By Jay Betsill
The celebrity-fest that is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am featured some of the best weather in the event’s history that translated into the best scoring in tournament history. Brandt Snedeker a 5-under 67 bogey-free round on Sunday to break his own scoring record and won the event for the second time in three years.
The victory assures Snedeker of a spot in the Masters and the World Golf Championships as it moves him back into the top 50 at No. 31. He had fallen out of the top 50 at the end of last year for the first time since 2011.
Nick Watney, playing alongside Snedeker in the penultimate group, shot a 69 to wind up three shots behind the winner. 54-hole leader Jim Furyk was never a factor as he shot 74 and slipped to a tie for seventh. It was the ninth consecutive time that Furyk had failed to win when leading after the 54 hole mark.
John Daly made news with an opening round 65 that saw the two-time major champion hovering at the top of the leaderboard, but failed to make the cut following a 72 and 73 in the next two rounds. Pat Perez and Michael Lund, the co-founder of Pandora Jewelry, won the pro-am competition at 42-under.
Notables included Dustin Johnson (T4, -17), Jason Day (T4, -17), Jordan Spieth (T7, -16), Chesson Hadley (T10, -15), defending champion Jimmy Walker (T21, -13) and Billy Horschel (T45, -9).
Next up on the PGA Tour is the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. Notables in the field include two-time champion Fred Couples, Keegan Bradley, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Jordan Spieth, Bradnt Snedeker, Dustin Johnson and defending champion Bubba Watson.
NOTES
— Tiger Woods announced on Wednesday that he was taking an indefinite break from golf because the shape of his game is “not acceptable.” That announcement followed his career-worst round of 82 in the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open and his withdrawal after 11 holes at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines last week.
— Jordan Spieth is the first golfer to have an on-course endorsement with AT&T since Tiger Woods in 2010.
“It’s an honor because it really was a big investment for them to get back into having branding on the golf course,” Spieth said this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. “They were almost, from what I had heard, kind of set on being very hesitant in doing that going forward when the split happened with Tiger. So it really was kind of a perfect scenario for me being Dallas-based myself.”
