This is an official good luck post for my buddy Bryant Jacobs, who is playing in the Northern Trust Open pro-am today at Riviera Country Club. Bryant, pictured below 2nd from the left and next to me, was injured in Iraq by a road side bomb.
Bryant is 2nd from left, I'm 2nd from right.
“Bry” has gotten the golf bug and now addicted just like me. For more info on Bryant read this link, “A friend and inspiration lives” and this one too, “Injured Iraq war vet and golf buddy gets new home.”
GOOD LUCK BUDDY!
With snow flying here at HOG World Headquarters, I was hunkered down in the man cave with computer in lap and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the 42-inch. What a fantastic and entertaining Sunday to watch golf. I’ve got so many random thoughts to pry out of my cerebral cortex. I hope they make some sense.
Before Sunday’s round, the media had practically handed Tiger Woods the trophy. The previews for CBS were 100% Tiger Saturday. After Saturday’s round Golf Channel did a whole show on Pebble and I unscientifically measured it out at 96.8% Tiger coverage, almost as high as the percentage of ED ads in their programming.
Have they all seen something I haven’t? Tiger had yet to put together four complete rounds of golf since he had “returned.” There’s always that one round, usually the last, which costs him the chance at victory. And yes, I’m not counting the Chevron. The short game hasn’t been up to a Tiger-like level and the putting inconsistent.
During Sunday’s Pebble round Tiger’s body language was quite telling and hard to watch. I can’t remember seeing Tiger’s shoulders slumped and his head down like that. Every amateur golfer, myself included, has been like that but it was really something to see TW like that. He was no doubt dejected and frustrated. He couldn’t make anything happen. The putts he missed were low side and weak. On poa greens, especially later in the day, you must putt aggressively. It was shocking to see TW miss those five putts under five feet and especially those two around 20 inches. That never used to happen. The 3-putt for par on the final hole was hard to watch, and symbolic of the day. Tiger’s putts per greens in regulation was 2.222, and he only hit 50% of his greens Sunday.
At this point Tiger is 100% physically healthy. What’s going on inside his head is the question. Short game, putting especially is about confidence. No doubt those issues will need to be resolved for him to win. There’s NO way he can contend putting like that at Augusta.
Arguably there’s no player on the PGA Tour with more raw talent than Phil Mickelson. It is quite something to watch what we saw yesterday, when all the talent, focus and game plan are in perfect form. Sorry, “phorm.” When that happens, Phil drops a 64 and comes back from six shots to win, beating Tiger by 11 shots.
Ironically the only real “bad” shot I saw from Phil was the flop on #12 when Tiger had holed out from the bunker for birdie. But the super hot putter for Phil shut down any chances Tiger had when he drained a 31 foot par saving put.
Thinking about Phil’s career at this point… This win was his 40th on the PGA Tour, most of those 40 coming during the “Tiger era.” That is quite amazing. Phil turned pro in 1992 and Tiger in 1996. That 40th win puts him past Tom Watson to #9 on the all time win list. Four major wins and 2nd place finishes in six other majors. He’s got 2x as many major wins as Greg Norman and over 2x as many tour wins.
Almost Made It
I was quite happy to have made it through to Sunday’s coverage at Pebble without once seeing George Lopez. Thanks to Nick Faldo for ruining that buzz by putting the un-funny comedian in a bunker drill piece during final round coverage. Despite some of the bad parts of CBS’s and TGC’s coverage, I was happy to not have to endure too many amateur golf swings.
Other Players
Tough to see Charlie Wi lose the lead, but not unexpected. He did make quite a comeback though. The strong finish Sunday gave him a solid 2nd place finish.
Mike Weir… Weir missed the cut with rounds of 70, 73 and 78. Wonder if he will ever come back to form?
Two Wilson guys played well, Ricky Barnes and Padraig Harrington. They record 3rd place and a T7 respectively. Nice to see that, seriously.
Below is the final leader board for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where Phil Mickelson shot a stellar 64 in the final round to beat Tiger Woods by 11 shots for the win.
