TOUR Insider: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent
On the previous 20 occasions that Phil Mickelson finished second in a PGA TOUR event, he twice was able to win in his next start. Can he do it a third time, and for the first time after a playoff loss?
That's the question for the defending champion of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, who returns to the Monterey Peninsula for his 13th start in the glitzy PGA TOUR event contested in one of the most celebrated golfing corners in the world, Pebble Beach, Calif.
Mickelson, who has won three times at Pebble, is the top-ranked player and top draw in golf's largest field -- 180 players -- but he must find a way to gather himself quickly after falling to J.B. Holmes in sudden death Sunday at the FBR Open. The No. 2 player in the world suffered just his third setback in extra holes against seven victories, but he has lost his last two playoffs; Charles Howell III got by him last year at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.
Perhaps it's no wonder that when asked what his showing at TPC Scottsdale might do for him in the coming months, Mickelson replied, "nothing."
Well, you never know. When the $6 million AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am commences Thursday at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills, Mickelson will try to recapture the magic from a year ago, when he won his 30th TOUR title after missing the cut at the FBR Open.
Last year, he had a lot of rebuilding to do in a week's time. This year, he's finished second and sixth in two starts.
"I played OK last week. I played better this week. I feel like my game is improving," Mickelson, 37, said at TPC Scottsdale. "I'm looking forward to next week's tournament at Pebble. I feel like I'm starting to play better each round as the year goes on, and I expect to improve my play next week, too."
Mickelson, the leader among active players with 12 wins at tournaments contested on multiple layouts, currently leads the PGA TOUR in stroke average at 68.73 despite a putting stroke that hasn't finished off his ball-striking efforts. He has been working with Butch Harmon for nearly a year now, and he likes the direction his game is going. He struggled with putting last year at TPC Scottsdale, too, but he worked himself out of the funk in time.
His game is more complete this year. It will have to be with the likes of world No. 5 Jim Furyk, reigning British Open champion Padraig Harrington, and recent former winners Vijay Singh and Davis Love III, not to mention three rain-softened courses that might yield some low numbers. Then again, Mickelson has never struggled to produce red numbers in his career; he has routinely ranked among the leaders in birdie average.
"I feel very comfortable with the changes," Lefty said. "I'm seeing results off the tee. I'm feeling results, different sight lines, I feel more confident. I think this is going to be a good year."
FEDEXCUP POINTERS:
• Davis Love III, sidelined since September with a severe ankle injury that required surgery, makes his first start of the season at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Love has two victories at Pebble Beach -- in 2001 and 2003 -- among his 19 PGA TOUR titles, but he has not won since the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, and, last year, he slipped out of the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time in his career. He credits trainer Randy Myers and physical therapist Damien Moroney for getting him healthy for the season and for getting him "in the best overall physical shape I have been for some time," Love said. "Plus, I am hitting the ball pretty good."
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• For the second year in a row, British Open champion Padraig Harrington begins his PGA TOUR campaign at Pebble Beach. Last year, he tied for 30th during a stretch of U.S. tournaments in which he played seven times leading up to the Masters -- where he tied for seventh to cap a run of six straight top-25 finishes.
• Golf Channel has early-round coverage at Pebble Beach, and it will have regular contributors Andrew Magee and Brandel Chamblee to follow. Both are playing for the first time in 2008 after just one start in '07. Chamblee competed in October at the Fry's Electronics Open where he missed the cut. Magee's only start last year was on the Monterey Peninsula, where, despite a third-round 70, he failed to advance.
• The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is one of four tournaments that use multiple courses (along with the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, the Buick Invitational and the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart). As mentioned above, the active leader in victories at such tournaments is defending champion Mickelson, who is one ahead of Tiger Woods, who has 11. Next on the list among players competing this week are Love with four, and Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk with three each.
• Michael Wilson, a former Pacific Grove High School standout who played for the University of California's NCAA Division I national championship golf team, has been a frequent spectator at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but, this year, he is playing in it after being given one of 11 sponsor exemptions. Wilson, 23, competed on the Golden State Tour in 2007 and later in the year was the only mini-tour player to make the cut at the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational.
• Other notables receiving exemptions: Colt Knost, who won the 2007 U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco, Tadd Fujikawa, Robert Floyd, plus former PGA TOUR members David Frost, Len Mattiace and D.A. Points. Frost hasn't played in a TOUR event since missing the cut in the British Open -- one of only three starts last year for the 10-time TOUR winner -- but he tied for 11th last week at the Dubai Desert Classic won by Tiger Woods. Mattiace, runner-up in the 2003 Masters, has struggled since injuring his knees in a ski accident later that year and hasn't made a cut since the '06 Southern Farm Bureau Classic.
• Former British Open champion Greg Norman, finally feeling fit enough for tournament golf, is playing in his first PGA TOUR event since the 2006 International. He last played in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1992, tying for 33rd, and will be competing this year alongside his son Gregory. Norman, 52, missed the cut in 2000 in his only U.S. Open start at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
• Craig Stadler joins Norman as Champions Tour-eligible players in this week's field, keeping the streak alive of players over 50 competing in regular tour events. Stadler won the 2004 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach and has finished second and third in his 28 appearances at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
• Poppy Hills Golf Course, in the rotation since 1991, has undergone a few changes that have added 70 yards, making the Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout 6,903 yards. The par-5 fourth was lengthened 50 yards to 603 and the par-3 15th was extended 20 yards to make it a healthy 230. Also of note, the tee at the sharp dogleg left 14th hole was moved to the right to allow players to challenge the left side of the fairway with a driver on the 400-yard par 4.
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