PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The celebrity watch at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am took place everywhere but at the top of the leaderboard Thursday.
Kent Jones birdied the two most famous par 3s at Pebble Beach and kept bogeys off his card for a 6-under-par 66 and a one-shot lead, an encouraging start for someone who has played 270 tournaments on the PGA Tour without finishing in the top five.
Nationwide Tour grad Roland Thatcher was a shot back along with Q-school grad Brad Adamonis and John Mallinger, third at Pebble Beach last year as a rookie.
The star-gazing took place at Poppy Hills, and while it didn’t always produce great golf to match the spectacular sunshine on the Monterey Peninsula, it was entertaining.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson was on the verge of shooting himself out of the tournament until a birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie burst enabled him to recover with a 71.
Greg Norman, playing on the PGA Tour for the first time in 18 months, was holding steady until a four-putt on the 13th hole for a double bogey.
He finished with a 76. His fiancee, tennis great Chris Evert, flew in from Florida and didn’t make it out to the golf course until Norman was on the 16th.
Evert has no plans to take up golf, saying it was too time-consuming with three boys — “It’s like four boys with Greg,” she said — and a tennis academy to run.
“Tennis only takes one hour,” she said, laughing.
Jones, a 41-year-old from New Mexico who has yet to finish in the top 100 on the money list, has been around long enough to realize that one round is too early to get excited, especially in a format that uses three courses, and in a tournament where the leaderboard doesn’t begin to sort itself out until Sunday.
Els 10 strokes off lead
NEW DELHI — Jyoti Randhawa of India shot a 7-under 65 for a two-stroke lead over Richard Finch and Damien McGrane after the first round of the Indian Masters.
Ernie Els struggled to a 75, including a nine on the par-5 18th.
