Detry

Thomas Detry tees off at 17 on Pebble Beach Golf Links Friday.

For most of the second round, Thomas Detry looked as if he would fend off all challengers. But back-to-back bogies opened the door and Friday ended with a three-way tie for the lead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Going into Saturday’s round three, Detry shares the top spot with Ludvig Aberg and world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler at -11 under. Twelve others lurk within striking distance.

At the start of play, Detry continued his steady pace from the day before, when he carded a 9-under on a surprisingly tame Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Teeing off from the back nine at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Friday, Detry kept the others at arm’s length with four birdies through 12 holes.

But he stumbled on 13, finding two bunkers and the rough on his way to a 5 on the par 4 hole. He followed with another bogie on his 14th after an errant tee shot and a miscue from the right rough. Detry finished the day with a 2-under 70.

“It’s not easy out there–it’s very wet,” Detry says, shrugging off the moment. “Yesterday shooting 9-under obviously helps.”

While he fumbled two holes, Aberg and Scheffler were both on a charge.The former started with a birdie and an eagle and cut two more strokes before making the turn on his way to a 7-under 65, playing at Pebble Beach.

Also on the links–more forgiving than Spyglass on this day–Scheffler scorched the course with an 8-under 64. He closed out with birdies on 17 and 18 to join Detry and Aberg at the top.

“I hit a lot of quality shots, a lot of quality putts,” Scheffler says. “Always like going bogey free.”

Patrick Cantlay, who dueled with Detry the day before, found a spot of trouble on the 5th at Pebble Beach, dropping a stroke off the pace at 10-under after two rounds to claim fourth on the board.

“I didn’t give myself as many birdie looks as I would have wanted, on the back nine especially,” he points out. “I think I’m right there come the weekend, which is where I want to be.”

Others who are right there after round two are Emiliano Grillo and Mathieu Pavon, locked in a tie for fifth at 9-under. Pavon is the only one of the top five to play Spyglass Hill on Friday, and indication of how the courses flipped in difficulty under the conditions.

Nine others remain within four strokes of the lead.

Perhaps the shot of the day on Friday came from amateur Greg Johnson, executive chairman of Franklin Templeton. His approach on 18 at Pebble Beach veered toward the ocean, striking a narrow stone wall that separates a sand trap from a cliff down to the water.

The ball caromed off the stone, over the bunker and onto the green.

“That was maybe a one in a trillion shot,” Johnson says. “That made up for a lot of pain.”

With Friday’s round over, the 80 amateurs in the field bow out. Saturday and Sunday will be contested at Pebble Beach by 80 professionals.

Weather on Saturday is expected to be relatively fair. Sunday, however, may be daunting to an extreme.

“I’ve played in Europe for six years and I feel like we pretty much play every single week in a tornado,” Detry says. “I’m fine with it. Got to keep focus, grind it out.”

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