Twenty months later, Dustin Johnson finally hit the drive he wanted at Pebble Beach. Ten years later, Tiger Woods must have wondered what kept him away from the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
On a spectacular day of scenery and scoring on the Monterey Peninsula on the central California coast, Johnson blasted a tee shot on the third hole at Pebble Beach and then pitched in for eagle from 41 yards in front of the green. He added another eagle on his way to a 9-under 63 and a three-way tie for first place Thursday.
Woods was five shots to par out of the lead, a solid start to his PGA Tour season. He had six birdies in a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill, the fourth-best score on that course.
Spyglass was hardest of the three courses, though not by much. The weather was so pure that all three courses played about one shot under par.
Charlie Wi’s 9-under 61 at Monterey Peninsula included pars on his last three holes.
Joining Johnson and Wi was ex-U.S. Amateur winner Danny Lee, who holed a bunker shot for eagle at No. 2 at Pebble Beach and holed out from the 11th fairway with a wedge for another eagle to match Johnson at 9-under 63.
Johnson is turning into his generation’s “Prince of Pebble.” He won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 2009 and 2010, and then had a three-shot lead at Pebble in the 2010 U.S. Open until he shot 82 in the final round. On the third hole of that round, he hit driver left into the bushes for a lost ball and made double bogey.
On Thursday, he smashed a driver nearly 340 yards over the trees to just short of the green, setting up eagle.
ELSEWHERE
Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello shot a 9-under 63 to take a two-shot lead over Marcel Siem and Scott Jamieson at the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic in the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy was three shots back, making seven birdies on the last 10 holes. He’s tied for fourth with six other players, including 2010 PGA Champion Martin Kaymer.
AMERICAN IN HUNT
American Stacy Lewis shot a 4-under 69 to share the first-round lead at the and Australia’s Sarah Kemp shared the Women’s Australian Open lead at 4-under 69, with top-ranked Yani Tseng a stroke back in her bid to win the event for the third straight year.
Only 22 of the 156 players broke par at historic Royal Melbourne, where the 2011 Presidents Cup matches were played.
TRACKING LOCAL GOLFERS ON THE PGA TOUR
THIS WEEK: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, through Sunday, Monterey Peninsula, Pebble Beach and Spyglass golf courses, Pebble Beach, Calif.
In the field: Puyallup’s Ryan Moore and Tacoma’s Troy Kelly.
Kelly’s first-round score: 1-under-par 71 at Spyglass.
Moore’s first-round score: Even-par 72 at Spyglass.
Position: Kelly is tied for 63rd, and Moore is tied for 88th – all trailing co-leaders Dustin Johnson, Danny Lee and Charlie Wi (9-under).
Recap: Kelly’s effort on the hardest of the three courses was pretty solid. He was at 2 under at the turn before a bogey at the 13th hole. … Moore birdied three of the par-5 holes, but a late bogey pushed him back to even.
Tee times today: Moore at 8:11 a.m. PST off Monterey Peninsula’s 10th tee, and Kelly at 10:12 a.m. off Monterey Peninsula’s 10th tee.
Todd Milles, staff writer
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