AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Recap
Clear weather and tough competition led to a record low 4-day total score at the 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. Winner Brandt Snedeker shot a 22 under, 265 in the four day event to take home the $1,224,000.00 first prize. This is Snedeker’s second win a Pebble Beach – having claimed the $1,170,000.00 first prize in 2013 – and was especially sweet after a 2014 season in which he struggled.
As we look at each day’s play, it was consistency which separated the leaders from the rest of the pack.
Snedeker’s first round 64 was a stand-out performance but by no means unique as fellow pros Jim Furyk, Chesson Hadley, J.B. Holmes and Justin Hicks matched that score. The secret to the win was a series of 67’s one after another – while other golfers gambled and lost in an effort to pick up a stroke, Snedeker got into the groove and stayed there through the final hole.
We analyzed the final scores to see if we could find some pearls others had missed…and we were not disappointed. In slots 2 through 5 (Nick Watney, Charlie Beljan, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day), every other day found them either at pace with the leaders or requiring two or three strokes more on the day. Interim leader Jim Furyk as well as Matt Jones were contenders until the final round when they fell six off pace. Further down the field we see that Will Wilcox (who ended tied for 18th) had what it took…until a round three 73 took him out of contention. Even Ryan Armour (who ended tied for 29th) showed promise…but his second round 73 also proved his undoing.
Under the heading: “Memorable Rounds”, we file Jason Day’s second round 62 and Charlie Beljan’s 63. The third round also provided inspiration with Scott Brown’s 62, Jim Furyk’s 63 (which pushed him temporarily into the lead) and Marcel Siem’s 63. Congratulations to each on their skill and performance on those days.
Brandt Snedeker’s post-win press conference touched on several topics which we found interesting:
An Emotional Win: “It was a long time coming. The last year and a half were not up to my standards and what I thought I was capable of so I made some change in the middle of last year. I got better at the end of last year but didn’t quite show it. To come out here with my back against the wall in tourney’s I like to play and to then come out here and play the way I did was very special and emotional for me.”
A Positive Change: “I switched instructors to Butch Harmon (http://www.butchharmon.com/ ). He helped me a lot in understanding my golf swing…and how I should release the golf club…and what I should focus on. He changed the way I went about swinging the golf club. As a result I am more comfortable and to hit the shots I did today under pressure validates [Ed. his teaching and] what I was thinking. Only one bogey in 72 holes is a good feat and something I never thought I was capable of doing. So it is nice to see that kind of result.”
The Course: “It was tougher than most guys anticipated. The pin positions…and the greens firmed up / were very hard to read. But I stayed patient. My rounds were not picture perfect. I made a lot of mistakes. I focused on puting the ball where it was supposed to go and limiting those mistakes the best I could. If you do that around here and make a few putts – which I did today – then you can be successful.
Getting Out Of Your Head: “It’s about hard work – there are no short cuts. I was just trying to make sure that the changes I made…I put the time and effort into practicing them…and was getting better each week. In the last four tourneys I can think of…instead of thinking about my swing, I was just playing golf. I managed my game as best as possible. I moved out of the rut of “working on my game” and instead just played golf.”
Focus: “This was the best thinking week I’ve had on the PGA tour. Thinking is under rated on the PGA tour…of how you play a golf course…of where I missed the golf ball…of where I hit the golf ball and trying to limit your mistakes. For me to play 72 holes with one bogey – I never thought that was possible. That’s just not the kind of golfer I am. I make a lot of bogeys and a lot of birdies – that’s the kind of golfer I am – and to play this way over four days lets me know I am thinking and doing the right stuff.”
A Golfer’s Life: “You all don’t see the low times, the tough times. I had not played up to my capabilities. I wasn’t happy with my game. There’s a lot of stuff on the golf side – it’s tough, it takes a toll on you. You wonder if you are going to get back to where you were. Did I make the right decisions. So to go out there and validate the way I did. To have my family here, my wife, my kids, my mom and dad is really special. It’s a big win for a lot of different reasons.”
A Champion’s Drive: “I don’t like playing golf and not feeling like I can compete and win. And for six/eight months of last year, I didn’t feel like I could do that. My game wasn’t where it needed to be, it wasn’t sharp and that is when I made the switch to Butch and it took me time to understand how to handle what he wanted me to do with the golf swing on the golf course. You can’t do that under pressure and expect to have great results – so it was a tough year. All the work we put in and all the work I put into my short game kind of helped me understand that this year is a new year to prove myself…and hopefully this is the type of player I will be going forward.”
The Pro’s Coach: “I started working with Butch right before last year’s U.S Open. He did a great job of helping me understand how I swing the club and what I needed to do to be successful. The great thing about Butch is he is not technical at all. He instills confidence in you even when you don’t realize he’s doing it. We might have a three hour practice session and he might say one thing about my swing or fifteen things about the middle side of it or what you should be thinking in certain situations or what you might learn from other golfers. He’s got all these nuggets which are great that come in handy on a day like today. An example: When the pressure is on and you need to hit fairways, teeing the ball down, getting after it and trying to keep the ball low helps a lot.”
A Quality Partner: “Having Mandy in the crowd. She’s probably my biggest supporter. She does so much to make my life easier on the golf course / on the road and she is the reason that I am able to do what I do at such a high level. She takes a lot of stuff off my plate and she never wants any credit for it. She does a great job of being a team player and doing a lot of stuff…taking a secondary role in life and allowing her husband to get all the glory. I wouldn’t be here sitting with you if she was not like that. She is very special.”
The Other Lady: “I had the best draw of anybody just because of playing Pebble two days in a row. The tee times, the way they ended up working out, being able to go off when I did in Monterey really, really early, perfect conditions, nobody on the greens yet – all contributed. Stuff like that plays a role in any win. All of that fell into place for me this week.”[:de]Clear weather and tough competition led to a record low 4-day total score at the 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. Winner Brandt Snedeker shot a 22 under, 265 in the four day event to take home the $1,224,000.00 first prize. This is Snedeker’s second win a Pebble Beach – having claimed the $1,170,000.00 first prize in 2013 – and was especially sweet after a 2014 season in which he struggled.
