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Pebble Beach, Calif. • Phil Mickelson stayed away from all the celebrity commotion Saturday at Pebble Beach. More importantly, he stayed away from bogeys on the toughest day.
Mickelson took only 21 putts and shot a 6-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, leaving him one round away from tying the record with his fifth victory at this event.
"It's fun to be back in the thick of it," Mickelson said.
It's his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour since the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. Mickelson has gone 52 events worldwide since his last victory at Muirfield in the 2013 British Open that gave him the third leg of the Grand Slam. It is the longest drought of his career.
He was at 16-under 199 and led by two shots over Hiroshi Iwata of Japan, who had a 69 at Spyglass Hill.
Freddie Jacobson had a 68 at Monterey Peninsula, which for the first time this week played the toughest of the three courses because of the brisk wind. He was three shots behind, along with Sung Kang, who had a 70 at Pebble Beach.
Jordan Spieth, the world's No. 1 player, was happy to have a tee time on Sunday.
Spieth struggled on the par 5s for the third straight round, playing them at 1 over at Pebble Beach. He had to get up-and-down for par on the par-5 18th for a 74 to make the cut on the number. He has played the par 5s in even par for the week.
"I'm not in contention. It will be the first stress-free round that I've really had in quite a while where I've played a Sunday not having a chance to win," Spieth said. "It's not good, but at the same time, I think I can get into a groove and not lose any hair over the back nine. I'm going to fire at some pins."
Mickelson got as much as he could out of his 66.
He played at Pebble Beach with the rest of the celebrities, which is a tradition on this course, except that he teed off on the back nine and was on the opposite end of the golf course from the dancing, clowning and raucous atmosphere on a gorgeous day once the fog lifted.
Mickelson's pitch to the 18th went through the green, and he chipped in for a birdie to make the turn in 3 under. He had to scramble for par out of a bunker on No. 1. On the third hole, he drove into a fairway bunker and purposely played away from the flag, chipping just short of the green for a good angle at the pin.
He also had to get up-and-down for par on the short par-4 fourth hole. Those typically are the scoring holes, but he took off from there with three straight birdies, including a 20-foot putt on the 112-yard seventh hole, tougher than usual because of a firm green and a breeze at the back.
Even his birdie at the par-5 sixth was no picnic. Mickelson short-sided himself on his second shot and had to hit a flop shot over the bunker to about 4 feet. He closed with two solid pars (one from the front bunker on No. 8) and is trying not to look too far ahead to Sunday.
The next six players behind him on the leaderboard have combined for four PGA Tour victories. Mickelson is going for his 43rd.
Mickelson, however, wasn't taking anything for granted. This was a good score on a tough day.
"It's been awhile since I've been in contention and it would mean a lot to me to be able to play a good final round tomorrow," he said. "And as well as I've been hitting the ball, the score was great, but the ball striking wasn't indicative of how I've been hitting it. So I would like to get that dialed in for tomorrow's round."
