Paul Casey quietly put together another solid round Saturday for a 5-under 67 to give him a three-shot lead over Phil Mickelson going into the final day of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Casey had four birdies over his last 10 holes at Spyglass Hill in a mixture of rain, sunshine and wind. He finished at 15-under 200, the fourth time on the PGA TOUR had he has led going into the final round.
‘I am having a blast,’ Casey said.
Mickelson was part of the celebrity rotation at Pebble Beach and put on a show on the back nine, stuffing a wedge to 3 feet on No 13 and following with a 4-iron to 4 feet on the par-5 14th hole for eagle. He also made a tough save on the par-3 17th and shot a 2-under 70, giving him a good chance to match Mark O’Meara’s record of five AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am titles.
Casey and Mickelson have done their best with so many shots to back pins, typically set to the highest point on the three courses to avoid any saturation from the hit-and-miss rain.
‘The little half-shots to get back to some of these pins, a lot of guys struggle with, and it’s been a strength of my game,’ Mickelson said. ‘So I’ve been able to make a few more birdies on some of these holes.’
Branden Grace dropped out of the top 10, down six places to share 14th, after a third round 71. The South African’s day got off to a slow start with just one front-side birdie; his four on the seventh offsetting three drops on his way out at Spyglass Hill.
He managed to turn it around with an eagle 3 on the 11th and closed with two birdies, preceded with a drop on the 16th.
A 73 saw Ernie Els drop 13 places to share 28th with one round to play.
