Justin Rose had come out flat early to start the final round Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
He finished his third round on fire over at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in the morning, eagling the 16th and birding the 18th to catapult into the solo lead for the first time all week.
His lead lasted one hole.
A bogey led to a two-shot-swing with Peter Malnati on the first hole. Ahead on the golf course, Denny McCarthy blitzed the front nine in 29 strokes to claim the lead himself.
Tour Confidential: Pebble Beach’s lack of stars, Phil Mickelson’s year, Swilcan Bridge addition
Then the switch flipped back for Rose to how he played in the morning.
From the fairway bunker on No. 6, his second shot rose up and over the famous cliff on the par-5, landed short of the green and rolled up to just 8 feet from the hole.
“You know that if you catch it half an inch fat, you could be in the ravine dropping and making all sorts of trouble there,” Rose said. “So, yeah, I was really just focused on putting the ball in the middle of my stance, making sure I hit the back of the ball. Obviously for it to climb up there to 6 feet was, there’s a little element of a nice hop, skip, and a bounce up there obviously.”
He canned the eagle look — his third of the week — to tie McCarthy and Malnati, then birdied the iconic par-3 7th to pull ahead at 15 under.
That’s where the 10-time PGA Tour winner and former World No. 1 stands as play was suspended shortly after he hit his tee shot on the 10th hole. He holds a two-shot lead over McCarthy, Malnati and Brendon Todd.
If Rose can hang on, it would be his first win since the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open.
How to watch the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Monday: Final round live coverage
Malnati, who is playing with Rose in the final pairing, is seeking his second PGA Tour win while McCarthy is looking for his first. McCarthy will have a 14-foot birdie try on 16 when play resumes at 8 a.m. PST. Todd stuffed it to within 8 feet on 13 just before play was called for the day while Malnati elected to play his second on 10 just over the back of the green after the horn blew.
Play was initially suspended a little more than midway through the third round Saturday due to high winds. It was eventually called for the day with some groups having as many as 11 or 12 holes to complete Saturday, setting up a logistical nightmare to coordinate a delayed tournament that features 156 pros and 156 amateur partners across three golf courses for the first three rounds.
The Pro-Am portion of the event was shortened to 54-holes while the pros would finish the 72 competition on Monday. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and partner Ben Silverman won the pro-am despite Silverman missing the 54-hole professional cut at 1 over.