PGA champion Jason Day had a 68 at Pebble Beach to get within six shots of the lead. Justin Rose was among five players to have at least a share of the lead at one point Saturday, reaching 13 under. He made four bogeys and no birdies over the final 11 holes, including going bunker-to-bunker around the 18th green for a bogey. That gave him a 72 and he was seven shots behind. —-
Saturday's scores
PGA-Pebble Beach
Yardage • 6,816 Par • 72
m-Monterey Peninsula Club, Shore Course, 6,914; 71
s-Spyglass Hill Golf Club • 6,953; 72
Purse: $7 million
Third Round
Phil Mickelson 68s-65m-66p — 199 -16
Hiroshi Iwata 66m-66p-69s — 201 -14
Freddie Jacobson 65p-69s-68m — 202 -13
Sung Kang 72s-60m-70p — 202 -13
Roberto Castro 66p-70s-67m — 203 -12
Jonas Blixt 67m-69p-67s — 203 -12
Chez Reavie 63m-70p-71s — 204 -11
Jason Day 71s-66m-68p — 205 -10
Matt Jones 68p-70s-67m — 205 -10
Vaughn Taylor 70p-68s-67m — 205 -10
Jimmy Walker 72s-71m-63p — 206 -9
Padraig Harrington 68m-71p-67s — 206 -9
Bill Haas 69s-68m-69p — 206 -9
Mark Hubbard 70p-66s-70m — 206 -9
Justin Rose 66s-68m-72p — 206 -9
Brooks Koepka 68s-70m-69p — 207 -8
Cameron Smith 64m-75p-69s — 208 -7
Ricky Barnes 65m-70p-73s — 208 -7
Jim Herman 69m-67p-72s — 208 -7
J.B. Holmes 66s-72m-70p — 208 -7
David Hearn 67m-70p-71s — 208 -7
Luke Donald 70s-69m-69p — 208 -7
Stewart Cink 70p-68s-72m — 210 -5
Ryan Ruffels 67p-70s-73m — 210 -5
Kevin Streelman 70s-71m-69p — 210 -5
Tyler Aldridge 70s-72m-68p — 210 -5
Patrick Reed 72s-65m-73p — 210 -5
Jason Bohn 71m-73p-66s — 210 -5
Nick Taylor 71s-68m-72p — 211 -4
Spencer Levin 66p-73s-72m — 211 -4
Lucas Glover 73p-66s-72m — 211 -4
Danny Lee 71s-66m-74p — 211 -4
Jonathan Byrd 70m-68p-73s — 211 -4
Dawie van der Walt 66p-76s-69m — 211 -4
Tom Hoge 69m-73p-69s — 211 -4
Si Woo Kim 70p-70s-72m — 212 -3
Ryan Palmer 72p-69s-71m — 212 -3
Andrew Loupe 68m-72p-72s — 212 -3
Bronson Burgoon 64m-76p-72s — 212 -3
Aaron Baddeley 69s-70m-73p — 212 -3
Colt Knost 72p-72s-68m — 212 -3
Kyle Stanley 71p-73s-68m — 212 -3
Will Wilcox 71p-73s-68m — 212 -3
Luke Guthrie 72m-70p-70s — 212 -3
Billy Hurley III 68m-71p-73s — 212 -3
Brandt Snedeker 72s-71m-70p — 213 -2
Davis Love III 74s-68m-71p — 213 -2
Alex Cejka 70s-71m-72p — 213 -2
Shane Bertsch 66p-75s-72m — 213 -2
Pat Perez 69m-71p-73s — 213 -2
Steve Marino 71p-72s-70m — 213 -2
Thomas Aiken 68s-73m-72p — 213 -2
Jason Kokrak 72m-74p-67s — 213 -2
Zac Blair 70p-73s-71m — 214 -1
Steven Bowditch 68p-72s-74m — 214 -1
Brian Gay 72p-74s-68m — 214 -1
Shane Lowry 71m-72p-71s — 214 -1
Dicky Pride 71m-75p-68s — 214 -1
Jason Gore 66m-74p-74s — 214 -1
Austin Connelly 70p-73s-71m — 214 -1
Peter Malnati 73p-73s-68m — 214 -1
Jason Dufner 71m-74p-69s — 214 -1
Jerry Kelly 71s-69m-74p — 214 -1
Tyrone Van Aswegen 75m-69p-70s — 214 -1
Sean O'Hair 67m-72p-75s — 214 -1
