Jordan Spieth has slipped to No. 6 in the world, but he’s starting to play the way he did when he was No. 1.
Spieth carded a 7-under-par 65 at Spyglass Hill Golf course in the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and was tied for the lead with Derek Fathauer when fog halted play one day after the first round was cut short by rain.
“Putted a lot better today than yesterday, but conditions were also totally different.” said Spieth, who has finished in the top 10 in his first three tournaments of the year after winning the Australian Open in November. “Feeling like I’ve been striking it well and been trying to do a lot of work with the putter. And we got some pure greens out here at Spyglass and I started to roll some putts in starting on the third hole of the day, No. 12. So, got in a nice rhythm, the hole started to look big toward the end.
” … Pebble (where he will play round three) is fun on Saturday. Everyone is still playing. We got the celebrity rotation in this rotation. So a lot of cheers, a lot of laughs you can hear across Pebble and some of the holes crossing over there on the back nine makes for some fun.
“… I’m putting a little better than I did in my last three tournaments and that’s why we’re towards the top of the board.”
Spieth, whose last PGA Tour victory came in the Dean & DeLuca Invitational last May, shot 68 in the first round on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club and finished 36 holes at 10-under 133.
Fathauer, whose only pro victory came in the 2014 Web.com Tour Championship, was a bogey-free 8-under for the round when fog halted play as he was about to finish on the ninth hole at Pebble Beach, the host course.
Top-ranked Jason Day of Australia made seven birdies on the first 12 holes at Pebble and was one stroke back in a solo third at 9-under when he end came, while Patrick Reed was 6-under for 17 holes at Monterey Peninsula and three shots behind the leaders in a tie for fourth with Seung-Yul Noh of South Korea, who was 3-under after 13 holes at Pebble.
Pat Perez of San Diego, who captured the OHL Classic of Mayakoba in November, was 7-under after at Monterey Peninsula and four strokes out of the lead in a tie for sixth with Joel Dahmen, who was 2-under for 11 holes at Pebble.
Brandt Snedeker, who won at Pebble Beach in 2013 and 2015, was 2-under through 14 holes at Spyglass and five shots down in a tie for eighth with Rick Lamb, who was 1-under through 14 at Pebble Beach, and Tony Finau, who was 5-under after 11 at Spyglass Hill.
Second-ranked Dustin Johnson, who can rise to No. 1 with a victory this week, shot 69 at Spyglass and was six down in a tie for 13th that included rookie sensation Jon Rahm of Spain, who carded a 67 at Pebble Beach.
Phil Mickelson, who has won the tournament four games, totaled 72 at Spyglass and was nine back in a tie for 42nd.
