Snedeker quenches the thirst for first

After taking a back seat to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the last two events, Brandt Snedeker had the spotlight to himself — well, he kind of shared it with his pro-am partner and friend Toby S. Wilt since the duo won that portion of the tournament. Snedeker, who has played solidly, ran into two guys who just happened to be unbeatable the last two weeks.

This week he was the one that was the man to beat, despite entering the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tied for the lead with PGA Tour rookie James Hahn.

If anything, being the bridesmaid for two straight weeks made him even more hungry for the victory.   (continue reading…)

I know it was Saturday night on the East Coast, so many thanks to those who took the time to submit questions and/or actually watched the live-stream.

Good news is you can always check it out later if you were busy with fun weekend activities (and I hope many of you were).

One thing: I made a mistake during the Hangout. Apologies to Jesse. For some reason — even though I knew he shot 68 — I thought Snedeker broke his streak of rounds in the 60s. In 15 of his last 16 rounds, Snedeker has scored in the 60s. His lone over-par round in that stretch was in the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open when he posted a three-over 75.

Eyeing a win after finishing runner-up to Tiger and Phil the last two weeks

There’s a name that’s been gracing the first page of the leaderboard who is tied for the 54-hole lead: Brandt Snedeker, who finished runner-up the last two weeks to Tiger Woods (Farmers Insurance Open) and Phil Mickelson (Waste Management Phoenix Open), respectively. PGA Tour rookie James Hahn birdied his last three holes at Spyglass (the hardest of the three venues) to fire a six-under 66 and tie Snedeker for the lead at 12-under through 54 holes.

Good news for Snedeker – Mickelson, who triple-bogeyed the 18th at Pebble Beach today after knocking two in the water (if you haven’t seen the GIF of his slip, then here’s a link), made the cut on the number (one-under), so he’s not a threat. And Tiger isn’t in the field. (continue reading…)

Yes, that is indeed Bill Murray, sporting an interesting beard!

Of course that’s a reference to Bill Murray’s facial hair. The Pebble Beach National Pro-Am regular is making a scene, per usual. He’s partnered up with D.A. Points, who won the event in 2011 — the pair were also victorious in the pro-am portion of the tournament.

Murray and Points played at Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course on Thursday, and posted a team effort of five-under 65, putting them in a tie for 51st after the opening round.

Here’s a closer shot of Murray’s beard: (continue reading…)

I’m still relatively new to Google+ Hangouts, but so far, I am obviously having lots of fun with them. It’s been a great way to interact with Twitter followers and readers.

You can also leave questions in the comments section of the YouTube link I tweet or send out. I’ll have to find a more efficient way to get the word out. It’s tough for me to set a time every day since it’s always fluctuating when I’m on-site (which has been every week so far).

Don’t know what a Hangout is? Here’s a helpful link that explains everything you need/want to know!

Feedback and constructive criticism are appreciated and welcomed. WUP is working with Google on making the Hangouts as user-friendly as possible.

The Westwoods: Father-son bonding

The first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am kicked off this morning at the three different venues: Pebble Beach Golf Links, SpyGlass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Shore Course. Rookie Henrik Norlander is off to a fast start — he’s five-under through 11 at Pebble. Hunter Mahan is five-under through nine holes at Pebble. So is Matt Every, who has three holes to play.

There are some tidbits from the pre-tourney festivities that I wanted to share before we get into the tournament. (As you may have read in previous posts or tweets, I don’t have internet at the motel I’m staying at this week, so good news is I can’t work once I leave the media center, and bad news is I can’t work once I leave. Ah well — life goes on.)

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Oh my goodness: Deer antler spray is a banned substance?!? I plead ignorance.

In light of admitting to using deer antler spray that may contain IGF-1, a banned substance, Vijay Singh and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem met on Wednesday afternoon at Pebble Beach.

According to GolfChannel.com, a member of Singh’s management team described reviews of the meeting as “mixed,” but wouldn’t elaborate further.  (continue reading…)

Bill Murray wore this two years ago at the event. Seriously.

We saw some entertaining antics that veer from golf’s usual decorum at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last week. Well, the “fun” continues at Pebble Beach, where the rich and the famous play with the pros for the “pro-am” portion of the event.

It’s probably just me, but it seems like there are more bold-faced names than usual on this year’s list, which can be found here — though I have an updated version below, with additional entries, like Jim Harbaugh (the brother who was on the losing side of the Har-Bowl Super Bowl) and Condoleezza Rice. Also, I’ve noted their pro partner in parenthesis.

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