As the wind turns: Weather haunts golfers on Thursday at the Pro-Am, with more to come.

Wind. Gusts. Forecasts.

Off the tee at 12 on Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Jordan Spieth’s well-calculated drive veered suddenly and bounded into the rough, clinging precariously close to a water hazard. Justin Rose was forced to hunker down and hold his ball on the 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Links as a sudden gale swept through.

“It was really bizarre the last four holes or so with the wind,” Spieth observes. “It went from nothing to flipping and then blowing out of nowhere.”

That Spieth emerged from the foreboding weather at -1 on Spyglass is considered a bonus heading into the second day of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with more uncertain conditions—including a morning drizzle in the forecast.

Opening the tournament on the more forgiving Monterey Peninsula Country Club course, Hank Lebioda’s 8-under round of 63 gave him the early lead, with Kurt Kitayama, Chad Ramey and Harry Hall knotted a stroke behind. Martin Trainer, Eric Cole and Aaron Baddeley ended Thursday tied for fifth.

For Lebioda, almost everything went right. “[I] hit a lot of great iron shots, I made the putts when I was close,” he says. “It was just a nice day.”

But that wasn’t the consensus, especially for those contending with mid-afternoon gusts of 20-30 miles per hour that switched directions at the most inopportune times.

“It’s night and day,” explains Keith Mitchell, who opened at Spyglass. “The front nine was probably some of the best weather we could have had.”

Spyglass is always looming as the field progresses through the tournament’s three courses. It has a reputation as the most difficult of the trio. On Thursday, the average round at Spyglass was a modest 73, compared to 71 at Pebble Beach and 70 at Monterey Peninsula.

Three of the leaderboard’s top four played the country club course in round one. Ramey was staked at Pebble Beach, but a 9:25 tee time allowed him to escape much of the nastiness until the final few holes.

“Spyglass is no joke,” Viktor Hovland points out. Still, he managed to place himself well in contention with a 2-under round of 70 on Thursday.

“I’m glad we kind of got today out of the way,” he adds. “Because if it’s going to be some bad weather late in the week, this course is by far the toughest.”

Off Course

Hovland’s yearning for extra guacamole at Chipotle Mexican Grill is well known from social media posts. He recalls that in college at Oklahoma State he could only dream of loading up his bowl.

“I didn’t necessarily have the funds to splurge on the guac and double meat,” he says. “So, yeah—it’s nice to be able to do that now.”

As it turns out, Hovland is teamed up with amateur Brian Niccol, who happens to be the CEO of Chipotle. And he’s hoping Niccol will buy after play is over.

“We’ll see about that,” Hovland says with a laugh. “I’m trying to lobby my way in there.”

Spieth is known for his attention to children wanting an autograph after a round. On Thursday a toddler waiting outside the scoring table called to him. Spieth promised to sign her paper after he officially signed off with PGA Tour officials. True to his word, he emerged from the building at Spyglass and waved the girl over.

The coda: After signing, Spieth walked away, forgetting to collect his pen. Dutifully, the youngster chased after him, holding it aloft.

Amateurs

Gareth Bale, the Welsh international football—meaning soccer—star who recently retired is taking part in his first Pro-Am. And he admits to being nervous, even before the smaller Thursday galleries.

“I think every amateur will tell you, even though we’re used to playing in front of 80,000 or more live on TV, it’s a completely different sport—outside of your comfort zone,” he says.

Yet Bale wowed everyone with a nifty recovery on number 2 at Spyglass following a shot that ended up along the cart path.

“I was more worried how I was there in the first place,” Bale says. “I just tried to put it into the bank and hope for the best.”

The ball rolled within a couple feet of the pin. With par out of the question, Bale was about to pick up the ball, which amateurs are allowed to do in the pro-am team format. But professional Joseph Bramlett—himself having a strong outing—told him to play the ball.

“He made me putt it because he’s like, ‘It’s going to be the greatest up-and-down.’ So I finished it off nicely. I can’t really say much more.”

Meanwhile rappers ScHoolboy Q and Macklemore, who were in a foursome with Garrick Higgo and Lanto Griffin, suffered through the torment of Spyglass.

“We feel for each other,” Macklemore says with a chuckle.

ScHoolboy Q, who first played the Pro-Am a year ago and hoped to be asked back for another go, admitted that the second time is not necessarily easier.

“But I’m here, I’m happy,” he adds.

However, with rain in the forecast, Q isn’t hopeful for moving up on the team leaderboard.

“Just pray for me, man,” he says ruefully.