Power eight back in Pebble Beach Pro-Am thanks to late fight back
Seamus Power. Picture: USGA
Seamus Power brushed off three bogeys and triple bogey eight and birdied two of his last three holes to escape with a level par 72 at demanding Spyglass Hill in the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The world number 28 is amongst the favourites to contend in an event where he set the 36-hole scoring record en route to a tie for ninth place last year.
But while he finds himself tied for 79th, eight shots behind leader Hank Lebioda, he’s at least got the tougher of the three courses out of the way and can look forward to moving up the board over the next two days.
Playing alongside Gerry McManus opposite Dermot Desmond and Thomas Detry, both teams are tied 78th on three-under, nine shots off the pace as former soccer star Gareth Bale and Joseph Bramlett fired a seven-under 65 to share 18th.
Lebioda made six birdies in an eight-hole stretch for an eight-under 63 on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula and a one-shot lead.
But with three of the top four scores to par coming at Monterey Peninsula yesterday, Power’s 72 at Spyglass may not prove fatal.
He got off to the ideal start with birdies at the 10th and 11th but hit his second shot into trouble at the par-five 14th and ran up a triple-bogey eight.
He would bounce back immediately with a birdie two at the 15th and another birdie at the 17th but bogeyed the 18th to turn in level par.
Further shots would go at the par-five first and the sixth, but he fought back with birdies at the seventh and ninth.
The best score at Spyglass Hill belonged to Keith Mitchell with a 5-under 67, while US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and three-time major champion Jordan Spieth shot 71s and Viktor Hovland a 70.
Hovland is playing the tournament for the first time, though he won the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach and was low amateur at Pebble in the 2019 U.S. Open.
Spieth, who won this event in 2017, was a mixture of birdies and bogeys, and then had to hang on for dear life over the final hour when temperatures plunged, and the wind began whipping.
"It was really bizarre the last four holes or so with the wind," Spieth said. "It went from nothing to flipping and then blowing about 25 out of nowhere the other direction than the forecast. That throws us through a big loop when you're prepping for something and you got to make the adjustment.
"But I had a good last three holes and that always kind of puts a smile on your face."
