02/12/26 07:11:00
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02/12 19:10 CST Hisatsune leads Pebble Beach on a gorgeous day with low scores.
Scheffler didn't take advantage
Hisatsune leads Pebble Beach on a gorgeous day with low scores. Scheffler
didn't take advantage
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) --- Chris Gotterup extended his streak to nine
straight birdies over two rounds on two very different courses. He ultimately
settled for an 8-under 64 on Thursday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, leaving
him two behind Ryo Hisatsune on a day of gorgeous weather and low scores for
practically everyone.
Scottie Scheffler was the exception. He had to birdie the par-5 18th at Pebble
Beach to avoid joining the short list --- 12 players --- who failed to break
par.
"I feel like typically I'm good at scoring, and today I felt like I didn't
score at all," Scheffler said. "Anything that kind of went wrong seemed to be
going that direction. I actually feel like I'm playing pretty well. Just one of
those days."
Hisatsune, coming off two good weeks including a runner-up at Torrey Pines to
qualify for this $20 million signature event, had three straight birdies early
in his round, made the only birdie on the par-4 ninth and finished with three
straight for a 62 at Pebble Beach.
He was one shot ahead of Keegan Bradley and Sam Burns. Bradley played at
Spyglass Hill, where the course average was about one-and-a-half shots higher
that Pebble Beach.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy, in his first PGA Tour start of the year, had a
pair of three-putt double bogeys on the par 5s at Spyglass that caused him to
settle for a 68.
Gotterup, who already has two wins this year, made three straight birdies to
finish off his victory in the Phoenix Open last week, the last one in a
playoff. From desert warmth to the California coastal chill, from carpet greens
to poa annua, there was no change in his game.
A short birdie putt on No. 1, a 10-footer on the par-5 second, nearly jarring a
wedge on the third, and on it went. Six holes into the round, he had six
birdies.
"I was kind of just coasting along," Gotterup said. "You don't really realize
it in the moment, and then when you look up you're like, ?Wow, I'm 6 under
through six.' That's nice."
Bradley chipped in from just off the green on No. 8 at Spyglass for a
birdie-eagle-birdie burst, and he kept a clean card the rest of the way for the
best score on the course that typically plays the hardest in calm conditions.
"It's about as nice of a day as I've ever seen out here," Bradley said. "The
greens are soft but that gets them a little bumpy, too. So some of the putts
are a little dicey, but definitely scoring is good."
Pebble Beach can be a pushover with no wind, particularly the opening seven
holes. That's where Hisatsune (five birdies) and Gotterup (six) made hay.
Scheffler, not so much.
It started with a clump of mud on his ball in the fairway on the par-5 second
that sent his shot some 30 yards left of the green. He picked up only one
birdie during that opening stretch, and then a strong breeze was largely into
him on the way back in. And he wasn't particularly sharp.
He hit only two approach shots inside 10 feet (and missed them both), and he
didn't make a putt longer than 8 feet for his round.
"I guess the challenge is making a bunch of birdies. That was a challenge for
me today," Scheffler said. "I'm looking at the leaderboard right now and it
looks like 7 under gets you in the top 10, so scores are pretty low," he said.
Burns didn't take advantage of the early holes, either. And then he birdied No.
8 over the ocean with a bold approach that settled 12 feet away between the
back pin and the right bunker. And with the wind picking up a little strength,
he had five birdies in a six-hole stretch to start the back nine. That included
pitching in from just under 30 yards on the 13th.
Burns led the field in putting --- it helps making from 45 feet on No. 10 and
30 feet on No. 17 --- and kept bogeys off his card.
"I made a significant amount of putts and feel like I was hitting it pretty
nice. It was a good combination for today," Burns said.
Tony Finau and Patrick Rodgers each had 64 at Spyglass to join Gotterup in a
tie for fourth. A pair of former Pebble champions, Nick Taylor and Tom Hoge,
were in the group at 65. Another shot back was Jordan Spieth, who holed out a
full wedge for eagle at Spyglass.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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