American Jordan Spieth shot a dazzling 7-under 65 to open up a 6-stroke lead entering the final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Saturday.
After taking the golf world by storm in 2015, Spieth blew the Masters a year ago and slowly drifted back to No. 6 in the world while contemporary rival Jason Day has remained No. 1 for nearly a year.
Spieth only needed 10 putts to get through the back nine, a call back of his masterful placement on approach.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better putting day,” Spieth said.
He has a 6-shot lead on Brandt Snedeker, who is looking for his third win at Pebble Beach. Snedeker shot a 67 to remain in second, while Dustin Johnson and Kelly Kraft are each at 10-under.
Snedeker’s history with the tournament would seem to give him th e only legitimate shot at catching Spieth, should he falter.
He’s somebody who can go out there and shoot 7, 8 under tomorrow,” Spieth said. “So I’ve got to set a goal and stay real patient, try not to make many mistakes, hit a lot of greens in regulation.”
As it is a pro-am, there plenty of other highlights as well with pop singer Justin Timberlake nearly pulling an ace on No. 7 and NHL legend Wayne Gretzky Johnson’s father-in-law, breaking a woman’s sunglasses with an errant shot.
After whipping the course for a 64 and a share of the lead on Friday, #1 Day floundered his way to a 75 and fell into a tie for 11th at 7-under.
“It was just mistake after mistake and unfortunately, that’s sometimes how it goes,” Day said.