Sung Kang sets course record to share lead at Pebble Beach

– A couple of days ago, Ray Romano couldn’t have picked PGA Tour pro Sung Kang out of lineup on the driving range at Pebble Beach.

The two were preparing for the AT&T Pro-Am by playing a round at nearby Cypress Point Club when Spieth fell from grace.

At 9 under, he heads into the weekend alone in sixth place, two shots behind co-leaders Hiroshi Iwata and Sung Kang.

Kang needed a birdie on his final hole, the par-three ninth, to get to 59, but ended up scrambling for a par to complete a bogey-free round that featured nine birdies and an eagle.

Kang and Phil Mickelson each brought the possibility of 59 into the conversation.

He made bogey on one of the par 5s, hooking his fairway metal into shrubs and having to reach into the thick plants with a hybrid to punch out the ball and make sure it only went about 6 feet so that it wouldn’t go up the slope and roll back into the bushes. He made bogey on one of them, then bogeyed his last hole for a 65.

Asked why he did so well over the years at the AT&T, Mickelson said, “I think first of all the setting is spectacular. But I’m not going to complain because I made a lot of … putts on the front”. When Kang completed his round, he was tied for the midpoint lead at 11-under.

Iwata, who tied a major championship record with 63 at the PGA Championship past year at Whistling Straits, had a 66 at Pebble Beach.

You might say 2-under-par isn’t too bad, but not after a 1-under-par round before that.

Rose said: “I heard some odd reports about Spyglass, like the first few holes are great, then it disappears into the hills and it’s not that good”.

Kang couldn’t agree more. Some of them he read on his own. No offense taken. Kang didn’t know him, either. Except they weren’t calling for him, and he knew it. He’s very famous, ‘” Kang said. Justin Rose managed to play Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula ahead of the opening round. “He gets like nearly a third more earnings from TV drama show”.

But, playing the back nine first, it was a 29-31 – 60, from nine birdies and an eagle for a round of 11 under par, on the 6,867-yard course. He probably didn’t get to 11-under-par the way you might have thought.

Indeed, it was some 30 feet beyond the cup, and he had to settle for a two-putt par.

The leaderboard feels volatile because no one knows what to expect from Kang or whether Iwata can keep things going.

Patrick Reed, playing alongside Mickelson, had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine and also was at 6 under. Everybody plays one round each at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula and then moves to Pebble Beach for the final round.

Kyle Stanley (73 at Spyglass) of Gig Harbor and Andres Gonzales (74 at Monterey) of Olympia were in the group tied for 75th at even par.