Pebble Beach Golf

Wyndham Clark hits from the 18th fairway Saturday during the third round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Clark broke the course record with a 12-under 60 and holds a one-stroke lead. Ryan Sun/Associated Press

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark had an unforgettable round at hallowed Pebble Beach when everything went his way and every putt seemed to go in. It gave him the course record Saturday with a 12-under 60.

It also might be enough to give him another big title and $3.6 million without hitting another shot at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Clark was inches away from a sub-60 round on a cold, soggy course, a performance so remarkable it was nine shots better than the field average. He made five putts from 25 feet or longer. He made bogey with perhaps his best putt of the day after hitting a chip left-handed.

He finished one shot ahead of Ludvig Aberg, who missed a long eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole and shot 67.

And now it’s up to Mother Nature.

Rain began to fall over the final few holes, and the heavy stuff was anticipated overnight on a course already saturated. Of equal concern was ferocious wind, with gusts anticipated to be approaching 60 mph.

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Gary Young, the chief referee for the PGA Tour, said officials would decide before dawn Sunday whether the final round would have to be delayed, and then whether any golf could be played. The tournament would be cut short to 54 holes if officials determine play can’t finish by Monday.

Dustin Johnson was the last player to win Pebble Beach over just 54 holes in 2009.

“I definitely thought about it last night and this morning with everyone saying how bad the weather’s going to be,” Clark said. “You’ve got to have that mentality that today’s the last day, so try to go for broke. With that said, that’s very rare that we have 54 holes, so I wasn’t banking on that and I’m still not banking on it.”

Besides, once the putts started falling, his mind was mostly blank except for making birdie, along with two eagles on the front nine.

“I was just, ‘See ball, hit ball, try to hit it where I wanted to.’ I really had a good feel on the greens,” Clark said. “So in my mind, I was like, ‘All right, let’s just get us to where we’re putting,’ because the hole seemed like a bucket today.”

Clark made 190 feet of putts – including from the 40-foot range for eagles on Nos. 2 and 6. After that second eagle, he ran off five straight birdies, including a 30-footer on the tough eighth hole and a 25-footer on No. 9.

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He was 10 under through 11 holes, and a 59 was in the back of Clark’s mind. And then he made his only bogey, and even that felt like a win.

He hit his tee shot on the par-3 12th into a plugged lie in a bunker, 40 yards from the hole. He could only managed to chop that out to the collar of the rough in another bunker, the ball well above his feet. Clark ultimately chose to invert a wedge to go left-handed, the ball squirting across the green into the first cut about 25 feet away.

A double bogey was likely. A triple bogey was possible. He holed it for bogey, and then followed with two more birdies.

“Honestly, of any of the putts today that I was not really trying to make it was that one,” Clark said. “I really was just focused on my speed and just trying to get it down there, two putt, get the double, go to the next hole and move on.

“For that to go in, it was like, ‘All right, man, I’m hot.’”

Clark knew this was his day when his drive on the 16th went into the deep, soggy rough. Just his luck, it was right in front of where an animal had been burrowing, giving him a free drop and a clean lie. And the greens were so soft he could take dead aim at a back pin. He hit that to 10 feet behind the hole, and the downhill birdie putt was one turn short.

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On the par-3 17th, his 15-foot birdie putt stopped an inch in front of the cup. His 25-foot eagle putt for 59 on the final hole also was short by a few inches.

No matter. His 60 was two strokes better than the tournament record held by four players, and one shot better than the course record set by Texas Tech golfer Hurly Long when he played the Carmel Cup in 2017.

The PGA Tour counts records when players are able to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the short grass. The European tour does not.

It was still a stunning round, and now Clark waits to see if he has to play the final round. Young said players would be advised by 5:15 a.m. Sunday whether the final round will be delayed.

The objective is 72 holes, whether it’s a signature event or not. Starting the final round on Monday would mean the tour is confident they could finish.

Matthieu Pavon of France, a winner last week at Torrey Pines, birdied his last hole for a 66 and was alone in third place.

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Scottie Scheffler, who started in a three-way share of the lead, shot 70 and was four shots behind.

LIV: Joaquin Niemann settled for a 1-under 70 in the second round but goes into the final round of LIV Golf Mayakoba with a four-shot lead in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Masters champion Jon Rahm, playing in his first LIV event, overcame an early bogey to post a 67 and join Dean Burmester (66) in the group trying to track down Niemann.

Niemann was at 13-under 129.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Dylan Frittelli took a two-shot lead at the Bahrain Championship despite a bogey on the final hole of a 3-under 69 in the third round.

The South African was in a three-way tie for the lead after Friday’s second round, but Jesper Svensson (72) and Joel Girrbach (74) both struggled in the third. Ockie Strydom, another South African, moved into second place after matching Frittelli’s 69, while Svensson was alone in third place.

Frittelli made three straight birdies around the turn and added two more before missing a 6-footer for par on the 18th. He was at 12-under 204.


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