TOUR Insider: Pro-am double is hard to come by  PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent One of the foremost attractions at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- not counting the gorgeous scenery on the Monterey Peninsula -- is the eclectic list of competitors. The TOUR Insider is referring to the professional ranks only here. Sure the glamour and glitterati are big sellers, but with the bloated field of 180 pro golfers, you're going to see a wide array of talent on display. The 2007 edition is no exception. Let's see who is rubbing together flying elbows.  (Messerschmidt/WireImage)
How about long-hitting Bubba Watson and long-in-the-tooth Tom Watson? The latter is in the field for the first time since his tie for 53rd in 1999. Winner of two straight AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am titles in 1977 and 78, Watson is appearing for the 28th time in the tournament and nearly 25 years since his victory at the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Other seniors in the field include former Pebble Beach winners Peter Jacobsen and Lon Hinkle, plus Scott Simpson, regular sidekick to comedian Bill Murray. John Daly, who has missed four of five cuts at Pebble, returns to partner with Darius Rucker of rock group Hootie and the Blowfish. Ricky Barnes, the former U.S. Amateur champion who has the second longest streak of cuts made on the Nationwide Tour, has a spot, too, as does CBS Sports golf broadcaster Bobby Clampett and Robert Floyd, son of Hall of Fame member Ray Floyd. Matt Gogel, the '02 champion, is making his last PGA TOUR start before retiring from competitive golf. And far afield will be first-time entrant Padraig Harrington of Ireland, who joins compatriot Paul McGinley, making his fourth start in northern California. Harrington, one of four top-10 players in the field -- joining Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and Luke Donald, might feel right at home this week, what with a forecast calling for cool temperatures and rain throughout the week. Those who can handle the adversity of the elements, putt well, and hit the ball long and relatively under control are likely to thrive. Worth knowing: A couple of international players worth watching this week are former major champions Vijay Singh and Mike Weir. Singh, the 2004 winner, has six top-10 finishes on the Monterrey Peninsula in his last eight starts. Weir was third last year, second in 2005 and has been in the top 10 in six of his last seven appearances, but he hasn't won a tournament in three years and is still in the process of refining swing changes he initiated last year. A decent week is sure to vault Singh back into first in the FedExCup standings. He currently is second behind John Rollins, who is idle. Fred Couples finally made his season debut last week at the FBR Open, where he missed the cut, but he's hardly 100 percent. His left calf, which he hurt hiking in the mountains in Arizona, aches and his chronically bad back once again is causing him considerable trouble. Cool, rainy weather at Pebble Beach, where his best finish is a tie for fourth, probably isn't the road to wellness. After smoking the field at the Turtle Bay Championship on the Champions Tour with a sparkling 23-under-par 193 effort, Fred Funk returned to the regular TOUR and finished a respectable joint 18th at the FBR Open. Funk, who put a new putter in play in his Hawaii route (and a new square stance that helps keep his putter going down the intended line), says he plans to concentrate mostly on the PGA TOUR again in '07 in hopes of vying, ambitiously, for the FedExCup title. He stands 81st in two starts. Jeff Maggert may be off a few more weeks after having to withdraw from the FBR Open after nine holes because he re-aggravated his injured ribs, which he cracked slipping on ice during a family vacation in Colorado in December. Since the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (BHCC) was founded in 1960, no PGA TOUR player has in the same year won it and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which started in 1937. Phil Mickelson, Johnny Miller and Steve Jones came closest. Mickelson won at the BHCC in 2004 and at Pebble in '05. Miller won at Peble in 1974 and won the BHCC in '75 and '76. Jones captured the '89 BHCC after winning at Pebble the previous year. Other players who won both tournaments in their careers: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Bob Rosburg, Tom Kite, Mark O'Meara and John Cook. All except Nicklaus, Palmer and Kite are California natives. Pebble is a tough nut to crack for players seeking their first PGA TOUR victory. Arron Oberholser, who will not be defending his title this week because of a back injury, is only the fourth man in the last 20 years to capture his initial TOUR title on the Monterrey Peninsula. Stewart Cink has put away the new Nike Sumo square driver that he used at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The reason: the sound of club meeting ball was too loud. Seriously. "I liked the driver, but I got a lot of odd looks and some comments and jabs about it," reported Cink. "I think guys were annoyed by it. But I did like it." No reason to expect a playoff this week at Pebble Beach, where they haven't gone overtime since 1992, when Mark O'Meara beat Jeff Sluman. Heck, four of the last five years the winning margin has been three strokes or more. Only the PLAYERS Championship has gone longer without a playoff deciding things, with Sandy Lyle taking the '87 crown by beating, of all people, Sluman. Steve Lowery withdrew with a wrist injury after completing eight holes Sunday at the FBR Open. He's listed among this week's entries, but no word yet on whether he'll keep his tee time for his seventh appearance in the tournament, where he's never had a top-10 finish. |
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