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PGA Tour Player Justin Hicks at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Great Weather and Course Conditions Result in Low Scores at the AT&T

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AP Photo/Eric Risberg

By Jeff Hall

MONTEREY, CA –

Excellent course conditions and perfect weather has resulted in several great scoring opportunities for some of the players. Matt Jones playing Spyglass Hill, the course that is is typically considered the toughest of the three courses, now finds himself on top of the leaderboard. Jones got off to a good start and was four-under par after completing the Front nine. And finished the round six under par for the round and 12-under par for the tournament. The 34-year-old Australian has one win on the PGA tour, last year at the Shell Houston Open, where he finished 15-under par. Jones spoke of his play at the AT&T. “I have played well here in the past. I like playing here.” Jones was not surprised at how well Spyglass is playing. “Spyglass was playing good, the courses this year are the best conditions I’ve seen them since I’ve started playing here seven years ago.”, Said Jones.

Brandt Snedeker finished his round 5-under par and also playing Spyglass today is tied with Jones for the lead heading into the third round on Saturday.

The round of the day belongs to Jason Day. Day is now just 3 shots from the lead. It turned out that Day was fighting a stomach virus that has been running through his family. Day said he had not eaten, but said he started feeling better once he go to the course. “So to be able to shoot 9-under out there with how sick I was, thinking about pulling out, was pretty special. I put myself back in the tournament and I got two more days left.

Charlie Beljan who joined the PGA Tour in 2012 and has yet to win on tour . Belgian had an 8-under day at the Monterey Peninsula course. Beljan is two shots off the lead and was very pleased with the way he played. “It was a great round. I’ve never shot 61 out here so I got a little aggressive on the final hole, hit a bad shot and made bogey. But Boy, if you would have old me I was going to shoot 8-under and put myself back in the thick of things, especially how the year’s been going, I would have been really happy.” Beljan plays Spyglass tomorrow, which he said, “Spyglass is one of my favorite courses to play so I’m looking forward to it.

John Daly coming off a great first round at Pebble Beach played the Monterey Peninsula course today and struggled. Daly began the day with a bogey on the first hole and finished one-over on the day and is six shots off the lead. Daly plays Spyglass on Saturday.

Another notable player is Vijay Singh. Singh was 2-under par at Pebble Beach and is currently five shots off the lead and 7-under for the tournament.

First round leader J.B Holmes had a collapse on the 17th  where he triple bogeyed the hole at the Monterey Peninsula course which was costly and pushed him to six shots back.

No. 11 Utes roll past Cardinal

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, February 11, 2015

Utah continued its march toward its first-ever Pac-12 men’s basketball championship Thursday by routing Stanford 75-59 at a sold-out Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.

It was the Utes’ 16th consecutive home victory, paced by Delon Wright’s 15 points, five rebounds and four steals. Dallin Bachynski had 13 points and six rebounds, followed by 12 points each from Brekkott Chapman and Jordan Loveridge for Utah (19-4 overall, 9-2 Pac-12).

Anthony Brown led the Cardinal (16-8, 7-5) with 15 points, followed by Marcus Allen’s career-high 13 points – 10 of them in the first half.

Chasson Randle, Stanford’s leading scorer, was held to 10 points and didn’t hit his first basket until the 6:23 mark of the second half and was 0-for-4 behind the 3-point arc. Randle entered the game averaging 20.3 points per game.

Utah asserted itself with a 6-0 run to close out the first half, building a 33-27 lead at the break. The Utes opened the second half with a 15-2 run that included seven points from Loveridge and left Stanford in the dust.

Stanford travels to Boulder on Sunday to face Colorado.

Big-hitter Holmes continues great play

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By Jeremy Harness

Apparently, the sting of losing in a playoff days earlier didn’t last very long at all for J.B Holmes.

