Johnson, Potter Tied for Lead in AT&T; Merritt Slips into Tie for 3rd

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the World Golf Rankings, birdied the 18th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Saturday afternoon and thereby pulled even with Ted Potter Jr. at the top of the leaderboard in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

This is only the third tournament for Johnson in the 2017-18 PGA Tour season, which began in October. But he tied for second in the HSBC Championship last fall, and in his most recent start, he blew away the field while winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. That was a month ago. 

So far this week, the prodigiously long-hitting Johnson (even by the standards of the PGA Tour, where the average drive goes 300 yards) isn't showing much rust. He was a little sloppy on the back nine at Pebble Beach on Saturday (three bogeys on the way to a 2-over-par 38), but he finished with a 2-under 70 in difficult conditions, which gave the 2016 U.S. Open champ a 54-hole total of 201 (minus 14). The greens are firm and fast at Pebble this week, and there was enough wind on Day 3 to complicate things. 

Johnson is looking for his third victory in the AT&T. The 33-year-old former Coastal Carolina All-American has 17 PGA Tour wins in all, and has at least one victory in each of his 11 season on tour.

There are three courses that are used for the tournament -- Pebble Beach (par 72), Spyglass Hill  (72) and Monterey Peninsula (71) -- during the first three rounds. The cut was made Saturday, and everyone who survived will play Pebbe Beach in their final round on Sunday.

Monterey Peninsula is generally considered the easiest of the three courses, and Potter took advantage of it in his third round. He was 11 under par through 15 holes and needed a birdie and two pars over the final three holes to become the first player in tournament history to break 60. Instead, he made two bogeys and a par and finished with a 62. So he, too, ended up at 201. 

Two strokes behind, in a tie for third, are Jason Day, the former World No. 1, who also won his last time out -- two weeks ago at San Diego's Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open -- and Troy Merritt. Day shot 69 at Pebble Beach. Merritt posted a 69 at Monterey Peninsula, and it was even more of a roller-coaster ride than Potter's 62.

Through 12 holes, Merritt was 6 under, thanks to a birdie at the 155-yard, par-3 third hole (he started on the back nine). That put him in the lead at 16 under, the same spot where Potter had peaked earlier, and where Johnson had been when he started his back nine. But then Merritt went into reverse. He bogeyed the 426-yard, par-4 fourth at Monterey and then, after a par at the fifth, the former two-sport star at Spring Lake Park High School (basketball and golf) rattled off three bogeys in a row (6 through 8).

Those four bogeys in a five-hole stretch knocked Merritt out of the lead and dropped him into the tie with Day at 203. Merritt, who was a Division II All-American at Winona State before transferring to Boise State, where he became a Division I All-American, could use a sizable check this week. He has played in eight tournaments during the 2017-18 season, but has made only $42,415. He's currently No. 187 on the PGA Tour money list

You have to be in the top 125 on the list at the end of the season if you want to retain fully exempt status. Last year, it took nearly $800,000 to make the top 125.   

Potter is used to mixing high times with the low over the couse of his career. A right-hander who plays golf left (like Phil Mickelson), he dominated the junior circuit in Florida as a kid and chose to turn pro at age 19 in 2002, rather than play college golf. When he was 20, he made it to the Final Stage of the old PGA Tour Q-School and finished 74th, which earned him a spot on what was then the Nationwide Tour (now the Web.com). He played in 24 Nationwide events in 2004 -- and missed the cut in every one of them. 0 for 24.

For the next few years, he bounced around between the Nationwide and the Hooters Tour. He was the Hooters Player of the Year twice and made more than $600,000 out there. That's a lot of money for a mini-tour. 

That success on the Hooters Tour eventually translated into a banner year on the Web.com Tour in 2011. He started the year as a Monday qualifier, but won a tournament, earned full status for for the Web.com and finished the year as the No. 2 player on the money list, which earned him a promotion to the PGA Tour. 

In characteristic fashion, he claimed his one PGA Tour title, at the 2012 Greenbrier Classic -- after missing the cut in five consecutive events. That guaranteed him a place on the Big Tour for the next two years, but in 2014 he broke his ankle. He was out of action until April 2016 and spent most of the next year and a half on the Web.com Tour. In 2017, he finished in the top 25 on the Web.com money list (he was No. 14), which is how he got back onto the PGA Tour.  

Like Merritt, Potter could use a good finish this week. He is No. 123 on the money list with $147,517 through eight events. 


PGA TOUR

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am 

At Pebble Beach Golf Links (par 72), Spyglass Hill Golf Course (par 72), Monterey Peninsula Country Club (par 71)

Pebble Beach, Calif. 

Third-round results 

T1. Dustin Johnson (PB)             67-64-70--201

T1. Ted Potter (MP)                     68-71-62--201

T3. Troy Merritt (MP)                 67-67-69--203

T3. Jason Day (PB)                    69-65-69--203

T5. Steve Stricker (PB)              69-65-70--204

T5. Patrick Rodgers (PB)          70-65-69--204

T5. Jon Rahm (SH)                   67-67-70--204

Missed cut (212)

Tom Hoge                                 75-72-68--215

Tim Herron                               75-74-71--220