Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
The PGA Tour heads back to California after one week in Phoenix, where Brooks Koepka's comeback train robbed Jordan Spieth's comeback train before poor Jordan even knew it. We head to the coast for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.
Like the American Express a few weeks ago, the Pro-Am has been canceled and the event will be held at just two courses this year, Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. The field will split their first two rounds, and cutmakers will play two more at the namesake course.
Pebble Beach is a 6,816-yard par 72 on the Pacific Coast, one of the most famous courses in the world. Spyglass is a bit more inland measuring 7,035 yards to its par 72. Both feature small poa annua greens, and specifically, Pebble features some of the smallest putting surfaces on Tour at just 3,500 average square feet.
Some precipitation is expected late in the week and the wind is not expected to kick up too much, but the conditions will certainly be worth monitoring as the week goes on to see if either wave gets an advantage.
Let's dig into the courses and see what stats we can use to build our daily fantasy lineups this week.
Course and Tournament Info
Course: Pebble Beach Golf Links
Par: 72
Distance: 6,816 yards
Fairways/Rough: Poa annua in the fairway and ryegrass in the rough
Greens: Poa annua
Course: Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Par: 72
Distance: 7,035 yards
Fairways/Rough: Perennia ryegrass and poa annua
Greens: Poa annua
Even with the easiest of the three courses out of play, the pro-am element being removed and low wind expected could keep scoring around where it normally is. The winner has reached exactly 19-under par in three of the past four years and won by multiple strokes, with the lone exception being a 17-under from Ted Potter that was also well ahead of the pack.
We'll focus mostly on comps for Pebble since most of the rounds will be on that course, and the key characteristic at this iconic venue are the tiny greens. Only Harbour Town Golf Links (RBC Heritage) is in the same neighborhood in terms of green size, and Colonial Country Club (Charles Schwab Challenge) is another course where accuracy with the irons is at a premium. If you're going to miss the green in regulation about 40% of the time, being able to get up and down is essential at all three courses.
Key Stats
These stats have proven vital to success at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
| Key Stats for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am |
|---|
| Strokes Gained: Tee to Green |
| Strokes Gained: Approach |
| Birdies or Better Gained |
| Scrambling |
| Strokes Gained: Par 5s |
Approach play will be essential once again this week, but all three strokes gained metrics come into play here so we'll cover our bases with the tee to green metric. We've seen golfers with big time drivers as well as magical short games have success here, and Pebble especially really does open things up for different types of golfers.
Even the best ballstrikers will have to be sharp with their short game this week, and getting up and down is just as important as taking advantage of the birdie opportunities to keep pace with the field. As is the case on most par 72s, the best of those opportunities will come on the par 5s.
Course History Studs
Phil Mickelson has won five times at Pebble Beach, most recently in 2019. He bracketed that win with finishes of second and third. Regardless of his current form, Mickelson always seems to show up at Pebble Beach.
Since 2008, Jason Day has played this event 11 times and has just 2 finishes worse than 14th. He has never won but has seven finishes of T6 or better, including each of the past four years.
Spieth has played here every year since 2013, with a win in 2017, three other top 10s, and just one finish worse than 22nd.
Kevin Streelman was second here last year though he was four strokes behind Nick Taylor's 19-under par. Streelman has a long and very successful history here. He's a staple in the field every year and has missed just one cut since 2009. Recently he's been at his best, with finishes since 2016 of T17, T14, 6th, and T7 before last year's runner-up.
Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
