PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Brandt Snedeker goes into the weekend at Pebble Beach with another chance to win, this time without golf’s biggest stars in his way.

Snedeker played bogey-free at tough Spyglass Hill on Friday for a 4-under 68, giving him a share of the lead with Ted Potter Jr. in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Potter three-putted his final hole at Monterey Peninsula for a 67.

Hunter Mahan was among those one shot behind. With one more round before everyone has played all three courses in the rotation, the leaderboard was a big traffic jam. Three dozen players were within five shots of the lead.

Snedeker, who was at 8-under 134, felt he was at an advantage because he goes to Pebble Beach for the final two rounds.

And there’s one other edge for his psyche — Tiger Woods isn’t playing, and defending champion Phil Mickelson is six shots behind.

Snedeker has played so well this year that he is leading the FedEx Cup standings without having won. He was runner-up the last two weeks — four shots behind Woods at Torrey Pines, and then four shots behind Mickelson in the Phoenix Open.

“Keep running into guys who are or who are going to be in the Hall of Fame,” Snedeker said at the start of the week.

Mickelson, going after a record-tying fifth win in the event, was easing his way into contention until he made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch along the ocean at Spyglass Hill for a 71.

Snedeker made it look easy at Spyglass, even though the day began in rugged conditions with a light rain and temperatures in the low 40s. He hit a towering 8-iron on the downhill, par-3 12th hole that plopped 3 feet next to the cup for his first birdie. He added a pair of simple up-and-down birdies on the par 5s and then closed out a solid day with an 8-iron to 5 feet on the eighth hole.

Snedeker sees the upside of his two second-place finishes: At least he’s giving himself a chance.

“That’s how you win out here,” he said. “You keep putting yourself in position, and the more times you do, the more success you’re going to have. ... I’m doing a better job this week of making my way around the golf courses and not putting myself in bad spots and getting out of tough situations very quickly.”

His goal for the last two days?

“Not do anything stupid,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t do it very often.”

Potter remains somewhat of a mystery. He won last year in his rookie season at The Greenbrier Classic to claim a peculiar footnote in history — the only player to win a PGA Tour event in which Woods and Mickelson missed the cut.

Still, his performance has been spotty. Potter missed nine out of the 12 cuts going into The Greenbrier, and then missed four out of nine cuts after his win.



“It’s just a funny game like that,” Potter said. “Some weeks you play really well and you get the right kicks and everything goes well. And then there are weeks you can still hit the ball well and get the bad kicks.”



It’s been good so far on the Monterey Peninsula, which has been graced with surprisingly good weather. Even though the cold rain finally arrived, it didn’t last long. The sun broke through about three hours into the round, and by late afternoon, the Pacific was gleaming.



Fredrik Jacobson had the low round of the day, a 66 at Pebble Beach that put him in the group at 7 under with Mahan, John Merrick and Patrick Reed.



Saturday’s forecast is for more sunshine, giving those in the Northeast who are snowed in some pretty pictures on television. Snedeker is part of the celebrity rotation, meaning he will join the circus — Bill Murray, Ray Romano and the rest of their Hollywood crew, along with star power from other sports such as Tony Romo, Matt Cain and even San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.



Five days after a Super Bowl loss, Harbaugh had reason to smile. He was leading the pro-am portion of the tournament. Harbaugh is playing with Jason Day of Australia, who made a late string of birdies for a 68 at Spyglass Hill and was two shots behind.



Mahan lost a stroke on the spongy greens. He went to knock in a short bogey putt on the par-3 seventh hole when the ball moved on him.



“It just rolled over in like a heel print or something,” Mahan said. “I didn’t feel like I moved it. I didn’t feel like I had anything much to do with it moving. It’s just a rub of the green, so had to go back and take a penalty. That was frustrating, because I was hitting it so good.”



Mickelson was equally frustrated by throwing away some careless shots. While he was tied for 39th, Mickelson didn’t feel out of contention.



“I love Pebble Beach. I’ve played well there and I’m only one good round away,” he said. “If I can shoot something in the mid-60s, I’ll be right there for Sunday’s round, which is what I care about.”



Mickelson was six shots behind going into the final round last year when he won. That was against Charlie Wi, still searching for his first tour win. At the top now is Snedeker, the second-highest ranked American behind Woods who is averaging 66.5 in his last eight rounds.



DIVOTS: Geoff Ogilvy’s hopes of qualifying for the Match Play Championship took a big hit when he twice missed par putts inside 2½ feet and three-putted for par from 25 feet on the sixth hole at Pebble. He had a 74 and was tied for 108th. He likely needs to finish fifth to move into the top 64. ... Lee Westwood, in his Pebble Beach National Pro-Am debut playing with his father, had a 70 at Monterey Peninsula and was four shots behind.



