Walker, Spieth tied atop Pebble
Associated Press
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF.
The wind and the rain arrived Friday, perhaps a prelude to a nasty weekend. Leave it to a pair of Texans — Jimmy Walker and Jordan Spieth — to thrive in Crosby Clambake conditions at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Walker made some tough par saves and wound up bogey-free at Spyglass Hill with a 3-under 69. Spieth was down the coast at Monterey Peninsula, where he called the birdie on his final hole the best of his life. He’s only 20, but it was a proud moment.
They were tied for the lead going into the third round, one shot to par ahead of Hunter Mahan.
The slight advantage would go to Walker, who was at 9-under 135. Already a two-time winner this season, Walker next goes over to Monterey Peninsula, the easiest of the three courses in the rotation. Spieth was at 9-under 134 and headed to Pebble Beach, which can be brutal in nasty weather.
And the forecast for today was not particularly pleasant.
Along with a three-club wind on the exposed sections of all three courses, steady rain began coming down sideways toward the end of the second round. There was about a 75 percent chance for more rain today.
More than looking ahead, Spieth was looking behind. He was happy to at least get Spyglass out of the way already, having opened with a 67 on Thursday. That didn’t make the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula a picnic.
“Today was very difficult,” Spieth said. “We started out in the rain and wind, and we finished in rainier and windier,” he said.
Spieth caught Walker for a share of the lead on the 187-yard ninth hole, which typically requires a 6-iron. He watched Kevin Chappell hit first with a 3-iron, and the ball rolled back down off the front of the green. Spieth doesn’t carry a 3-iron.
“I went to a hybrid,” he said. “And I just kind of hit a little stinger cut about 20 feet away. And then it was normally a straight putt and Michael [Greller] and I, my caddie, are looking at each other saying, ‘Well, we’ve got to play this about a foot out to the right with the wind.’ And so I hit it a foot out. With about 3 feet to go, the wind just blew it right, just broke perfectly right into the hole.”
Walker’s best holes were his pars, particularly the par-5 14th. His 8-iron came back down into a bunker, leaving him such an awkward lie that he had to plant his feet outside the sand. With a shallow swing, he did well to blast out 12 feet away, and he made the par putt.
“That was pretty big to keep it feeling like things were still in my favor,” Walker said.
He made two long birdie putts, and then hit a drive of nearly 390 yards on the seventh hole — with the aid of a cart path. It left him only an 8-iron to the green, and he had an easy up-and-down for his final birdie.
Mahan had a 68 at Spyglass Hill, with half of his six birdies on the par 5s. He was at 8-under 136.
“Coming up these last few holes are tough,” Mahan said. “They’re uphill, they got the wind, it’s getting cold, raining. You just don’t want to throw away shots. Because this can be a long week, and it could be mentally more grinding than anything.”