The Kentucky native, who fell to Australia’s Jason Day on the second playoff hole of last weekend’s Farmers Insurance Open, is off to a blistering start at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He is tied with Justin Hicks for the lead after shooting an eight-under 64 at Pebble Beach on Thursday.

The good vibes started immediately for Holmes, who is only more than three years removed from brain surgery. He began his day at the 10th, holing out from the fairway for an eagle, and he was off and running from there.

Of course, the conditions are more than optimal for scoring, as the local temperature was around 75 degrees with little wind issues, and it is expected to be in the high 70s throughout the weekend, which is highly unusual for this time of year and had most – if not all – players almost in a state of shock.

“The weather was awesome, so it was a lot of fun to be able to play this golf course with not a lot of wind and nice temperature,” Holmes said. “It was just a good day all around.

“Any time you get great weather and be able to play a beautiful place like that all day, you’re thinking, ‘This is perfect,’ and even if you don’t hit a good shot, the weather and this view is pretty amazing.”

Another notable is John Daly, an immensely-popular player who had struggled with his game in recent years but has pulled it back together lately, is right behind Holmes and Hicks with a seven-under 65.

“I love plying this golf course,” Daly said. “It’s just great to be able to come out here and not have to survive the (usually bad) weather and survive the golf course.

“But we’ll just see what happens (from here).”

Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson, who made his season debut last week at the Farmers after a six-month hiatus from the PGA Tour, is two under par after the first day and has a real shot at making the cut, a week after missing the cut by one stroke in La Jolla.

J.B Holmes is congratulated by his caddie at Pebble Beach.

Great Weather And Leaderboard Surprise

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AP Photo/Eric Risberg

By Jeff Hall

MONTEREY, CA –

It was Perfect weather at the Monterey Peninsula for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Many who have lived here for several years were surprised about the weather saying that the weather was the best it could possibly be this time of year. The weather was not the biggest surprise that was led to forty-eight year old John Daly who took was one of a few leaders who took advantage of the nice weather at Pebble Beach and finished with a first round 65 and is just one shot off the lead at seven under par.

J.B. Holmes and Justin Hicks, who also played at Pebble, are tied at the top finishing at eight under par. For Holmes it was the lowest first round score of his young career. Holmes continues to play well coming off a tough playoff loss to Justin Day at the Farmers Insurance open at La Jolla last week Day struggled to get it going at Pebble Beach and the first round at even par

Daly who has become a fan favorite was wearing some very loud and colorful outfit which has become his style.   Daly talked about his performance following the round saying, “I had a very good rhythm, and hopefully I can keep that rhythm going. “

Jim Furyk, playing in his first round of the year, played at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club is tied with Daly at seven under par along with four other golfers. Another player who plays well here Nick Watney is two shots off the lead at six under. Watney played his first round at the Monterey Peninsula course.

Vijay Singh is three shots back. Singh played at Spyglass Hill, which is consistently the toughest of the three courses in the event.

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am commentary: Tiger rehabbing bad back says it’s not surgery related; could be back in action Feb 25

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by Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness

Tiger Woods who is not at the AT&T Tournament and begged off at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines has announced on Wednesday that he will put the golf clubs in the closet while he rehabs his bad back. Woods had complained about back spasms during the Phoenix Open and had to leave that tournament. Tiger 39 has not said anything about retirement but listening to most radio talk shows the suggestion was not on short order.

Woods has said that his performance is not up to PGA standards and has said that he would not return to the game until his game is up to par. Woods during the Phoenix Open shot a career worst 82 shots and missed the cut by 12. Woods then moved onto LaJolla and shot 11 holes but back spasms forced him to leave that tour.

As of this week Woods said that his back is feeling better and that he was having physical therapy everyday and the treatments were helping.”Right now I need a lot of work on my game, and to spend time with the people that are important to me. My play, and scores are not acceptable for tournament golf. Like I’ve said, I enter a tournament to compete at the highest level, and when I think I’m ready I’ll be back.”

