Hank Lebioda finished his round before the wind picked up and the temperature dropped and shot a career-high nine birdies in his first round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to equal his career-low round on the PGA Tour with an 8-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula.
“This would be eight courses in three weeks for us,” said the American. “Three courses in Palm Springs, two last week in San Diego and three this week. So the best thing you can do is take care of yourself, relax and make sure you’re good to go.”
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He holds the lead for the first time after any round in his 102nd Tour start.
“Felt like everything [went right], to be honest with you. No, hit a lot of great iron shots. I made the putts when I was close. It was just a nice day. It was a really nice day.
“For probably the last couple weeks or so I felt like my putting had really turned a corner. Even though I may not have shown the results. But I felt more confident standing over the ball. I liked what I was looking at visually standing over it. I knew it was just a matter of time. So today fortunately it was one of the days where quite a few of ’em did go in. Not every day is like that. I was glad I was able to take advantage of it today.”
England’s Harry Hall shot 64 at Monterey Peninsula, including a run of five straight birdies from the 3rd, for a share of second place at 7-under alongside Americans Kurt Kitayama (MP) and Chad Ramey (Pebble Beach).
“The birdie streak on the front was pretty cool because I think I went bogey and then had a par on the second hole and then had five in a row. So it was really good,” said Hall. “Coming down the last two holes it started to blow 45 miles an hour. It was crazy. Happy to get in at 7-under today.”
2017 champion and AT&T ambassador Jordan Spieth opened with a 1-under 71 at Spyglass Hill.
“It was really bizarre the last four holes or so with the wind,” he said. “It went from nothing to flipping and then blowing about 25 out of nowhere the other direction than the forecast. That throws us through a big loop when you’re prepping for something and you got to make the adjustment.
“But I had a good last three holes and that always kind of puts a smile on your face.”
