Caddie suffers cardiac arrest, said to be OK; Kitayama leads after Friday round at Pro-Am

Keith Mitchell charged toward the front, Hank Lebioda faltered, weather again proved to be a foe. On Friday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, however, it was a steady play that put Kurt Kitayama on top of the leaderboard after the second round.

The Chico, California native ran a string of 10 consecutive pars before gaining strokes on the back nine at Pebble Beach Golf Links to finish with a 2-under 70 on the day and 9-under for the tournament to enter Saturday with a one stroke edge over Mitchell, Lebioda, Brandon Wu and Joseph Bramlett.

“Today was really tough,” Kitayama says, noting that the fickle wind of the Monterey Peninsula began rearing itself after he made the turn. “But overall I’m really happy with where I’m at and how I played today.”

Behind Kitayama, play at Pebble Beach was delayed when the caddie for amateur Geoff Couch, a local businessman, suffered cardiac arrest on number 11. Responders on hand quickly administered CPR before an ambulance arrived at the scene.

The group, which included professionals Max McGreevy and Beau Hossler, along with country music star Lukas Nelson, were shaken by the incident, as were the foursomes that followed, as they arrived at 11.

“They were hammering away CPR on the gentleman,” says Harry Higgs, who started two groups behind. “The group that the caddie was in, they were off to the side and they were obviously very emotional.”

Higgs and the others were uncertain what to do. One group had played through.

“I called a rules official over and was like ‘Is it OK?,’” he says. “I don’t want to be rude and keep going. It’s like golf doesn’t matter at all now, right?”

He adds that it was a significant relief when golfers were informed that the caddie, whose name had not been released officially on Friday evening, was doing well.

In light of the positive news, PGA Tour officials allowed play to continue. Couch reportedly left, but McGreevy, Hossler and Nelson fell in at the back of the field to complete their rounds.

Higgs, who kept himself in contention throughout the afternoon, was clearly affected before he and others gathered themselves.

“I missed a 6-footer for birdie on 11 and didn’t really care,” he observes. “It was like, I just hope the gentleman is OK. That could have been any one of us.”

Mitchell, Bramlett and Wu took advantage of the slightly friendlier Monterey Peninsula Country Club course to close in on the top. Wu fired a 5-under 66, with Bramlett (67) and Mitchell (68) keeping pace.

Lebioda, playing at Pebble Beach and starting on the back nine, held the lead for much of the afternoon and looked comfortable. His game began to fray on his 11th, the par-3 5th hole. Two misfired on approach and three putts left him with a double bogey.

“You know what’s happening when you have cameras following you around,” Lebioda says, admitting that he kept an eye on the leaderboard as the pressure ramped up. “I was just trying to play good golf today.”

He must contend with Spyglass Hill Golf Course on Saturday, which has been playing at least two strokes tougher than Pebble Beach and the country club.

Weather is expected to play a role again in the third round. Tour officials set tee times an hour earlier in anticipation of wind gusts that are forecast to reach 40 miles per hour by late afternoon.

Amateurs

Jerry Tarde, the editor in chief of Golf Digest, is teamed up with professional Dylan Wu. On Friday the pair played at Pebble Beach. Was his round worth writing about?

“No,” Tarde admits, before offering a smile. “I made a par on 14. That goes a long way.”

Happier was Dan Rose. Playing with Michael Kim, the chair of Coatue played a round that kept the team in the hunt for the Pro-Am title.

“This is the best I’ve played out here,” he says. “It was cold, windy, rainy–coming home was nice.”

Tarde, who has an eye for such things, was impressed with the grounds crews under such circumstances.

“Those guys are miracle workers,” he notes. “The courses are in unbelievable shape.”