This week we head to the majestic Pebble Beach in California for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am. This event first started in 1937 at the Rancho Santa Fe golf club and was hosted by Bing Crosby. The event was won by the legendary Sam Snead who won $500 for his efforts all those years ago. This year the winner receives a whopping $1,170,000. The event moved to courses in Pebble Beach in 1947 and has been there ever since.
This event is played on three different courses and at present they are Pebble Beach Golf Links (Par 72), Monterey Peninsula Shore Course (Par 70) and Spyglass Hills Golf Course (Par 72). The Pebble beach course hugs the coastline with Cliffside fairways and sloping greens. It is a wonderful challenge and makes for great viewing with its amazing back drop. Pebble Beach also hosted the 2010 US Open.
Everyone plays all 3 courses before a 54 hole cut with the players who make the cut then playing Pebble Beach for a second time.
This event is not every player’s cup of tea as rounds can sometimes take up to 6 hours due to the amateurs who are paired with the professionals. A lot of patience is required if you are to do well this weekend. A few notable celebrities this week include the likes of Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers quarterback), Kid Rock (musicain0, Kenny G (musician), Wayne Gretzky (Hockey Legend) and Don Cheadle (actor).
Apart from a lot of patience, the winner will need to hit a lot of greens this week as the greens at Pebble Beach are very small. They can also be very tricky greens as they are Poa Annua and can play very bumpy in the afternoons. So look for someone who has a great short game and is also a good scrambler.
Driving distance is not a big factor this week as the weather will be good and the fairways will allow for a good roll which brings the bombers back to the field. Accuracy will be the more important driving stat.
The Bookies Top 5 in betting are- 11/1 Jason Day, 12/1 Dustin Johnson, 14/1 Phil Mickelson, 16/1 Hunter Mahan and 18/1 Jordan Spieth.
Looking at the field this year I have two players who I believe will play well here and should give us 4 days of excitement and thrills. They are-
Hunter Mahan 16/1 www.sportsbet.com.au
The World No.33 player has 5 PGA Tour victories to his name and this week could be number six. This will be his third outing in 2014 after starting with a 47th at the Farmers Insurance and a T4th last week at the Phoenix Open.
Hunter played some wonderful golf last week with rounds of 66-71-54-68 to finish at -14 just two shots behind the winner Kevin Stadler. He now finds himself at a tournament where he has had good success in the past. This will be his eleventh start in the event where he has had 5 Top 20 finishes from 10 starts. More recently he has finished 2nd in 2011, T15th in 2012 and T16th last year.
Looking at his stats from last year on the PGA Tour he was ranked 11th in ball striking, 25th in driving accuracy, 25th in greens in regulation, 27th in strokes gained putting and 22nd in scoring average. If he can replicate those numbers this week he will go very close to winning.
Justin Hicks 100/1 www.sportsbet.com.au
Some of you may consider this a selection from left field however Hicks should be looked at as a genuine longshot contender who should also be backed in Top 10 and Top 20 markets.
It has been an interesting journey to the PGA Tour for Justin. Like most golfers he started out on the web.com tour where he won his first tournament in 2008 at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. He then won the BMW Charity Pro-Am in 2010 on the same tour.
2011 saw him join there PGA Tour where Hicks only made 7 cuts from 23 starts. It was back to the web.com for 2012 where he had 10 Top 10 finishes from 25 starts. He also finished 5th at the Web.com Tour Championship.
It was then back to the PGA Tour in 2013 where he made 16 cuts from 25 starts. The highlight was a T7th at the FedEx St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind. The course has tight narrow fairways where driving accuracy and hitting greens is the main factor much like Pebble Beach.
This season Justin has had 8 starts and made 7 cuts. Highlights have been T16th Frys.com Open, T6th OHL Classic at Mayakoba and T19th Phoenix Open last week. At the Phoenix Open he hit 81% of Greens in Regulation! and had rounds of 71-70-69-67 improving every round.
It is also worth noting he finished T12th here last year when his game was no where near the level it is at this season. He is also currently ranked 1st in Greens in Regulation, 1st in Ball Striking, 12th in Driving Accuracy, 36th in Strokes Gained Putting, 28th in Scoring average and 8th in Total Driving.
Keep a close eye on him this week. At the current odds he is well worth a speculation bet.
Good luck and good Punting.