Tiger said that he could be back as soon as the Honda Classic on Feb 26th but said that he will not play in the tournament if he’s not up to code. Woods who had back surgery last spring said that his current condition is not related to the surgery and that these are a new set of back problems that he was dealing with at the Farmers Insurance Open.

When Woods left Torrey Pines he had treatment done to his back almost immediately on Feb 5, that day it was foggy and somewhat cool and that might have led up to his back having spasms. Woods agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN that therapy helped tremendously and gave Tiger a chance to see light at the other end of the tunnel in coming back this month, “it alleviated the discomfort quite a bit. They said it’s not surgery related and that was a great relief. I don’t know what you call it but their saying it wasn’t related to the surgery and he didn’t even need to see a doctor.”

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am this week at Pebble Beach Calif for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am commentary & podcast: Bill Murray and cavalcade of stars ready to swing the clubs

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by Daniel Dullum

Bill Murray who shows up at almost every AT&T Tour this year being no different as he lead the cavalcade of stars at Pebble Beach on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the top celebrity golfers appearing at this year’s event: Kenny G, Kelly Slater, Peyton Manning, Chris O’Donnell, and Wayne Gretzky. Is Murray a great golfer? We’ll if you were that good you’d be on the tour and Murray has a lot of fun with it. He’ll put on a show by himself for the folks who show up.

He brings an act to every tournament that he shows up at he has a way with connecting with the crowd they want to see a little bit of a show and he knows he’s not a great golfer so he disguises that with having fun with the crowd. With some of the celebrities that show up fans might be mildly surprised how these folks are at golf.

There’s former 49er quarterback John Brodie he actually played on the seniors tour for a little while and that was back in his playing day with the 49ers. He was very close to being a scratched golfer, he was good quite good back then does that surprise anyone that some celebrities can play the game? Not really, they have athletes like former 49ers quarterback and current Chief quarterback Alex Smith out there and he’s working on his game between seasons. Golf for these guys are a way for these guys to unwind in between season going to mini camp and working out.

A lot of these guys are a lot of fun to watch in scenario like this because I’ve got to cover a few celebrity golf tournaments through the years an just to watch these guys in the T box just swing away it’s just amazing how far they can hit. What usually does their game in is the short game or the approach shots when it comes to driving a lot of these guys former ball players have the strength to do it. It’s really fun watching them swing away and see how far they could hit it.

There is a lot of former pro hockey players that play quite well on the links, it does not surprise me if Gretzky has a little bit better game than the average celebrity. With the celebrities having their game on Wednesday before the pros get in there on Thursday it says a lot about the early days of the tournament it’s always been a highlight to bring in the celebrities whether it’s from sports or the entertainment field.

It’s a chance for those guys to rub elbows with the touring pros. The course at Pebble Beach is challenging and it’s one of the few like it in the world so and everybody enjoys getting out on a course like Pebble Beach to see how good they are. It’s probably the best American equivalent to the type of courses that are played on when the guys play in the British Open.

Daniel Dullum does commentary on the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am listen to his podcast on the AT&T below on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Legendary Basketball Coach Tarkanian has died.

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Legendary Basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian died Wednesday at the age of 84. Tarkanian entered the hospital Monday and his son Danny said "He fought and fought. Coach Tark, my father, the greatest man I have ever known, passed today, to take his place in heaven. I will miss him every day of my life."

Jerry Tarkanian was the second Hall of Fame coach to die in the last ten days. Dean Smith of North Carolina died last week. Tarkanian was a fantastically successful basketball coach for
over 40 years. He was not a great basketball player in his days at Fresno State but was a great leader. He had a great personality who had a great work ethic and enthusiasm for the game and was chosen as captain even though he was a backup guard. After graduation Jerry coached at the high school level before going on to coach Riverside City College from 1963 to 1964 where his team won three state titles and a record of 145-22. In 1966, he moved over to Pasadena City College and had a record of 67-4 while winning one state title.

