Author: jeremy2878

PEBBLE BEACH, CA – FEBRUARY 12: Jordan Spieth of the United States with Clint Eastwood and the director of Pebble Beach after the final round on February 12, 2017, at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach,CA (Photo by Samuel Stringer/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

By Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH–Jordan Spieth said Sunday that a final round with a big lead is a situation that a golfer dreams about. That’s exactly the position that he was in, and he converted that to another title.

Spieth entered Sunday’s final round with a six-shot lead, and he was able to put things on cruise control from that point on, making mostly pars and staying out of trouble en route to a rather-easy victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“This is a bucket-list place to win,” Spieth said. “Here, Augusta National, St. Andrews, I mean there’s only a few in the world. It really feels special. It was amazing walking up to the 18^th green, knowing that we were going to win.

“It’s just such a unique position; I tried to soak it in.”

He birdied the par-5 second hole and then the par-3 17^th, but then parred out the remaining holes, a far cry from the pair of 65’s that he shot in the second and third rounds that earned him the big lead going into Sunday.

Because of the big lead, Spieth said afterwards that the main strategy that he and his caddie discussed was for him to “play boring golf.” He hit 16 of his 18 greens in regulation, his highest total of the entire week, but the putts did not roll in like they did the previous two days. It was enough to win by a nice cushion.

Kelly Kraft made a bit of a run at Spieth, narrowing the lead to three strokes at one point, but even though he fired a five-under 67, it was enough, as he came up four strokes short and wound up with a second-place finish.

However, all was not lost for Kraft. The high finish earned him a spot in next week’s Genesis Open, formerly known as the Northern Trust Open, that is held at Riviera Country Club in the Los Angeles area.

“I would have liked to have made a few more putts on the back nine today to add a little pressure, but I couldn’t make any putts, really, coming down the stretch.

“(But) it was a good day. It was nice to get off to that hot start and kind of set the tone for the day.”

Dustin Johnson, who also made a nice run with a four-under 68, finished in third place with an overall score of 14-under and once again played all week alongside hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who just so happens to be the father of his fiancé, Paulina Gretzky.

“I feel like my game’s in really good shape,” Johnson said. “I’m happy with the way I finished. I felt like I still could have played a lot better. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”

 

Jordan Spieth follows his approach shot from off the fairway to the sixth green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

By Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH–The weather cleared up immensely, and the temperature got warmer in the process. Jordan Spieth, however, proved to be just as hot as he was the day before.

Spieth started out his third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on a roll, and with the exception of a bogey at the eighth hole, he never really stopped. He finished his third round at Pebble Beach on Saturday with a seven-under 65, identical to his second round at Spyglass Hill.

He birdied the first two holes of the day, and immediately after the lone bogey on his card, he proceeded to run off three birdies in a row at holes nine through 11. To close things out, he made birdies at three of the final four holes, including the iconic 18^th hole that is located right on the Pacific coastline.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better putting day,” Spieth said. “With greens that have a lot of traffic because they have been so soft with this weather, it’s very difficult even to make a putt from four feet.

“I’m certainly grateful of that and recognize that going into tomorrow, that hitting putts with the right speed is key and not letting it get too far away from you and staying very patient when they do miss, because most certainly, you’re going to miss putts inside 10 feet out here.”

He also put himself in prime position to make a lot of birdies on Saturday. For instance, he hit 11 of his 14 fairways as well as hitting 12 of the 18 greens in regulation, ranking in the top-10 in each statistic this week.

And then, there is that putter of his. He only had 23 putts in the third round, and he is second in strokes gained on the field in putting for the week, while he is at the top of the field in putts per green-in-regulation.

When you add it all up, it is a six-stroke lead for the Masters as well as U.S Open titleholder.

Another man who is known for his putter, Brandt Snedeker, who won this tournament two years ago, is also in the mix as the final round will get ready to commence on Sunday. He finished his third round with a five-under 67 and is currently 11-under for the week and is in second place.

“I kept telling myself to be patient,” Snedeker said. “I’m playing good. I got off to kind of a rough start this morning. I made a couple bogeys early, and I knew on the front nine, you can get going.

“But all in all, I kind of fought back today and got myself back in the tournament. I got a chance tomorrow.”

Also getting himself into contention on Saturday was Dustin Johnson, who shot a six-under 66 for his third round to pull within seven strokes of the lead and a tie for the third position. Making the same exact move to the top is Kelly Kraft, with whom Johnson is tied and also fired a 66 at Pebble Beach on Saturday.

“I feel like I’ve been playing pretty solid all three days, and I finally got a few putts to go in today,” Johnson said after his third round. “It’s not easy to get the ball close to the holes, and when you do, it’s hard to make putts.