POS | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
|
Phil Mickelson
|
-17 | 70 | 65 | 70 | 64 | 269 |
2
|
Charlie Wi
|
-15 | 61 | 69 | 69 | 72 | 271 |
3
|
Ricky Barnes
|
-13 | 70 | 66 | 70 | 67 | 273 |
4
|
Aaron Baddeley
|
-12 | 66 | 72 | 69 | 67 | 274 |
T5
|
Kevin Na
|
-11 | 66 | 69 | 70 | 70 | 275 |
T5
|
Dustin Johnson
|
-11 | 63 | 72 | 70 | 70 | 275 |
T7
|
Padraig Harrington
|
-10 | 68 | 66 | 72 | 70 | 276 |
T7
|
Ken Duke
|
-10 | 64 | 73 | 65 | 74 | 276 |
T9
|
Spencer Levin
|
-9 | 69 | 69 | 71 | 68 | 277 |
T9
|
Jimmy Walker
|
-9 | 69 | 68 | 71 | 69 | 277 |
T9
|
Jason Kokrak
|
-9 | 68 | 67 | 72 | 70 | 277 |
T9
|
Greg Owen
|
-9 | 68 | 67 | 72 | 70 | 277 |
T9
|
Kevin Streelman
|
-9 | 70 | 69 | 68 | 70 | 277 |
T9
|
Brendon Todd
|
-9 | 67 | 69 | 69 | 72 | 277 |
T15
|
Richard H. Lee
|
-8 | 65 | 71 | 73 | 69 | 278 |
T15
|
Steven Bowditch
|
-8 | 71 | 67 | 72 | 68 | 278 |
T15
|
Hunter Mahan
|
-8 | 65 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 278 |
T15
|
Bob Estes
|
-8 | 67 | 70 | 69 | 72 | 278 |
T15
|
Tiger Woods
|
-8 | 68 | 68 | 67 | 75 | 278 |
T20
|
Davis Love III
|
-7 | 70 | 70 | 70 | 69 | 279 |
T20
|
Robert Garrigus
|
-7 | 68 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 279 |
T20
|
Brian Gay
|
-7 | 69 | 65 | 74 | 71 | 279 |
T20
|
Brian Harman
|
-7 | 64 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 279 |
T20
|
Ryan Moore
|
-7 | 72 | 64 | 71 | 72 | 279 |
T25
|
Danny Lee
|
-6 | 63 | 73 | 74 | 70 | 280 |
T25
|
Vijay Singh
|
-6 | 68 | 68 | 71 | 73 | 280 |
T25
|
Geoff Ogilvy
|
-6 | 70 | 69 | 68 | 73 | 280 |
T25
|
Kevin Stadler
|
-6 | 69 | 70 | 73 | 68 | 280 |
T29
|
Miguel Angel Carballo
|
-5 | 69 | 71 | 69 | 72 | 281 |
T29
|
Sean O’Hair
|
-5 | 68 | 74 | 69 | 70 | 281 |
T29
|
Zach Johnson
|
-5 | 67 | 72 | 72 | 70 | 281 |
T29
|
Brian Davis
|
-5 | 70 | 74 | 68 | 69 | 281 |
T29
|
Ryan Palmer
|
-5 | 72 | 71 | 64 | 74 | 281 |
T29
|
Rocco Mediate
|
-5 | 71 | 66 | 76 | 68 | 281 |
T35
|
Mathew Goggin
|
-4 | 69 | 71 | 69 | 73 | 282 |
T35
|
Mark D. Anderson
|
-4 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 282 |
T35
|
Josh Teater
|
-4 | 64 | 71 | 77 | 70 | 282 |
T35
|
Charley Hoffman
|
-4 | 67 | 73 | 73 | 69 | 282 |
T35
|
John Huh
|
-4 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 69 | 282 |
T40
|
D.J. Trahan
|
-3 | 70 | 69 | 71 | 73 | 283 |
T40
|
Jonas Blixt
|
-3 | 70 | 69 | 69 | 75 | 283 |
T40
|
Daniel Summerhays
|
-3 | 65 | 73 | 73 | 72 | 283 |
T40
|
Joseph Bramlett
|
-3 | 66 | 69 | 73 | 75 | 283 |
T40
|
Nick Watney
|
-3 | 66 | 73 | 69 | 75 | 283 |
T40
|
Jim Furyk
|
-3 | 69 | 69 | 74 | 71 | 283 |
T40
|
Tom Gillis
|
-3 | 74 | 72 | 66 | 71 | 283 |
T40
|
Nathan Green
|
-3 | 66 | 76 | 71 | 70 | 283 |
T40
|
Heath Slocum
|
-3 | 74 | 71 | 68 | 70 | 283 |
T40
|
Harris English
|
-3 | 75 | 68 | 70 | 70 | 283 |
T50
|
Joe Ogilvie
|
-2 | 68 | 73 | 70 | 73 | 284 |
T50
|
Roberto Castro
|
-2 | 70 | 68 | 73 | 73 | 284 |
T50
|
Bobby Gates
|
-2 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 73 | 284 |
