Spieth’s 63 shows there’s nothing wrong
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — A year ago, a lot of people in golf were asking what was wrong with Jordan Spieth. The answer, in the briefest of explanations: Nothing.
Spieth shot a 9-under 63 on Saturday, his lowest ever at Pebble Beach, and bounded into contention after three rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
With one round to go and most of the celebrity amateurs, including the irrepressible Bill Murray, having taken their hopes and their double-bogies to other locales, the AT&T has become what many wanted: A battle among some of golf’s more recognizable players.
Maybe Beau Hossler, Andrew Putnam and Tom Hoge, the three guys sharing first with 54-hole totals of 15-under-par 200, don’t have their own line of clubs or clothing, but they’re hardly in that grouping of unheralded.
Hossler held a brief lead in the 2012 U.S. Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Club when he was a 17-year-old amateur. Hoge is the pro from Fargo, the city in North Dakota, not the dark-humor movie. Putnam has been on Tour and off.
But a stroke behind at 201 are Spieth, FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay and Joel Dahmen. Another shot behind at 202 is the chap from Ireland, Seamus Power, who sadly verified what we all know: Golf can be cruel.
After 64s at two of the more difficult courses, Pebble and Spyglass Hill, Power shot 74 Saturday at Monterey Peninsula’s Shore Course.
You might think the tournament would come down to Spieth, a three-time major champion, and Cantlay, the one known as “Patty Ice.” But there’s no defense. You can’t stop the other guy, you just have to outscore him.
Not easy when Spieth has an eagle, eight birdies and only a lone bogey.
“I guess I'm one back,” said Spieth. “I think the leaderboard's pretty bunched. Pebble can yield low scores.“
A 63 would indicate as much.
“So I think I just kind of learned a little from last year,” Spieth said. “Last year I went in with the lead and I was a little tentative early and (Daniel) Berger came out firing, I think, went like birdie, eagle to start.
“I think not being in the final group (Sunday) I just kind of approach it like (Saturday) where I feel like, you know, sometimes it can be a little easier not in the final group to go ahead and fire away. You almost just set a goal for a number for the day and pretend you’ve got to get there in order to win.”
In the pre-tournament interviews, Cantlay, born in Long Beach, was asked why he didn’t go this week to the tourney in Saudi Arabia, where entrants are being awarded seven-figure bonuses.
He said he wasn’t asked, and besides, he prefers what he called “California golf.” You can see why.
“If the lead stays at 15-under, I'm obviously right there,” he said before the last player came in. “I think I came back from more strokes behind than that. So I'm in great position and I love this golf course, and everyone will be playing on the same golf course (Sunday), so it should be fun.”
Asked if he and Spieth would have an advantage playing Pebble in consecutive rounds, Cantlay said, “A little bit. The greens definitely were the firmest of the three places here at Pebble. With the wind up a little bit, I think it may dry out a little more.”
After all the times it’s rained during the AT&T and its predecessor, the Crosby, nobody will complain about anything being too dry.