PEBBLE BEACH, California. – Changes in weather and fate can happen without notice in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which seems to suit Hank Lebioda these days.
Lebioda played his sixth different in his last six rounds on the PGA Tour, scoring six birdies on an eight-hole course for an 8-under 63 and a one-shot lead at Shore course on the Monterey Peninsula after the opening round on Thursday .
His big advantage was that a comfortable day of mostly sunny, relatively calm conditions ended before winds were strong enough to bend flagsticks and force players to remove caps before putting to prevent them from blowing off .
Lebioda was one of six players in the top 12 scorers not to win on the PGA Tour. He doesn’t have a good recipe for success in multi-lane tournaments other than being prepared for anything.
“That would be eight courses in three weeks for us,” said Lebioda, who missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and The American Express. “Three classes in Palm Springs, two last week in San Diego and three this week. The best thing you can do is take care of yourself, relax and make sure you are okay.”
Three of the top four results were achieved on the Monterey Peninsula. Kurt Kitayama made four straight birdies around the turn and had a 64 with no bogey, while Harry Hall made five straight birdies and was leading until a late bogey at No. 8. He also had 64.
“The birdie streak on the front was pretty cool because I think I bogeyed and then had a par on the second hole and then had five in a row. So it was really good,” Hall said. “As the last two holes came down it started blowing 45mph. it was crazy Happy to get in at 7 under today.”
Chad Ramey had a 7-under-65 at Pebble Beach. He was tied at the top until he went into the front bunker and bogeyed on the par 3 17.
The best score at Spyglass Hill belonged to Keith Mitchell with a 5 under 67. It was the only course where the average score was above par. Mitchell was alongside two NFL quarterbacks. His amateur partner is Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, whose caddy for the week is Kyle Allen of the Houston Texans.
The change in weather wasn’t particularly strong – it’s not like it snowed. Still, it caused havoc for those trying to finish at Pebble Beach, the most exposed of the courses.
Will Gordon was tied at 8 under with three holes to play for the lead on par. From the middle of the 16th fairway into an increasing wind, he came up 35 yards from the back pin and bogeyed. Headwind on the par 17 3 to a right pin – the easiest position for three days to account for amateurs – he was about 30 yards short and dropped another shot.
He ended up with a triple bogey, drove into the ocean rocks to the left of the fairway and had to reload. His approach to a strong wind blowing off the sea left him behind a tree and he knocked it across the green into a bunker.
In three holes he went from a tied leader to a tied 24th.
The celebrity rotation took place at Spyglass Hill, considered the toughest of the three in calm conditions. US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and three-time Major champion Jordan Spieth each managed a 71, while Viktor Hovland had a 70.
Hovland is playing the tournament for the first time, despite winning the US Amateur at Pebble Beach and being a low amateur at the 2019 US Open at Pebble.
Spieth, who won this event in 2017, was a mix of birdies and bogeys and then had to fight for his life in the final hour as temperatures dropped and the wind began to lash.
“The last four holes or so with the wind were really bizarre,” said Spieth. “It went from nothing to flip and then out of nowhere about 25 in the opposite direction of the prediction. That throws us through a big loop when you need to prepare for something and make the adjustment.
“But I had a good last three holes and that always puts a smile on your face.”
He underplayed them in 1, with a tough par he parried off a flyer lie in the rough, and had no idea what the wind would do if his ball got airborne.
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