Mickelson, Spieth among 5 tied for lead at Pebble Beach tourney
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Phil Mickelson survived a wild finish without having to deal with the rain. Jordan Spieth endured a wet finish to his day with three tough pars, followed by some unwitting help by a spooked fan.
Both were atop the leaderboard Friday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, joined by Lucas Glover, Paul Casey and Scott Langley, when the second round was suspended because the rain had formed large puddles on the greens.
They played more golf than expected by moving up the start by an hour, and it was entertaining as ever.
One day after Mickelson didn’t miss a single fairway for the first time in 1,664 rounds on the PGA Tour, he couldn’t seem to find one at Spyglass Hill.
He still managed to surge into the lead, including one 3-wood from 256 yards out of the trees on the par-5 14th to six feet.
It caught up with him at the end. After banging in a birdie on the par-3 fifth, Mickelson missed three straight fairways that led to three straight bogeys until he closed with a 4-iron to 18 feet for birdie and a 4-under 68.
Mickelson
10-under 133.
Glover started strong in tame weather at Pebble Beach and shot a 6-under 66 to get to 10-under 134, while Langley (69 at Spyglass Hill) and Casey (7-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula) narrowly finished at 10-under 133 ahead of the horn that stopped play for the rest of the day.
Spieth was among 44 players who had to return early today — weather permitting — to finish the last two holes of his round.
Part of him was happy to be off the course considering the fight he had on his hand in cold, raw rain with increasing wind.
Spieth shot 31 on the back nine at Spyglass Hill to get in the mix, and missed two good birdie chances to start the front nine.
“I got off to a really nice start, which helped, knowing that the conditions were blowing in, trying to take advantage of the front nine,” he said. was the first to finish at
“And then once they started to come in, it was just try and hold on for dear life,” added Spieth.
On the par-5 seventh, Spieth’s third shot was just right of the green, and he called for a ruling when he saw a fan’s hand swat the ball onto the green.
The rules official talked to the fan, who said he threw his hands up when the ball landed in front of him, and that he did not intentionally hit the ball.
That meant Spieth played it from the green, instead of chipping from that spot.
By the time they got that sorted out, the rain was coming down harder and workers had to use a squeegee — twice — to clear off the standing water.
Spieth two-putted for par.
Jason Day was at 9 under with three holes remaining at Spyglass, while Ernie Els had a 68 at Spyglass and was at 6 under. It was the first time Els had posted consecutive rounds of 60s in the same tournament on the PGA Tour since June 2017.
Canadian Alena Sharp in top 5 at LPGA event
BARWON HEADS, Australia — Canada’s Alena Sharp is tied for fifth at the halfway mark of the LPGA Tour’s ISPS Handa Vic Open.
The Hamilton golfer shot a 3-under 69 in the second round on Friday and is 7 under for the tournament, six strokes back of leader Kim Kaufman of the U.S.
All four Canadians in the first full-field event of the season made the first cut.
Quebec City’s Anne-Catherine Tanguay is tied for 12th at 5 under after a 74 on Friday. She entered the second round tied for second.
Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee, making her pro debut, is tied for 33rd at 3 under, while Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., is tied for 41st at 2 under.
Following the third round, the field will be cut to the low 35 players and ties.
In the men’s European Tour event at the same venue, Canadian-American dual citizen Austin Connelly, who represents Canada, made the cut at 6 under.
He is eight shots back of co-leaders Jason Scrivener and Nick Flanagan of Australia.