Jason Day climbs within two of lead
PEBBLE BEACH — Jason Day received a warm reminder Friday at Pebble Beach how good it feels to hit shots the way he wants, make a bunch of putts and see his name high on the leaderboard.
Day made two long birdie putts across the green, holed a 40-yard wedge for eagle on the dangerous par-5 14th, made a couple of big par saves and moved into contention with an 8-under 64 in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
He was two shots behind Nick Taylor of Canada, who birdied four of his last five holes at Pebble Beach for a 66 to take his first 36hole lead on the PGA Tour. Taylor was at 14-under 129. “I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve actually been out there and felt the way that I felt out there today and played well like that,” Day said.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson also got in the mix with aburst of four straight birdies after the turn at Monterey
Peninsula. He made bogey on the long par-3 ninth to finish his round of 7-under. He was three shots behind.
Mickelson has not had a top 10 on the PGA Tour since winning at Pebble Beach last year, though he finished third last week at the Saudi International and carried a little momentum into the event he has won five times.
Day knows the feeling. Since last year at Pebble, the former world No. 1 has recorded just three top 10s, none since last June. He has not seriously contended. His back troubles have been so frustrating that at times he wondered how much longer he wanted to play. He described those at “dark times.”
His outlook Friday was as bright as the sunshine over the Monterey Peninsula, at least until a light marine layer or parts of the courses lowered the temperature.
Day birdied the par 5s and made a 45-foot putt from the fringe on the par-3 fifth at Pebble. He holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th, another bonus. And then he surged into contention by holing out for his eagle on the 14th, and following that with a 15-foot birdie on the 15th.
There’s still one more round before this tournament played over three courses takes shape, and there’s no better place to be in relative calm than Pebble Beach.
“If you have really good weather, you can go low at Pebble,” Day said.
That’s what Taylor did, making birdie on all the par 5s for his 66. Ditto for Chris Baker, the 33-year-old PGA Tour rookie who played Pebble Beach for the first time in a practice round Wednesday, and really had a blast in his round of 64 on Friday that put him four shots behind, along with Charl Schwartzel (66 at Pebble).
Of the top five players, only Mickelson was not at Pebble Beach.
Monterey Peninsula played about two shots under par, while Pebble’s average was nearly 1 under. Spyglass Hill was nearly a stroke over par, so it was no surprise that only one player from the top 20 — Matt Every — was at Spyglass on Friday.
Dustin Johnson, a two-time Pebble Beach winner who finished runner-up to Ted Potter Jr. two years ago, appeared to be hitting his stride with great control of his irons and usual power off the tee.