Who to back at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Pebble Beach betting: Steve’s top tips
Sometimes the favourite is obvious and that’s clearly the case with Dustin Johnson.
The World No. 1 is a best-priced 13/2 and, given his start to the season and his record in this tournament, it is more than justified.
DJ hasn’t added to his two win haul here since blowing the US Open in such spectacular style eight years ago.
But his record still reads: 3, 41, 4, 2, MC, 5, 55.
He has already blown away a very good field at the Tournament of Champions. He might also have finished better than 9th in Abu Dhabi had it not been for an opening 72. He subsequently scored 64, 68 and 70.
With many oddsmakers paying down to 7th, it will be a surprise if you are not collecting some cash.
You can get Rory McIlroy at 12/1, which seems a pretty high price given he’s finished 2nd and 3rd during the European Tour’s Middle East swing. He really could have won both tournaments.
It can get a bit gusty around Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula and that clearly doesn’t suit his ball flight.
Given he’s never played this tournament before, and has only appeared at Pebble Beach once at the 2010 US Open, we’re largely in the dark about course form.
But, from what I’ve seen so far, Rory looks fully recovered from the complaints that blighted his campaign last year. We may be wishing he’s a price this big come the summer.
Pebble Beach betting: Steve’s each-way bets
Phil Mickelson hasn’t won for five years – since lifting the Claret Jug at Muirfield – but his best chance to break that has come here.
I wondered at various points last season whether we’d seen the last of Phil as a competitive force.
But the 47-year-old has been showing some very interesting stuff recently, not least at the Phoenix Open where he tied for 5th.
He was finishing in some style, with three successive birdies, before a double bogey on the last.
That’s Mickelson in a nutshell but he has four wins at Pebble Beach. At 33/1, I’ll throw an each-way pound or two his way.
JB Holmes doesn’t look the type to let a little controversy get in the way of his game. So the 66/1 on a player who finished second here in 2010, and has three other top 20s, has appeal.
Luckily for JB, slow rounds are par for the course in this celebrity hack-fest. He should be in his element.
Pat Perez had back-to-back top 10s in 2014 and 2015 and was comfortably inside the top 20 last year.
The CIMB Classic winner had an average couple of weeks in the Middle East but finished in the top five at the Tournament of Champions.
If he’s on his game, he could be a big threat at 40/1.
The look of a champion
I’m starting to think Fowler will never get it done in the majors
I’m a bit busy right now – GO AWAY
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
