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.

 

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Justin Jogs Along

 

Justin Rose / Getty Images

Justin Rose jogged through the third round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship with a -4 under par round of 68. He now has a two shot lead over the field. Jamie Donaldson is in second place at -10 under par after his third round score of -3 69, he shares second spot with Thorbjorn Olesen.

Thongchai Jaidee is alone in fourth place at -9 under par following his marvelous round of -6 under par, 66. New Zealand’s Michael Campbell is still showing some interest in this tournament, he now at -7 under par, five shots off the pace going into the last round.

Justin was pretty candid with his comments;

“I came here with no expectations, I came here to see where my game is at. Anybody who wins this week, they have beaten the Number One and Number Two in the world. You can say you’ve beaten the best. I believe that any tournament I tee up in I can win.”

Jaime Donaldson had a victory last year in the Irish Open, so far that is his only triumph, but he is feeling confident here;

“I feel pretty good, I played some great recovery shots out there. It was another tough day out there, even though there wasn’t much wind. I couldn’t have really scored much better than that.”

Thorbjorn Olesen won the Sicilian Open last year, and is also full of confidence;

“I won last year and that gave me a lot of confidence, and I had a few second places. So I’m learning in every tournament, and it’s been a really good process the last three years. Hopefully I can make a few birdies tomorrow and make it exciting.”

David Howell, is at -8 under par, his last victory was  in 2006 at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, but has kind of dropped off the radar since then. David commented about his record in this tournament;

 “I’ve never really played well here, a couple of top twenties I think maybe. But if I can have a great day tomorrow obviously I can post a very good total. I’ve played really consistently for the best part of a year and I’m playing some of the best golf I ever have really. I’m just coming from a low position. It’s hard to fight your way back up there, but I’m doing it bit by bit and a big finish or a win would go a long way to taking me right back to where I want to be.”

I honestly don’t think David, or anyone can catch Justin, with the mood that he is in. He was relegated to fifth in the Official World Golf Rankings by Louis Oosthuizen’s victory in South Africa last week, Justin would take the position back by lifting a title worth €336,725.