Snedeker makes it look easy at Pebble Beach
Brandt Snedeker (Photo credit: Keith Allison)
After back-to-back runner-up finishes to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Brandt Snedeker’s final round 65 was enough to hang on over a slew of contenders, as he won the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday. The victory gives Snedeker his fifth career PGA Tour win, and his seventh top-10 finish in his last ten events.
What happened
Snedeker entered the final round in a tie for the lead with James Hahn, and even though there were a few moments where it looked possible that he would be caught by either Hahn, Chris Kirk or Jimmy Walker, Snedeker seemed in control at all times. He’s not a big hitter, but he is arguably the best putter in the world, and it showed this week, especially in the final round. His control on Sunday was superb, hitting tons of fairways and greens, and outside of a horrible downhill putt on the 9th, he didn’t make a bad stroke on the greens all day. For all of the complaints about slow play in the game right now, Snedeker is the polar opposite. There is no hesitation, which was really evident when compared to Hahn, who at times looked like he was standing completely still.
After this week, he’s been under par in 18 of 19 rounds in 2013, and there’s no doubt that he’s the hottest player in the world right now. With the win, Snedeker moves into 4th in the Official World Golf Rankings, sitting behind only Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Luke Donald. He’s currently not scheduled to be in the field next week at the Northern Trust Open, but he should be appearing the week after in the WGC-Accenture World Match Play.
Final Leaderboard
1. Brandt Snedeker -19
2. Chris Kirk -17
T3. Jimmy Walker -14
T3. James Hahn -14
T3. Kevin Stadler -14
Chris Berman shows you how not to play a bunker shot…twice
ESPN’s Chris Berman always plays in the pro-am portion of this event and claims to carry a 15 handicap, but this is definitely not the way to play a bunker shot. Watch until the end to see the look of disgust on Berman’s face.
Courtesy: PGATour.com
And take two…
Courtesy: PGATour.com
Take this as your reminder that we’re not far away from having to listen to Berman at the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. At that point, you’ll be begging to see this instead of hearing things like Justin “Kiss From A” Rose.
The broadcast window
This is by no means a new issue, but if there’s something that the PGA Tour can very easily address, it’s the broadcast window. Every weekend, there’s a half-hour window in which there is no live TV coverage while the action switches to CBS or NBC from Golf Channel. The idea that the viewer can watch the first 90 minutes of TV coverage of the final two rounds, but then has to wait 30 minutes in between is ridiculous. I understand that they are also working on their digital coverage to get more access, but the last thing that any organization should want to do is have people walk away from the TV when the tournament is on.
In Sunday’s final round, viewers missed out on seeing the final group play a pair of holes, including the famous par-3 7th. I understand that there are other issues at play here, but they really should get this sorted out so people can actually watch full, proper coverage on the weekend.
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood is a huge golf fan, and works as an ambassador for the Back9Network. He’s made numerous appearances on CBS over the years, but the one he made this week was definitely the most awkward. For some reason, CBS decided that it was a good idea to have Eastwood appear for the last 45 minutes of the broadcast. After taking a couple of questions from Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo, Eastwood simply had enough of the headset, and took it off.
Nance thinks Clint Eastwood’s headphones slipped off and needs help… twitter.com/jim_thome/stat…
— Jim Thome (@jim_thome) February 10, 2013
The look of horror on the face of Nantz when he realized that Eastwood’s headset was off was priceless.
Other notes about the event
- ICYMI, Phil Mickelson took a bit of a tumble in Saturday’s second round. He was never a factor in the event after winning last week, but he will be in the field at the Northern Trust on Thursday.
- Two surprising missed cuts this week: Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney. In the case of Johnson, he spent the pro-am portion playing with Wayne Gretzky, the father of his girlfriend Paulina. Considering his history here, with two wins and three other top-10’s in six events, his result is definitely the most shocking of the week.
- After finishing in the top-10 twelve times in 2011, Jason Day struggled in 2012, but he’s already got a pair of top-10’s this year. Keep an eye on him in the coming weeks.
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