6 Hours Later, Must Be Love

Davis Love III shot a 7-under-par 65 over a soggy course Thursday and held a one-stroke lead after one round of the $1.4 million AT&T National Pro-Am.

Love, paired with race car driver Danny Sullivan, played the Poppy Hills course and birdied four par-5s. Nick Faldo, who also played Poppy Hills, was in second place at 66. Peter Jacobsen, who played Spyglass Hill, and Kawika Cotner, who played the Pebble Beach course, were tied for third at 67.

Twenty-six straight days of rain in January resulted in slow play times over the three courses, with Love needing 6 hours to complete his round.

The “lift, clean and place” rule was in place, allowing players to touch their ball on the fairways and in the rough at Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills and on the fairways at Pebble Beach.

All three courses were closed earlier this week with the hope that three days of sunshine would render them reasonably dry for the first round. The 180 pros and 180 amateurs were forced to find other practice courses.

In the pro-am division, pro Loren Roberts and partner Robert Gibson, an oil company executive from Texas, were the leaders at 11-under 61. Roberts, who shot 68, said the course started to dry because of a warm, gusty wind.

“If (the greens) are bumpy and they are slow, you can still control the ball pretty well,” Roberts said.