AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Preview

The PGA Tour remains in California this week for the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am. Stars of stage and screen will join the PGA Tour’s finest to compete around one of America’s most recognisable courses.

Dustin Johnson defends
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Lowdown: The AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am is one of the most popular tournaments on the PGA Tour circuit. With stars of stage and screen competing, the event always attracts large crowds. The tournament began life in the 1930s when Bing Crosby decided to give some of his golfing friends the chance to play with the top professionals by creating a pro-am event. The Second World War intervened but, in 1946, the competition was revived and it moved to it's present home at Pebble Beach. Since then there have been some notable winners: Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods amongst them. The event is contested over three courses, though there will be a change to the schedule this year as Poppy Hills has been replaced by the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. The other two tracks are Spyglass Hill and the famous links at Pebble Beach. The latter will be the venue for the final round and for the US Open this June. It should be a good chance for the top players to test themselves around the layout that will host the year's second Major. It seems strange then that only seven of the world's top-30 players are on the start list. Dustin Johnson won last year's rain-shortened event and there's a threat of rain again this Friday. But tournament organisers are confident they'll get 72 holes completed this time round.

Venue: Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula CC and Spyglass Hill, California Date: Feb 11-14 Course stats: Pebble Beach - par 72, 6,816 yards; Spyglass Hill - par 72, 6,833 yards; Shore - par 71, 6,361 yards Purse: $6,100,000 Winner: $1,080,000 Defending Champion: Dustin Johnson (-15)

TV Coverage: Thursday 11 - Live on Sky Sports 2 from 8pm Friday 12 - Live on Sky Sports 2 from 8pm Saturday 13 - Live on Sky Sports 2 from 6pm Sunday 14 - Live on Sky Sports 2 from 6.30pm

Player Watch: Luke Donald - Played some great stuff last week at the Northern Trust Open and has finished in the top-20 three times here. Retief Goosen - Has finished in the top-10 in eight of his last nine competitive starts. He's overdue a victory and it could well come this week. Phil Mickelson - He's not on great form but it's hard to ignore him in a field that includes only two other players in the World's top-10. (Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington).

Key hole: 7th at Pebble Beach. Only 106 yards, the key to negotiating this hole is managing the wind. Some days it can be a flick with a sand wedge, others it'll require a knocked-down 7-iron.

Skills required: Versatility. Players will have to contend with the different challenges posed by three courses as well as playing with amateur golfers.

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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