for his second, and most impressive, chip-in eagle of the tournament.

Tied now with Berger, Spieth split the par-three 17th with his fellow 27-year-old, both making pars.

At 18, fate stepped in again. With Spieth in good position in the fairway, Berger’s tee ball rode that WNW wind far to the right, bouncing from turf to cart path to OB, effectively sealing his fate. Spieth laid up to a solid number short of the green, threw his approach above the hole, and two-putted his way to another 54-hole lead.

Sunday’s weather is forecast to be cool, dry, and breezy, with the winds increasing in the afternoon—the usual pattern. Speaking after Saturday’s round, Spieth sounded prepared for what he, and the rest of the field, will be facing in the final round:

“…it’s almost two different golf courses when the wind blows out here with that kind of out and in. But I think it’s a good lesson for tomorrow that there’s going to be some … guys are going to make runs and I just got to stay really patient, recognize that setting a goal for myself and sticking to it is important because things can change quickly out here.”

Like when your playing partner ties it up by slinging a banana-ball from 160 yards out for an eagle-two with two holes to play. Just ask Daniel Berger.

Young guns rule after 36 holes at 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

After the first round of the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was played under a gloomy grey overcast, blue skies predominated for most of the day on the Monterey Peninsula during Round 2, but at the cost of breezy conditions. At Spyglass Hill, where 14 of 18 holes are sheltered by the massive pines and cypress trees of the Del Monte Forest, the average score increased by less than a full stroke from Day 1 to Day 2, but at Pebble Beach Golf Links, which runs in a narrow out-and-back band right along the shore of Carmel Bay, the scoring average jumped by a little over two strokes.

Pebble Beach, California – February 12: Jordan Spieth on the eighth tee at Spyglass Hill in the second round of the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Statistically speaking, players who drew Pebble in Round 1 and Spyglass Hill in Round 2 enjoyed a one-stroke advantage over those who went the other way, a fact that is borne out by the composition of the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes. Of the 13 players between 1st place and T8, 11 played Pebble/Spy. After a lot of adding and subtracting and squinting at the numbers, the conclusion that comes out of all this is that Spyglass is harder than Pebble, but Pebble gets harder, by more, when the wind blows.

Another conclusion that jumps out from a long, hard look at the scoreboard is that the young guns are pretty much in charge of this tournament.

Of those top 13 players I mentioned before, one is 19 years old, five are in their 20s, five are in their 30s, and two geezer-codger 40-somethings snuck in there when no one was looking. Looking at the full field, players in their 40s that finished above the cut line were as rare as affordable housing in Carmel; Jim Furyk, at 50, is the elder statesman of the weekend crew, followed by 49-year-old Brian Gay. Furyk’s position comes as little surprise, though; he won the PGA Tour Champions event here last September, taking home a little more than what a two-way tie for 5th will net this weekend.

The name at the top of the leaderboard today, Jordan Spieth, is one that was much spoken of coming into this tournament. Spieth wowed PGA Tour fans and sent the golf-betting tyros back to their spreadsheets last week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open when he went 67–67–61 before losing the plot and closing with a 1-over 72. Despite the stumble in the final lap, that performance showed that his long search for the game that abandoned him after seeing him to eleven wins in his first four years on Tour, including three majors, is finally bearing fruit.

On the strength of the showing in Phoenix, and keeping in mind that he is a past champion of this event, in 2017, there were high hopes for his performance this week. After closing out the first round with a more-than-respectable 65 at Pebble Beach, which was still three strokes behind 18-hole leader Patrick Cantlay’s record-tying 62, Spieth backed it up with the low round of the day today, on either course, a 5-under 67 at Spyglass Hill, for a two-day tally of 12-under.

First-round leader Cantlay found Spyglass Hill a more difficult proposition than Spieth did, having a much tougher day there than he did on Thursday at Pebble. After opening his round with a double-bogey six at the 10th hole, he could only set three birdies against the double and two bogeys, to card a 1-over 73, leaving him leaning heavily on his first-round 62 to keep him within three strokes of the new leader, Spieth.

