JOHNSON FIRES 64, FORGES TIE FOR LEAD AT PEBBLE
Merritt, Suri 2 back; Mickelson, Rahm in group trailing by 3.
Dustin Johnson already was feeling good about his game heading over to the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula. Another day of gorgeous weather in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am made him feel even better.
Johnson ran off three straight birdies to start his round, made four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn and shot a 7-under 64 Friday to share the 36-hole lead with Beau Hossler.
“Probably my lowest by about seven shots at Monterey Peninsula, so I was happy with that,” Johnson said. “It’s probably the first time, too, I think we have ever played over there with nice weather. So it was definitely a good day.”
He only slightly exaggerated, but not by much. In four times playing at Monterey Peninsula since it joined the rotation, he only broke 70 one time and twice shot 73.
Hossler, the PGA Tour rookie best known in these parts for contending on the weekend at Olympic Club in the 2012 U.S. Open when he was 17, was flawless at Spyglass Hill in a round of 67 to join Johnson at 12-under par.
Hossler has not made a bogey this week. He will next play at Monterey Peninsula, while Johnson spends his last two days at Pebble Beach.
They were two shots ahead to par on Julian Suri (67 at Monterey) and Troy Merritt (67 at Spyglass Hill).
Lurking another shot behind were Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm.
Mickelson hasn’t won since the British Open in 2013 at Muirfield, and he finally started to see some reasonable results after a sluggish start this year. Mickelson was tied for the lead at one point when he ran off three straight birdies at Monterey Peninsula, though he made only two more over his final 11 holes for a 65.
Rahm was at Pebble Beach and holed his share of 6-footers for birdie for a 67. Just as big was the 8-foot putt on the 18th hole for par when he hit 3-wood to the right behind a tree, pitched under the limbs and over the bunker just through the green, and then his chip ran downhill by the hole.
Jason Day had a 65 at Monterey and was in the group at 9 under that included Steve Stricker (66 at Monterey).
Jordan Spieth found some touch with the putter to make five birdies on his opening nine holes at Monterey Peninsula, and he wound up with a 66, though he remained seven behind Johnson.
“I saw a couple putts go in early and normally that’s all I need to kind of stop skiing uphill and start to turn downhill,” Spieth said.
Rory McIlroy went downhill. He was hanging round at 5 under when he drove to the front of the par-4 fifth hole at Monterey, leaving him a 70-foot eagle putt. He ran that about 6 feet past the hole, and then missed his birdie. Then he missed his par putt from 3 feet, and it ran about 6 feet by the hole, and he missed that one. That’s five putts for a double bogey. A 74 and left him in danger of missing the cut.
Boca Raton Championship: Mark Calcavecchia shot an 8-under 64 to take the first-round lead in Boca Raton, Fla., in the PGA Tour Champions’ first full-field event of the season.
Calcavecchia, 57, birdied seven of his first 10 holes and added another on the par-4 seventh at the Old Course at Broken Sound.
“It was, for 10 holes, a spectacular putting exhibition,” he said. “I didn’t miss, literally, which was nice.”
Calcavecchia won the last of his three senior titles in 2015. He won the 1989 British Open for one of his 13 PGA Tour titles.
Rocco Mediate and Jeff Maggert were a stroke back. Mediate eagled the seventh, hitting a 3-wood to 30 feet, but closed with a bogey on the par-4 ninth.
Bernhard Langer, the 2010 winner in his home event, was at 66 with Fred Funk and Jesper Parnevik. The 60-year-old Langer won seven times, three of them majors, last season.
World Super 6: Lee Westwood was tied for the lead with defending champion Brett Rumford after two rounds in Perth, Australia.
Rumford, who led by two strokes after the opening round, shot a par 72. Westwood had a 70 to move into the tie, with four other golfers a stroke behind. Westwood and Rumford had 36-hole totals of 8 under.
The top 24 after three rounds play six-hole shootouts in the event co-sanctioned by three tours: European, Asian and PGA of Australia.