Rory McIlroy regretted two costly double bogeys at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler got off to a slow start and dropped six shots from the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
McIlroy had an eagle and six birdies in his first-round defense at Spyglass Hill, one of two courses used in the event, but three-putt double-bogeys on consecutive par-3 holes en route to a four-under 68.
The five-time major champion was dropped from the top 70 of the 80-man field after a double bogey troubled him, leaving him outside the top 25 on the leaderboard with Ryo Hisatsune taking the lead.
Kuchan birdied each of his final three holes at Pebble Beach, finishing with a bogey-free 62 and finishing the round with a birdie, an eagle and a par-4.
Sam Burns and Keegan Bradley ended the day tied for second with bogey-free 63s, thanks to a stellar performance from Burns 17th– Hole eagle tied the game.
McIlroy was in good shape at the start of the back nine, making consecutive birdies at the start and holed out from a greenside bunker to score an eagle on the par-5 13th hole.ththen got up on the beach and hit the tee shot on the par-4 17th.th Turn in 31.
The world No. 2 failed to take advantage on the par-5 first, but his momentum came to an abrupt halt when he rolled from 15 feet on the next hole to move to 6 under, only to hit a three-putt double-bogey from 8 feet on the par-3 third.
McIlroy entered the par-4 fourth in stunning fashion with a birdie from close range, but three-putted the par-3 from five feet and suffered another double bogey on the par-3 fifth.
The Northern Irishman failed to birdie the seventh and eighth holes, but ended a frustrating round with a birdie from 14 feet on the par-4 ninth, his final hole of the day.
Scheffler, on the other hand, dropped down the standings on the day and dropped out of contention after a frustrating triple-bogey 72 left the world’s top-ranked team in trouble.
“I feel like I’m usually good at scoring, but today I felt like I didn’t score at all,” Scheffler said.
“Like anything that goes wrong seems to be going in that direction, I just felt like I was scoring poorly. I actually felt like I was playing pretty well, (it was) just one of those days.”
“I think the challenge (at Pebble Beach) is to make a bunch of birdies. I’m looking at the leaderboard behind you right now, and it looks like 7 under puts you in the top 10, so the score is pretty low.
“When you play later in the day, putting on these greens can be difficult.”
Justin Rose ended the day with a 69, one shot behind fellow Brit Harry Hall. However, Swede Ludvig Aberg continued his early-season struggles with a seven-bogey 75 in another round.
Watch live coverage of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am all week on Sky Sports. Sky Sports Golf continues live on Friday at 4.45pm. Get Sky Sports or NOW live broadcast without contract.









