Kang flirts with a 59 to share Pebble Beach lead

CALIFORNIA: South Korea’s Kang Sung-hoon fell one stroke shy of becoming only the seventh player to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour as he surged into a tie for the lead after the second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am here on Friday.

Needing a birdie on his final hole at Monterey Peninsula Country Club to dip under 60, Kang hit his “worst shot of the day” off the tee and had to settle for a par three there and a career-best score of 11-under 60. That left the 28-year-old from Jeju City with an 11-under total of 132 after 36 holes, levelling with Japan’s Hiroshi Iwata, who fired a six-under 66 at the Pebble Beach host course, one of three venues being used for this event.