Clear weather and tough competition led to a record low 4-day total score at the 2015 Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Winner Brandt Snedecker shot a 22 under, 265 in the four day event to take home the $1,224,000.00 first prize. This is Snedecker’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.
Snedecker’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, Snedecker 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 we 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.