UPDATE - DANIEL BERGER HAS WITHDRAWN!

I thought it was a great week out at Torrey Pines.  Will Zalatoris picked up where he left off at the American Express and just couldn’t finish the job.  It's a shame he won't be able to tee it up again this weekend as he was ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19.  You have to feel good for a guy like Luke List who has grinded on the PGA Tour for years and finally got his first win.  He has figured out that if you throw darts at pins, then you don’t have to worry about being a terrible putter.  Let’s see if he can continue this great run.    

The Pebble Beach Pro-Am is another one of those special events where the tournament is played over three different courses and there is no cut until after the third round.  I’ve said this repeatedly but when you get an extra round from all your golfers, you can afford to take more risk in your lineups. I would definitely lean more towards constructing a stars and scrubs lineup.  

Let’s talk about the courses.  We’ve got Pebble Beach Golf Links (Par 72 – 6,816 yards), Monterey Peninsula (Par 71 – 6,838 yards) and Spyglass Hill (Par 72 – 6,858 yards).  You’ll notice that these courses are rather short and these players can go low but that is almost completely weather dependent. Per reports, the winds look to be low throughout the weekend.  The rain looks like it's going to stay away entirely as well.  When I see a weather report like this, I am more open to playing less experienced players at Pebble Beach than if the weather would be worse.

All of these courses have a few things in common.  They are all short for PGA tour standards, they all have tons of water and hazards, they all have poa annua greens and most importantly they are all second shot golf courses.  That means we will weigh Strokes Gained: Approach more than usual.  We need players who can fire the ball in there close.  We will see these players miss greens which means we are also looking for good scramblers which is why you saw Daniel Berger take it down last year.  He ranks #1 on tour in both Scrambling and Driving Accuracy.  The weather looks to be as good as it can be this weekend, so I expect these players to fire at pins all weekend.

One more thing you must remember about this event, the celebrity factor. The speed of the game slows down considerably and a lot of these players are not used to it. That's another reason why I'm usually hesitant to roster new guys at Pebble. You've also got a lot of big name celebrities playing with these pros which gives you another level of distraction. Bill Murray is a staple of this event and makes it all about him. Just make sure you check out which type of celebrity is playing with your golfer, that can play a big role in determining the winner this weekend.

Pebble Beach is one of the great public venues in the United States and always a fun weekend of golf.  There are not many golf hacks out there that wouldn’t give a full paycheck for a chance to play this track, myself being one of them.

ONE & DONE PLAY OF THE WEEK: Maverick McNealy 

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