AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Sneds Siezes Title

Brandt Snedeker / Getty Images

The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title was gleefully seized by Sneds, there were no Hall of Famer’s snatching victory from him here at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Brandt Snedeker won by two shots, shooting a last round -7 under par, 65 to make sure this time he claimed the trophy, and also moved up to number four in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Brandt stood on the 18th tee at Pebble Beach with a three-shot lead on Sunday, taking in the view before him,  the sun and the Pacific Ocean, realizing just how far he has come in the past few months. Sneds said is was a dream, and hard to put into words;

“Just hard to put into words, to have a stretch of golf like I had the last couple of months, something you dream about. Something you think that you can do, but you don’t really know until you actually put it together, and I have. I’m really enjoying this, and hopefully can parlay this into the best year of my career. The last two weeks, playing great but running into two Hall of Famer’s, really motivated me to go out and prove that I can handle the lead. I definitely didn’t want to do anything but win today, I was out there for one purpose and one purpose only, and I was extremely focused all day. I did a great job of staying patient and I did a great job of playing the golf course the way you’re supposed to play it. I would love to be known as the best American golfer, I’ve got a long way to go to do that, but this is a great start to the year. Couldn’t have scripted much of a better one, except for maybe winning the last two weeks if the guys (Tiger and Phil) hadn’t played.”

Ian Poulter tweeted from his home in Orlando Florida;

“Sneds is officially the best golfer on the planet right now, some serious golf he is playing.”

Chris Kirk was in second place, his great round of -6 under par 66, just not good enough on the day to bring him success. Chris said he felt he had played good golf, but somebody always seems to blitz the course;

” We’ve had a lot of tournaments like that on TOUR this year where somebody has really just kind of blitzed the field. I felt like I played well enough to win a golf tournament and came up a little bit short.”

Rookie James Hahn finished in tie for third place, along with broomstick user Kevin Stadler and Jimmy Walker, all at -14 under par for the tournament.

Sneds and Toby Wilt shared the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title with Michael Letzig and John Erickson. Jordan Spieth  and Tony Romo; Patrick Cantlay and Kelly Slater; Brad Fritsch and Huey Lewis were among six teams tied for third, two strokes back.

 

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Hahn & Sneds Tied at the Top

James Hahn & Brandt Snedeker / How / Getty Images

James Hahn and Brandt Snedeker are tied at the top of the leaderboard at -12 under par after the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Brandt had a third round of -4 under par on the Pebble Beach course, while James fired in a round of -6 under par at Spyglass Hill.

Brandt Snedeker, the hottest player in golf on the US PGA TOUR this year without a win to show for it, put matters into his own hands Saturday by running off four straight birdies along the prettiest part of Pebble Beach for a -4 under par 68. After last weeks comment about being beaten by Hall of Famers, first Tiger Woods, and last week it was Phil Mickelson. Brandt will be surprised to find his closest opponent this time around is a rookie.

At this stage in this tournament Brandt is the player with the most experience, and feels confident that this week the trophy will be his;

” You never know what tomorrow holds, but I feel like I’m in great position, and I’m going to be surely more prepared, no matter who is around me in the last group. I’m probably going to have the most experience of anybody in those last couple groups of winning a golf tournament. You want to win any time you have a chance because you don’t know how many times you’re going to get that in a year. I’ve had a couple of chances the last couple of weeks, haven’t been the best chances. And this week, I have a great chance going into tomorrow, and you need to capitalize on those chances.”

Rookie James Kahn is just happy to be where he is at the moment, looking at a two-year TOUR exemption and a trip to the Masters;

“I’m not even in next week’s tournament, so to me, a top-10 finish would be great. So if you want to compare the Northern Trust Open to Augusta, we can. I would love to play another week out on tour, but just to learn from Brandt Snedeker, he’s one of the hottest golfers on the planet right now. I feel like I’m playing well just because I feel comfortable, you know, comfortable and having fun, that’s when I’m playing my best golf. I feel like my attitude on the golf course is better than it has been in recent years, and not getting so frustrated out there, just kind of enjoying the moment. I keep saying that, but it’s a blast to be inside the ropes and a member of the PGA Tour.”

Chris Kirk is in third place, one shot behind the leaders at -11 under par, following his third round of  -6 under par, 64 at the Monterey Peninsular par 70 course. Defending Champion Phil Mickelson is out of the running, after his ball took a dip into the Pacific Ocean, costing him a triple bogey 11. Phil also had the ignominy of slipping down a slope while trying to retrieve another errant shot, he landed on his rear end. Phil said of his fall;

” I got lucky, I didn’t get hurt.”

CIMB Classic, Malaysia, Wonderful Watney Wins

           

Nick Watney/ Getty Images

Nick Watney shot a course record last round on Sunday of -10 under par, 61 to win the CIMB Classic at The MINES Resort & Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a tournament total of -22 under par. Nick had a chance to go for a 59, but a wayward tee shot on eighteen left him with a difficult approach to the green from the left rough. His effort failed to reach the green, and he was then left with a long pitch shot for par, he failed in his attempt and dropped a shot at the last. That mistake left Bo Van Pelt needing to finish with a birdie to tie Nick at -22 under par. Bo was seeking back to back wins after his victory last week in Australia. Bo also missed the fairway on eighteen, then his approach landed in the green-side bunker, and he got up and down for par, to tie second place with Robert Garrigus, who birdied eighteen for his -21 under par tournament total. Both players had last round scores of -6 under par 66.

Tiger Woods made the charge he promised after his disappointing error strewn second nine on Saturday. Tiger had a last round score of -8 under par 63, and finished just three shots off the lead, tied in fourth place, after starting ten shots adrift of the final pairing of Van Pelt and Garrigus. Sharing fourth place with Tiger was Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge, who had a final round of -5 under par, 66, and Chris Kirk who had an average last round of -4 under par 67.  Another really low round came from Carl Pettersson with a -9 under par last round effort, giving him seventh place on his own.

CIMB Classic, in Malaysia, Tiger Tumbles Down

 

 

Tiger Woods/Eurosport

Tiger Woods tumbled down the leaderboard at the CIMB Classic at The MINES Resort & Golf Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, shooting a third round -2 under par,69. Tiger had cruised through the front nine, reaching the turn in 30 strokes, after five birdies and four pars, but suddenly his round unraveled on the back nine as he dropped five shots to offset two more birdies on another stifling day in Kuala Lumpur. Tiger managed to put his ball into lakes, bunkers and onto cart paths to stall his third round charge, he said it was due to bad swings;

“I made a couple of bad decisions, bad swings on top of that, just all-in-all made too many mistakes and on a golf course that is playing this benign, you can’t afford to do that. I’m going to have to shoot a low one tomorrow, something similar like Bo did today, but probably being this far back, I’m going to need some help, a great round tomorrow might not win that’s the only problem.”

The round of Bo Van Pelt Tiger referred to was a super -9 under par 62, which puts Bo in a share of the top leaderboard at -16 under par with Robert Garrigus. Roberts third round was a conservative -2 under par 69.

At one stage Bo was thinking of a magical 59 but things went wrong for him;

“Obviously disappointing to finish with a double, but I look back on the 17-and-a-half holes I played well, and you know, hopefully that will carry over into tomorrow, not the last half.”

Chris Kirk is alone in third place, after his sparkling round of -8 under par 63. This golf course is playing so easy that there could be some really low scores again tomorrow, but Tiger can only hope the leaders fall over if he is to win from tenth place.