Rory McIlroy was left to rue two expensive double-bogeys as he slipped six strokes off the early lead on the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am, as world No 1 Scottie Scheffler made a gradual begin.
McIlroy carded an eagle and 6 birdies through the opening spherical of his title defence at Spyglass Hill, one among two programs used on the occasion, however made three-putt double-bogeys on consecutive par-threes on his solution to a four-under 68.
The five-time main winner was ranked exterior the highest 70 within the 80-man subject for placing after his double-bogey woes, which left him exterior the highest 25 on the leaderboard as Ryo Hisatsune set the tempo.
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Rory McIlroy holes a bunker shot for an eagle through the opening spherical of the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am.
Hisatsune birdied every of his final three holes to shut a bogey-free 62 at Pebble Seashore, with a birdie, an eagle, and a par-four to complete the spherical.
Sam Burns and Keegan Bradley are tied in second with bogey-free 63 after the day’s play, because of Burns’ superb seventeenth-hole eagle to stage the rating.
McIlroy – starting on the again 9 in benign situations – opened with successive birdies and holed out from a greenside bunker to eagle the par-five 13th, earlier than getting up and down from the sand to choose up a shot on the driveable par-four 17th to show in 31.
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Rory McIlroy says the return of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf is a giant deal as he additionally discusses Scottie Scheffler and The Gamers.
The world No 2 was unable to benefit from the par-five first however rolled in from 15 toes on the subsequent to maneuver to 6 beneath, solely to see his momentum abruptly halted with a three-putt double bogey from eight toes on the par-three third.
McIlroy responded with a surprising strategy into the par-four fourth, establishing a close-range birdie, however three-putt from 5 toes to rack up one other double-bogey on the par-three fifth.
The Northern Irishman was unable to transform good birdie seems on the seventh and eighth however discovered one on the par-four ninth, his ultimate gap of the day, holing from 14 toes to complete a irritating spherical strongly.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – FEBRUARY 07: Scottie Scheffler (USA)chips on to 2 through the third spherical of the Waste Administration Phoenix Open on February 7, 2026, at TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona. (Picture by Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire by way of AP
Scheffler, however, completed the day down the standings and out of rivalry after a irritating three-bogey 72 left the world No 1 flailing.
“I feel like typically I’m good at scoring and today I felt like I didn’t score at all,” Scheffler stated.
“Like anything that kind of went wrong seemed to be going that direction and I just felt like I scored poorly. I actually feel like I’m playing pretty well, [it was] just one of those days.”
“I guess the challenge [at Pebble Beach] is making a bunch of birdies. I’m looking at the leaderboard on behind you right now and it looks like 7 under gets you in the top-10, so scores are pretty low.
“Whenever you’re enjoying later within the day it may be powerful to gap putts on these greens.”
Justin Rose finished the day on a 69, one behind fellow Brit Harry Hall. Swede Ludvig Aberg, though, continued his early season struggles with a seven-bogey 75 in another round to forget.
Watch the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continue Friday from 4.45pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports activities or stream with no contract on NOW.
