Wind, rain pummel Pebble Beach field

PEBBLE BEACH, California — Jordan Spieth could barely stand up and worried his hat would fly off in the middle of his swing.

From 176 yards downhill to the par-3 11th green at Monterey Peninsula, he ripped a 4-iron and hoped for the best. When he saw it land about six feet from the flag, he declared to anyone within earshot, “That’s the best shot I’ve ever hit.”

This was a snapshot of the nasty side of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Thursday, with severe conditions that once led to the term “Crosby weather” from the days when Bing Crosby was the host and Pebble could be a blend of beauty and beast.

The PGA Tour moved up tee times by an hour to try to beat the storms, but it wasn’t enough. Already saturated, the greens on all three courses began holding enough water that play had to be suspended.

Seung-Yul Noh, Joel Dahmen and Rick Lamb each shot a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill to share the lead, and more importantly, they were among the 75 players who finished. The rest had to return at 7:30 a.m. today — with lingering rain in the forecast — to finish the round before moving on to another course.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was at 2-under after 17 holes and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford finished his round at 2-under. Adam Hadwin, also of Abbotsford, was 1 over through 15, Ottawa’s Brad Fritsch shot 2 over through 16 and Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., finished at 2 over. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., finished at 5 over.