2015 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: Brandt Snedeker Wins

By Danny Norris | Feb 16, 2015

Brandt Snedeker punched his ticket into the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship and the 2015 Masters Championship. After a lost year in 2014, Snedeker is looking healthy and the minor tweaks he’s made with swing coach Butch Harmon have already paid dividends.

Snedeker had trended in the right direction finishing in the top 19 in four of his last five tournaments heading into the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The weather was perfect all week long and it was just about a perfect four rounds of golf from Snedeker who only bogeyed one hole and set a PGA Tour tournament record at Pebble Beach with his 22-under score.

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On the flipside, once again, Jim Furyk couldn’t seal the deal with the lead after 54 holes. While Furyk was masterful at Pebble Beach yesterday – shooting a 9-under 63 – he couldn’t carry that momentum into the 4th round.

Furyk never could get in gear and couldn’t take advantage of the scoring conditions as he pared the first four holes, bogeyed five, and bogeyed 9 to shoot 2-over after nine holes. Furyk would go on to shoot 2-over par for the round which was good for 16-under for the tournament in a tie for 7th.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad tournament for Furyk. This was the first competitive tournament he played in 2015 and he finished 7th. I think if you told him he would finish 7th, he would take it without thinking twice. This particular finish looks bad and is magnified because of the circumstances surrounding his inability to shut the door for the last four and a half years now.

Meanwhile, Snedeker’s playing partner – Nick Watney – got off to an extremely hot start birding the first four holes to get to 20-under. He quickly took the lead, but gave it up as quickly as he gained it. Watney bogeyed five and six, but he did bounce right back birding seven, but gave it back up on nine.

Bogeying nine was the turning point. Watney was in the middle of the fairway after his tee shot, but his approach went long, left, and in the rough. Watney had a slippery chip, and considering the circumstances, it was a pretty decent chip actually. He had about a 10-15 foot putt for par, but couldn’t save it.

Snedeker went wayward with his tee shot, but when it was all said and done, Snedeker was able to save par. Watney ended up finishing three shots behind Snedeker alone in 2nd place at 19-under.

Charlie Beljan had a good showing as he shot a 6-under par for the round to get to 18-under for the tournament and in a solo 3rd place. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, and Pat Perez all finished in a tie for 4th at 17-under par.

Matt Jones and Jordan Spieth joined Furyk at 16-under par in a tie for 7th, and a number of players finished in a tie for 10th including Daniel Berger, Jon Curran, J.B. Holmes, Chesson Hadley, and Brendon Todd.

Feb 15, 2015; Pebble Beach, CA, USA; Brandt Snedeker poses with the winners trophy following his victory in the final round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

One last thought on Brandt Snedeker: Looking ahead for Snedeker, you have to consider him in the mix of favorites at the Masters. Snedeker is fully healthy and was on an absolute tear just a couple of years back before nagging injuries caught up with him. Sneds has played a number of rounds at Augusta, he really wants that Green Jacket; this maybe the year he finally puts it all together.

Also, it’s kind of interesting – next week the PGA Tour heads south to L.A. for the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. The defending champion is Bubba Watson who last year at this time hadn’t won a tournament in 22 months.

He had been in a major funk since winning the Masters in 2013 (which was his last PGA Tour win up to that point). But, winning the Northern Trust Open kind of validated his status on Tour and proved that he wasn’t just a one-trick pony. He took that momentum and had a stellar 2014 season which included another Green Jacket, and a World Golf Championship win.

Winning the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am maybe just be the springboard Brandt Snedeker needs moving forward. Obviously, Snedeker doesn’t need to validate his status on Tour, but it shows that he’s back after winning for the first time in 19 months.

Snedeker may now get on a run where every time he tees it up we have to consider him as one of the favorites. We may look back at this next year and point to the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am as the turning point in Snedeker’s career.

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