PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Brandt Snedeker goes into the weekend at Pebble Beach with another chance to win, this time without golf’s biggest stars in his way.
Snedeker played bogey free at tough Spyglass Hill on Friday for a 4-under-par 68, giving him a share of the lead with Ted Potter Jr. in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Potter three-putted his final hole at Monterey Peninsula for a 67.
Hunter Mahan was among those one shot behind. With one more round before everyone has played all three courses in the rotation, the leader board was a big traffic jam. Three dozen players were within five shots of the lead.
Snedeker, who was at 8-under 134, felt he was at an advantage because he goes to Pebble Beach for the final two rounds.
And there’s one other edge for his psyche - Tiger Woods isn’t playing, and defending champion Phil Mickelson is six shots behind.
Snedeker has played so well this year that he is leading the FedEx Cup standings without having won. He was runner-up the past two weeks - four shots behind Woods at Torrey Pines, and then four shots behind Mickelson in the Phoenix Open.
“Keep running into guys who are or who are going to be in the Hall of Fame,” Snedeker said at the start of the week.
Mickelson, going after a record-tying fifth victory in the event, was easing his way into contention until he made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch along the ocean at Spyglass Hill for a 71.
Snedeker made it look easy at Spyglass, even though the day began in rugged conditions with a light rain and temperatures in the low 40s. He hit a towering 8-iron on the downhill, par-3 12th hole that plopped 3 feet next to the cup for his first birdie. He added a pair of simple up-and-down birdies on the par 5s and then closed out a solid day with an 8-iron to 5 feet on the eighth hole.
Snedeker sees the upside of his two second-place finishes: At least he’s giving himself a chance.
“That’s how you win out here,” he said. “You keep putting yourself in position, and the more times you do, the more success you’re going to have. ... I’m doing a better job this week of making my way around the golf courses and not putting myself in bad spots and getting out of tough situations very quickly.”
His goal for the last two days?
“Not do anything stupid,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t do it very often.”
Potter remains somewhat of a mystery. He won last year in his rookie season at The Greenbrier Classic to claim a peculiar footnote in golf history - the only player to win a PGA Tour event in which Woods and Mickelson missed the cut. Still, his performance has been spotty. Potter missed nine out of the 12 cuts going into The Greenbrier, and then missed four out of nine cuts after his victory.
Fredrik Jacobson had the low round of the day, a 66 at Pebble Beach that put him in the group at 7 under with Mahan, John Merrick and Patrick Reed. Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) was 1 under after a 72 with three birdies and three bogeys at Spyglass Hill. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) also was 1 under after a 72 at Pebble Beach with two birdies and two bogeys.Bryce Molder (Conway) shot a 72 at Spyglass Hill with two birdies and two bogeys and was 1 over. David Lingmerth (Razorbacks) had a birdie and four bogeys in a 75 at Spyglass Hill and was 3 over. John Daly (Dardanelle, Razorbacks) shot a 70 with three birdies and three bogeys at Monterey Peninsula and was 5 over.
CHAMPIONS TOUR Two tied for lead
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Bernhard Langer is a Hall of Famer who has won the Champions Tour money title four of the past five years. Tom Pernice Jr. is a career journeyman who at 53 tried to reach the PGA Tour through qualifying school last year.
They have different pedigrees, but they ended in the same place Friday - tied for the first-round lead of the Allianz Championship at Broken Sound after six-under 66s.
Langer, who holed out a bunker shot to win here in a playoff in 2010, birdied three of the last four holes. Pernice was even through eight holes, but played the next six holes in 6 under, including an eagle at No. 5 when he holed a pitching wedge from 128 yards, to charge into contention.
Defending champion Corey Pavin, Roger Chapman, Fred Funk, Scott Simpson and two players making their Champions Tour debuts - Rocco Mediate and Bart Bryant- are a shot back after 67s.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Fisher catches Sterne
JOHANNESBURG - Trevor Fisher Jr. shot a 9-under-par 62 and Richard Sterne had a 65 Friday to share the lead after the second round of the Joburg Open.
Fisher had an eagle and seven birdies, including a run of three consecutive in his back nine on the West Course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. Sterne went bogey-free for the second consecutive round on the East Course.
The South Africans were 15 under at the European Tour event.
George Coetzee (64) was three shots back and Charl Schwartzel (65) trailed the leaders by five strokes.
Friday’s results
PGA TOUR PEBBLE BEACH Pebble Beach, Calif.
