Austria’s Sepp Straka opened up a three-stroke lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by firing his second straight round of 65 on Friday in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Straka followed a strong opening round at Spyglass Hill Golf Course with a 7-under-par 65 at Pebble Beach Golf Link on Friday with eight birdies and just one bogey. The field is playing one round apiece at each of the two courses before Pebble Beach hosts the weekend rounds.
Straka won The American Express two weeks ago for his third career PGA Tour title.
At 14-under 130, Straka is comfortably ahead of Russell Henley (69, Pebble Beach) and Australian Cam Davis (68, Spyglass Hill), tied for second at 11 under.
Andrew Novak fired a 65 at Spyglass Hill and Tony Finau posted a 67 there to join a tie for fourth at 10 under with Tom Kim of South Korea (65, Pebble Beach), England’s Justin Rose (69, Spyglass Hill) and Austin Eckroat (67, Pebble Beach).
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy settled for a 70 at Pebble Beach one day after making a hole-in-one early in his round Thursday at Spyglass. At 8 under for the tournament, McIlroy is tied for 13th with other big names including Collin Morikawa (67, Pebble), Patrick Cantlay (70, Spyglass) and Irishman Shane Lowry (70, Spyglass).
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in a tie at 7 under after posting 70 at Pebble Beach. All three of Scheffler’s birdies Friday were in one three-hole stretch (Nos. 6-8). He is competing for the first time since injuring his hand while cooking over the holidays a month ago.
Eighty players were eligible to compete in the signature event, but Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg withdrew Friday citing an illness one day after dropping to last place with an opening-round 77.
–Field Level Media
