AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Patrick Cantlay ties course record, takes lead with 10-under 62

Patrick Cantlay, who shot 61 in his last tournament round, picked up where he left off by tying the Pebble Beach course record of 62.

Whether in the middle of a desert or hard by the sea, Patrick Cantlay can seemingly do no wrong.

Cantlay, who shattered the course record at PGA West’s TPC Stadium Course with an 11-under 61 in the final round of the American Express in his previous start, picked up right where he left off and birdied seven of the first eight holes at Pebble Beach Golf Links. He wasn’t done either. He tacked on a birdie at 11 to go with a pair of birdies at the finishing holes to tie the course record of 10-under 62.

“I feel like I’m in a groove right now,” said Cantlay, who called it a continuation of his 65-61 weekend at the American Express. “My swing feels really good right now. The ball’s starting on the line that I’m seeing, and then my distance control has been really good, which is key out here. I try to leave myself below the hole a lot and I was able to do that.”

Cantlay took advantage of receptive greens and a wind-free day to blitz a defenseless Pebble Beach and build a two-stroke lead over 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia and Henrik Norlander, who both played Pebble too, after the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Rookie Will Gordon returned the low score at Spyglass Hill, the tournament’s sister course, with a bogey-free 6-under 66.

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Cantlay possesses one of the most complete games on the PGA Tour and he had all cylinders firing on Thursday. Accuracy off the tee set him up for short irons and his putter was deadly on the greens.

“Hit a lot of good shots just right out of the gate and made everything,” Cantlay said. “The first hole I just had a wedge in. The second hole I got up-and-down from just off the green (for birdie at the par 5). And for the most part, it’s wedges all the way until you get to the 8th hole. So, you do want to take advantage and today I did.”

Cantlay credited his hot putter for taking care of the rest.

“The difference the last three rounds I played on Tour is just making putts,” he said. “I think I 1-putted every green on the front nine. So, when you only have nine putts on nine holes it’s no surprise you played really well. Some of that is set up by ball striking. I had a lot of really good looks. And every time you play Pebble Beach you kind of want to get off to a hot start on those first seven holes and today I had a great start.”

Another player who didn’t skip a beat after his best performance in nearly a year last week in Phoenix was Jordan Spieth, who posted 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach. Spieth even delivered a highlight-reel moment, holing out for eagle from 113 yards at No. 10.

“I needed to cover 107 on the false front and it hit. I fixed the pitch mark maybe two short of the hole and I think it bounced past it and then spun back,” Spieth said. “Once I saw where it landed I knew it would be close. It was a bonus for it to obviously go in. I saw it drop and then there was three people on the balcony of the house in the distance and a couple people near the green, volunteers where his hands went up. But it’s still weird having a moment like that where you’re used to kind of a loud roar and it’s just so kind of calm and quiet.”

Bhatia, the teenager who hails from North Carolina and is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption, became the fourth player in the last 25 years to hit all 18 greens in regulation at Pebble Beach, and the first to do so since Ryan Palmer in 2008, en route to shooting a bogey-free 8-under par 64.

“The views actually really help me,” Bhatia said. “Because I can look out at the ocean and my mind goes blank. It’s just beautiful.”

But as Cantlay and other regulars at Pebble can attest, the famed layout can be both a beauty and a beast. The weather forecast is expected to turn nasty the remainder of the tournament, making scoring conditions less favorable.

“I think we got Pebble in pretty much ideal conditions and I don’t think it’s going to be like that the rest of the week,” Cantlay said. “This place can be a bear when the wind’s blowing, especially when you get out to that point on 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. So I’m sure the conditions will be a lot tougher this weekend, but I welcome the challenge and it will be fun.”

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