The third twenty-something in the top four is 27-year-old Daniel Berger. Playing the tougher Spyglass/Pebble draw, Berger managed to better his first-round score by a stroke at Pebble, even in the breezy conditions, bucking the trend that saw Pebble play two strokes more difficult today, on average, than it had on Thursday. His 67-66–133 sees him in second-place behind Spieth, whom he will join in the final grouping, along with third-place Henrik Norlander, tomorrow.

The other Spyglass/Pebble player who bucked the scoring trend today was Paul Casey, who posted 68-67–135 to share T4 with Cantlay, fellow Brit Tom Lewis, and Scotsman Russell Knox. Casey also bucked the youth trend as the only player over 40 sitting T4 or better after 36 holes.

Rounding out the under-30s at the top end of the scoreboard are Stanford alum Maverick McNealy, 25, and 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia, of Wake Forest, North Carolina.

McNealy, the oldest son of Silicon Valley tech legend and Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy, put together rounds of 68 and 69 at Pebble Beach and Spyglass, respectively; at 7-under he heads into the weekend five strokes back of leader Spieth.

Bhatia, who joined an elite group that includes Jack Nicklaus and Davis Love III when he hit all 18 greens in regulation at Pebble Beach in the first round, found Spyglass Hill a tougher row to hoe in Round 2, carding a 1-over 73 to put up against his first-round 64. Bhatia and McNealy are tied with Americans Brian Stuard, Nate Lashley, and Tom Hoge, and 46-year-old Aussie Cameron Percy, in 8th place going into the weekend.

With no amateurs in the event this year, and only two courses in play, the usual 54-hole cut is by the board, and Saturday and Sunday will see all 69 players remaining in the field playing Pebble Beach Golf Links both days. Saturday’s forecast is for intermittent light-to-moderate rain in the morning, clearing but turning breezy in the afternoon—conditions that do not bode well for players who are hoping to make a move up the leaderboard before the final round.

Dustin who? Patrick Cantlay leads after a record-tying first round at Pebble Beach

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.

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.

Don’t give up on the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

 Circumstances have really piled it on to the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Public health restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic mean that there will be no fans allowed on the property this year. There will be no amateurs—celebrities or CEOs— playing in the event, and the resulting reduction in the size of the field means that the scenic Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course will be left out of the mix, leaving just the pros to duke it out on Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill. Not only that, but the field is not just lacking star power of the celebrity kind; for the most part the stars of the golf world are staying away, too.

Still, for the fans watching from home—which is all of them—there are still a lot of reasons to tune in Thursday through Friday. With a polar vortex and yet another oddly named winter storm pounding much of the country east of the Rockies, the prospect of seeing golf being played on your TV set against the backdrop of the picturesque coastal scenery of the Monterey Peninsula isn’t a bad thing to look forward to.

Of course, the weather is always a consideration here in Steinbeck Country in early February—they don’t call it “Crosby Weather” for nothing—but the forecast as I am writing this is calling for a chance of rain Thursday after sundown, partly cloudy skies Friday, another chance of rain Saturday, and partly cloudy conditions again on Sunday. Compared to the deep freeze most of the country is being subjected to, this forecast is heavenly.

But who are the fans going to be seeing this week? One of the criticisms that has been leveled at this year’s event is a less-than-stellar gathering of golf talent. The tournament could initially lay claim to only one player in the Top 10 of the World Golf Rankings, World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, a two-time winner of this event; the next highest ranked players in the field were #11, Patrick Cantlay; #15, Daniel Berger; and #17, Paul Casey.

With ranking points available in the event determined by the strength of the field, and Pebble’s points running down in the low 30s, the tournament was starting to look like an opposite-field event—one of those also-ran tournaments like the Puerto Rico Open or Puntacana that are put on against a WGC event to give the “other” players something to do that weekend.

The dearth of higher-ranked players can be partially attributed to the absence of the CEOs and other high-rolling hotshots that make this tournament a top-tier networking event. Pebble has always been a draw for Tour players who are on the lookout for corporate sponsorships to carry them over those hard times when the top-ten finishes aren’t coming thick and fast. The fact that Pebble is followed in short order by the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, an event sponsored by Tiger Woods; and a WGC event in Florida is another excuse—oh, I mean reason—that has been cited by some of the higher-ranking players for taking this week off.

