Knox & Mahan Set Pace at Pebble Beach Pro-Am


Scotland's Russell Knox and American Hunter Mahan both carded 6-under scores for the first-round lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The $6.5 million event began on a sunny, virtually windless Thursday at three courses along California's scenic Monterey Peninsula.

Knox carded eight birdies and two bogeys for a 64 on the par-70 Shore course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, while Mahan had seven birdies - including five on the front nine - and a bogey for a 66 at par-72 Pebble Beach Golf Links. The other course in the rotation is the par-72 Spyglass Hill.

Sharing third at 5-under are Seung-Yul Noh (Spyglass Hill), Matt Every and Ted Potter Jr. (Pebble Beach), and England's Greg Owen, Japan's Ryuji Imada and American Scott Langley, who played at Monterey Peninsula CC.

Lee Westwood was in a group of nine players - including Brandt Snedeker - posting 4-under tallies. The Englishman, who's been joined this week by his father, John, for the pro-am portion of the event, played at Pebble Beach in his season opener on the PGA Tour.

The pairing with his father, who's never played golf in the States before, is a dream-come-true for the 39-year-old Westwood, currently ranked eighth in the world. "You sort of tick off bucket-list courses and Pebble Beach would definitely be one of them," said Lee, who began his 2013 campaign last week at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he finished tied for fifth, seven strokes behind winner Stephen Gallacher.

"To actually play in a competition in the AT&T with your dad and tick that one off is something really special."

"He played pretty well today," his father quipped at greenside. "You can see where he got his swing from, though, when you look at me. Copies everything that I do." "Only I'm a little longer," rejoined Lee.

"He played pretty well today," his father quipped at greenside. "You can see where he got his swing from, though, when you look at me. Copies everything that I do." "Only I'm a little longer," rejoined Lee.

Other scores included a 3-over 73 on the Shore course by two-time Pebble Beach winner Dustin Johnson. Two-time major champion John Daly had a rough outing at Pebble Beach, carding three bogeys, two doubles and two birdies en route to a 5-over 77.

After withdrawing before the opening round of the Phoenix Open, citing a bad back, Vijay Singh began with an even-par 72 at Pebble Beach. Singh pulled out of last week's tournament a day after admitting he used deer-antler spray, a substance banned from all major sports organizations, including the PGA Tour.

D.A. Points, who surprised the golf world by winning the AT&T in 2011 with partner and comedian-actor Bill Murray, shot a 2-under 68 at Monterey Peninsula. In apparent tribute to Young Tom Morris, Murray is sporting a mutton-chop-style mustache for this year's tournament.

For complete scoring details, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.