Pebble Beach SCORES



Second Round



Ted Potter Jr. 67p-67m—134

Brandt Snedeker 66m-68s—134

Fredrik Jacobson 71s-66p—137

John Merrick 68p-67m—135

Hunter Mahan 66p-69m—135

Patrick Reed 68s-69p—137

Patrick Cantlay 66m-70s—136

Nick O’Hern 70p-66m—136

James Hahn 71p-65m—136

Jason Day 68m-68s—136

Russell Knox 64m-73s—137

Chris Kirk 71s-68p—139

Justin Hicks 71s-68p—139

Retief Goosen 71s-68p—139

Sean O’Hair 70p-67m—137

Matt Every 67p-70m—137

Pat Perez 69m-69s—138

Ryuji Imada 65m-73s—138

Kevin Streelman 69p-69m—138

Aaron Baddeley 69s-71p—140

Kevin Sutherland 70p-68m—138

Alistair Presnell 68s-72p—140

Luke Guthrie 68p-70m—138

Bob Estes 69s-71p—140

Kevin Stadler 69p-69m—138

Lee Westwood 68p-70m—138

Kevin Na 68s-72p—140

Brendon de Jonge 67m-71s—138

Seung-Yul Noh 67s-73p—140

Matt Jones 69s-72p—141

James Driscoll 72m-67s—139

Tommy Gainey 71s-70p—141

Jimmy Walker 68m-71s—139

Billy Horschel 70s-71p—141

Jim Herman 71s-70p—141

Richard H. Lee 68m-71s—139

Bill Lunde 71s-70p—141

William McGirt 72s-69p—141

Scott Brown 72p-68m—140

Joe Durant 71p-69m—140

Heath Slocum 69p-71m—140

Mike Weir 75p-65m—140

Greg Owen 65m-75s—140

Scott Gardiner 73s-69p—142

Kelly Kraft 69m-71s—140

Jordan Spieth 70m-70s—140

Cameron Tringale 71s-71p—142

J.B. Holmes 72s-70p—142

Charlie Wi 70m-70s—140

Phil Mickelson 69m-71s—140

Robert Garrigus 71m-69s—140

Jeff Maggert 67m-73s—140

Jeff Gove 69p-71m—140

Brendon Todd 68m-72s—140

Shawn Stefani 72p-68m—140

Ben Kohles 69p-72m—141

Padraig Harrington 72s-71p—143

Casey Wittenberg 70s-73p—143

Ken Duke 71s-72p—143

J.J. Henry 72s-71p—143

Tag Ridings 69m-72s—141

Rod Pampling 71m-70s—141

Tim Clark 76s-67p—143

Brian Harman 68m-73s—141

Brian Stuard 69p-72m—141

Stuart Appleby 70p-71m—141

Jason Gore 71s-72p—143

Troy Kelly 73p-68m—141

Jason Bohn 71p-70m—141

Lee Williams 66m-76s—142

Jim Furyk 75s-69p—144

Charlie Beljan 69s-75p—144

Camilo Villegas 67m-75s—142

Neal Lancaster 67m-75s—142

Dustin Johnson 73m-69s—142

Todd Hamilton 71s-73p—144

Scott Langley 65m-77s—142

Jason Kokrak 70p-72m—142

Doug LaBelle II 69s-75p—144

Chez Reavie 70p-72m—142

Woody Austin 75s-69p—144

Josh Teater 70m-72s—142

Brad Fritsch 69m-73s—142

Vaughn Taylor 70s-74p—144

Webb Simpson 71m-71s—142

Cameron Percy 74p-68m—142

Eric Meierdierks 68m-74s—142

Morgan Hoffmann 70p-72m—142

Nick Watney 68m-75s—143

Bryce Molder 71m-72s—143

John Mallinger 68m-75s—143

Dicky Pride 69p-74m—143

Erik Compton 71m-72s—143

Tim Petrovic 68m-75s—143

Henrik Norlander 71p-72m—143

Johnson Wagner 71s-75p—146

D.A. Points 68m-76s—144

Kevin Chappell 74p-70m—144

Steve Flesch 75p-69m—144

Cameron Beckman 70p-74m—144

Andres Romero 74p-70m—144

Donald Constable 74s-72p—146

Robert Karlsson 74p-70m—144

Fabian Gomez 73p-71m—144

Alexandre Rocha 72p-72m—144

Vijay Singh 72p-72m—144

Steven Bowditch 76p-68m—144

Ricky Barnes 71m-74s—145

Alex Cejka 70p-75m—145

Darron Stiles 72p-73m—145

Chris Stroud 78p-67m—145

Justin Bolli 70m-75s—145

Arjun Atwal 69p-76m—145

Sam Saunders 76s-71p—147

Andrew Svoboda 75m-70s—145

Derek Ernst 74s-73p—147

Ryan Palmer 72m-73s—145

Geoff Ogilvy 73s-74p—147

Scott McCarron 75s-72p—147

Si Woo Kim 75s-72p—147

Robert Streb 73s-74p—147

David Lingmerth 70m-75s—145

Steve LeBrun 74s-74p—148

Roberto Castro 71p-75m—146

Gary Christian 75p-71m—146

Bobby Gates 76s-72p—148

Jerry Kelly 73m-73s—146

Nathan Green 72s-76p—148

Lee Janzen 77s-71p—148

Peter Tomasulo 71m-75s—146

Nicholas Thompson 73s-76p—149

John Daly 77p-70m—147

Jin Park 73m-74s—147

Rory Sabbatini 74s-75p—149

Chris Riley 73m-74s—147

Daniel Summerhays 74m-73s—147

Matt Bettencourt 71m-76s—147

Chris DiMarco 72p-76m—148

Billy Mayfair 73s-77p—150

Michael Bradley 73m-76s—149

Brian Davis 73p-76m—149

Luke List 73m-76s—149

Michael Letzig 73s-78p—151

Rafael Cabrera Bello 73s-79p—152

D.J. Trahan 73p-77m—150

Harris English 75m-75s—150

David Duval 79s-73p—152

Joe Ogilvie 76p-74m—150

Steve Marino 77p-74m—151

Andres Gonzales 77p-74m—151

Aaron Watkins 78s-76p—154

Billy Andrade 79s-75p—154

Bret Nutt 74m-78s—152

Tom Gillis 71m-81s—152

Mitch Lowe 77p-77m—154

Paul Haley II 78s-82p—160