PEBBLE BEACH — Among the stars on a Who’s Who leaderboard, there was a Who’s That?
Relative unknown Lanto Griffin was tied for fourth midway through the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Saturday and finished his round tied for seventh after shooting 1-under-par 71 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Eight strokes off Nick Taylor’s lead of 17-under 198, Griffin, a Mount Shasta native and Virginia Commonwealth University alumnus, is unlikely to claim the second PGA Tour title of his career this weekend, but who knows?
“I’m pretty happy to make the cut, honestly,” said Griffin, who missed the cut the past two weeks at the Farmers Insurance Open and Phoenix Open after tying for seventh at the Sony Open in Hawaii. “I wanted to get it under par today, give myself a chance for tomorrow. It was a little rowdy out there today, those crowds were amazing.”
As Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson worked their way around Pebble in the third round, Griffin plugged away in relative obscurity. That’s not to say he didn’t have eyes on him, he just wasn’t the rock star of his foursome. No, that honor belonged to his celebrity partner, Seattle-based rapper Macklemore.
Griffin isn’t a household name just yet, but give him some time.
“Obviously, there’s more attention now,” said Griffin, of earning his lone PGA Tour win last year, “and it’s different because I’m the same person as I was before. I’m trying to handle that the best I can. But after playing with Mack, hearing everyone yell his name all the way down the fairway, it makes you feel like you’ve got a long way to go. He handled it awesome. Everybody loved the guy.”
Macklemore — wearing a brown leather newsboy cap and a tartan tracksuit — commanded attention after riding down the first fairway on a scooter, ahead of his tee time. So did his weekend hacker game. He took horrible shot after horrible shot, but smiled through it all like a champ, the people’s champ.
Similar to actor/comedian Bill Murray keeping the mood light for pro D.A. Points, Griffin credited Macklemore for being a pleasant distraction from the pressure of each shot and, big picture, making the cut.
Griffin said he was helping Macklemore, who took up the game a year ago, with yardages and that they were conversing as they walked down the fairway, which helped take his mind to a better place — not that this place, Pebble, was a 5 1/2-hour nightmare.
“It didn’t feel like a golf tournament, it didn’t feel like a PGA Tour event,” Griffin said. “And the views at Pebble. It was a crazy week. I’m going to remember this week for a long time, playing with a rockstar like Mack.”
Griffin, who won the Houston Open in October, said he was “lost” during his practice round here Wednesday, noting it was probably the worst he’d hit the ball in a year. But when the action started Thursday, things fell into place. He carded 67 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course to open the tournament and followed that up with 68 at Monterey Peninsula Country Club on Friday.
He enters Sunday’s final round with a 9-under-par 206 total.
“I’m kinda just like, ‘I’m going to go out and have some fun with Mack and the guys (pro Kevin Kisner and musician Charles Kelley),’ ” Griffin said of his mindset at the outset of the week. “You don’t get to play with guys like that at Pebble Beach very often, so I wanted to enjoy it. I think kinda taking that pressure off myself, just trying to enjoy it, I got my swing back, my tempo and everything. I’m surprised where I’m standing right now.”
Many people are. Like I said, Griffin is still a ‘Who’s That?’ on the PGA Tour.
He played on tour in 2018, but after making the cut in just 13 of 26 events, he failed to retain his tour card. After shining on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, he earned his way back into golf’s highest level.
Now, he’s trying to be more consistent, make more cuts and earn a name for himself, as well as a few hefty paydays.
“The main goal for the remainder of the season is make East Lake (Golf Club),” Griffin said. “I want to lock that up as fast as I can; the Tour Championship. And tomorrow, I want to go out and enjoy Pebble. You know, most people would die to play it and we get to play it on Sunday at a PGA Tour event. Bucket list for me and I’m just going to go out and try and have some fun.”
That would be consistent with his week thus far, one helluva week.
Contact Jim Seimas at jseimas@santacruzsentinel.com
