Akshay Bhatia fired a bogey-free, 8-under-par 64 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course to tie Japan's Ryo Hisatsune for the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Friday in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Hisatsune was the solo first-round leader thanks to a 62 at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Thursday but settled for 67 at Spyglass Hill that featured his first two bogeys of the tournament. He and Bhatia sit at 15-under 129 for the week so far.
Rickie Fowler is in the hunt for his first win in more than 2 1/2 years after shooting 64 at Spyglass Hill. He moved to 14 under for the tournament, one back of the leaders and tied with Sam Burns (67, Spyglass) for third.
The field played one round apiece at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill before spending the weekend rounds at Pebble Beach. There is no 36-hole cut at the $20 million signature event.
Bhatia, 24, is searching for his third career title and biggest achievement on tour. He tied for third last week at the WM Phoenix Open.
"Yeah, just building off last week. Played really nice last week," Bhatia said. "Then, yeah, just starting to kind of catch my groove or my stride."
Bhatia's round began on the back nine with birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 before he chipped in for eagle from the greenside rough at the par-5 14th. He made four more birdies the rest of the way and remained bogey-free for the tournament.
"Some days are easier than others but I have such a good feel with just trying to get the golf ball in play now, don't care necessarily like how my golf swing looks aesthetically," Bhatia said. "I would love it to look perfect, but I'm just trying to be myself and play a bunch of shots and that's how I play good golf."
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Hisatsune was also in contention at Phoenix but settled for a T10. His performance there helped him qualify for this week's elite field through the Aon Swing 5 pathway.
He called his consecutive bogeys at Nos. 18 and 1 a "missed decision" and was satisfied with how he recovered, including making a 10-footer for eagle at his third-to-last hole.
Fowler, who spread nine birdies and one bogey across his card, said he's in this position right now thanks to the work he put in last season to make the top 50 of the FedEx Cup playoffs, earning him a spot in the first two signature events this year.
"My body and shoulder feel a lot better than it did last year," Fowler said. "So it was nice to be able to play the way I did during the summer and grind that out, ultimately get inside the top-50 to kind of secure some starts for the year. So to have that time off to kind of rest, work on some things, be a dad at home, I enjoy it. I was excited to get back out."
Burns finished both Thursday and Friday one off the pace. He could be ready to win his sixth PGA Tour title and his first in nearly three years.
"That's what we train for, that's what we practice for," Burns said. "I'm always excited when I'm up there and I have a chance to win. So it's going to be a great weekend, a good test of golf, and it's always fun to get to do it at Pebble Beach."
Min Woo Lee of Australia had a 65 at Pebble Beach to move into a tie for fifth place at 12 under. The low round of the day belonged to Harris English, whose 63 at Pebble Beach represented a 10-stroke improvement from his over-par round at Spyglass the day before. English is 8 under.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland (67, Pebble) is part of a group tied at 9 under, while Scottie Scheffler is tied for 34th at 6 under. Scheffler followed a pedestrian 72 at Pebble with a 6-under 66 at Spyglass, highlighted by a five-hole stretch on his second nine where he made three birdies and an eagle.
--Field Level Media
