The stars of the PGA Tour and the entertainment industry alike converge once again this week for another installment of the ever-captivating AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Many great memories have been created at one of the world’s most beautiful golf courses in the world at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Who’ll be the next one to add to the lore of this fabled location with a victory on Sunday? Let’s find out which golfers are worth keeping tabs on for your weekly golf betting action below.
Despite having been uncharacteristically cut from the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks ago, the oddsmakers have still pegged Dustin Johnson as the front-running candidate to prevail victorious once more at this week’s event.
The reigning U.S. Open champion is no stranger to finding great success at Pebble Beach, having won two-consecutive tournaments on the course in 2009-10, and has a total of five top-5 finishes in nine trips to the Pacific links. And perhaps Johnson’s lackluster outing at Torrey Pines is really just his way of biding his sweet time to be in the best shape to win his third Pro-Am title, as he still did end up with a T6 finish in Maui in the first week of the year in his only other start this season.
The PGA Tour’s golden boy of 2015 will surely be under the brightest spotlight this week, as AT&T-sponsored Jordan Spieth will look to nab his first win of the season on the heels of a sizzling start to his 2017 campaign. The 23-year-old powerhouse secured top-10 finishes in all three of his starts this season thus far, which includes a couple of third-places in back-to-back weeks in Hawaii this past January.
Not only that, but Spieth has yet to be fazed in four career trips to Pebble Beach as well. He has two top-10 finishes in four starts on the course, having made the cut in all four instances and having no worse than a T22 finish in the tournament at that.
Another golfer who’s been fantastic right off the bat this season is Justin Rose. In just two starts to date, the English Tour veteran secured a superb T4 finish at Torrey Pines from a couple of weeks back after a solo runner-up finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
What makes Rose’s appearance in Pebble Beach more appealing is that he’ll be paired up with famed pop/R&B artist Justin Timberlake again. The Justin-Justin duo was a delight to watch last last season, wherein the 36-year-old Londoner ended up with a nice T6 finish in just his first-career start on the course.
The question now is: will Rose be the Pro-Am’s alpha dog this 2017, or will he be crying a river next to JT by the end of the tournament?
Expect to see a whole lot more of Jon Rahm in our succeeding golf features for the year, because there’s no denying that this 22-year-old upstart has definitely got what it takes to be the Tour’s next big star.
The Arizona State product has been very busy since the season began in October, having been nicely awarded with his maiden professional victory at Torrey Pines in the tail-end of January and following that up with a decent T16 finish in at Scottsdale last week. All in all, Rahm has four top-16 finishes in six starts this season.
Having said that, count on the fast-rising Spaniard, who’s currently sixth in the Tour in birdie average this season, to have a another spectacular debut on a timeless PGA Tour course this week at Pebble Beach, if not ultimately ending up as the last man standing tall in the event.
Apart from being the defending champion and having another T10 finish in the 2015 edition of the tournament, there’s really not much else we could say in favor of Vaughn Taylor’s chances at a repeat this week. The 40-year-old veteran’s best result this season is a T15 finish at the Safeway Open from way back in mid October and he’s never gotten a top-20 finish in six tournaments since.
In addition, Taylor only has one other top-10 finish since the 2015 campaign apart from his two standout performances at Pebble beach that we mentioned earlier. That should be enough supporting evidence as for why he’s a mere long shot pick at this week’s event.
Writer’s Prediction
Spieth (+700) finally ends his nine-month victory drought this weekend.
