Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Casey leads by three over Mickelson at Pebble Beach
Bill Murray met a pair of baby kangaroos from the Monterey Zoo. Jerry Kelly tried to mimic the peculiar postswing moves of Ho Sung Choi. Jordan Spieth sent players and fans along two fairways on a frantic search for his tee shot.
All that commotion on celebrity Saturday at Pebble Beach, and Paul Casey missed it all.
He was over at Spyglass Hill, putting together another solid round in the sunshine, rain, cold and wind. Casey had a 5-under 67 and quietly built a three-shot lead over Phil Mickelson going into the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Mickelson delivered plenty of golf entertainment at Pebble Beach, particularly a wedge into 3 feet on the 13th for birdie and a 4-iron he crushed with the wind at his back to 4 feet for an eagle that turned his fortunes, led to a 2-under 70 and put him in good shape for a shot to match Mark O’Meara’s record of five titles at the AT&T Pebble Beach.
“I thought anything in the 60s was going to be a heck of a round, and I was one shy,” Mickelson said. “But I’ve got a good chance going into tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.” History might be on Lefty’s side. Casey, who was at 15-under 200, has never won in his three previous times with a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour. Those all occurred in the last three years, and while he was beaten by great closing rounds of great players, Casey shot 2-over par or worse. But that was the least of his concerns. “I am having a blast,” said Casey, who last year rallied to win the Valspar Championship during the Florida swing.
He made his PGA Tour debut 18 years ago at Pebble Beach, missing the cut with Seth Waugh, now the chief executive of the PGA of America. He played again, and then he didn’t return for 16 years. Part of that was his European Tour membership, with events in the Middle East. Some of it was injury. Some of it was weather.
Saturday began under a blue sky and a sunshine beaming down on the Monterey Peninsula. Those patchy clouds of the horizon were part of a painting. They moved in quickly, dropping temperatures 10 degrees, causing flags to whip and rain to spray. That’s not what stopped Spieth. He was tied for the lead after a birdie on the par-3 fifth hole and remained in range of Casey until the final six holes.
His downfall began with a shot on the 13th hole he yanked so badly he figured it was in the bunker on the left side of the ninth fairway. It wasn’t there. The ball in the first cut of rough? That belonged to Adam Scott’s amateur partner. Spieth even went to the edge of the Pacific to look, and panic began to set in. “Um, if you all could check around you for a ball, that would be really helpful,” he said.
With under a minute left in the new threeminute search, it was spotted 140 yards back toward the tee beneath a tree it struck.
Spieth made double bogey, and then another double bogey on the 18th hole when he pulled his tee shot off the rocks and into the ocean. He shot a 74 and went from in the hunt to eight shots behind. He didn’t feel he was hiding the ball as well as the first two days, so it was a matter of time.
“It was going to bite me at some point,” Spieth said.