Five things we learned from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Let's be honest, we're all incredibly busy. Nobody has time to sit down and watch four rounds of golf each week -- unless, of course, you watch TV for a living, and if that's the case, please email us your number. So in an effort to condense the tournament coverage for you into a few quick hits, here are five things we learned from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Phil Mickelson is back ... for at least one week — It's hard to get a read on Lefty these days. One moment he's missing half of his fairways and can't make a putt to save his life, and the next he's bringing the course to its knees with some of the best golf we've seen from him since last year's Shell Houston Open. It appears Mickelson is back on the golf radar, but given his propensity for up and down play, you have to wonder if this was just one good round of golf or the beginning of a special year. For now, we're inclined to stick with the latter (because that final round performance really was that good).
It's all mental for Tiger Woods — Say what you want about the swing and balky putter being the chief causes of Tiger Woods' Sunday collapse at Pebble Beach, but after watching him fail to convert in three of the last four events, you have think the mental game is playing a part. Woods looked flawless from tee-to-green for three days, and when he suddenly found himself in contention again, his game fell apart. The same thing happened in Abu Dhabi, and at the Australian Open, which leads you to believe there's something going on upstairs. With his swing all but back, the final step is building up the confidence level. Most thought that happened when he won at the Chevron, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Slow play continues at the Pro-Am — Tournament officials have to do something about the slow play at Pebble Beach Pro-Am. If you want to know why the big names continue to bypass an event on one of the top courses in the world, just look at the pace of play this week. Groups were taking upwards of six hours to complete their rounds, which is absurd. I understand the importance of bringing the celebrities and some of the tour's big-money sponsors out to Pebble for the week, but the tournament is losing out on some high-profile names by continuing to play the event with a full field. After years of watching Pebble slowly turn into a middle-tier event, it's time tournament officials got serious about the pace of play and did something about it.
David Feherty: "The Irish don't dance, we hold each other up." — Just listen to Feherty's one-liner following Ken Duke's hole-out. Enough said.
54-hole leaders are cursed — For the third consecutive week, the 54-hole leader managed to blow a sizable lead on Sunday. Granted, final-round leader Charlie Wi didn't implode like Kyle Stanley and Spencer Levin did over the last couple of weeks, but his three-putt from four feet on the first hole said it all: 54-hole leaders are doomed! Seriously, if you want to win a tournament this year, make sure you're at least six shots or more behind the leader going into the final round.
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