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2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am February 9-15, 2009
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (PGA)
• When: Feb. 9-15
• Where: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills courses, Pebble Beach, Calif.
• TV: The Golf Channel/CBS
2009 US PGA Tour schedule: Click here! |
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 Trying to figure out, just how many AT&Ts golf tournaments there are? It's not easy separating the AT&T sponsored pro golf tournaments these days.
There's the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which won won by Phil Mickelson back in February. There's the AT&T Classic, formerly called the BellSouth Classic, And then there's "Tiger's Tournament," known formally as the AT&T National, which will be played on Fourth of July weekend.
Not enough? Well, there's also the AT&T Champions Classic and AT&T Championship on the Champions Tour.
The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is a golf tournament, which is a part of the PGA (the Professional Golfers? Association) Tour. It is held annually at Pebble Beach, CA, typically in February. It is usually played at one of the three courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Poppy Hills Golf Course, or Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Pebble Beach Golf Links is ranked the No. 1 Public Course in America by Golf Digest in 2005.
Designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, the course hugs the rugged coastline, providing wide-open vistas, cliffside fairways and sloping greens. It is a delightful challenge for all players.
The AT&T National Pro-Am, an event originally known as the Bing Crosby National Pro-Amateur, or just the Crosby Clambake, is a PGA Tour golf tournament that is held every year at Pebble Beach, California, in the United States. The tournament is typically held during the month of February on three different courses, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Poppy Hills Golf Course and Spyglass Hill Golf Course.
Pebble Beach Golf Links is the host course for the PGA Tour AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, but the professionals and amateur rotate among three courses each year. In addition to Pebble Beach, the current rotation includes one round each on Poppy Hills Golf Course and Spyglass Hill Golf Course.
The final round is always played at Pebble Beach.
2009 celebrity list includes actors Eric Close, Jeffrey Donovan, Andy Garcia, Thomas Gibson, Kevin James, Greg Kinnear, George Lopez, Bill Murray, Chris O’Donnell, Ray Romano and Patrick Warburton.
The following is the field of celebrities who are scheduled to appear in the 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM History
The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM was first held in 1937 and hosted by Bing Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, the event's location prior to World War II. Sam Snead won the first tournament, in which the first place check was for $500.
After the war, the event resumed play in 1947 on golf courses in Pebble Beach, where it has been played ever since. Beginning that year, it was played at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Cypress Point Club and Monterey Peninsula Country Club until 1966. In 1967 Spyglass Hill replaced Monterey Peninsula Country Club as the third course (with the exception of 1977, when it returned to MPCC). In 1991, Cypress Point Club was dropped by the PGA Tour because it would not admit women, and was replaced as a tournament venue by Poppy Hills Golf Course, a move that finalized the current roster of tournament venues.
The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM tournament continues to be a success every year despite the rain fall that typically slows down play, especially in 1996, 1998 and 1999. There is an equivalant celebrity pro-am event on the European PGA Tour, called the Dunhill Links Championship.
The starting field consists of 180 professionals and 180 amateurs. One professional is paired with one amateur. Each day, 60 2-man teams will play on one of the three courses. Then on the final day, those professionals and pro-amateur teams making the 54-hole cut will play on the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Only professionals may compete in the individual competition part of the tournament. Amateurs are restricted to playing only in the pro-amateur team competition.
The local Pebble Beach tournament officials handle pairing of professionals with amateurs, while the PGA Tour's weekly tournament officials handle the assignment of tee times.
About the Course
| Pebble Beach olf Links |
| Course Par Value: 72 |
| Course Yardage: 6816 |
|
| 1 |
4 |
381 |
With the rough grown in on the right as part of the championship course set-up, what was once a soft dogleg par 4 now bends abruptly to the right. Although the fairway slope will help a ball that is hit from left to right, length is not important here. It's the first hole, and the priority is to keep the ball in the fairway to allow a clean approach to a very narrow green. |
| 2 |
5 |
502 |
Because this hole normally plays as a par 5 the green is quite narrow, which means you want to leave as short an approach as possible. That means that, even though the fairway is only 30 yards wide, players will be hitting driver as hard and as long as possible. The change also will alter the way the players approach the course. |
| 3 |
4 |
390 |
This is almost a mirror image of the first hole, but with a sharper turn. Again, the idea is to hit the fairway, probably with a long iron or a fairway wood, to have any chance of birdie. The tee shot sets up nicely for players who hit a draw, which is to say just about everyone in the field. The reverse is true for the approach shot. |
| 4 |
4 |
331 |
With the tendency to keep well away from the ocean on the right, a lot of players could end up in the rough and the large bunker to the left. That will leave a short but tricky approach to a green that sits close to the cliffs. |
| 5 |
3 |
188 |
This new par 3 made its U.S. Open debut in 2000, and what an entry it was. Although the prevailing wind blows from the ocean, it has a tendency to swirl, which will make club selection perplexing. And watch what happens to the pro who thinks a ball hit short and left will then feed into the green. It looks as though it should do that, but it more than likely will kick forward into the rough or sand, and that will leave a very delicate chip to a slick, sloping green. |
