2007 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am Preview
shlinklincoln February 6th, 2007
Preview
Ah, it’s Pebble Beach time! Pebble Beach is a great venue and one of my favorite tournaments outside of the majors. With the amazing coastal background and the celebrity antics, Pebble Beach is always entertaining. This tourny dates back to the late 30’s when it was hosted by Bing Crosby.
Last season Arron Oberholser won by five strokes over Rory Sabbatini. Oberholser is out with a back injury and will not be able to defend his title this season.
There is a big field this week and golfers will be playing on all three different courses in the first three rounds, with the top 60 plus ties advancing to the final round on Sunday. Look for Davis Love III to possibly be in the final group on Sunday. Love has won here twice, in 2001 and 2003.
Another two time winner (1998 and 2005) in the field this week is Phil Mickelson, but quite frankly I just don’t have faith in Lefty until his putting and iron play improve. Phil did a lot of strength training in the off season that is affecting his iron accuracy. Lefty will recover fine in time for Augusta, but I don’t see him being in contention on Sunday at Pebble Beach.
Mike Weir was in the final Sunday pairing last season, before shooting a 78 and finishing T3. He has finished in the top 10 here 6 out of 9 starts. (Vijay has a similar streak, finishing in the top 10 in 6 of his previous 8 starts on the Monerey Peninsula). Weir’s exceptional accuracy and short game (currently 22nd in GIR) could keep him in the running again this year. This also bodes well for Luke Donald (2nd in GIR) who finished T7 here in 2006.
Padraig Harrington (OWGR #9) is making his 2007 PGA debut at Pebble Beach. Interestingly, Paddy has never played in this event and has not played since finishing T5 at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on the European Tour in early January. Harrington typically doesn’t play on the PGA Tour until the Match Play Championships in late February so his being in the field this week is encouraging and tells me that he came to win. (Who doesn’t come to win, right?)
Another cool aspect of the Pebble Beach Pro Am is the celebrity draw. Look for shenagins from tournament regulars Bill Murray, Ray Ramano and Kevin James just to name a few. It’s always a lively atmosphere when the stars come out to play a little golf. Some lucky son of a gun is going to caddy for Camilo Villages this week. How cool would that be? Caddy tip for Camilo, “Do the Spider.”
