Jones & Snedeker Now Frontrunners at Low-Scoring AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am


Australia's Matt Jones and 2013 champion Brandt Snedeker share the 36-hole lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The $6.8 million PGA Tour event began Thursday at three courses on California's Monterey Peninsula.

For the second straight day the weather was stunningly beautiful: temperatures in the 70s with little or no wind. And for the second straight day the scores reflected the benign conditions as they continued to plummet.

At Spyglass Hill, the traditionally most difficult of the three courses used in the tournament rota - the two others are Pebble Beach Golf Links and Monterey Peninsula Country Club - Jones carded a 6-under 66 and Snedeker a 67. The two stand at 12-under 131 heading into the third round. At the end of Saturday, a 54-hole cut will be made and the survivors will play Pebble Beach in Sunday's final round.

Jones, a 34-year-old from Sydney who won for the first time in the States last April at the Shell Houston Open, carded eight birdies and two bogeys. Snedeker, a 34-year-old from Nashville who has six wins on Tour, posted five birdies.

A confident Snedeker is familiar with - and loves - the courses at this beautiful place overlooking the Pacific Ocean. "I know what it takes to get it done around here," he told reporters. "It's obviously a little different conditions because the weather is so good this year, the scores are a lot lower than they were when I won, but the next two days, you want to be coming over here to Pebble for two days in a row.

"Get a good rhythm going, momentum going, get used to the greens and I feel like I've got a little bit of an advantage there."

Trailing by one is 18-hole co-leader Justin Hicks, who followed up his opening 8-under 64 at Pebble Beach with a 68 at Monterey Peninsula's South course, while two back at 10-under are a logjam of 10 players.

That big group includes Charlie Beljan (63), Michael Putnam (64), Chez Reavie (66), Daniel Berger (66) and Canada's David Hearn (66) - all at Monterey Peninsula; Alex Prugh (68 at Pebble Beach); and Will Wilcox (67), Bill Horschel (65), Chesson Hadley (69) and Jon Curran (64) at Spyglass Hill.

Beljan's 8-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula included nine birdies and a bogey. But that wasn't the low round of the tournament so far as Australia's Jason Day - winner in last week's Farmers Insurance Open - fired a 9-under 62 at par-71 Monterey Peninsula.

Expect more low scores, however, as the weekend forecast calls for continued clear and sunny conditions.

Day wasn't even sure he would play Friday as he was suffering from a stomach bug caught from his young son, Dash, and was feeling ill all day. "He had some stomach problems and he was throwing up both ends," Day told PGATour.com. "And then he gave it to my wife and then my wife gave it to me. So, I didn't think I was going to play today, especially 30 minutes before my round because I was feeling pretty awful."

But Day persevered and managed to record eight birdies, an eagle on the par-5 16th and a bogey. "My putter was hot today. Hit a lot of good shots off the tee and into the greens and then holed a lot of putts," the Queenslander said.

Day hopes for a quick recovery so he can get within reach of his second victory in two weeks. "Right now I don't feel like eating anything because anything that I will probably eat will probably come back up," the 27-year-old told PGATour.com.

"So, to be able to shoot 9-under out there with how sick I was, thinking about pulling out, was pretty special, just because I put myself back in the tournament and I got two more days left."

After opening with an even-par 72 at Pebble Beach, Day - the top-ranked player in the field at No. 4 in the world - rose into a tie for 14th at 9-under with Nick Watney (69) and Jim Furyk (70) at Spyglass Hill, along with Pat Perez (68) and Daniel Summerhays (67) at Monterey Peninsula.

After starting with a promising 64 that gave him a share of the 18-hole lead with Hicks, J.B. Holmes posted a 73 at Monterey Peninsula to drop into a tie for 37th at 6-under. Also at that number was John Daly, who followed up his opening 65 at Pebble Beach with a 72 at Monterey Peninsula.

Defending champion Jimmy Walker rebounded from a 72 at Spyglass Hill with a 67 at Pebble Beach and heads into the third round at 5-under with nine others.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.