Another fantastic edition of the Waste Management Open at TPC Scottsdale with so much drama down the stretch on Sunday. It looked like it was going to be a victory lap on 18 for Finau before Webb Simpson made that putt. It was also really great to see all the tributes to Kobe Bryant throughout the weekend at 16. It really showed how Kobe's work ethic transended his sport and influenced so many.
The Pebble Beach Pro-Am is another one of those special events where the tournament is played over three different courses and there is no cut until after the third round. I’ve said this repeatedly but when you get an extra round from all your golfers, you can afford to take more risk in your lineups. I would definitely lean more towards constructing a stars and scrubs lineup.
Let’s talk about the courses. We’ve got Pebble Beach Golf Links (Par 72 – 6,816 yards), Monterey Peninsula (Par 71 – 6,838 yards) and Spyglass Hill (Par 72 – 6,858 yards). You’ll notice that these courses are rather short and these players can go low but that is almost completely weather dependent. Per reports, the winds look to be low throughout the weekend until Sunday when they peak into the double digits but nothing these players can't handle. The rain looks like it's going to stay away entirely. When I see a weather report like this, I am more open to playing less experienced players at Pebble Beach than if the weather would be worse.
There are two type of players you can target this weekend. I want either a bomber with good total driving numbers, who can also hit their wedges accurately from the rough or I want a course manager who can play the wind. As long as there is wind in the forecast, you'll have a lot of players missing greens which is why scrambling and play from the rough is vital to success this weekend.
The hardest part of setting lineups for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am is that there are a lot of top priced players with great track records. DJ, Casey, Day, and Snedeker all have terrific resumes at Pebble which makes it hard to determine a core. Unless you are able to set 150 lineups and use all the combinations of these top players, you'll have to put your foot in the ground and pick your core to ride. I’ve given mine below in the playbook. While I will go chalky with Dustin Johnson, I will not fall into the Jordan Spieth trap anymore. I know he has never missed the cut at Pebble but he has shown no signs of fixing his problems. He's never been a big hitter but he made up for it with amazing iron play and putting out of his mind. The putter has failed him and has come back down to the pack on the PGA Tour. If you want to be contrarian and take the shot, be my guest but I'm avoiding him.
One more thing you must remember about this event, the celebrity factor. The speed of the game slows down considerably and a lot of these players are not used to it. That's another reason why I'm usually hesitant to roster new guys at Pebble. You've also got a lot of big name celebrities playing with these pros which gives you another level of distraction. Bill Murray is a staple of this event and makes it all about him. Just make sure you check out which type of celebrity is playing with your golfer, that can play a big role in determining the winner this weekend.
Pebble Beach is one of the great public venues in the United States and always a fun weekend of golf. There are not many golf hacks out there that wouldn’t give a full pay check for a chance to play this track, myself being one of them.
ONE & DONE PLAY OF THE WEEK: Jason Day
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