He had to endure a lengthy rain delay, but K.H. Lee picked up his first career win on the PGA Tour after finishing the day with a 6-under 66.
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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Even for being located next to the ocean, the iconic finishing hole at Pebble Beach is short for par 5s by modern standards. That didn’t keep Seamus Power, who has plenty of pop, from taking an iron off the tee and playing it as a three-shot hole. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Jason Day more than comfortable at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Power knew what he was doing. He wrapped up a sublime display with his wedges Friday with a 4-foot birdie, his 10th of the round, to set a 36-hole record in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The 34-year-old Irishman had another 8-under 64 — the seventh time in 14 rounds this year he has been at 65 or lower — and built a five-shot lead to par. “My wedge play was great,” Power said. “I had three or four shots I hit very, very close and the way I’ve been putting — they were not gimme birdies, but certainly ones you would expect to make — it just changes your whole complex of your round, of your score.” That score was 16-under 128 over rounds at Spyglass Hill on Thursday and Pebble Beach on Friday, both under as magnificent weather as the Monterey Peninsula can provide. Power broke the 36-hole tournament record previously held by Nick Taylor (14-under 129) in 2020 and Phil Mickelson (15-under 129) in 2005. Tom Hoge could only manage a 69 at Monterey Peninsula and was at 11-under 132 along with Adam Svensson of Canada (63 at Monterey Peninsula) and Andrew Putnam (67 at Spyglass). Patrick Cantlay again was slowed by a back-to-back bogeys. Four of his six birdies were on the par 5s at Spyglass, and he had a 68 that left him six shots behind to par. Jason Day, who tied for third at Torrey Pines last week to at least get back inside the top 100 in the world, had a 66 at Monterey Peninsula and was still in the mix at 9-under 134. He was joined by a relative surprise, Sean O’Hair, working himself back from a torn oblique. O’Hair has opened with a pair of 67s. All of them are chasing Power, who might just not be coming into his own. After attending East Tennessee State — a scholarship became available when another kid from his part of the world, Rory McIlroy, decided instead to turn pro — Power toiled on the eGolf Tour in North Carolina, where a victory worth $15,000 made him feel as though he won the lottery. He worked his way onto the Korn Ferry Tour and then the PGA TOUR, where he kept a full card only once in three years until breaking through with a victory in the Barbasol Championship last July in Kentucky. It was an opposite-field event, but it was a win. And equipped with more confidence than ever, Power now is No. 50 in the world and trying not to think about a Masters invitation. A win would take care of that, and Power isn’t doing much wrong at the moment. The five-shot lead to par — Monterey Peninsula is a par 71, the other two courses are are par 72 — ties the tournament record for largest margin through 36 holes. “I just feel much more comfortable in these positions,” Power said. “I’m putting myself there a little bit more often, so it definitely seems a little easier, but still obviously a lot of work to do over the weekend.” He made his move Friday with a birdie on the par-5 sixth — set up by more good wedge play, this prompted by a bad drive — and a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh. The most picturesque part of Pebble Beach brought out his best golf. A big drive set up a wedge to 6 feet for birdie on the ninth, he holed a 25-foot putt on the 10th and then hit wedge to about 5 feet on the 11th, and a 6-iron that just cleared the bunker in front the par-3 12th and rolled out 8 feet by the cup. More wedge work led to a short birdie on the 14th. His one big gaffe — other than a three-putt bogey from 60 feet on the par-3 fifth — was some indecision on a club at the par-3 17th that led him to quit on his swing, the ball soaring right toward the two-story grandstand. He dropped his flop shot into the bunker and had to make a 5-foot putt for bogey. Irritating? Yes, but not enough to change his strategy on the 535-yard closing hole. Iron off the tee, lay up to just inside 100 yards, let the wedge and putter take care of the rest. It’s not an easy game. It just feels like that now more than it ever did.
