PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Sepp Straka took a visit all the way down to the seaside that derailed his spherical Saturday, after which recovered with 4 birdies on his final 5 holes in a chilly, whipping wind for a 2-under 70 to reclaim the lead over the Irish duo of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry within the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am.
McIlroy was virtually flawless, a minimum of within the nasty circumstances, by getting by means of the uncovered stretch of Pebble Seashore with out dropping a shot and chipping his method round for a bogey-free 65.
Lowry bought off to a birdie-eagle-birdie begin that allowed for a couple of errors across the flip and he completed with two birdies on the final three holes for a 65.
Simply do not get the concept Irish climate was well-suited for McIlroy (Northern Eire) and Lowry (Eire), particularly as a result of they now are neighbors in south Florida.
“It would go well with me considerably, however I do not get pleasure from it,” Lowry stated. “I reside in Florida for a purpose. I believe my sport is well-equipped to deal with these circumstances and I’m going on the market, form of no worry, and I do know I simply have to batten down the hatches and make pars after I can.”
The second signature occasion of the 12 months produced huge names on the prime, and this one had a particular Ryder Cup really feel — European, that’s.
Straka, the Austrian-born Georgia Bulldog coming off a win within the California desert, blasted out of the sand to 4 toes for one final birdie that putt him at 16-under 200, one shot forward of McIlroy and Lowry, his Ryder Cup teammates from Marco Simone.
Justin Rose of England, a Pebble Seashore winner in 2023 and a part of Group Europe later that 12 months, was one other shot behind.
Scottie Scheffler, in his 2025 debut delayed by his hand surgical procedure from a freak puncture wound, held it collectively for a 69 and was six pictures behind.
Gone are the times of the outdated Crosby Clambake, with amateurs having left on Friday. But it surely was paying homage to the Clambake climate, not the prettiest photos however a delight to see golf’s greatest gamers have their arms full with a wind ripping off the Pacific Ocean.
Scheffler could not imagine it when he hit a 5-iron as pure as may be on the tenth gap and watched it fly solely 155 yards, 20 yards in need of his goal. Lowry is aware of the sensation. He drilled a 3-iron and got here up quick.
McIlroy had an appropriate sport plan. When the wind arrived as he was on the sixth gap, he stated he turned to caddie Harry Diamond and stated, “Let’s attempt to chip the ball round at the moment.”
“I really feel like I did not make a full swing after that,” McIlroy stated.
He needed to save par six instances from the tough and bunkers, none extra precious than from down within the excessive grass under the tenth inexperienced to six toes and a key par putt.
“That was a key up-and-down to simply to maintain the momentum of the spherical going,” he stated.
The tenth gap is the place Straka practically got here undone. His strategy sailed effectively to the fitting, over the cliff and onto the seaside. He went all the way down to the sand and picked up his golf ball, taking the penalty shot as a substitute of attempting the dramatic shot off the seaside, and did effectively to salvage bogey.
However he bogeyed the following two holes, going from a four-shot lead early within the spherical to trailing by two pictures. Straka, although, is supplied with newfound confidence and steadied himself on the way in which in with birdies on the 14th and fifteenth holes, a 30-foot birdie putt for the one birdie of the day on the par-3 seventeenth and his closing birdie.
It units up a closing spherical wherein six gamers are separated by two pictures and Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 participant, hanging round on the sting of competition. He did not birdie a par 5 till the final gap — two par 5s on the entrance have been in benign circumstances — however made a pair of birdies late.
“I hung in there on a day the place I didn’t have my greatest stuff,” Scheffler stated.
McIlroy does not often have nice success on the West Coast — his lone California victory was in early Could within the Match Play at Harding Park in 2015 — however has talked about this being an enormous 12 months for him on a number of entrance. Pebble Seashore wasn’t on the entrance of his thoughts, however it’s now.
“It is actually cool to be in competition this early within the season,” he stated.
McIlroy and Lowry each started the week making a hole-in-one — Lowry on the seventh gap at Pebble Seashore, McIlroy on the fifteenth at Spyglass — and now the longtime associates from Irish golf will probably be within the closing group with Straka.
“There’s a couple of programs on the earth that you simply wish to win on and that is undoubtedly certainly one of them,” Lowry stated. “So that you strive not to consider stuff like that and hopefully it involves you sometime.”
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Copyright 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.