Belgium’s Thomas Detry holed a closing birdie to shoot 9-under 63 at Spyglass Hill and capture the first-round lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Thursday in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Detry’s birdie at the par-4 18th was his third in a row to close a 6-under 30 on the back nine. It pushed him just ahead of Patrick Cantlay, who set the pace earlier in the afternoon with a bogey-free, 8-under 64 at Spyglass Hill.
The 80 players in the signature event’s field are playing one round apiece at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill to open the tournament. They will proceed to Pebble Beach for the weekend rounds without a 36-hole cut as they vie for shares of a $20 million purse.
France’s Matthieu Pavon — who earned his first PGA Tour victory last week at the Farmers Insurance Open in order to qualify — fired the low round of the day at Pebble Beach, a 7-under 65, putting him alone in third place.
Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (Spyglass Hill) and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (Pebble Beach) are tied for fourth at 6-under 66, and Rickie Fowler (Spyglass Hill) is tied for sixth with Collin Morikawa (Pebble Beach) at 5-under 67.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was 6 under through 14 holes at Spyglass Hill to hold the lead at one point. But not only did McIlroy proceed to make three straight bogeys at Nos. 6-8, he was also assessed a two-stroke penalty for an improper drop at the par-5 seventh, turning his score there into an 8 and pushing him back to a mere 1-under 71.
–Field Level Media