| 6 |
5 |
513 |
This hole demands the driver. That's because a ball not hit far enough probably will prevent the player from reaching the second landing area, past the swath of rough, on the second shot. That will mean a lay-up and a blind third shot to a small green with a long iron. That's not something to look forward to, so expect to see the field cranking driver here. |
| 7 |
3 |
106 |
The shortest hole in major championship golf is all about the wind. In the 1992 U.S. Open, for example, eventual champion Tom Kite hit a sand wedge for his tee shot on Saturday and a 6-iron on Sunday. If the wind does blow, look for players to switch from club to club before hitting. |
| 8 |
4 |
418 |
The competitors will have spent their practice rounds stepping off the landing area because it's absolutely crucial that they find the fairway with what probably will be a 3-wood or 2-iron hit blind from the tee. Unfortunately, however, there's not much fairway to find. Those who hit safely will face a middle iron over the waves. Those who don't probably will play for bogey. |
| 9 |
4 |
466 |
This is the toughest hole on the golf course. Because the fairway slopes severely toward the ocean, the approach must be hit from a hanging lie. What usually happens is that the player leaks it to the right a little or overcompensates and ends up in the left rough or the greenside bunker. The approach to No. 8 may be the most critical on the course, but the approach to the ninth is just as difficult and if you've missed the eighth, the ninth is not place to pick up lost strokes. |
| 10 |
4 |
446 |
The last in this stretch of holes along Carmel Bay is another long par 4 that slopes toward the water. It's a tough, tough tee shot. If it lands in the center or right of the fairway, the ball likely will roll into deep rough to the right. A ball hit left should stay safe. But a ball hit too far left could find rough or sand. |
| 11 |
4 |
380 |
The prevailing wind blows off the sea and should help the tee shot, yet it still must be hit blind to a landing area that is only 28 yards wide. On the approach, only the front left of the green is visible, so on most days players will be hitting two blind shots in a row. It is not good to hit the approach long here. Because the green slopes so severely from back to front, a chip or even a putt could easily run right off the putting surface. |
| 12 |
3 |
202 |
This will be a tough green to hold because it is the firmest on the course. The players will fare best if they can feed their tee shots in from right to left, and do so softly. Just about anything that hits the middle of the green will bounce into rough or sand behind the green. |
| 13 |
3 |
399 |
Three fairway bunkers have been added to the right side (in a mirror configuration of those just short of the green), but this remains a birdie opportunity. Players overjuicing their approaches will chip back from a closely mown area behind the green to the slickest putting surface on the course. |
| 14 |
5 |
573 |
Rough grown in on the left side of the landing area should take the driver out of play. It is possible to carry the fairway bunker on the right, but that shot runs the risk of going all the way through the fairway and finding the rough. Most players will play two shots, then attack the flag. |
| 15 |
4 |
397 |
This probably is one of the more straightforward holes on the golf course, and although the fairway has been pinched in to about 30 yards, players should be able to hit a long iron or fairway wood off the tee and still get the approach close for a real chance at birdie. |
| 16 |
4 |
403 |
The prime tee shot is hit from left to right with a 2- or 3-iron to the upper shelf of the fairway, between 230-240 yards out. A ball hit too long will bound down into a depression and probably into the left rough, while a ball hit too far right will either find sand or rough, or have tree limbs interfering with the approach. This is a tricky green, too, as shots tend to slide to the left when they land. |
| 17 |
3 |
178 |
Conditions can be deceptive here. With a hedge running along the right side, and temporary grandstands to the right of and behind the green, it might seem calm even on a windy day. Players should pay attention to what the flag is doing and expect there to be more wind than they think. |
| 18 |
5 |
543 |
A new tee further out to sea actually makes the tee shot a little easier, but it still must negotiate the coastline. Only the longest hitters will be able to reach the green in two if they keep their balls in the fairway, although a good, hard drive will bounce considerably because these fairways run firm and fast in the summer. |
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2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Results
 Dustin Johnson has won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am without having to hit a shot over the last two days when rain washed out the final round Monday.
Johnson built a four-shot lead Saturday with a 67 at Poppy Hills. The final round was suspended Sunday because of wind and rain, and officials called the tournament when they found greens under water and a hopeless forecast.
The 24-year-old Johnson joins Anthony Kim as the only players under 25 with two PGA Tour victories. This one comes at a good time, for he moves into the top 50 in the world and qualifies for the Accenture Match Play Championship next week, along with the first two majors.
2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Results
Lowery wins again
 The 47-year-old beats Singh in a playoff at Pebble Beach for his first victory in eight years and 200 tournaments.
Steve Lowery (47) and Vijay Singh (44) aren't exactly spring chickens, but Sunday's playoff at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am proved once again that age is merely a number in golf.
At Pebble Beach, Steve Lowery earned his third career PGA Tour victory by beating Hall of Famer Vijay Singh in a playoff. Someone named S.S.P. Chowrasia, ranked 388th in the world, won the European Tour-sanctioned Indian Masters over a field that included Ernie Els. The U.S. Open was awarded to a brand new course. Phil Mickelson made a sextuple-bogey. Tiger Woods didn't win for a third straight week.
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Results
AT&T Pebble Beach Golf Betting Information:
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