Woods was five shots out of the lead at Pebble Beach

Woods was five shots from the lead, a great start to his PGA Tour season. He'd six birdies in a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill, the fourth-best score on that course. Spyglass was the most difficult in the three courses, though not by much. The next thunderstorm am pure that every three courses played about one shot under par.

Charlie Wi was over at Monterey Peninsula and had a shot at 59 without ever knowing it. Wi was 8 under after having a tap-in birdie on the 13th hole, and needed only three birdies over the last five holes. The issue here is, he'd no idea the Shore Course would discount golf clubs have been a 70. He made one more birdie and had a 9-under 61.

"I was going through the scorecard like, 'What's the par here?' I did not realize it would be a par 70," Wi said. "That 59 never crossed my thoughts. Not once."

Joining them was former U.S. Amateur Danny Lee, who holed a bunker shot for eagle at No. 2 and holed out from the 11th fairway using a wedge for another eagle to complement Johnson at 9-under 63.

Johnson is turning into his generation's "Prince of Pebble." He won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in consecutive years, after which were built with a three-shot lead at Pebble inside the U.S. Open a couple of years ago until he shot 82 inside final round. On the third hole of this round, he hit driver left in to the bushes for a lost ball generating double bogey.

On Thursday, he smashed a motorist nearly 340 yards on the trees to simply less than the green, starting eagle. Even today, he still ponders that tee Taylormade R11 irons shot inside the U.S. Open. Walking from the tee, he explained to caddie Bobby Brown, "I might have used that inside the U.S. Open."

"Walking off that hole, I told Bob, 'This hole owes us a few not just that particular.'"

Johnson overpowered the par 5s at Pebble Beach, the secret to playing that course well. He'd a 6-iron for his second shot in the par-5 second for an Taylormade R11 driver easy birdie, holed a 65-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole, got up and down from your bunker just short of the 14th for birdie, then cringed when his 40-foot eagle attempt about the 18th just turned away.

"I think it is going in," Johnson said. "I was laughing. I made a lot of putts today."