ORLANDO, Fla. – The world returned to normalcy around 9 a.m. Friday. The sun climbed into the sky, swallows were swirling in Capistrano and at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Tiger Woods – on competitive hiatus since July, aside from 10 holes at The Match last weekend – stepped onto the opening tee at the PNC Championship. Ah, a golfer again. Check that. Woods rode onto the tee, in a golf cart. Across it, actually. It didn’t matter. This is the reality of the latest version of Tiger Woods, a man beset by painful plantar fasciitis in his right foot on top of a badly damaged right ankle and leg. Fans who gathered down the ropes four and five deep left of the opening par 4 didn’t care much how Woods got there. He could have been dropped off by Uber, or by Roman chariot. They were just really, really happy to see him. All types were curious to get the latest on Woods, winner of 82 PGA TOUR events and 15 majors and arguably the greatest to ever play the game. Having played only nine official rounds of golf on TOUR this season – all of them at majors – what does he have in his arsenal? What’s ahead for him? Woods turns 47 on Dec. 30. The clock ticks. “Well, I played more this year than I certainly thought at the beginning of the year,” said Woods, whose biggest 2022 goal was to play in The 150th Open at St. Andrews. As has been the case in his last two late-year PNC appearances, what awaits Woods is mostly unknown. His plantar fasciitis makes it quite difficult to walk. He said he will shut it down after this weekend, stop pushing so hard, and get back to healing. But this week? He wouldn’t miss it. When his lengthy pro-am round had finished alongside his partner and son, 13-year-old Charlie, he was asked to name his favorite moment. That was easy. “The whole thing,” he said. “The whole experience of being out there with him.” Charlie is bigger and stronger and hits it much longer than he did a year ago, when he and his father made a spirited Sunday run at the title. (He has added about 25 yards of length.) They went on a great closing run last year, Charlie hitting many of the best shots, fired 15-under 57 in the event’s scramble format, and finished two shots shy of John Daly and John Daly II. This event delivered the first eagle that Charlie ever made, along with so many of the great father-son moments that Charlie’s famous dad seemed to miss when he was off conquering golf tournaments around the world or rehabbing from serious injuries. Charlie, who rolled an ankle and came up 18 with a slight limp of his own, struggled with his game on Friday, which was no big deal. (“I think they’ll be ready when the gun goes off (Saturday),” said Joe LaCava, Tiger’s caddie.) Woods proudly said his son’s biggest growth year over year is the fact he now can figure out what he is doing and fix his swing on the fly during a competitive round. Getting there included a process of understanding taught by Tiger, who was passing along a lesson from his own father, Earl. “You have to understand,” Tiger said, “in tournament golf, you’ve got to make a switch on the fly and trust it.” In the gallery following Woods and his son were grandparents and parents pushing young children in strollers, some guy dressed resplendently as Uncle Sam, and a man and his son dressed in full, striped tan tiger suits. Former PGA TOUR Champions standout Jim Thorpe was in the crowd. Korn Ferry Tour pro Rob Oppenheim was watching (“Why wouldn’t I?” he said incredulously.) Football announcer Booger McFarland was curious to watch Tiger rip driver on one hole. Woods played his opening nine in a group that included Will Wears, grandson of Arnold Palmer, a legend who was so instrumental in the growth of the PNC. After Wears, a tall and powerful player, drove the green at the 350-yard seventh, Woods, seated nearby in his cart, paid him the ultimate compliment: “Just like your grandad at Cherry Hills.” Padraig Harrington said that 15 years ago, fans would come out to see Tiger hit the shots. Nowadays, the vibe is different. They just want to see Tiger. Who knows what round will be his last? With all the tribulations he has been through – back surgeries, knee surgeries, and a near-fatal 2021 SUV accident that nearly cost him his right leg – they are genuinely happy that he is here. It helps that the PNC is played under the umbrella of the PGA TOUR Champions, which allows players the use of carts. “It has changed. There’s no doubt about it,” Harrington said of the atmosphere. “It is a different emotional atmosphere around it. In many ways, it’s bigger.” Tiger had his moments striking the golf ball. Early on, he made a few short shots with wedges dance around the hole, and at the 214-yard eighth, he launched one of his towering 4-irons left of the flagstick, holding the shot off into a crosswind. His fatigue as the round moves on is hard to disguise. At the 10th, as pro-am teams switched up their pros, there was a long backup on the tee. Woods sat in his cart for some 15 minutes, fiddling on his phone, and holding a short conversation with Annika Sorenstam, GOAT to GOAT, after she had caught up in the group behind him. When Woods went to scale a hill to the tee when it was his time to hit, he moved slowly, gingerly, his body feeling the brunt of such a delay. Of course, the son of an Army Green Beret seldom admits that he is hurting. “How’s the foot, Tiger?” he was asked afterward. Woods answered, “Yeah, it’s good.” Clearly, it’s not. Could competing this week, even with the use of a cart, push back his recovery from his latest ailments? You bet, he said. “You know, I don’t really care about that,” Tiger said. “I think being here with and alongside my son is far more important, and getting to have a chance to have this experience with him is far better than my foot being a little creaky.” Tiger pretty much owns every trophy a man can win, starting with U.S. Junior Championships (3) and U.S. Amateurs (3) to his 15 major championships, which include five Masters titles. He won the career Grand Slam three times over. Jack Nicklaus owns more majors (18), but it is Woods who most consider to be the GOAT. Alastair Johnston, the power agent from IMG who worked with Arnold Palmer and drew up the game plan to bring fathers and sons together in competition 25 years ago (and since, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and even major winners and parents), can reluctantly accept fans considering his brainchild to be a “hit and giggle,” with a caveat: It is a “very competitive” hit and giggle. These are athletes used to competing hard, and winning big tournaments, and often it’s clear their children are similarly driven. Johnston laughs in retelling the story from two years ago when Justin Thomas and his dad, Mike, who are close to the Woods family, dropped by the Woods’ home on Christmas Day wearing the bright red matching Willie Park belts they captured as PNC champions. Said Johnston, “You knew right then that Tiger and Charlie were thinking, ‘We’re each going to get one of those, too.’” Tiger never has met a tournament he didn’t want to win, regardless of his health. His son seems ultra-competitive as well. The two placed seventh in 2020, and runner-up a year ago. What would it mean for the two of them to win? “Well, we’ve come close,” Woods said. “We’ve gotten better each year. So we’re trending.”
It’s a small field, one reduced by the late, forced withdrawals of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. So who can take home gold? Who else will be in medal contention? Who should just enjoy the Olympic experience?
