Towels and gloves were draped under open umbrellas, crashing waves were persistent and brash, and camera lenses were doused with drizzle. Saturday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was as good as it gets for couch-ridden golf sickos.
For the players battling the elements along the cliffs of Monterey Peninsula, not so much.
Wind and rain eventually made their way to Pebble Beach as the leaders were getting their third rounds underway, and the birdie barrage we saw from the morning wave quickly turned into a survival test.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry passed the assessment with flying colors.
The Irish tandem that won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last season will be part of Sunday’s final group after both players signed for impressive 7-under 65s.
McIlroy was bogey-free, getting up and down all eight times he missed the putting surface. His flat-stick came alive — eighth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+1.676) — and poured in seven birdies, four on the front and three in his final four holes.
“I played well. I didn’t make any mistakes,” McIlroy said. “One of the things I really — I want to do this year is try to limit my mistakes and play bogey-free. Three of my last four rounds have been that way, last round in Dubai, first round here and now this round. Just really try to limit the mistakes and play smart golf and be a little more like Scottie Scheffler basically.”
As for Lowry, he did card a few bogeys before the turn at Nos. 7 and 9, but offset the damage with seven birdies and an eagle on the par-5 second. His iron play was sharp from start to finish, hitting multiple approaches to kick-in range.
“I think my game is well equipped to handle these conditions,” Lowry said, “and I go out there kind of no fear and I know I just need to batten down the hatches and make pars when I can. When you hit good shots you need to take advantage.”
To finish his interview with CBS, Lowry said, “Let’s hope one of us does the business.”
They’ll have a few names to fend off over the final 18 holes to do so.
Thirty-six-hole leader Sepp Straka made birdies on his first two holes of the day, but struggled once the conditions turned. He bogeyed Nos. 4, 10, 11 and 12 when the weather was at its worst, but when everything started to calm down as the day grew long, Straka made birdies on 14, 15, 17 and 18 to get to 16 under for the tournament and one shot clear of McIlroy and Lowry.
As for some other names, Justin Rose and Tom Kim both posted rounds of 68 and are tied for fourth at 14 under alongside Aussie Cam Davis.
The PGA Tour needed a star-studded leaderboard at its second signature event of the season, and it got just that at Pebble Beach.
Sunday’s gonna be fun.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry one back of lead at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
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