T50
|
Ian Poulter
|
-2 | 69 | 72 | 72 | 71 | 284 |
T54
|
Roland Thatcher
|
-1 | 71 | 68 | 70 | 76 | 285 |
T54
|
Tom Pernice Jr.
|
-1 | 72 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 285 |
T54
|
Gary Christian
|
-1 | 72 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 285 |
T54
|
Hunter Haas
|
-1 | 72 | 69 | 72 | 72 | 285 |
T58
|
Matt Bettencourt
|
E | 73 | 69 | 70 | 74 | 286 |
T58
|
John Mallinger
|
E | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 286 |
T58
|
Pat Perez
|
E | 67 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 286 |
T61
|
Shane Bertsch
|
+1 | 68 | 75 | 65 | 79 | 287 |
T61
|
Tim Petrovic
|
+1 | 70 | 70 | 72 | 75 | 287 |
T61
|
Cameron Tringale
|
+1 | 71 | 71 | 70 | 75 | 287 |
T61
|
Sang-Moon Bae
|
+1 | 68 | 73 | 72 | 74 | 287 |
T65
|
Lee Janzen
|
+2 | 72 | 71 | 70 | 75 | 288 |
T65
|
Kyle Reifers
|
+2 | 69 | 72 | 72 | 75 | 288 |
T67
|
D.A. Points
|
+3 | 72 | 65 | 74 | 78 | 289 |
T67
|
Stuart Appleby
|
+3 | 72 | 71 | 70 | 76 | 289 |
MDF
|
Kevin Chappell
|
E | 71 | 70 | 73 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Graham DeLaet
|
E | 66 | 77 | 71 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Kent Jones
|
E | 71 | 74 | 69 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Kris Blanks
|
E | 70 | 72 | 72 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Billy Horschel
|
E | 70 | 72 | 72 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Ryuji Imada
|
E | 67 | 74 | 73 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Martin Flores
|
E | 73 | 73 | 68 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Bryce Molder
|
E | 67 | 74 | 73 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Martin Laird
|
E | 70 | 71 | 73 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Derek Lamely
|
E | 74 | 68 | 72 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
John Peterson
|
E | 70 | 75 | 69 | – | 214 |
MDF
|
Sam Saunders
|
E | 72 | 68 | 74 | – | 214 |
Below is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am leader board through three rounds. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are paired together in the final round today and in contention just four shots back. The big question with Tiger is can he put a fourth good round together and if so, will it be enough to catch Charlie Wi.
Below there are three abbreviations: 1. CUT = Player missed the cut. 2. MDF = Made cut, didn’t finish (that strange recent rule where players can actually make the cut and be in the money without playing following cut day). 3. WD = Withdrew.
Click here to see the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am TV coverage schedule. (more…)
Here’s the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am leader board through two rounds. Phil Mickelson is T8 and Tiger Woods starts Saturday six shots back of Charlie Wi. Good news for Phil and Tiger is that they’re playing Pebble, which is playing easier.
(more…)