Andrade Claws His Way to a 63 at Pebble

He shot a 63 at Pebble Beach, but Billy Andrade said his score doesn’t really compare to Phil Mickelson’s 62 Thursday at Spyglass Hill.

“I said, ‘How many holes did he play? Did he play them all?’ My gosh. No, I think a 62 over there is pretty damn sporty. I think a 63 over here is pretty sporty as well, but Spyglass is definitely the toughest course we play in this tournament.”

Andrade, who was tied for 98th after two rounds, moved into a tie for 12th after his nine-under round that began with a bogey.

But in a nine-hole stretch from the fifth through the 13th, Andrade had eight birdies, only one of them a putt longer than 12 feet.

He unveiled a new putting style, the claw grip, this week and said he’s keeping it as long as the ball keeps falling in the hole.

“Hopefully, it’ll keep working,” he said. “If not, I will find something else.”

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Vijay Singh missed the cut by seven shots, the fourth consecutive time the defending champion has missed the cut.

That means Singh’s streak of 28 tournaments without missing a cut came to an end, the second longest active streak on the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods has the longest streak, 135, which is also the PGA Tour record.

Ernie Els is now second on the cuts streak with 16 in a row.

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Mickelson’s five-shot victory last week was the biggest margin in his career. He led by four shots after 54 holes.

“To have a [seven] shot lead, I’ve never had that, last week at Phoenix was the biggest I’ve ever had at four. I don’t know if I will keep the same rate of return up.”

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The last wire-to-wire winner of this tournament was Jimmy Demaret in 1952, when it was a 36-hole event.