Dustin Johnson, Beau Hossler tied for Pebble Beach lead

Akshay Bhatia joined a short list - one that includes Jack Nicklaus - with his performance Thursday at the AT&T Pebble Pro-Am. Pebble Beach is known for its tiny greens but Bhatia hit all 18 of them in his first-round 64. He is the first player since 2008 to hit every green in a round at Pebble. RELATED: Full leaderboard "It was a good day," the 19-year-old said. He is just the seventh player since 1983 (when the TOUR started keeping hole-by-hole statistics) to hit all 18 greens in a round at Pebble Beach, including both the AT&T and the four U.S. Opens held at Pebble Beach in that span. A total of 10,303 PGA TOUR rounds have been played at Pebble Beach since 1983, meaning a player has hit all 18 greens just 0.07% of the time or once in every 1,472 rounds. Last season, Pebble Beach had the eighth-hardest greens to hit on TOUR (62.9%). Bhatia also gained more than three strokes on the greens, holing three putts from outside 15 feet. A recent switch from an arm-lock to a short putter paid off. "It's probably the first time I've ever putted this well," he said. The longest one he made was a 21-footer for birdie on his first hole of the day, the par-4 10th. He added birdies on 14 and 17 to make the turn in 3-under 33. Bhatia added birdies at Nos. 2 and 3 and 6-8. His last birdie came after a 207-yard dart to 3 feet on the eighth hole, which requires an approach over the cliffs to a tiny green. It was the most difficult hole Thursday, playing to a 4.23 average and allowing just five birdies. It helped that Bhatia was more concerned with his snack than the daunting approach. "I was peeling an orange and it was so bad that I was just thinking about the orange and my caddie goes, ‘OK, we got 207.' I said, ‘OK, I got to (hit),'" Bhatia said. "Just kind of hit-and-see kind of thing. It was a great birdie to steal there." He had no bogeys Thursday. Bhatia, 19, is making his fifth start of the season. He finished T9 at the Safeway Open, making him the youngest player to finish in the top-10 of a stroke-play event on TOUR since Justin Rose finished fourth at the 1998 Open Championship. Bhatia also part of another interesting note this week. His presence in the field means that Phil Mickelson has played the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with players born in every decade from the 1920s to the 2000s.

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HOUSTON - Adam Long was confused when he arrived for the first round of the Vivint Houston Open. Not because he was arriving at a new venue, one that hasn't been used on the PGA TOUR for more than half a century. He was surprised to see spectators for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. "There's people walking around and I was like, ‘What's going on?'" Long said after shooting 68 on Thursday. "Completely forgot. It's nice. It gets you excited a little bit, gets you fired up. It's nice to hear some claps out here when you're fortunate enough to hit a good shot." The Vivint Houston Open is the first PGA TOUR event in the United States to have fans on-site since March. Two thousand tickets were sold for each round of the tournament. Last week, five hundred fans per day were permitted at the Bermuda Championship. "It’s great having fans back out again," Texas native Scottie Scheffler said after shooting 67 on Thursday. "The energy was definitely a lot different than us just being out here by ourselves." The return of spectators is part of a measured approach by the PGA TOUR to re-introduce galleries. The PGA TOUR will work with local authorities each week to determine if spectators can safely attend and determine how many should be allowed on-site. There will be no spectators at the three events remaining on the PGA TOUR schedule this year. "As we work toward gradually permitting ticketed spectators and special guests at PGA TOUR events, we remain committed to health and safety as the No. 1 priority," said Tyler Dennis, the PGA TOUR's Senior Vice President & Chief of Operations. "Every week may look different, as we need to be cognizant of what is reasonable in each market, based on the current COVID-19 climate, local and state protocols and, of course, how the venue is set up to accommodate density guidelines. We appreciate the collaboration with the Bermuda Championship last week and Vivint Houston Open this week in their thoughtful participation in our Return to Spectators plan." Jordan Spieth described the presence of fans with a word that hasn't been uttered often in 2020. "It certainly felt more normal as we were playing today and especially as we were finishing up, just the look of it is way more normal," said Spieth, who is a Player Director on the PGA TOUR's Player Policy Board. "Obviously if we're able to do it safely, that's a huge win for the tournaments and the TOUR, so hopefully it continues to go well like it did this morning." Scheffler said he was "extremely comfortable" with fans on-site. "I think the PGA TOUR’s done a great job keeping us safe and keeping the fans safe," he said. "I think it’s great that they have the freedom to come out here and watch. Pretty much everyone was wearing a mask that I saw, so I felt very safe out there on the course." Tony Finau, who shot 69, said he appreciated hearing applause when he was announced on the first tee. "Right out of the gate, when they said my name on the first tee, it was cool to have some people kind of cheer. It's been awhile since I've heard that," Finau said. "It feels nice to have some of our fans back and just look forward to having all of them back in bunches."

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