By Jeremy Harness
AP photo Sung Kang of South Korea hits from the 11th tee at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club leads the tournament after shooting an 11 under par 60
PEBBLE BEACH – While walking up the second fairway at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, country singer Jake Owen took notice of a group of people huddled around a cooler with his hit song, “Barefoot Blue Jean Night,” blaring from the speakers, and decided to have a little fun.
After hitting his second shot, Owen hopped over the short fence into the front yard to join the group for about a minute before emerging with a cold one in each hand.
Two holes later, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson took the opportunity to share a friendly moment with Larry the Cable Guy as he was walking off of the adjacent 18th tee. A short moment earlier, Spieth spotted Andres Gonzales standing in Larry’s immediate shot path as the comedian was teeing off and teased, “Hey Andres, stay right there!”
Gonzales did not oblige and smoothly moved over to his left.
Those were the kind of good vibes that were felt during the entire second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the scores certainly reflected that, particularly at Monterey Peninsula.
Sung Kang (not to be confused with the actor who starred in the Fast and the Furious movie series) was among those who took advantage of the scoring opportunities that the course presents. After an even-par round at Spyglass Hill on Thursday, during which he said that he did not hit the ball particularly well, he bounced right back by shooting a career-low 60 to surge into a two-way tie for the lead at 11-under.
The South Korean got things rolling and never took a backward step for the rest of the round. He recorded four birdies and an eagle on his front nine, and then ran off five more birdies on the back nine to beat his career best by one shot.
Kang attributed a slight change in outlook to his game to the quick turnaround.
“I was putting too much pressure on myself (before),” Kang said. “I was trying too hard. So now I’m just (saying), ‘I don’t have any pressure.’”
“Even if I miss a shot, or if I hit it bad, or if I make it or not, my family’s still going to love me,” Kang said. “Nobody’s going to hate me. They might like me better if I play good.”
Joining Kang atop the leaderboard is Japan’s Hiroshi Iwata, who recorded four birdies and an eagle on the front nine to carry him to a six-under 66.
Iwata momentarily held the lead after a birdie at the 10th hole, but a pair of bogeys on the next four holes dropped him back before a birdie at the 16th brought him back to 11-under and the tie for the lead.
Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson was yet another guy who used Monterey Peninsula as a springboard to catapult him into contention on Friday. After shooting a 68 in his opening round at Spyglass Hill, Mickelson went even lower on Friday with a six-under 65.
He was clean on the front nine with five birdies without a single bogey. He kept the momentum going with an eagle at the par-five 10th before birdieing the 16th, but two bogeys on that side kept him one shot off of the lead.
Freddie Jacobson will get his crack at that course on Saturday after getting out of Spyglass, considered the toughest of the three courses that are being used in this tournament, with a three-under 69 on Friday. He only sits two shots behind, and with the scores coming in as low as they have, he figures to be at least near the top by the time the third round is over.
“If you really get it going, especially with the weather being the way it is, you can make some birdies,” Jacobson said. “But you still got to do it. It doesn’t matter what the course looks like, you got to hit the shots and keep it in play and keep doing it.
“That’s what I’ve done for two days, so I got to keep attacking (Saturday) and see if I can put up some birdies there.”
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