Rhein Gibson 67s-73m-74p — 214 -1
Derek Fathauer 76p-67s-71m — 214 -1
Jordan Spieth 71s-69m-74p — 214 -1
Dustin Johnson 70s-73m-71p — 214 -1 Made cut did not finish
John Rollins 72m-68p-75s — 215 E
Kelly Kraft 73s-72m-70p — 215 E
Andrew Landry 70m-73p-72s — 215 E
D.A. Points 74s-69m-72p — 215 E
Tom Gillis 67m-76p-72s — 215 E
Bubba Watson 73s-68m-74p — 215 E
Rob Oppenheim 73p-74s-68m — 215 E
Miguel Angel Carballo 69m-71p-75s — 215 E
Hunter Mahan 70p-73s-72m — 215 E
J.J. Henry 70p-73s-72m — 215 E
Henrik Norlander 70m-75p-70s — 215 E Failed to make the cut
Marc Turnesa 70s-70m-76p — 216 +1
Chris Stroud 71s-72m-73p — 216 +1
Martin Piller 73m-71p-72s — 216 +1
Sam Saunders 70p-79s-67m — 216 +1
Jon Curran 74p-70s-72m — 216 +1
Troy Merritt 67m-71p-78s — 216 +1
Brian Stuard 68m-75p-73s — 216 +1
Bud Cauley 68s-72m-76p — 216 +1
Wes Roach 72m-69p-75s — 216 +1
Jhonattan Vegas 71s-71m-75p — 217 +2
Jarrod Lyle 72s-71m-74p — 217 +2
Kevin Chappell 69m-76p-72s — 217 +2
Hunter Stewart 72s-69m-76p — 217 +2
Geoff Ogilvy 74s-67m-76p — 217 +2
Joel Stalter 74s-70m-73p — 217 +2
Scott Brown 73s-70m-74p — 217 +2
Ted Purdy 73p-75s-69m — 217 +2
Andres Romero 72m-73p-72s — 217 +2
Alex Prugh 70p-73s-74m — 217 +2
Luke List 75p-70s-72m — 217 +2
Scott Langley 69m-73p-76s — 218 +3
David Duval 71m-75p-72s — 218 +3
James Hahn 74p-72s-72m — 218 +3
Michael Thompson 75s-72m-71p — 218 +3
Chesson Hadley 68m-77p-73s — 218 +3
Brett Stegmaier 71p-76s-71m — 218 +3
Steve Stricker 72s-71m-75p — 218 +3
Chad Collins 73p-74s-71m — 218 +3
Nicholas Thompson 72m-72p-74s — 218 +3
Brendon Todd 71m-71p-76s — 218 +3
William McGirt 78s-69m-71p — 218 +3
Andres Gonzales 69s-74m-76p — 219 +4
Paul Dunne 67m-76p-76s — 219 +4
Russell Knox 71p-74s-74m — 219 +4
Russell Henley 69m-77p-73s — 219 +4
Tim Wilkinson 69p-74s-76m — 219 +4
Whee Kim 72m-74p-73s — 219 +4
Will MacKenzie 71p-75s-73m — 219 +4
Brian Davis 73p-75s-71m — 219 +4
Tim Herron 76s-72m-72p — 220 +5
Richard H. Lee 72s-73m-75p — 220 +5
Greg Owen 74s-70m-76p — 220 +5
Blake Adams 71m-71p-78s — 220 +5
David Toms 70s-79m-71p — 220 +5
David Lingmerth 72m-76p-72s — 220 +5
Rory Sabbatini 72s-71m-77p — 220 +5
Kevin Na 67m-74p-79s — 220 +5
K.J. Choi 77p-71s-73m — 221 +6
Daniel Summerhays 76p-75s-70m — 221 +6
Darron Stiles 72p-73s-76m — 221 +6
Greg Chalmers 68m-73p-80s — 221 +6
Bo Van Pelt 75p-74s-72m — 221 +6
Bryce Molder 71m-76p-75s — 222 +7
Brice Garnett 69m-75p-79s — 223 +8
Steve Wheatcroft 79p-72s-72m — 223 +8
Matt Bettencourt 77s-73m-74p — 224 +9
Rod Pampling 75s-75m-74p — 224 +9
Ryan Moore 73s-74m-77p — 224 +9
Charlie Beljan 76p-71s-77m — 224 +9
Ian Poulter 71s-76m-78p — 225 +10
Derek Ernst 72p-77s-76m — 225 +10
Robert Garrigus 72m-78p-75s — 225 +10
Ken Duke 78p-74s-73m — 225 +10
Other Scores
Mike Weir 77p-76s-79m — 232 +17