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Lefty grabs lead at Pebble Beach
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PHIL Mickelson efficiently pieced together a 6-under 66 in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California, though it only looked easy on the card. He made birdie on all but one of the par 3s, scrambled for par on half of his holes and wound up with his first 54-hole lead since the 2013 US Open.
The spotlight will be all his in the final round.
It’s a chance to end the longest victory drought of his career — 52 events worldwide since he last won at Muirfield in the 2013 British Open.
He was two shots clear of Hiroshi Iwata, a 35-year-old with two victories on the Japan Golf Tour. And he was poised to join Mark O’Meara with his fifth victory at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The next six players on the leaderboard have combined for a whopping four PGA Tour victories. The 45-year-old Mickelson will be going for No. 43. And yet he left the magnificent sunshine with a mixture of excitement and concern, along with his typical fill of optimism.
“I was very pleased to shoot that round, obviously, but there were a lot of holes I just had to fight for pars,” Mickelson said. “It wasn’t a pushover by any means.”
He planned on bringing in Andrew Getson, his new swing coach, to sharpen his game ahead of the final round.
Mickelson was at 16-under 199.
Iwata, who tied a major championship record with a 63 at the PGA Championship last year, had six birdies in his round of 69 at Spyglass Hill. He has yet to finish in the top 20 in America.
“I haven’t felt any nerves or I haven’t felt any pressure quite yet, but whether it’s going to be regardless of tonight or tomorrow morning, I just want to make sure I go out there and in a good mental condition,” Iwata said.
Freddie Jacobson had a 68 at Monterey Peninsula, which for the first time this week played the toughest of the three courses because of the brisk wind. He was three shots behind, along with Sung Kang, who had a 70 at Pebble Beach.
Jordan Spieth, the world’s No. 1 player, was happy to have a tee time on Sunday. Spieth struggled on the par 5s for the third straight round, playing them at 1 over at Pebble Beach. He had to get up-and-down for par on the par-5 18th for a 74 to make the cut on the number. He has played the par 5s in even par for the week.
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