Now, it was time to move on to Divison One college basketball. Jerry was hired to take over the moribund Long Beac State program. Long Beach had a losing record of 192-240 record under five coaches in the seventeen years prior to his arrival. Jerry turned the program into a winning one immediately. From 1968 to 1973 his record was 122-20 and the team won four conference titles in his five years there. Jerry moved on to the University of Nevada Las Vegas from 1973 to 1992 and he amassed a record of 509-105 and his team, the Running Rebels, won the NCAA championship in 1990. Jerry returned to has alma mater, Fresno State and coached there until his retirement in 2002. The Bulldogs reached the NCAA Tournament twice and had six straight 20-win seasons.
Jerry’s teams loved to play pressure defense and used the fast break to pulverize their opponents. Jerry was fun to watch while coaching as he had a habit of chewing on a wet towel during games.

Some other numbers of interest are the following. He had a winning percentage of .804 which is fourth best all-time. In addition, he had 778 career victories and tutored 42 players that were drafted by the NBA including 12 first-round selections.

While these numbers are tremendous, one has to ask -what kind of person was Jerry Tarkanian?
While he was a great coach and mentor, he was a compassionate man who believed that everyone in life deserved a second chance and he brought in a lot of young men that came from troubled backgrounds to play on his teams. Tarkanian wrote" My upbringing was why I related so well to kids from tough backgrounds or single-family homes. I was always at home with city kids. I understood what it was like to be raised by one parent, to grow up poor, and to have to move around and scrape to get things."

Jerry was approached by the Los Angeles Lakers to take over the helm in 1977, but he did not take the job. Jerry did take a job coaching the San Antonio Spurs in 1992, but his tenure there was short-lived as he was out after coaching just 20 games.

Jerry finished his career at Fresno Sate and was elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2013. The honor was long overdue, but many people felt that it was his battles with the NCAA that cost him the chance to enter the Hall at an earlier date.

Tarkanian had a long and successful life and the world of basketball is in mourning today for one of it’s most colorful characters. Rest in Peace, Jerry.

18th hole at Pebble Beach

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am commentary & podcast: Taking you through the experience of being at the Pebble Beach course

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by Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH–For those of you who have never been at Pebble Beach you usually go to the lodge when first arriving for the AT&T and if you go around the corner on the right hand corner of the lodge and as your going around the corner one of the first things that you see is the coast crashing against the 18th Fairway and the 18th hole, it makes your jaw drop it’s gorgeous.

The golf is great but you get the bonus of the glorious creation of the land and the sea it breathtaking and gorgeous. The setting couldn’t be better and this tournament started out in Southern California and Bing Crosby moved it to the Monterey Peninsula and he picked the right spot and were all still being rewarded for that decision.

If you think about it, think about the name of the tournament like the last tournament in Torrey Pines in San Diego it’s corporate sponsored Farmers Insurance Open and so is this one but they didn’t call the last one Farmers Insurance LaJolla, this one is actually called the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. You put the name of the location that tells you how important that location is.

The experience of meeting the celebrities is special in this event. It give you the experience of getting up in front of people in the entertainment industry that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to get in front of. If there are any presidents playing which there are not there will be that much more people and their staff and security working the event but we won’t have that this year.

Speaking about LaJolla, Torrey Pines is a wonderful golf course but it is not Pebble Beach. There are a lot of players to look forward to seeing in this tournament that will be appearing Ernie Els being one, Jason Day, J.B. Holmes who won last week’s tournament will be playing this week. There will be some good golfers showing up at the tournament, also the PGA had a rough week this week losing Tiger Woods after 11 holes at Torrey Pines to a back injury, the passing of the PGA’s first black player Charlie Sifford passed away at age 92 and Billy Casper passed away at the age of 83.

