Streelman, Hossler share first-round lead

PEBBLE BEACH » The one time Rory McIlroy could have been slightly annoyed was the very reason the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm was so enjoyable. A shadow. McIlroy was just starting to take his driver back on the par-5 seventh at Spyglass Hill when he saw the shadow of his father move. With so much sunshine Thursday across the Monterey Peninsula, that was inevitable.

“So I backed off it. I said, ‘Fine, stand still.’ Blocked it way right and hit my second in the water,” McIlroy said. “Hard to say anything. Chipped in for birdie, so I was like, ‘You’re forgiven.”’

There wasn’t much not to like on a day like this, especially for Kevin Streelman and Beau Hossler.

Streelman doesn’t even play the most golf on his pro-am team — his partner is Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, a golf fanatic and regular at Whisper Rock — but he managed to put together another strong round at Spyglass and keep bogeys off his card for a 7-under 65.

He shared the lead to par with Hossler, who added another strong memory from northern California. Hossler, who challenged for the lead as a 17-year-old on the weekend of the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club, was bogey-free at Pebble Beach.

Hossler birdied the 16th and 17th and had a chance to take the lead on the par-5 18th until enough wind came up to make it a challenge. He sent his tee shot to the right, his second into a fairway bunker, didn’t quite reach the green and had to make an 8-foot putt to save par.

“Just a lot going on there, so I was glad to get out of there with a 5,” Hossler said.

Aaron Wise also had a 65. He was on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula, which plays to a par 71. Also at 6 under were Matt Kuchar and Julian Suri, who were at Spyglass. Suri grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and has moved up to No. 66 in the world based on his play on the European Tour. Pebble Beach is his third straight sponsor’s exemption on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy, meanwhile, used that unlikely birdie on No. 7 to begin his move that eventually reached 4 under until a scrappy finish for a 68, leaving him three shots behind in his debut in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“A couple of messy holes coming in,” he said. “Made a good bogey on 16. Made a great par on 17. It was nice to finish with a birdie at the last. So all in all pretty pleased.”

Scoring conditions were so good — everything was good about this day — that 97 out of the 156 players broke par.