Grading the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Brandt Snedeker's hot start
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| Brandt Snedeker rolls to the Pebble Beach title. (Getty Images) |
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Norm Macdonald made a great point on Twitter today (thanks for the lede, Norm!).
2 weeks ago second to Tiger, last week second to Phil, and this week Brandt Snedeker is second to none. CBSSports.com
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) February 10, 2013
Brandt Snedeker moves up to No. 4 in the world rankings with a win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am this weekend.
I've been telling you guys he's the best player in the world for a few weeks now, and his final round at Pebble validates that. And he validated his own quote from last week about backing up hype with wins:
"You have to win majors and win tournaments to be recognized as an elite player. And I haven't done nearly enough of that, you know."
After his 65 on Sunday, 16 of Snedeker's 19 rounds in 2013 have been in the 60s -- a ridiculous 84 percent. And here's how he's finished in his last nine PGA Tour events: 1, 2, T2, T23, 3, 1, T37, 6, 2!
He set the tournament record Sunday:
With par at 18, Brandt Snedeker would set tournament record at 19-under 267. [Caveat: Previous record (268) set (twice) on trio of par 72s]
— ♦ Rob Bolton ♦ (@RobBoltonGolf) February 10, 2013
Also, his caddie is clearly enjoying the run:
From yesterday: Snedeker's caddie Scotty takes well-deserved load off to soak up some rays as he waits for the boss. twitter.com/StephanieWei/s…
— Stephanie Wei (@StephanieWei) February 10, 2013
Here's the rest of the grades:
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 | Snedeker's pace | There are a lot of things to love about Snedeker -- his putting, his emotional breakdown after losing the 2008 Masters, his SEC pedigree. But the No. 1 reason to like him might be how quickly he plays the game of golf.
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| He's just the best: | |
| Jason Day as an entertainer | The list of golfers who can get the causal fan excited about golf isn't lengthy but I think Jason Day is on it. He fell off the planet last year but with two top-10 performances under his belt in 2013 now (a T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open and a 67 Sunday for a sixth-place finish) Day is back on track. |
| Big 10 basketball/golf tournament double header | Yes, the changeover of coverage from Golf Channel to CBS is a little awkward, but I can't think of much better on a Sunday afternoon than Indiana-Ohio State followed by three hours of golf at Pebble Beach. And if you're complaining about missing a couple of minutes of golf because the basketball game ran long, I mean, that's a pretty first-world problem, no? |
| Tony Romo | Partner Granted, he wasn't playing the tips and they weren't counting Romo's bogeys ... but still. Jim Nantz mentioned Romo had over 10 birdies and an eagle with nine holes left Sunday. |
| Leading or co-leading after round three | Snedeker's win means that now four of five third-round leaders or co-leaders of 72-hole events this year have gone on to win. Here's the full list: Sony Open: |
 | Keegan Bradley as a prophet |
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| Retief Goosen's comeback | Goosen is on the comeback trail after back surgery in the fall, and his T9 finish at Pebble is evidence that he's well on his way back to exceptional form.
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 | Phil Mickelson's defense | Lefty was trying to defend his Pebble title from last year as well as build on his Phoenix Open win last weekend. He struggled, though, going 69-71-73-72 en route to a T60 finish, but at least he gave us this incredible highlight. |
 | Celebs on Sunday | I love the attention celebrities bring this tournament Thursday through Friday, but they don't need to be out there on Sunday. Here's exhibit A for that:
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