Purse: $6.5 million p-Pebble Beach GL; 6,816 yards;
par 72; m-Monterey Peninsula CC, Shore Course; 6,838 yards;
par 70; s-Spyglass Hill GC; 6,953 yards; par 72 Second of four rounds -8 Ted Potter, Jr. .......67p-67m-134 Brandt Snedeker ..66m-68s-134 -7 Fredrik Jacobson ..71s-66p-137 John Merrick ........68p-67m-135 Hunter Mahan ......66p-69m-135 Patrick Reed ..........68s-69p-137 -6 Patrick Cantlay .....66m-70s-136 Nick O’Hern ..........70p-66m-136 James Hahn .........71p-65m-136 Jason Day ............68m-68s-136 -5 Russell Knox ........64m-73s-137 Chris Kirk ..............71s-68p-139 Justin Hicks ...........71s-68p-139 Retief Goosen .......71s-68p-139 Sean O’Hair ..........70p-67m-137 Matt Every............67p-70m-137 -4 Pat Perez ..............69m-69s-138 Ryuji Imada ..........65m-73s-138 Kevin Streelman ...69p-69m-138 Aaron Baddeley .....69s-71p-140 Kevin Sutherland ..70p-68m-138 Alistair Presnell .....68s-72p-140 Luke Guthrie .........68p-70m-138 Bob Estes ..............69s-71p-140 Kevin Stadler ........69p-69m-138 Lee Westwood .....68p-70m-138 Kevin Na ................68s-72p-140 B. de Jonge ..........67m-71s-138 Seung-Yul Noh ......67s-73p-140 -3 Matt Jones ............69s-72p-141 James Driscoll .....72m-67s-139 Tommy Gainey ......71s-70p-141 Jimmy Walker ......68m-71s-139 Billy Horschel ........70s-71p-141 Jim Herman ..........71s-70p-141 Richard H. Lee .....68m-71s-139 Bill Lunde ..............71s-70p-141 William McGirt ......72s-69p-141 -2 Scott Brown .........72p-68m-140 Joe Durant ............71p-69m-140 Heath Slocum ......69p-71m-140 Mike Weir .............75p-65m-140 Greg Owen ...........65m-75s-140 Scott Gardiner .......73s-69p-142 Kelly Kraft .............69m-71s-140 Jordan Spieth .......70m-70s-140 Cameron Tringale ..71s-71p-142 J.B. Holmes ...........72s-70p-142 Charlie Wi .............70m-70s-140 Phil Mickelson ......69m-71s-140 Robert Garrigus ...71m-69s-140 Jeff Maggert .........67m-73s-140 Jeff Gove ..............69p-71m-140 Brendon Todd ......68m-72s-140 Shawn Stefani ......72p-68m-140 -1 Ken Duke ...........71s-72p-143 Tag Ridings .......69m-72s-141 Ben Kohles ...........69p-72m-141 Padraig Harrington 72s-71p-143 Casey Wittenberg ..70s-73p-143 J.J. Henry ..............72s-71p-143 Rod Pampling ......71m-70s-141 Tim Clark ...............76s-67p-143 Brian Harman .......68m-73s-141 Brian Stuard .........69p-72m-141 Stuart Appleby .....70p-71m-141 Jason Gore ............71s-72p-143 Troy Kelly ..............73p-68m-141 Jason Bohn ..........71 p-70m-141E Lee Williams .........66m-76s-142 Jim Furyk ..............75s-69p-144 Charlie Beljan ........69s-75p-144 Camilo Villegas ....67m-75s-142 Neal Lancaster .....67m-75s-142 Dustin Johnson ....73m-69s-142 Todd Hamilton .......71s-73p-144 Scott Langley .......65m-77s-142 Jason Kokrak .......70p-72m-142 Doug LaBelle II ......69s-75p-144 Chez Reavie ..........70p-72m-142 Woody Austin .......75s-69p-144 Josh Teater ...........70m-72s-142 Brad Fritsch ..........69m-73s-142 Vaughn Taylor .......70s-74p-144 Webb Simpson ....71m-71s-142 Cameron Percy ....74p-68m-142 Eric Meierdierks ...68m-74s-142 M. Hoffmann ........70p-72m-142 +1 Bryce Molder .....71m-72s-143 Nick Watney .........68m-75s-143 John Mallinger .....68m-75s-143 Dicky Pride ...........69p-74m-143 Erik Compton .......71m-72s-143 Tim Petrovic .........68m-75s-143 H. Norlander .........71p-72m-143 +2 Johnson Wagner ...71s-75p-146 D.A. Points ...........68m-76s-144 Kevin Chappell .....74p-70m-144 Steve Flesch .........75p-69m-144 C. Beckman ..........70p-74m-144 Andres Romero ....74p-70m-144 Donald Constable ..74s-72p-146 Robert Karlsson ...74p-70m-144 Fabian Gomez ......73p-71m-144 Alexandre Rocha ..72p-72m-144 Vijay Singh ...........72p-72m-144 Steven Bowditch ..76p-68m-144 +3 David Lingmerth .70m-75s-145 Ricky Barnes ........71m-74s-145 Alex Cejka .............70p-75m-145 Darron Stiles ........72p-73m-145 Chris Stroud .........78p-67m-145 Justin Bolli ...........70m-75s-145 Arjun Atwal ...........69p-76m-145 Sam Saunders ......76s-71p-147 Andrew Svoboda ..75m-70s-145 Derek Ernst ...........74s-73p-147 Ryan Palmer ........72m-73s-145 Geoff Ogilvy ...........73s-74p-147 Scott McCarron .....75s-72p-147 Si Woo Kim ...........75s-72p-147 Robert Streb ..........73s-74p-147 +4 Steve LeBrun .........74s-74p-148 Roberto Castro .....71p-75m-146 Gary Christian ......75p-71m-146 Bobby Gates ..........76s-72p-148 Jerry Kelly ............73m-73s-146 Nathan Green ........72s-76p-148 Lee Janzen ............77s-71p-148 Peter Tomasulo ....71m-75s-146 +5 John Daly .........77p-70m-147 N. Thompson ........73s-76p-149 Jin Park ................73m-74s-147 Rory Sabbatini ......74s-75p-149 Chris Riley ............73m-74s-147 D. Summerhays ...74m-73s-147 Matt Bettencourt ..71m-76s-147 +6 Chris DiMarco ......72p-76m-148 Billy Mayfair ..........73s-77p-150 +7 Michael Bradley ....73m-76s-149 Brian Davis ...........73p-76m-149 Luke List ...............73m-76s-149 Michael Letzig .......73s-78p-151 +8 R. Cabrera Bello ....73s-79p-152 D.J. Trahan ...........73p-77m-150 Harris English .......75m-75s-150 David Duval ...........79s-73p-152 Joe Ogilvie ............76p-74m-150 +9 Steve Marino ........77p-74m-151 Andres Gonzales ..77 p-74m-151+10 Aaron Watkins .......78s-76p-154 Billy Andrade .........79s-75p-154 Bret Nutt ...............74m-78s-152 Tom Gillis .............71m-81s-152 +12 Mitch Lowe ..........77p-77m-154 +16 Paul Haley II ..........78s-82p-160
PGA EUROPEAN JOBURG OPEN Second of four rounds At Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club Johannesburg e-East Course: 7,592 yards, par 72 w-West Course: 7,237 yards, par 71 Purse: $1.75 million 128 (-15) Trevor Fisher Jr. ..............66e-62w Richard Sterne ................63w-65e 131 (-12) George Coetzee ...............67w-64e 133 (-10) Charl Schwartzel .............68e-65w Keith Horne .....................67w-66e Felipe Aguilar ...................67w-66e 134 (-9) Tommy Fleetwood ...........68e-66w Peter Uihlein ....................65w-69e Jaco van Zyl ....................66w-68e Jose Manuel Lara ...........69e-65w
CHAMPIONS ALLIANZ CHAMPIONSHIP At The Old Course at Broken Sound Boca Raton, Fla.
Purse: $1.8 million Yardage: 6,807; Par: 72 (36-36) First of three rounds 66 (-6) Tom Pernice Jr. ....................31-35 Bernhard Langer ..................34-32 67 (-5) Scott Simpson .....................34-33 Bart Bryant ...........................33-34 Fred Funk .............................33-34 Corey Pavin ..........................33-34 Roger Chapman ...................34-33 Rocco Mediate .....................34-33 68 (-4) Jim Gallagher, Jr. .................35-33 Michael Allen ........................34-34 John Huston ........................36-32 David Eger ............................35-33 John Cook ............................35-33 Dan Forsman ........................33-35 Tom Lehman ........................36-32 Dick Mast .............................36-32 Mark Mouland ......................33-35 69 (-3) Peter Senior .........................34-35 Blaine McCallister ................35-34 Mark O’Meara ......................34-35 Larry Nelson .........................32-37 Brad Faxon ...........................35-34 Larry Mize ............................35-34 Kirk Triplett ...........................36-33 Joe Daley ..............................37-32 70 (-2) Andrew Magee .....................35-35 John Harris ..........................35-35 Steve Jones ..........................35-35 Brad Bryant ..........................34-36 David Frost ...........................34-36 Tom Kite ...............................36-34 Kenny Perry .........................33-37 Mark McNulty ......................38-32 Russ Cochran ......................35-35 Esteban Toledo .....................35-35
Sports, Pages 21 on 02/09/2013