Patrick Cantlay shot an opening-round 10-under-par 62 on Thursday to take the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The 28-year-old American really hit the ground running by rolling in seven birdies on the front nine before adding three more after the turn.
Cantlay started his round with three consecutive birdies on holes one to three before sinking four in a row on holes five to eight.
It immediately propelled him up the leaderboard where he took the lead with a bogey-free display.
It was enough for Cantlay to close the day with a two-shot lead over Akshay Bhatia and Henrik Norlander, who both signed off on eight under par.
‘My ball striking has been good. And the difference the last three rounds I played on TOUR is just making putts. I think I 1-putted every green on the front nine,’ Cantlay said at the end of the day.
Course record = tied.
The best from @Patrick_Cantlay‘s 62 at Pebble Beach in Round 1 @ATTProAm. pic.twitter.com/MP92MO9Ji4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 12, 2021
‘So when you only have nine putts on nine holes it’s no surprise you played really well. Some of that is set up by ball striking. I had a lot of really good looks. And every time you play Pebble Beach you kind of want to get off to a hot start on those first seven holes and today I had a great start.
‘I think we got Pebble in pretty much ideal conditions and I don’t think it’s going to be like that the rest of the week. The greens were good this morning and receptive, and so I hit a lot of good shots just right out of the gate and made everything. I didn’t have very many long putts, but the mid-range putts that I did have I made all of them.’
Jordan Spieth also made a good start to his week in California by carding a seven-under-par 65 for the opening round, which helped him to T4.
Branden Grace, who is competing as the only South African in the event, settled on one under par for his first round.
