Chez Reavie takes the lead at Pebble Beach

Chez Reavie plays his tee shot on the 13th hole during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course) on Friday in Pebble Beach, California.

Kang shot an 11-under 60 in the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Friday.

Sung Kang didn’t know anything about his amateur partner until he went on the Internet and looked up actor Ray Romano.

As for Reavie, a 34-year-old journeyman who’s ranked 149th in the world and won his only PGA Tour event eight years ago (the 2008 Canadian Open), he’s just happy to be playing, period. Just putt and it’s going to go in.

Iwata shot a superb six under on the front nine, including an eagle on the sixth, but he found it tougher on the back nine as he levelled out with two birdies and two bogeys.

“I would like to make more birdies”, said the quiet, Japanese-speaking Iwata through an interpreter.

“I like the view, I like the view”, he said in very limited English. He preceded to add 5 more birdies on the front for a course record 60. He at least finished his round strongly after being four over through 10. He sits 8 shots back of the lead going into the weekend.

Justin Rose has never been to this neck of the woods before this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, so it’s easy to forgive him for mixing up the order of operations.

Rose is among six players from the top 10 in the world, and the only one of them to break 70. Mickelson is the only former AT&T victor among seven in the field in the tournament lead mix. Spieth shot a 69 and was at 3 under, even though he has played the par 5s in just 1 under for the week.

“My game feels great”, he said.

“I’m 1 under on the par 5s, and from where I’ve been, they have pretty much all been par 4s for me”, Spieth said. “I had been driving it so well, the best I’ve driven it in a long time”. Then, he almost lost his tee shot on the final hole and made bogey for 65, leaving him one shot behind.

Asked if he was excited about playing Spyglass Hill on Saturday, Iwata nodded. That included an eagle at the par-5 6th hole.

“Well, like an idiot I switched drivers, and today I hit a few shots that I haven’t hit”, Mickelson said.

Four-time victor of this event, Phil Mickelson, moved into a share of 3rd with his second round of 65 at Monterey Peninsula, joined in that position by Chez Reavie and Freddie Jacobson. “Once I start getting that control back in the swing and I start gaining a little bit more confidence, then hopefully from there I will start playing a little better”. “But that’s not how you want to start off, because it gets harder to read the putts and everything”. Oh, and don’t forget Brandt Snedeker, the defending champion and two-time victor who set the tournament scoring record a year ago.