Also it’s not known how long Tiger is going to be out, he had to leave in his last three tournaments due to a bad back. Since the big story of the spat between ex-wife Elin Nordegren in December 2009 Woods has not played up to his past potential. Whether Woods can come back based on what happened in LaJolla is still a mystery and the PGA hopes that Woods can make a comeback soon he’s been the face of the PGA for decades.

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am for http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to Jeff’s podcast below

AT&T Pebble Beach PGA Tournament commentary: The course is breathtaking and the tournament historical

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by Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness

Spyglass Hill at Pebble Beach will be the site of the AT&T PGA Tournament this golf course is enough just to take in the view and almost make the tournament secondary with it’s slight breezes and views of the ocean crashing behind the competitors. When you get ready to club your way thought the first five holes to greet you with sand hill dunes making the golfers use their skills and strategy and the player’s aim carefully.

Get past those five holes and look out for the next 13 holes with pines that are gorgeous to view and greens that are elevated, the bunkers can be tricky to drive the ball around and when you get there you try to skillfully avoid certain conditions. There are holes that are noted for being one big rough. They have even named some of the holes for it’s challenging greens and uneven areas one is named the “Black Dog” and the other is named “Billy Bones”.

After looking at what the participants are up against in this tournament it’s wonder they’re fully aware that Spyglass Hill Golf Course is the toughest course in the world. The course rating is at 75.5 and the slope rating is 147. Look for holes six, eight and 16 amongst the toughest holes on the course. For example the stroke average was a whopping 79 during the U.S. Amateur in 1999.

Historically Spyglass was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr and opened in 1966, it took the course six years until completion, the course is in rotation for the AT&T as the tournament has been hosted by the Pebble Beach Company. Bing Crosby lent his name for the tournament, after Crosby died in 1977 the Crosby family hosted the event and then in 1985 AT&T bought the naming rights.

In 1937 Crosby first hosted the National Pro Am Golf Championship in Southern California at the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club. PGA all time tour winner Sam Snead won the first tournament when the tournament had just 18 holes and Snead won the lion’s share of $500. In 1938 the tournament added another round through 1942. In 1947 the game grew and the tournament added 54 holes near the Monterey coast.

Beginning in 1947 the tournament was at the Pebble Beach Golf Links at Cyprus Point Club and the Monterey Peninsula Country Club until 1966. In 1958 the tournament grew to 72 holes and in 1967 Spyglass Hill replaced the Monterey Peninsula Country Club as the third course. In 1991 the Cyprus Point Club was dropped by the PGA when they would not allow an African American member in the club and the tournament was then moved to Poppy Hills.

The players were not happy with Poppy Hills due to it’s unkempt condition and the tournament was later returned to the Monterey Peninsula Country Club in 2010 and the rest is history.

Jeff Hall and Jeremy Harness are covering the AT&T Pebble Beach PGA Tournament for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Stanford Burned in the Desert, Lose Second Straight

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By: Joe Lami

The Arizona weekend has turned into one from hell, as the Cardinal were swept by both Arizona teams after the Wildcats win over Stanford 60-57 on Sunday afternoon. It’s the first time the Cardinal were swept on a Pac-12 road trip since 2008, where USC and UCLA gave Stanford fits.

The Cardinal completely collapsed in the second half, as they went into halftime with a 12-point lead. Arizona came out of the half strong, dominating the Cardinal on a 15-6 run that lasted ten minutes. The last minute was the most crucial though, as Arizona was able to go on a 10-0 run to finish the win.

Candice Warthen had seven of the final ten points, as she led the Wildcats with 19 points. It marks Arizona’s first win over Stanford in 25 attempts. Sunday is just Arizona’s second conference win of the season.

Amber Orrange and Lili Thompson each led the way for the Cardinal with 13 points apiece. They were the only Cardinal to get into double figures in scoring. Bonnie Samuelson, Karlie Samuelson and Taylor Greenfield did get close with eight points each.

The Cardinal look to rebound from the loss, with a home game back on Maples Pavilion against USC on Friday.