Scottie Scheffler was the exception. He had to birdie the par-5 18th at Pebble Beach to avoid being shortlisted – twelve players – who failed to break par.
“I feel like I’m usually good at scoring, and today I felt like I wasn’t scoring at all,” Scheffler said. “Everything that went wrong seemed to go that way. I actually feel like I’m playing pretty well. Just one of those days.”
Hisatsune, who was coming off two good weeks including a second-place finish at Torrey Pines to qualify for the $20 million signature event, had three straight birdies early in his round, made the lone birdie on the par-4 ninth and finished with three straight birdies for a 62 at Pebble Beach.
He was one shot ahead of Keegan Bradley and Sam Burns. Bradley played at Spyglass Hill, where the course average was about a stroke and a half higher than Pebble Beach.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy had a pair of three-putt double bogeys on the par 5s at Spyglass in his first PGA Tour start of the year, settling for a 68.
Gotterup, who already has two wins this year, made three straight birdies to round out his victory at the Phoenix Open last week, the latter in a play-off. From desert heat to California coastal cold, from carpet green to poa annua, there was no change in his game.
A short birdie putt on No. 1, a 10-footer on the par-5 second, almost a wedge on the third, and so it went. Six holes into the round he had six birdies.
“I was just cruising,” Gotterup said. “You don’t really realize it at the time, and then you look up and you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m six through six.’ That’s nice.”
Bradley scored from the green on No. 8 at Spyglass for a birdie-eagle-birdie burst, and he kept a clean card the rest of the way for the best score on the course that typically plays the hardest in calm conditions.
“It’s about as nice a day as I’ve ever seen here,” Bradley said. “The greens are soft, but that also makes them a bit bumpy. So some putts are a bit unpredictable, but the scoring is certainly good.”
Pebble Beach can be a hassle when there is no wind, especially on the first seven holes. That’s where Hisatsune (five birdies) and Gotterup (six) made hay.
Scheffler, not so much.
It started with a clump of mud on his ball in the fairway at the par-5 second, sending his shot about 100 feet off the green. He picked up just one birdie on that opening stretch, and a strong breeze blew most of him on the way back in. And he wasn’t particularly sharp.
He hit only two approach shots within 10 feet (and missed both), and he didn’t make a putt longer than 8 feet during his round.
“I think the challenge is making some birdies. That was a challenge for me today,” Scheffler said. “I’m looking at the rankings now and it looks like seven under gets you into the top ten, so the scores are quite low,” he said.
Burns also didn’t take advantage of the early holes. And then he birdied No. 8 over the ocean with a daring approach that landed 12 feet between the back pin and the right bunker. And as the wind picked up a bit, he had five birdies in a six-hole stretch to start the back nine. That included throwing just under 100 feet on the 13th.
Burns led the field in putting — helping make 45 feet on No. 10 and 100 feet on No. 17 — and kept bogeys off his card.
“I made a significant number of putts and I feel like I hit it pretty well. It was a good combination for today,” Burns said.
Tony Finau and Patrick Rodgers each had 64 at Spyglass and tied for fourth with Gotterup. A pair of former Pebble champions, Nick Taylor and Tom Hoge, were in the group at age 65. Another shot back was Jordan Spieth, who holed a full wedge for Eagle at Spyglass.
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