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Pebble Beach, Calif. • Jordan Spieth could barely stand up and worried his hat would fly off in the middle of his swing.
From 176 yards downhill to the par-3 11th green at Monterey Peninsula, he ripped a 4-iron and hoped for the best. When he saw it land about 6 feet from the flag, he declared to anyone within earshot, "That's the best shot I've ever hit."
This was a snapshot of the nasty side of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Thursday, with severe conditions that once led to the term "Crosby weather" from the days when Bing Crosby was the host and Pebble could be a blend of beauty and beast.
The PGA Tour moved up tee times by an hour to try to beat the storms, but it wasn't enough. Already saturated, the greens on all three courses began holding enough water that play had to be suspended.
Seung-Yul Noh, Joel Dahmen and Rick Lamb each shot a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill to share the lead, and more importantly, they were among the 75 players who finished. The rest had to return at 7:30 a.m. Friday — with lingering rain in the forecast — to finish the round before moving on to another course.
Spyglass has the most shelter from the wind because of the inland holes cut through a forest.
Mark Hubbard had a 3-under 69 at Pebble Beach, which is exposed along the coast. Only three players reached the green on the par-4 ninth hole into the wind. Hubbard finished his round there with a bogey and treated it like a par.
"It played more like a par 5 than any of the actual par 5s," he said.
Spieth, even though he missed four putts inside 6 feet on the bumpy greens, was at 3-under par with two holes to play on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula. And as he walked in the final two holes in the rain, tilting his umbrella to fight the wind and rain, he was quite pleased.
"We thought it would be this way, but just rain," Spieth said. "We didn't expect that."
The "that" was what amounted to a four-club wind, and the best example was the partner he has had the last three years — Dustin Johnson, the U.S. Open champion and among the most powerful players in golf.
Johnson could barely hold up his umbrella in the wind when he stepped out from under it and smashed his drive on the 599-yard 12th hole. From the first cut of rough, he then hit a full 3-wood. And for his third shot, he had 4-iron into the green. And he was still short.
Asked if that ever happened to him on a par 5, Johnson didn't blink before saying, "Never."
On the next hole, typically tame at 434 yards, Johnson hit driver and had 190 yards left. He hit a 3-iron — he normally hits 7-iron from that distance — to the back pin to about 5 feet and made it for birdie.
"Eagle," Johnson said when he walked off the green.
It was like that all over.
Hubbard started on the back nine at Pebble, before the strongest of the wind and the rain arrived. He made three short birdie putts, made the turn and then holed a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 second hole to reach 5 under. And then it was time to hang on.
"At that point, I was glad I had a cushion," Hubbard said.
With 104 players on each course — half of them amateurs — footprints pile up on the soggy greens and every putt is bouncing any direction. Hockey great Wayne Gretzky, playing with Johnson, missed badly from 8 feet right before Spieth's 4-foot par putt took a bounce to the left and lipped out.
"If the best players in the world can't make 'em, how am I supposed to?" The Great One cracked.
Spieth had a short birdie putt on the par-5 sixth hole and declared it to be "the hardest, straight 4-foot putt I'll have all year." He missed it.
But he did enough right, including that 4-iron on 11th hole.
Best ever?
After play was suspended, and he was out of the moment, he backed off such a proclamation.
"Not the best I've ever hit in my life," he said. "But that was up there. In competition on a Thursday? For sure. I roasted a 4-iron. My hat was flying off, or felt like it was going to. In the air, you don't know if it's going to be 20 yards long or 20 yards short. I can't hit another one like that if I hit 100 of them.
"I just wish," he said with a smile, "I had made the putt." —
Thursday's scores
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
at Pebble Beach, Calif.