And then the somewhat weak field at this year’s event got even weaker with the withdrawal of Dustin Johnson, who cited jet-lag and a need to rest after winning a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia the previous weekend. Johnson’s withdrawal dropped the OWGR points for Pebble to 30—an all-time low.

Still, there are a number of players in the field that have drawing power for even the casual golf fan. Phil Mickelson, who shares the record for most wins in the event, at five, with Mark O’Meara, will be there. Jordan Spieth, who last week in Phoenix showed some of the fire that powered him to 11 wins in his first four years on Tour, including three majors: the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, and the Open Championship in 2017, is in the field. Former World # 1 Jason Day, who has placed T5 or better in five of his last six starts in this tournament, is back, along with 2018 Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari. Both are looking to break long-running winless streaks. Perennial fan favorite Rickie Fowler is making his first appearance in the AT&T Pro-Am since 2012.

For Bay Area golf fans the chance to see some locally familiar names is also a draw. Former Stanford Men’s Golf standouts Patrick Rodgers, Maverick McNealy, and Joseph Bramlett are in the field, along with former Cal players Max Homa, and James Hahn, and San Jose State Men’s Golf alum Mark Hubbard.

It’s been a tough year since the previous AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but I trust that the event that has weathered World War II, hail storms, tornados, and even a snow delay in 1962, will still put on a great show for golf fans this week.

Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula showcased by glorious weather on Day 1 of 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Monterey/Carmel real estate prices rising as a worldwide television audience is treated to views of Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course in gorgeous, Chamber-of-Commerce weather on Day 1 of the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The vista of these three immaculately prepared courses under a brilliant, jewel-blue California sky is sure to have well-heeled residents of the storm-ridden, snowbound portions of the country looking to their 401K’s, calling their brokers, and checking real estate listings. But when I say well-heeled, I mean it – the median price of a home in Monterey hovers just under $800k; in Carmel it’s just north of $1.3M.

But enough about real estate, let’s talk about golf. The clear, calm weather that is producing the awe-inspiring views here in the Del Monte Forest is also allowing the players in the field to put up some impressive scores.

Canadian Nick Taylor parlayed a windless day on the easier of the three courses in the tournament rota into an eight-under 63 and the 18-hole lead. Playing MPCC back-side/front-side, the 31-year-old native of Winnipeg opened with an eagle-three on the par-5 tenth hole, then went on to card a pair of birdies before making the turn. He then bookended the front nine with matching pairs of birdies to close out the opening-round lead in his seventh appearance in this event.

Asked about the closing birdies, Taylor noted, “Finished with two great shots, a 5-iron and 3-iron on the last two holes to set up two birdies there; … 5-iron into 8, 3-iron off nine tee, the par-3.”

“This is one of my favorite events of the year every year. You just can’t beat these three golf courses; they’re so fun to play.”

Patrick Cantlay, the SoCal phenom who fought back from back issues early in his pro career, rode a roller coaster around Spyglass Hill today – alternating birdies and bogies for the first five holes, then lighting up the back nine with five birdies against one bogey, posting a first-round 66 (6-under) on the acknowledged most-difficult course in the tournament rota.

Six-under rounds were also put up on Pebble Beach and MPCC Shore by Chase Seiffert and Harry Higgs, respectively.

Harold Varner III, who is making his first appearance at Pebble Beach since playing in the Champions Tour First Tee event 13 years ago, posted a 5-under round at Pebble Beach, carding three birdies a side, with a lone bogey on #12, the longest par-three on the course – and a deceptively difficult hole that has stunned more than one player over the years.

Another half-dozen players closed out their first round at five-under, including former Cal Men’s golf player Max Homa and Stockton native Ricky Barnes.

Former Stanford Men’s Golf star Maverick McNealy opened strong at Pebble Beach, carding three birdies on the front nine, but went a little flat on the second nine with no birdies, a bogey on the 11th hole, and a four-putt double-bogey seven on the 18th – a disappointing effort that was made even more painful by the two-foot bogey putt that horseshoed around the hole to leave an 18-incher for double. McNealy goes into the second round at even par.

San Jose’s Joseph Bramlett, another player who has battled back problems early in his career, closed in even-par 71 at MPCC Shore, with two bogies per side against a total of five birdies.

Second-round play starts Friday at 8:00 AM, with the weather forecast calling for continued clear and slightly cooler conditions.