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<\/p>\nHe was one shot ahead of Keegan Bradley and Sam Burns. Bradley played at Spyglass Hill, where the course average was about one-and-a-half shots higher that Pebble Beach.<\/p>\n
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Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., was the top Canadian with a 65, one shot ahead of Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont. <\/p>\n
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., finished the day with a 70 and Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont. had a 71. <\/p>\n
Defending champion Rory McIlroy, in his first PGA Tour start of the year, had a pair of three-putt double bogeys on the par 5s at Spyglass that caused him to settle for a 68.<\/p>\n
Gotterup, who already has two wins this year, made three straight birdies to finish off his victory in the Phoenix Open<\/a> last week, the last one in a playoff. From desert warmth to the California coastal chill, from carpet greens to poa annua, there was no change in his game.<\/p>\n A short birdie putt on No. 1, a 10-footer on the par-5 second, nearly jarring a wedge on the third, and on it went. Six holes into the round, he had six birdies.<\/p>\n \u201cI was kind of just coasting along,\u201d Gotterup said. \u201cYou don\u2019t really realize it in the moment, and then when you look up you\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m 6 under through six.\u2019 That\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Bradley chipped in from just off the green on No. 8 at Spyglass for a birdie-eagle-birdie burst, and he kept a clean card the rest of the way for the best score on the course that typically plays the hardest in calm conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about as nice of a day as I\u2019ve ever seen out here,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cThe greens are soft but that gets them a little bumpy, too. So some of the putts are a little dicey, but definitely scoring is good.\u201d<\/p>\n Pebble Beach can be a pushover with no wind, particularly the opening seven holes. That\u2019s where Hisatsune (five birdies) and Gotterup (six) made hay. <\/p>\n Scheffler, not so much. <\/p>\n It started with a clump of mud on his ball in the fairway on the par-5 second that sent his shot some 30 yards left of the green. He picked up only one birdie during that opening stretch, and then a strong breeze was largely into him on the way back in. And he wasn\u2019t particularly sharp.<\/p>\n He hit only two approach shots inside 10 feet (and missed them both), and he didn\u2019t make a putt longer than 8 feet for his round.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess the challenge is making a bunch of birdies. That was a challenge for me today,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the leaderboard right now and it looks like 7 under gets you in the top 10, so scores are pretty low,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Burns didn\u2019t take advantage of the early holes, either. And then he birdied No. 8 over the ocean with a bold approach that settled 12 feet away between the back pin and the right bunker. And with the wind picking up a little strength, he had five birdies in a six-hole stretch to start the back nine. That included pitching in from just under 30 yards on the 13th.<\/p>\n Burns led the field in putting \u2014 it helps making from 45 feet on No. 10 and 30 feet on No. 17 \u2014 and kept bogeys off his card. <\/p>\n \u201cI made a significant amount of putts and feel like I was hitting it pretty nice. It was a good combination for today,\u201d Burns said.<\/p>\n Tony Finau and Patrick Rodgers each had 64 at Spyglass to join Gotterup in a tie for fourth. A pair of former Pebble champions, Taylor and Tom Hoge, were in the group at 65. Another shot back was Jordan Spieth, who holed out a full wedge for eagle at Spyglass<\/a>.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n