Players brace for wild weather in final round at Pebble Beach: ‘It’s going to suck out there’

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[Photo: Mike Mulholland]

The finish to the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am could very well signal what’s in store for the 80-man field in the final round. It’s probably going to be wild and wickedly slow.

RELATED: Watch Scottie Scheffler hit DRIVER(!) on Pebble Beach’s 152-metre par-3 17th due to high winds

As winds increased throughout the third afternoon at Pebble Beach Golf Links, the golf course that had given up record scoring through the first two rounds and yielded an early 10-under 62 to Collin Morikawa turned nasty. So much so that the final two groups encountered an array of wind-blown challenges. Particularly notable was the task of getting golf balls to remain still on the exposed green at the par-5 18th hole sitting hard by the Pacific Ocean.

Because of that issue and the overall difficulty of keeping the ball in play amid wind gusts of 50 kilometres per hour, the final threesome of Akshay Bhatia, Ryo Hisatsune and Rickie Fowler needed 50 minutes to complete the last two holes – the par-3 17th and par-5 18th. They not only encountered their own problems as the temperature plummeted, but they also had to wait for the threesome of Sam Burns, Min Woo Lee and Jacob Bridgeman to sort out their own issues on 18 after a series of wayward shots.

Australia’s Lee, who nearly drove out-of-bounds and needed extra time to weigh up all options for a penalty drop by the cartpath right of the fairway, later was allowed to wait more than five minutes before striking his 26-foot par putt on 18 because his ball would not stop oscillating in the wind. A short time later, Hisutsane had to re-mark his ball after it moved six inches as he prepared to putt for birdie from 18 feet. He ended up three-putting for bogey.

The PGA Tour anticipated the increasing winds, instructing the grounds crew to mow the greens once prior to the third round, but the putting surfaces still were too fast for the final few groups.

Bhatia, who holds a two-stroke lead over Morikawa, Sepp Straka and Jake Knapp at 19-under 197, birdied six of his first seven holes and then didn’t make another birdie to settle for a 68. He, too, had trouble with his ball staying still putting for birdie on 18.

“Yeah, ball’s oscillating forwards, backwards and that putt is a very simple seven, eight-footer straight up the hill,” Bhatia said. “But you’re just trying to… make a good stroke and then you’re trying to make sure you kind of hopefully get the ball to start somewhere near the hole. I was happy to make 5 there and kind of move on going into tomorrow.”

There are going to be a lot of things moving around on the final day.

The forecast calls for winds gusting up to 55kph, plus rain might add another ingredient to the examination around noon, local time. Tee-times have been pushed forward an hour, with the first groups off both tees starting at 7:22am. The final threesome of Bhatia, Morikawa and Straka goes off at 9:45am.

“They’re going to have to find a way to slow these greens down because we were struggling the last hole to keep the ball from rolling,” Straka said. “Yeah, it’s going to be pretty dicey tomorrow, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Players already were tightening their guts for what is sure to be a tumultuous day.

“I think it’s just being resilient and not trying to take too much because the course is probably not going to give us really anything,” said Bridgeman, who trails Bhatia by three shots after a 68. “It’s kind of just going to hang in there all day. There’s going to be times when you’re facing impossible situations in winds like that, especially when it’s supposed to rain as well. There’s going to be times when a good score’s a bogey and maybe even a double.”

Straka provided a counter-intuitive take on the anticipated carnage. “You know, you can have a pretty bad attitude and still play some good golf. I’m kind of weird in that sense,” he said after shooting 67. “I think the most important thing is not giving up on yourself. No matter how much, how miserable you are out there, you have to still execute the golf shots and try to stick to your game plan and try to hit good shots even though the conditions won’t allow it.”

Knapp closed with a 66 that began and ended with eagles. He holed out from 119 metres on the par-4 first hole and sank a 12-footer on 18 despite the brutal breeze.

“It’s not going to probably be pretty at all times. You’re going to have some funky stuff happen and just have to deal with it,” he said.

Morikawa was more direct. “It’s going to suck out there.”

Bhatia was more philosophical. “It’s part of golf, you know?”

It’s especially part of golf at Pebble Beach, where the final round was washed out two years ago, and weather – they call it “Crosby weather” around here after Bing Crosby, the long-time host of the event – is predictably unpredictable.

Said Knapp: “I feel like Pebble… I feel like that’s the full experience is to play in a little bit of weather.”

Oh, it’s going to be an experience.