PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Less than a week ago, Thomas Detry was leading the Farmers Insurance Open in the third round when he spun a wedge from 90 yards back into the water and made double bogey. He admitted it was “a punch in the face.” He went on to shoot 2-over 74 a day later and finished T-20. On Thursday at Spyglass Hill, he was cruising along once again when he fatted his approach at the final hole. But this time there was no penalty area to ruin a good round. This time, he pitched in from about 20 yards short of the green to shoot 9-under 63 and take a one-stroke lead over Patrick Cantlay after the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
“It was an uphill lie, I felt pretty comfortable I would put it within 3 feet to be honest,” Detry said in his post-round interview. “And it rolled nicely, just trickled in the hole. It was lovely to watch.”
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Detry, a 31-year-old pro from Belgium, said having an extra day to get over last week’s disappointment – the Farmers Insurance Open is the only PGA Tour event that ends on Saturday – helped put it behind him.
“Last weekend was a tough pill to swallow,” he said. “I played some great golf and I didn’t really have the finish that I wanted to. I was in contention the whole weekend except the last five or six holes.”
On Thursday, the weatherman was wrong with his dreary forecast and sunshine prevailed during the opening round. It still was breezy and the tree-lined Spyglass course served as a buffer and allowed for slightly better scoring than at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Detry birdied his first three holes of the day and came home in 30 with a flurry of three straight birdies to cap the day.
Here are four more things to know from the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
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Patrick Cantlay hits his fairway shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
Patrick Cantlay has feasted on birdies during the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and that tradition continued Thursday. He entered the week owning a career first-round scoring average of 65.8 at this event, including shooting 62 in 2021, and only once has been outside the 60s.
On Thursday, he was better than average, posting a bogey-free 8-under 64 at Spyglass Hill. Cantlay, who started on the back nine, carded four birdies in a row starting at No. 17, to jump to the top of the leaderboard. He already had chipped in one at 13 when his eagle chip at the par-5 seventh came out hot and rattled off the flagstick, a fortuitous break that set up a kick-in birdie. Cantlay, a former FedEx Cup champion, finished with birdies on two of his last three holes, leaving a birdie putt at the last just short but still took just 24 putts on the day.
“My short game was really sharp today and made a bunch of those midrange putts to keep the momentum going throughout the round,” he said.
Cantlay is comfortable playing on the Monterey Peninsula, having never missed the cut in six previous starts here and has five top-25 finishes at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where he is co-owner of the course record. But victory has eluded him. He has finished T-3 and T-4 in his last two starts. Cantlay, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, would like to get his first win at Pebble and also grab his first win anywhere since the 2022 BMW Championship,
There was no post-victory hangover for Matthieu Pavon on Thursday.
The winner of last week’s Farmers Insurance Open shot 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach Golf Links, the lowest round shot at Pebble among the 40 competitors who played there on Thursday.
The Frenchman carded eight birdies in all, including on four of his last five holes, and is alone in third place, two shots back.
“All in all super solid, didn’t miss many shots,” he said. “I think key was the irons, hitting them close, got myself a lot of opportunities.”
Pavon played at Pebble in the 2019 U.S. Open, missing the cut. Pebble is set up much easier this week with 80 amateurs in the field. (Pavon is paired with fellow Frenchman Pascal Grizot, who was instrumental in bringing the Ryder Cup to Paris in 2018.) The more generous fairways and some unexpected pleasant weather made all the difference for Pavon, who ranked first among the 40 pros who played Pebble in both Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, SG: Approach the green and SG: Around the green.
“We got lucky with the weather, that was a beautiful day out there and I enjoyed every minute on it,” he said.
Rickie Fowler of the United States looks on during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Spyglass Hill Golf Course on February 01, 2024 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Rickie Fowler shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 at Spyglass to get off to a much-needed good start this week. Fowler is making his third start of the season and has little to show for it so far, finishing 56th at the 69-man Sentry and missing the cut at The American Express.
A little extra practice, some communication over the phone with Butch Harmon and getting more comfortable with the new Cobra driver had him dialed in for this week. So, did a couple of practice rounds at one of golf’s great cathedrals. Fowler played not one, but two rounds this week at Cypress Point Golf Club.
“So played Cypress on Sunday and saw that the weather was going to be a bit iffy yesterday and thought that would just be a fun day to go play a round and hit some shots at Cypress versus trying to play Pebble or Spy where we weren’t going to necessarily see those conditions,” Fowler explained.
Consider us all #jealous.
Max Homa putts on the 15th hole during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Max Homa shot a solid 3-under 69 at Pebble Beach on Thursday. Nothing unusual about his strong play, as he’s usually a threat whenever the Tour tees it up in California of late and his ball striking skills should be a perfect fit for Pebble’s small greens. But what was surprising was that he was without his trusty sidekick, Joe Greiner.
The plan was for Greiner to be on the bag this week but he was a late scratch due to personal reasons. We hope everything is OK for Greiner, one of the great caddies in the caddie yard and who makes a dynamic duo with his longtime buddy Homa. Veteran caddie Bill Harke is filling in this week on Homa’s bag.