Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler is atop another leaderboard.
Scheffler sank a seven-foot birdie putt to cap a bogey-free, eight-under-par 64 at Pebble Beach Golf Links to tie Ludvig Aberg of Sweden and Thomas Detry of Belgium for the lead midway through the 83rd AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The 80 players in the limited-field, no cut event played Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course once each on the first two days, and the final round will be played exclusively on the famed course at Pebble.
“I felt like I hit a lot of quality shots,” said Scheffler, who has won six times on the PGA Tour in the last two seasons and set a PGA Tour record with more than $21 million in earnings last year. “I think I might have hit every green, I really don’t know to be honest with you. Yeah, I felt like I hit a lot of quality shots, with really nice ones taking off spin into greens, stuff like that, giving myself a lot of good looks.
“It was really wet. So like on a lot of these back-to-front greens, it’s a big adjustment going from hitting a pitching wedge to hitting an 8-iron to try to take off spin. It’s little stuff like that you have to adjust to on the course. But it felt like the wind might have lied down a tiny bit as the day went on. I think we were forecast to have a little bit more aggressive winds than we did.
“But outside of that, yeah, it was just another day.”
Scheffler, whose victories include the 2022 Masters and the 2023 Players Championship, collected five of his eight birdies on the front nine and added three more coming home including on the last two holes to record a 36-hole score of 11-under-par 133.
Aberg equaled that score by holing out from 35 feet for an eagle and adding five birdies in a bogey-free 65 at Pebble Beach, while Detry the first-round leader at 63, made three birdies on the front nine of his 70 at Pebble.
“I don’t remember the last time I did that, so obviously that’s a little bonus,” said Aberg, who made birdie putts of 40, 35 and 30 feet on the first four holes. “I felt like I kept playing quite well and kept being disciplined, so it was nice.”
Said Detry: “I’ve played in Europe for six years and I feel like we pretty much play every single week in a tornado. I’m fine with it, I embrace it. It looks like this week is a short field as well, so looks like everybody’s going to have the similar draw, not like someone’s going to tee up in the morning and someone else in the afternoon. It will be the same for everyone.”
Sixth-ranked Patrick Cantlay of La Canada Flintridge and Cal hit his drive on the 18th hole at Pebble onto the beach, but scrambled for a par to shoot and is one stroke back in solo fourth, while two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas had a bogey-free 67 at Pebble and is two shots behind in a tie for fifth with Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, who made three straight birdies on the front nine in a 69 at Pebble, and Matthieu Pavon of France, winner of the Farmers last week, who had four birdies on the back nine in a 70 at Spyglass Hill.
Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA champion, made four straight birdies on the front nine in a 66 at Pebble Beach and is three behind in a tie for eighth with Beau Hossler of Rancho Santa Margarita, who holed a fairway shot from 72 yards to kick-start his bogey-free 67 at Pebble.
Eighth-ranked Matt Fitzpatrick of England made four straight birdies down the stretch in a 68 at Spyglass Hill and is four strokes behind in a big tie for 10th with Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge and Cal, who had two late birdies in a 70 at Spyglass Hill; Tom Hoge (66, Pebble Beach); Sahita Theegala of Chino Hills and Pepperdine (67, Pebble Beach); Peter Malnati (68, Spyglass Hill; Mark Hubbard (68, Spyglass Hill); Sam Burns (69, Pebble Beach), and Si Woo Kim of South Korea (71, Spyglass Hill).
Defending champion Justin Rose of England shot 71 at Pebble Beach and is in a tie for 23rd that includes 10th-ranked Wyndham Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, who eagled No. 18 in a 67 at Pebble, and 2023 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Eric Cole of Palm Springs, who eagled the seventh hole in a 71 at Spyglass Hill.
Fourth-ranked Viktor Hovland of Norway is tied for 44th after a 72 at Pebble Beach, while seventh-ranked Max Homa of Valencia and Cal had a 73 at Spyglass Hill and is in a tie for 53rd that includes ninth-ranked Brian Harman, who shot 70 at Pebble.
Second-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland struggled to a 74 at Pebble Beach and is in a tie for 64th that includes fifth-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State, who made two late birdies in a 72 at Spyglass Hill.
The rain that was predicted the first two days fell mostly at night, but a big storm is predicted to hit the Monterey Peninsula and could have a big influence on the last two rounds.
For complete results and third-round tee times, visit: https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard
