AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am betting tips
Love it or hate it, the celebrity tournament is played in some stunning surroundings. Steve Carroll considers who might come out ahead on the Monterey Peninsula
The details
Venue: Pebble Beach Golf Links, California, USA
Date: February 7-10, 2019
Course stats: Par 72, 6,816 yards (Pebble Beach)
Course summary: This iconic course hosts the US Open in just four months but will be in slightly different shape for a tournament that was once the Bing Crosby Clambake. Yes, the short 7th and 18th will continue to enthral, but expect generous flags and low scoring. The players also take in Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club Country Club.
Purse: $7.6 million
Defending champion: Ted Potter Jnr (-17)
Weather forecast: Sunny but cool over the first couple of days, with a chance of rain and showers throughout.
TV coverage
Thursday: Sky Sports Golf and Main Event, featured groups, 4pm; Sky Sports Golf, 8pm
Friday: Sky Sports Golf and Main Event, featured groups, 4pm; Sky Sports Golf, 8pm.
Saturday: Sky Sports Golf, 6pm
Sunday: Sky Sports Golf, 6pm; Sky Sports Main Event, 10pm
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am betting tips: Each-way tips
Jimmy Walker has had a terrible time of things since revealing he’d been suffering with Lyme Disease in 2017. He has gone from the Ryder Cup to the fringes of the top 100 and has not finished better than tied 29th this season.
But he can still turn in a good week and this tournament is usually where it happens. Tied 8th last year, while in the midst of his recovery, he was a winner in 2014 and 3rd, 9th and 9th in the three years prior.
We need Walker to get some good feelings when he takes the trip down 17-Mile Drive but, at prices approaching 125/1, there is enough there for me to take a chance.
Some former winners are at big prices this week. Brandt Snedeker was victorious in 2013 and 2015 and was also 4th in 2017.
Placed 20th last year, 50/1 seems large for a player that won the Wyndham Championship in August and was tied for 2nd at the Safeway Open in October.
Yes, he certainly could have started this year in better fettle and did nothing of note either at Torrey Pines or in Phoenix.
He enjoyed a solid week at the Sony Open, though, and with his hot putter it wouldn’t take much – at a series of venues he likes – for him to be back in the frame.
That’s who Steve believes might make an each-way charge. But who does he reckon will top the leaderboard? Turn the page to find out…
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am betting tips: Top tips
Putting a pound or two Phil Mickelson’s way at Pebble Beach is a no-brainer. I know he missed the cut last week but, given how close he came to winning the Desert Classic, I’m surprised to see him at 28/1.
The 48-year-old is still surprising with his intensity and Pebble Beach is a tournament and venue that is very close to his heart.
A four-time winner, the first came in 1998 and the last in 2012. But he has also finished 2nd last year, and second again in 2016 when he was denied by Vaughn Taylor.
Dustin Johnson comes here on the back of winning the Saudi International and, like Phil, is always in and around the leaders in this tournament.
His course form over the past few years is an incredible 2-3-41-4-2-MC-5. Combine that with his victories in 2009 and 2010 and that would normally be enough for you to be steaming in.
But DJ blew the US Open at Pebble Beach when Graeme McDowell claimed the title in 2010 and hasn’t won here since. He will be on the premises but you’ll have to decide if 6/1 is too short for you.
Jason Day similarly loves it on the Monterey Peninsula and, at 10/1, he seems to be better value.
He’s done everything but win on this trio of courses having achieved the following between 2013 and last year: 6-MC-4-11-5-2.
Tied 5th at Torrey Pines last time out and firmly in the top 20 of every other event he’s played this season (take out the Hero Challenge), he’s obviously trending in the right direction.
Was it an illusion or were there some chinks of light in Jordan Spieth’s tied 35th at Torrey Pines?
Yes, the Texan faded away somewhat after an opening 65 but that was the second time in consecutive weeks he’d put together a low round and he just needs four of them at the same time.
This may seem a bit illogical but I just can’t help continuing to back him at prices around 25/1. It’s just too big for a player of his class and form, as they say, is temporary.
Eventually he is going to click once more so why not at Pebble Beach, where he won in 2017 and finished 7th and 4th respectively in 2015 and 2014? He’s never finished worse than 22nd here.
Chez Reavie, second last year and in fine form so far this season thanks to top fives at the Sony Open and last week in Phoenix, is also of note at 25s.
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Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
