AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Most Intriguing Stories of the Week

The PGA Tour heads to the picturesque Pebble Beach Golf Links this week for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

This will be the second to last time a tour event will be held at Pebble Beach before this magnificent course hosts the 2010 US Open.   

Four of the top-10 players in the world will be on hand this week, including the world number three, Padraig Harrington.

Here are the top-three most intriguing stories to look out for this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Vijay Singh

Ever since Tiger Woods shocked the golf world by announcing that he would be undergoing season ending reconstructive ACL surgery last year, it’s as if he has opened up the flood gates for knee injuries on the PGA Tour.

In the past month alone, both Vijay Singh and Rocco Mediate underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair torn meniscuses. 

Fan favorite Rocco Mediate is still in recover mode this week but the 2008 FedEx Cup Champion, Vijay Singh, will return to action after a four week layoff.

After a strong finish to the 2008 season which included wins at three out of his last seven events, Vijay ironically sustained his knee injury while playing in Tiger Woods’ Chevron World Golf Classic in December, which he won.

Singh played in the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii before returning home to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Heading into the 2009 season, aside from possibly Camilo Villegas who won the final two events of the 08’ season, Vijay was the hottest player on the PGA Tour.

At 46 years old, Vijay can appear to be ageless when looking at the incredible physical condition he has kept himself in.

However, old man time eventually catches up with everyone, no matter how many grueling hours a player spends in the gym.

Towards the end of the 2008 season, Vijay began to suffer from some tendinitis in his left elbow, although it obviously didn’t affect him on his way to capturing the FedEx Cup title.

Although arthroscopic surgery on a torn meniscus is a fairly minor procedure nowadays, it will be interesting to see if Vijay picks up right where he left off before the injury or whether or not he will require some further recovery time before regaining his top form.

Padraig Harrington

The second Harrington was handed the Wanamaker trophy for winning the 2008 PGA Championship, the rumblings began to circulate about the possibility of a ‘Paddy Slam’.

In 2008, Harrington surprised us all by successfully defending his British Open title, and then went on to completely shock us a few weeks later when he came from behind to win the PGA Championship and his second consecutive major.

Now, Harrington is half way to completing a form of the grand slam, which is arguably the most coveted accomplishment in the game.

Obviously Harrington has a very long way to go in achieving the ‘Paddy Slam’, but he is half way there, which makes his quest for the grand slam one of the most intriguing stories of the 2009 season.

In his 2009 PGA Tour debut at the Buick Invitational last week, Harrington certainly did not perform as well as would have been expected from a man who won the final two majors of the 2008 season and is now ranked third in the World Golf Rankings.

After finishing in a tie for 47th last week, Harrington will be looking to shake off some more rust this week at Pebble Beach. 

Over the two years, Harrington has not performed overly well in events outside of the majors which is somewhat surprising for a player that has experienced an exceptional amount of success in the majors over the past two years. 

Aside from the three majors he has won, Harrington has just two additional PGA Tour wins, with his last coming at the 2005 Barclay's Classic, albeit he does spend about half of his time playing on the European Tour.

As we all know, for better or for worse, players are not really evaluated on much else other than their total number of career major wins, which is where Harrington has clearly been focusing his efforts.   

However, after a mediocre start to his 2009 season, Harrington will be looking to get back on track this week with the Masters looming just six weeks away.

The forecast is calling for some wind and rain this week at Pebble Beach, which is obviously weather that the Irishman is more than accustomed to and should not be an issue.

Jim Furyk

Last year was the first year since 2004 that Furyk did not finish the season with at least one PGA Tour win. Over a month into the 2009 season, Furyk is just now making his 2009 PGA Tour debut this week.

Furyk certainly did not have a bad 2008 season.  He had nine top-ten finishes is 26 events, finished 12th on the tour’s money list and fifth in FedEx Cup points.

Furyk will turn 39 this year, and similar to Phil Mickelson’s situation, his prime has not yet passed him by, but he is significantly closer to the end of his prime than he is to the beginning.

With 13 career PGA Tour wins and one major win, which came at the 2003 US Open, Furyk will surely be looking to build upon the success he has experienced over the past decade, and he will be particularly hungry to add at least one more major win onto his career resume.

The last time we saw Furyk was in late December at Tiger Woods’ Chevron World Golf Challenge, where he held the 54-hole lead but finished fifth after some late final round bogeys.

It will be interesting to see whether or not Furyk comes out firing this week in his 2009 PGA Tour debut.