Spieth trails leaders Sung Kang and Hiroshi Iwata by eight strokes going into Saturday.
Advertisement
“Boy, I’m hitting it great right now”, Spieth said Friday after a 2-under 69 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club that left him 3 under overall and tied for 36th with two rounds to go, eight shots off the lead.
Cameron Smith and Bronson Burgoon were at 7-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula, while Freddie Jacobson shot a 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach, the only course to play over par.
But bogeys at the 12th and 18th holes ended any hopes of that and he signed for a six-under 65.
Spieth said: “I played the hardest holes on this golf course four-under par, and then I played all the easy ones over par”. “One of my buddies came up and said, ‘You’re paired with Ray – he’s very famous, ‘ and I said, ‘Oh, really?’ I had to do some research on him, so I just Googled him”. “I had a lot of close looks and hit some good putts that didn’t go in and then I three-putted the 18th”.
While players such as Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed scuffled around Spyglass Hill, traditionally the tournament’s toughest layout, a cast of relative unknowns surged to the front playing the two slightly easier courses, Pebble Beach Golf Links and Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
He was around the green in two shots on all of the par 5s at Spyglass Hill on Thursday and made only one birdie.
Bernhard Langer shot a 10-under 62 to take a four-stroke lead in the Champions Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla. “From where I’ve been at (after his drive), they have pretty much been par-4s for me, so it nearly feels like I’m playing them 7-over”.
Starting on the back nine, the young Australian began with a bogey at the tenth before taking a penalty and double bogey on his third hole of the day, the 178-yard par-three 12th. “This is my first time at Pebble Beach, and you don’t get views like this anywhere in the world”.
Rose strung together seven birdies, holing out from the bunker on No. 10 and ending his round with a 50-foot birdie putt that banged into the back of the cup.
PRETORIA, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel made a charge up the leaderboard at the European Tour’s Tshwane Open, going 6 under in his second round to sit two shots off the lead. Six straight pars followed before his round took off with four birdies in five holes as he made it to five under.
Advertisement
Jay Haas was second, Jeff Maggert was third at 67, and Fred Couples was at 68 along with Kenny Perry Kevin Sutherland, Steve Lowery, Scott Hoch and Michael Allen. “I feel great about my chances for a low score”. Justin Rose managed to play Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula ahead of the opening round. He hasn’t won a tournament of any kind since the Kolon Korea Open on the Korean Tour in 2013 and missed the cut in all three events he played in January.
