Week 6 Power Rankings: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Officially, Mike Vitti is the Director of Research and Development in the TOUR's Marketing Department. Unofficially, he's a stats guru who analyzes all kinds of data from our ShotLink numbers.

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Vitti will size up the field each week and provide his top 10 players going into the tournament, based on factors such as the player's strengths, the course setup, recent performances, etc.

This week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is the third multi-course event in the last four weeks. Unlike last week, the courses are all of similar yardage and really do not offer a distinct advantage to any particular type of player.

According to ShotLink, the host course, Pebble Beach Golf Links, has had the shortest average driving distance for all drives in five of the last six seasons.

With a 180-man field -- not including amateurs -- the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is as much a test of patience as it is a test of golf. Players who have played here before may be a little better equipped than the rookies to deal with the uniqueness of this event.

Ultimately, the setup of the course to accommodate the amateurs in the field leaves this week wide open to any player who brings his best to the tournament.

Power Rankings: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Rank Player   Comment Mike WEIR Weir is coming off a missed cut in his last start, but he tied for third in the last multi-course pro-am event. He has his short game going, ranking third in scrambling on TOUR, and he has finished in the top 10 in over half his starts at this event. Jim FURYK Furyk is making his first start of the year and looking to continue his success from the end of 2008, where his final three starts were top-10 finishes. Furyk has four top-10 finishes in 12 starts at the AT&T Pro-Am. Nick WATNEY Watney has top 25s in each of his three starts in '09, including a victory last week. Fifth in driving distance and going for the green -- hit green percentage, T25 in scrambling and ninth in total putting, Watney has his long and short game working well. Vijay SINGH This is Singh's first start since knee surgery, but the pro-am format might make this an ideal event to make a return. Singh has finished in the top 10 seven times in 14 starts at this event. Tim CLARK Clark comes in averaging over five birdies per round and ranks fifth in scoring average. He is coming off a tie for fifth in his last start and has recorded three top 25s in five starts here. Kenny PERRY Making his first start at Pebble beach since 2005, Perry has had mixed results in this event, finishing in the top 10 twice and missing five cuts. However, Perry is playing well and enters this week tied for second in greens in regulation. Padraig HARRINGTON Harrington closed with a solid 68 at last week's Buick Invitational and finished in the top 25 for his first '09 TOUR start. He putted well, making 15 of 18 from the 4-8 foot range. He has played twice here and has improved his finish each time. David TOMS Toms has not had great success at this event and has not played it since '02, but he has started the season with some great golf. He leads the TOUR in scoring average, has recorded two top-five finishes and has yet to finish outside the top 25. Phil MICKELSON Mickelson ranks outside the top 100 in greens in regulation, scrambling and putting average. He's 132nd in scoring average, but he's a three-time winner (and the career money winner here), and the pro-am setup this week should help him find his game. Davis LOVE III Love is a two-time winner here and has seven top 10s. He opened '09 with a tie for second but followed it up with a missed cut. He has hit 75 percent of the greens in regulation so far, so if he gets the putter going, he could perform well.