AT&T Pebble Beach. Russell Knox and Hunter Mahan Lead.

AT&T have a mission to stage the world’s premier PGA TOUR pro-am that brings the community together with global leaders in sports, entertainment and industry to raise Charitable funds which create opportunities for success. Some of the professionals and stars who are competing this week;

Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson, Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir and celebrities and sports stars: Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Cain, Justin Verlander, Carson Daly, Josh Duhamel, Andy Garcia, Billy Murray, Chris O’Donnell, Ray Romano, Tony Romo, Andy Roddick.

Hunter Mahan / Getty Images

Hunter Mahan and Russell Knox lead the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with first round scores of -6 under par. Hunter on the Pebble Beach course with a round of 64, and Russell with a 66 at the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula.

Hunter really enjoyed his day, especially when the forecast mid-day rain did not appear;

” I had a good time with my partner, the pace was great, the weather was good.I think the most interesting thing was we had perfect weather when it was supposed to rain at noon. We were all expecting rain. The bag probably weighs 100 pounds right now.”

Russell said he is full of confidence, and playing well, but is limited in his appearances because he finished outside of the top 125 on his rookie year;

“I came in here with a lot of confidence because I feel like I’ve been playing very well. Just haven’t had the chance to play. It was nice to get off to a good start.”

Seung-Yul Noh, playing at Spy Glass Hill carded a  -5 under par round of 67, which could have been even better without the two bogey’s on the last two holes. He was still pleased with his overall score;

“Still a good score. I’m really happy with that.”

Also at 5 under were Scott Langley a 65 at Monterey Peninsula, he is the first graduate of The First Tee program to make it to the PGA TOUR.  Matt Every is also at -5 under par, he sadly had a bogey on his final hole at Pebble Beach for a 67.

This is a complicated tournament, with its three courses and mixed with Professional players and Celebrity amateurs, so anything can happen, especially when you have the caliber of Phil Mickleson and Lee Westwood in the field,

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am- Poor TV coverageer ret

Charlie Wi leads the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, after a round of -3 under par at Pebble beach, and a total of -12 for the tournament. He said of his round today;

“I thought Pebble played really difficult today. The greens were very firm, and the guys that shot 8 or 9-under out there, I was very surprised how well they played, because the greens were so firm. Some of the pins were really tricky. I said, gosh, how did they shoot 9-under out there? And for me to shoot 3-under today, I was very pleased. I took an approach today saying this is just a new day, and whatever happened yesterday I was going to put it behind me and just start fresh.”

The biggest story of the day revolved around the TV coverage from Golf Channel, the comments go like this;  Pebble Beach Pro-Am comes along and it is nearly unwatchable.  It is absolutely ridiculous that live coverage is only provided at Pebble Beach Golf Links.  In years past I could understand not providing live coverage at Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula. No coverage from  Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula does not make sense to the viewing public, quite a number of whom have tuned in to see how Bill Murray and D.A Points are doing in their defense of their title. Given the fact that  Tiger Woods is undoubtedly the biggest draw in golf, yet the Golf Channel does not send a live crew to cover his round at Spyglass Hill.

By contrast the coverage shown at the Alfred Dunhill Links Pro-Am,  a similar tournament in structure to Pebble Beach.  St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarn each host a round, a cut is made after three rounds and the final round takes place at St. Andrews.  Live coverage was provided at all three courses. Spyglass Hill had Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for Round One.  It makes no sense that they would be ignored for Dustin Johnson and Vijay Singh playing at Pebble Beach. The people in charge of coverage for the Golf Channel and CBS should be shown a tape of the Dunhill Links coverage.  It is clear that they have no clue on how to cover a pro-am tournament on three courses.

No live coverage of Tiger and Tony Romo
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