AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Round 1: Russell Henley Leads as McIlroy and Lowry Trade Aces

Two aces, a 64 and a world No. 1 back in the building. Thursday on the Monterey Peninsula had a little bit of everything, and Russell Henley walked off Spyglass Hill holding the best card of all.

Henley birdied his last two holes to shoot 8-under 64 at Spyglass and take a one-shot lead after the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Six players sit one back at 65: Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose, Cam Davis and Jake Knapp at Pebble Beach, plus Sepp Straka and Rasmus Hojgaard at Spyglass. Behind them is a seven-way logjam at 66 that includes Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay. Scottie Scheffler, playing for the first time since a hand injury, opened with 67.

Henley Wins the Harder Draw

The rotation matters here. Players split Thursday and Friday between Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill before everyone moves to Pebble for the weekend, and on Thursday the two courses did not play like siblings. Spyglass averaged 69.775, about 1.6 shots harder than Pebble, according to the PGA TOUR. With calm air, cloud cover and cool temperatures, Pebble was there for the taking, especially early. Spyglass made people earn it.

Henley earned it. He made nine birdies, per Field Level Media, and saved the best for last with back-to-back birdies to finish. Posting the low round of the day on the tougher course is the kind of start that does not show up in the margin but absolutely shows up in the math. Henley now heads to Pebble on Friday, the friendlier half of the rotation, already holding the lead.

The Aces

The headline belonged to the Irish. McIlroy, in his first PGA TOUR round since the TOUR Championship in September, holed a 119-yard sand wedge on the par-3 15th at Spyglass, the sixth hole of his day. It was the second ace of his PGA TOUR career, and it did not so much roll in as vanish.

"You're looking at it and you're watching where it might land on the green and the thing just disappears," McIlroy said, per the AP.

Over at Pebble, Lowry matched him on the par-3 7th, the little postcard hole that hangs over the Pacific. The 54-degree wedge took a hop and spun into the cup for the third PGA TOUR ace of Lowry's career.

"Big bounce, it was perfect. It just spun and spun right into the hole. It was pretty cool," Lowry said.

McIlroy's round was more than one swing. The 66 was bogey-free, with birdies on three of his last four holes, and the underlying numbers were loud. He led the field in driving distance at 345.7 yards, ranked second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.50) and fifth in Strokes Gained: Approach (+2.44), and hit 14 of 18 greens, per the PGA TOUR.

Scheffler Shakes Off the Rust

Scheffler's season had been on hold because of a hand injury, and the first hole suggested some rust. He started on Spyglass's 10th, found a front bunker after a tee shot right and missed a par putt from about 20 feet. That was the last bogey he made. He missed only one green the rest of the way, poured in a birdie from roughly 30 feet on the par-5 14th and signed for 67.

Justin Ray noted it was Scheffler's 100th PGA TOUR round since 2022 with one bogey or fewer, which is a stat that tells you everything about how high the floor is for the world No. 1. Scheffler kept the review short.

"I like what I saw today," he said.

Hovland Talks Himself Into a 65

The most entertaining subplot came from Hovland. A day before the tournament, the 2023 FedExCup champion was brutally candid about the state of a swing that produced a winless 2024 and a missed cut in Dubai earlier in January. Thursday, Hovland went out at Pebble, the same course where he won the 2018 U.S. Amateur, and made eight birdies against one bogey while hitting 12 of 14 fairways.

"I can still play and today was good conditions," Hovland said. "I hit a few really nice wedges and started making some putts."

The Rest of the Board

Rose, the 2023 champion here, joined the 65 group at Pebble, as did Davis and Knapp. Straka and Hojgaard matched them on the tougher Spyglass side. Thomas and Cantlay lurk at 66 with Lowry, McIlroy, Eric Cole, Lee Hodges and Lucas Glover.

Jordan Spieth, back for the first time since August after surgery on his left wrist, shot 70. The front nine at Spyglass was encouraging, with three birdies in a five-hole stretch, before the back nine cooled him off.

Not everyone found the calm. Defending champion Wyndham Clark shot 74 at Pebble Beach, and Ludvig Aberg, last year's runner-up here, posted 77 at Spyglass to sit last in the field.

What Thursday Means

This is a Signature Event with an 80-player field and no cut, so Friday is not about survival. It is about positioning for a weekend at Pebble Beach where the weather is not expected to stay this kind.

The early read: Henley has the lead and the easier course next. Straka, Hojgaard, McIlroy and Scheffler also flip to Pebble, and all four can go low there. Thirteen players sit within two shots of Henley, and the ones who banked strokes in the calm may be glad they did.

Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap, McIlroy and Hovland features, leaderboard), AP, Field Level Media, CBS Sports. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.