“But today, I felt like I drove it really well, and I hit a lot of nice, solid iron shots. So it was a pretty stress-free day.”

 

USA team member Jordan Spieth hits off of the 6th tee during day 3 of the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota on October 2, 2016. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

By Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH – After a day of muddy footing and seemingly never-ending downpour on Thursday, the players who stepped onto the three courses Friday morning were glad to be able to put away their umbrellas for much of the day.

They still had to deal with the residual muddy conditions, but nonetheless, there was a resurgence of low scores at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and even a little bit of sunshine that is expected to carry on through the weekend.

Also having more prominence was the presence of the familiar big names in the game of golf.

Forced to abandon the final two holes of his first round due to the rainy conditions Thursday afternoon, Jordan Spieth finished up his opening round Friday morning and then began his assault on Spyglass Hill, which is typically the toughest of the three-course rotation of Spyglass, Monterey Peninsula and Pebble Beach but has shown this week to be the easiest due to the large amount of trees that block the wind.

He started the day only one stroke back, but that quickly changed when he made four birdies on the front nine and added four more on the back nine against only one bogey to finish his second round at 10-under par and a tie for the lead.

“I putted a lot better today than I did yesterday, but the conditions were also totally different,” Spieth said after his score of 65 on Friday. “I’m feeling like I’ve been striking it well, and I’ve been trying to do a lot of work with the putter.

“I got into a nice rhythm, and hole started to look big towards the end.”

Good thing for Spieth, because Derek Fathauer also made a big charge to keep up. Starting at the 10^th hole at Pebble Beach Friday morning at two-under, he also recorded four front-nine birdies and then ran off four more – including three in a row – on the back nine to tie Spieth atop the lead.

The day got off to a later start than expected. Play was supposed to begin at 7:30am PST to give players a chance to finish up their opening rounds, but further rainfall and unplayable conditions pushed the start time to an hour later. The first round was not completed until 10:46am, while the second round got under way about 15 minutes earlier.

That was not the end of the delays, however. While play resumed without interruption at the other two courses, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula, it was suspended at Pebble Beach at around 1:30pm PST due to foggy conditions that made the course unplayable.

That delay was short-lived, as play was allowed to resume at 1:43pm.

From that point on, the weather was no longer the biggest issue, and by 3:30pm, the sun began to poke out of the cloud cover, which appears to be a sign of things to come for those heading here for the weekend, when sunny skies are expected in the area.

It then simply became an issue of the players having enough time to finish their rounds, which had really been an issue from the beginning – and a highly-unlikely outcome – due to the later start times on Friday. Play was eventually called at 4:21pm PST due to the re-emergence of fog. However, there were some players, including first-round co-leader Joel Dahmen, who had only finished 11 holes and were probably not going to have enough daylight to finish anyway.

Fathauer, meanwhile, had one more hole to play, which he will now play Saturday morning.

Jon Rahm was another who started to make a run at it as the weather dried out. Starting his day at one-under, he went on a tear in the early going of his second round, making six birdies in a row in the first eight holes of the day at Pebble Beach.

He ran out of steam after that initial onslaught, however, and after a bogey on the back nine, he finished his round with a five-under 67, tying him for 13^th place.

Other notable players who charged their way toward the top included Jason Day, who started the day at two-under but picked up seven birdies, including four consecutive on holes nine through 12. However, that’s when the calling of play slammed the brakes on his day, and he was forced to walk off the course in the third position, unable to make up any more ground.

Play is expected to resume at 7:35am PST, in order to allow players, such as Fathauer and Day, to finish up their second rounds.

Seung-Yul Noh at Spyglass Hill and fired a four under 68 to earn a tie for the lead on Thursday at the AT&T  Pebble Beach Pro Am UPI/Molly Riley

PEBBLE BEACH – Heading into Thursday’s opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, rain was expected throughout much of the day, and it was anticipated that it would get heavier in the afternoon hours.

Well, Mother Nature did not disappoint.

Thursday’s action was suspended at 1:37pm PST, as the rain increased and refused to let up. The rain remained consistent throughout the day, and because of this, play was eventually called. The last time play was suspended was in 2014, when a brutal combination of wind and rain caused third-round play to be halted.

Play is expected to begin at 7:30am PST on Friday, with second-round action beginning at 9am, one hour later than originally scheduled.

Because of the expected rain, tee times were moved earlier in the hopes that at least the majority of the field would be able to finish their rounds before matters would eventually be called to a halt.

As it turned out, about half of the players in the field did, in fact, finish, while 81 players are yet to finish their opening rounds.

