Teeing Off

– Bob Hope

“It’s the greatest meeting of land and sea in the world. This course is heaven designed”

– Johnny Miller

Another solid event on the schedule, both for Golf Nerds and Casual Observers: the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am makes its return this week.

What makes it so great, you ask?

The field, the Celebrities, and the Courses.

First, the field:

Jordan Spieth won the tourney last year, cruising to victory. He will be back to defend in the midst of some putting woes, along with the only two guys ranked ahead of him in the World Golf Rankings: Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm. They’ll be joined by a ton of other big names, including Rory McIlroy and Jason Day

Then there are the celebrities. And there are some gems:

Including Toby Keith, Bill Murray, Josh Duhamel, Ray Romano and Darius Rucker. Athletes competing include Larry Fitzgerald, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Alex Smith, and Justin Verlander (Sooo Kate Upton will make an appearance?!).

Regardless, with all of those football players in the mix I think its a pretty safe bet there will be a little bit of dancing on the Patriots graves. (Please??)

Okay and the third element that makes this tournament great… Are the courses. Guys will rotate between Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and Monterrey Peninsula Country Club, culminating with those making it to the final round playing Pebble again.

That’s some bucket list shit. Legit.

Winning scores in the past few years have ranged from 11-Under to 22-Under-Par, so its not ALWAYS a birdie fest, mostly dependent on the wind and whether it rains or not, but typically we see over 15-under win, so it should be super entertaining to watch in terms of birdies.

The Pro-Am Format, a tournament inside the tournament,  is as follows:

Each pro is paired with an amateur. The pro and Amateur play better ball (Best score on the hole), with one round on each of the three courses. On the final day, the pros and pro-am teams making the 54-hole cut will play on the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Here are some of those Thursday pairings:

• Jerry Kelly and Aaron Rodgers, Kevin Streelman and Larry Fitzgerald — 8:00 a.m.
• Steve Stricker and Toby Keith — 8:11 a.m.
• Dustin Johnson and Wayne Gretzky, Jordan Spieth and Jake Owen — 8:22 a.m.
• Keith Mitchell and Larry the Cable Guy, Tom Lovelady and Ray Romano — 8:33 a.m.
• Colt Knost and Josh Duhamel, Gary Woodland and Kelly Rohrbach — 8:44 a.m.
• Rory Mcllroy and Gerry McIlroy — 8:55 a.m.
• D.A. Points and Bill Murray, Chris Stroud and Darius Rucker — 9:06 a.m.
• Will Zalatoris and Tony Romo — 9:17 a.m.
• Mackenzie Hughes and Alex Smith, Kevin Na and Steve Young — 10:01 a.m
• Jason Day and Chris Harrison, William McGirt and Alfonso Ribeiro — 8:11 a.m.
• Patrick Rodgers and Charles Schwab, Billy Horschel and Tim Finchem — 8:22 a.m
• Ken Duke and Carson Daly, Luke Donald and Chris O’Donnell — 9:17 a.m
• Russell Knox and Justin Verlander

Alright, alright. Without further ado, here’s where I attempt to look smart and end up either looking like an idiot, or getting very lucky. That being said, here’s who I like:

(Form Ranking is a combination of the Key Attributes needed for this weeks event, Averaged Over the Past 2 Months)

• Recent Finishes – 1st and 14th
• Tournament History – 3rd, 41st, 4th, 2nd, MC
• Form Ranking: 14th in the Field

2) Jason Day – Odds to Win +1000, DraftKings Price $10,900

• Recent Finishes – 1st
• Tournament History – 5th, 11th, 4th, 64th, 6th
• Form Ranking – 16th in the Field

3) Gary Woodland – Odds to Win +2500, DraftKings Price $9900

• Recent Finishes – 1st, 12th, 7th
• Tournament History – 5th
• Form Ranking – 5th in the Field

Mid-Tier Guys

1) Patrick Reed – Odds to Win +3500, DraftKings Price $7900

1) Jason Kokrak – Odds to Win +8000, DraftKings Price $6900

Thanks for reading!