Grace in with chance as Gay leads Pro-Am

San Francisco – Brian Gay and Scott Langley shared the lead after the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am US PGA Tour event in California on Thursday.

Gay, 47, whose most recent of four wins on the PGA Tour came in 2013, fired a seven-under-par 64 on the Monterey Peninsula Country Club course to move to the top of the leaderboard.

Langley, who is yet to claim a win on the Tour, reeled off nine birdies and two bogeys on his way to a share of the lead.

Five-time Major winner Phil Mickelson was among a group of six players tied for third place on six under which also included Australia’s Jason Day.

Mickelson was in contention after hitting every fairway for the first time in his career.

He started slowly with two birdies and a bogey on the front nine before erupting with five birdies and four pars.

He carved out birdie chances with some fine iron play, most notably with two solid approaches on the 12th and 13th to set up birdie putts which he duly drained.

Nine players were a single shot back on five under, including South Africa’s Branden Grace. Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson were also on five under.

Grace got off to a flying start with a birdie on the first followed by an eagle on the par-five second, when he guided his second shot off the fairway 237 yards and sank a 24-foot putt.