Atop the leaderboard after Thursday’s proceedings are names that casual fans would not immediately recognize. Seung-Yul Noh, who played alongside San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer, started at 7am at Spyglass Hill and fired a four-under 68 to earn tie for the lead.

“It was tough conditions, especially the back nine, and even starting early in the morning,” Noh said. “It was playing really longer than normal.

“Especially (with) a bogey-free round in these conditions, I’m really happy with that.”

Noh, however, wasn’t even the best player in his group. Rick Lamb matched Noh shot for shot and also finished with a 68. He overcame a bit of a slow start and really started to pick things up in a five-hole stretch beginning at the seventh hole, during which he sank four birdies.

“At first, I didn’t think it was great (that) I had to wake up at 4:15, so we were a little groggy this morning,” Lamb said. “But by the time we got going, it was good, and I think we teed off before the sun actually rose.”

Joel Dahmen made it a three-way tie at the top, as he sank a 15-footer to save par on his 18^th hole, also at Spyglass Hill.

He had three birdies on his front nine against one bogey, and then he went one-under on his back nine and had to wait about 15 minutes for an official to make a ruling before attempting his final putt.

“Not a very good lag putt (to leave 15 feet for the par putt),” Dahmen said. “It was tough. I just was really happy to make that last putt, that’s for sure.”

One stroke behind the lead is Jordan Spieth, who has won the Masters and the U.S Open in his young career. He is currently three-under for his round, but he is one of the players not to have finished his first round.

He had just made birdie at the 16^th hole at Monterey Peninsula Country Club when the stoppage occurred.

 

Actor Bill Murray smiles at the crowd as he waits to hit out of a bunker on the 3rd hole during the AT&T Pro-Am Celebrity Challenge at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area News) Group)

By Jeremy Harness

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am features players from all over the world, but it does not have a shortage of those who have roots in Northern California.

Among them is Nick Watney, a multiple winner on the PGA Tour who grew up in Dixon, which is midway between the Bay Area and Sacramento who now makes his home in Las Vegas. He sat out most of the 2016 season with a nagging back injury, but he has returned and has begun to pick up a little steam in time for this tournament.

Another Northern California product is James Hahn, an Alameda native who played his college golf at Cal. He had a very nice 2016 season and is currently ranked 61^st this year, but he is perhaps more well-known for his Gangnam Style dance celebration during the Phoenix Open a few years ago.

His best finish of the 2016-17 season thus far came at the CIMB Classic in October, one week after the season-opening Safeway Open, where he finished in ninth place. He followed that up the very next week with a tie for the 15^th spot at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

Max Homa is considered to be an up-and-coming player on tour. The Cal product played most of last season on the Web.com Tour, which is the PGA Tour’s minor league, and he earned his PGA Tour card for this season by finishing in the top 25 of the Web.com Tour in 2016.

However, he has gotten off to a slow start to this season, as he has not earned any FedEx Cup points and has not made the cut at all in any of the five events he has played in this season. He did not play in last week’s Phoenix Open but is making his return at Pebble Beach.

The tournament is set to begin Thursday morning, and for the first three days, the players will alternate play between three courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club.

The final round, however, will be played solely at Pebble Beach.

 

Kelly Slater and Jimmy Walker ATandT Pebble Beach Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Chevron Shoot out, USA – 07 Feb 2017 (Rex Features via AP Images)

By Jeremy Harness

Sure, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is an official event on the PGA Tour, and the professionals use this as a springboard to the eventual FedEx Cup title at the end of the season.

But let’s be honest here. There’s a reason why this tournament is considered to be one of the more popular events on the tour’s season schedule: It’s the celebrities that take part in it every year.

The list of celebs that play in this tournament includes everyone from pro athletes from other sports to star musicians to broadcasters. Among such TV stars in this year’s field is Chris Berman, who retired from ESPN following this year’s NFL season.

Speaking of the NFL, there are a pair of quarterbacks with their names in the field, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Kansas City signal-caller Alex Smith – who started his career with the 49ers before being traded to the Chiefs five years ago.

Among the staples of this tournament, who are credited for bringing in a great deal of the fans each year, include actor Bill Murray – who annually is paired with tour player D.A Points – as well as star musician Huey Lewis, who is from the Bay Area.

There are also some baseball players in this field, who can also swing a golf club pretty well. Josh Donaldson, a former Oakland Athletic who now plays for the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as San Francisco Giants right-hander Matt Cain, who has played in this tournament for the last several years along with teammate Buster Posey, will hit the links this week.

The tournament starts this Thursday, but the weather report does not look very promising however. The forecast calls for rain for each of the first two days of the tournament before it is expected to dry out just in time for the weekend crowds to arrive come Saturday morning.