Purse • $7.2 million
p-Pebble Beach Golf Links: 6,816 yards, par 72 (36-36)
m-Monterey Peninsula Country Club: 6,958 yards, par 71 (34-37)
s-Spyglass Hill Golf Course: 6,953 yards, par 72 (36-36)
Partial First Round
(81 players did not finish round)
Rick Lamb 34-34 — 68 -4s
Seung-Yul Noh 33-35 — 68 -4s
Joel Dahmen 34-34 — 68 -4s
Mark Hubbard 36-33 — 69 -3p
Jim Furyk 34-36 — 70 -2s
Rob Oppenheim 34-35 — 69 -2m
Troy Merritt 37-33 — 70 -2s
Nick Taylor 34-36 — 70 -2s
Jason Day 33-36 — 69 -2m
Shane Lowry 36-34 — 70 -2p
Scott Brown 35-35 — 70 -2s
Seamus Power 35-35 — 70 -2s
Sam Saunders 34-35 — 69 -2m
Martin Flores 34-36 — 70 -1m
Tyrone Van Aswegen 36-35 — 71 -1p
Gary Woodland 35-35 — 70 -1m
J.B. Holmes 34-36 — 70 -1m
Brian Gay 32-38 — 70 -1m
Brett Drewitt 37-34 — 71 -1s
Scott Stallings 36-36 — 72 Es
Martin Laird 33-38 — 71 Em
Webb Simpson 33-38 — 71 Em
Chad Collins 38-34 — 72 Ep
Jimmy Walker 38-34 — 72 Ep
Matt Every 38-34 — 72 Es
Billy Hurley III 36-36 — 72 Ep
Ricky Barnes 33-38 — 71 Em
Hunter Mahan 37-35 — 72 Es
Matt Jones 36-36 — 72 Ep
Tony Finau 31-40 — 71 Em
Tag Ridings 36-36 — 72 Ep
Hiroshi Iwata 38-34 — 72 Es
Bobby Wyatt 38-34 — 72 Es
Jon Rahm 38-35 — 73 +1s
John Senden 38-35 — 73 +1s
Kevin Kisner 35-37 — 72 +1m
Michael Thompson 37-36 — 73 +1p
D.A. Points 34-38 — 72 +1m
Mark Anderson 40-33 — 73 +1s
Cameron Percy 37-36 — 73 +1p
Ben Martin 36-36 — 72 +1m
Mike Weir 37-37 — 74 +2s
Steve Marino 37-37 — 74 +2s
Matt Kuchar 36-38 — 74 +2p
Zack Sucher 41-33 — 74 +2s
Cody Gribble 34-39 — 73 +2m
Padraig Harrington 39-35 — 74 +2p
Ken Duke 35-38 — 73 +2m
William McGirt 35-38 — 73 +2m
Andres Gonzales 37-36 — 73 +2m
Ryan Palmer 38-37 — 75 +3s
Steve Wheatcroft 38-37 — 75 +3p
Jonas Blixt 38-37 — 75 +3p
Jim Herman 39-36 — 75 +3s
Charley Hoffman 39-36 — 75 +3p
Luke Donald 39-36 — 75 +3p
Henrik Norlander 38-38 — 76 +4s
Chris Stroud 38-38 — 76 +4p
Steven Bowditch 39-37 — 76 +4s
Michael Putnam 38-38 — 76 +4s
Sean O'Hair 40-36 — 76 +4p
Whee Kim 39-37 — 76 +4p
Ryan Blaum 39-37 — 76 +4p
Brendon Todd 41-36 — 77 +5p
David Hearn 39-38 — 77 +5p
Ryan Armour 39-38 — 77 +5p
Vijay Singh 40-38 — 78 +6p
Brendon de Jonge 37-41 — 78 +7m
Jonathan Randolph 40-39 — 79 +7s
Ray Otis 38-40 — 78 +7m
Andrew Loupe 42-38 — 80 +8s
Brian Campbell 38-42 — 80 +8p
Danny Lee WD
Leaderboard SCORE THRU
Rick Lamb -4 F
Seung-Yul Noh -4 F
Joel Dahmen -4 F
Jordan Spieth -3 16m
Tim Wilkinson -3 13p
Nick Watney -3 13p
Mark Hubbard -3 F
Jim Furyk -2 F
Mackenzie Hughes -2 17m
Kelly Kraft -2 14m
Derek Fathauer -2 15s
Robert Streb -2 14s
Robert Garrigus -2 14s
Rob Oppenheim -2 Fm
Troy Merritt -2 Fs
Nick Taylor -2 Fs
Jason Day -2 Fm
Shane Lowry -2 Fp
Scott Brown -2 Fs
Seamus Power -2 Fs
Sam Saunders -2 Fm