Print

Mail

wiki links

Mickelson, Furyk share the lead at Pebble Beach

Jim Furyk hits from the ninth tee at the Poppy Hills course during the second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament in Pebble Beach, California, on Friday. Furyk is tied with Phil Mickelson for the lead at 12-under-par. PHOTO: AP

Two-time champion Phil Mickelson sailed to a 5-under 67 and a share of the lead with Jim Furyk at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Friday.

Mickelson had to cope only with the cold and rain -- but not much wind -- which made the oceanside Pebble Beach course seem almost tame.

"It was a good day. We got a pretty good draw," Mickelson said. "It was a little windy the last three or four holes, but I'm not going to complain. We had a great day to take advantage of scoring."

He had chances to score even lower, but three straight birdies on the back nine and a simple shot for birdie on the par-5 18th enabled him to catch Furyk.

Furyk also was pleased to see the flags drooping instead of flapping when he arrived at Poppy Hills, especially after seeing a forecast of 24kph wind and heavy rain. The rain was brief and light and he birdied all but one of the par 5s on his way to a 65.

"I think we got out of it pretty good today," Furyk said. "Hoping for the same tomorrow."

That gave the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am a good 1-2 punch at the top from the two highest-ranked players in the field.

Furyk, No. 2, and Mickelson, No. 6, had a three-shot lead over rookie John Mallinger and Kevin Sutherland, who turned in the best round of the dreary afternoon by firing off 10 birdies for a 63 at Spyglass Hill.

Sutherland thought briefly about the course record of 62 at Spyglass -- just long enough to hook his 3-wood into the trees and out of play on the seventh.

He reloaded with a two-stroke penalty, reached the green in two, escaped with a bogey and didn't let one bad hole take away from his round.

"Spyglass is one of my favorite courses in the world," said Sutherland, who has played it countless times dating back to his amateur days.

"I'd rather play there than Pebble Beach. But a 63 was not the score I was thinking about when I teed off," he said.

Sutherland plays his best golf on the west coast of the US -- his only victory came in the 2001 Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa -- and was in the final group two weeks ago at Torrey Pines until he finished in a tie for 14th.

The names atop the leaderboard were still enough to get Sutherland's attention.

"I'm very much aware I need to make a lot more birdies," Sutherland said with a smile.

Davis Love III made a quiet climb into contention with a 67 at Pebble Beach.
This story has been viewed 1529 times.