Mickelson one shot behind leader at Pebble Beach Pro

No offense taken. Kang didn’t know him, either.

While Mickelson grabbed the early headlines, the round of the day belonged to Sung Kang who made nine birdies and an eagle to card an 11-under-par round on the same golf course.

“I hit the worst shot of the day (off the tee on nine) and then got a good break in the rough”.

At 3 under par through two rounds, Spieth trails co-leaders Sung Kang and Hiroshi Iwata by eight shots.

Mickelson, the four-time AT&T victor playing in the event for the 21st time and in his 530th career PGA Tour tournament, appeared well on his way to a superior score.

At least for a day, the likes of Chez Reavie, Freddie Jacobson, Cameron Smith and Bronson Burgoon had their moment in the sun on a bright, windless day in the Del Monte Forest.

Phil Mickelson follows his shot out of a bunker on the sixth fairway of the Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament Friday, Feb. 12, 2016…

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) – The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am can be a tough place for a player to make his debut because of three courses that are different except for the views along the California coast.

“I drove the ball spectacular”, said Spieth, adding he’d made adjustments after Thursday’s erratic round.

“My game is pretty much there”, said Mickelson, “The last piece is mental, performing under pressure”.

This year, Kang missed three straight cuts going into Pebble Beach, hadn’t shot better than 68 in 19 rounds in the wraparound season and fired his caddie after a second-round 75 at Torrey Pines two weeks ago.

American Ryan Palmer, a 39-year-old journeyman among 13 players tied at 3 under, sank a hole-in-one at the 175-yard par-3 third hole at Spyglass.

The mustachioed “Fluff”, as he is better known, was Tiger Woods’ first professional caddie and was on Woods’ bag when he won his first major, the 1997 Masters. Furyk hasn’t played all year because of a wrist injury that required surgery last week, so Cowan has been picking up work wherever he can.

“I still thought the par was 72”, he said. “I had a hard time getting it on line”. I’ve struggled here on the Monterrey Peninsula the past few years.

Justin Rose managed to play Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula ahead of the opening round. 3-7 and Nos. 14-18. He, too, likes his chances. “Everyone was under 21 and 80 percent female”, Rose said. None of them could really get anything going.

“One of my buddies came up and said, ‘Oh, you’re with Ray. This is my first time at Pebble Beach, and you don’t get views like this anywhere in the world”. He made a 35-footer on No. 9 and a 40-footer on No. 17.

He was around the green in two shots on all of the par 5s at Spyglass Hill on Thursday and made only one birdie.