On Saturday, the iconic 18th hole at Pebble Beach slapped Daniel Berger upside the head. On Sunday, it gave him a great, big, tournament-winning hug.
With the AT&T Pro-No-Am on the line, Berger hit three perfect shots that gave him a stunning eagle at the same hole where he made double-bogey 24 hours earlier. After a perfect drive that squeezed into the fairway between the famous Cypress tree and the bunkers right of it, Berger hit a pure three-wood from 253-yards out that flew onto the green and stopped pin high, 31-feet from the hole.
“Best three-wood I’ve ever hit in my life,” is how Berger described that second shot. It was clutch as he was sitting at 16-under par, tied with young Maverick McNealy, who was done for the day at 16-under after a closing 66.
Berger lined up his eagle putt then hit what he described as: “The best putt I’ve ever hit in my life.” Hard to argue that because he only needed two putts to win. His ball tracked perfectly toward the cup then tumbled into the hole on its final rotation. It was his second eagle of the day, his fourth in three trips around Pebble Beach. It was good for a back nine 32 and a closing seven-under par 65 that gave him an 18-under par winning total.
He started the final round two back of overnight leader Jordan Spieth thanks to that out-of-bounds tee shot at the 18th on Saturday which led to a closing double-bogey seven.
But Berger flipped the narrative a day later.
Berger acknowledged his game is in better shape than it’s ever been. “I’ve worked so hard the lasts six or seven months,” he said after collecting his fourth PGA Tour win, following up on last year’s victory at Colonial in the Charles Schwab Challenge.
There were at least a half-dozen players who had a shot at winning heading for the final nine holes. Spieth had a tough time finding fairways and failed to take advantage of the early birdie opportunities over the first seven holes. “A really poor first six holes,” was how Spieth described his start to the final round. “And that’s where you have to score out here. I was one-over through six and that was the difference.” Spieth closed with 70 and tied for third with Patrick Cantlay at 15-under, a shot behind solo runner-up McNealy.
Nate Lashley looked like he had a good shot at picking up his second Tour win. He was 16-under par standing in the 16th fairway. He hit what he thought was a good approach but it went long. His pitch settled 12 feet past the hole but he proceeded to four-putt from there for a ghastly triple-bogey seven that took him out of contention. He did birdie the 18th for a 69 and a share of fifth place.
But the afternoon belonged to Berger. He got the start that Spieth was hoping for. He rolled in a 31-footer for eagle at the second hole then followed that with a birdie at the third to quickly get to 14-under.
“I knew if I hung in there that birdies would come,” Berger said.
Credit Berger for his positive attitude after the closing double on Saturday. “I’m not letting one bad swing ruin my week,” he said after that seven.
The hole that tried to ruin his week, made it for him on Sunday.
“That’s incredible,” was how Spieth described Berger’s finish. “You stand on the tee and know you made double yesterday, then make eagle to win.”
Incredible indeed — how about a little cheese on that “Berger”?
3 Comments
baxter cepeda
Berger is officially on the pick-able list even out west.
He was already a great pick on bermuda grasses but he looked great at Pebble, which is a bit of faders paradise; which Berger of course mostly fades.
But it was those straight draws like the 3 wood at 18 that won it for Berger.
He has that chip on his shoulders; saying some guys with comparable records get more attention. I don’t know about that—many of those guys from Jordan to Brooks to to Morikawa to bryson have majors; if not multiple majors. Wolf hung with bryson to the end. Rickie has top 5s in all the majors in the same year.
I’m not sure who he is talking about getting more attention despite similar records. But if that chip helps, who needs reason?
Berger is no doubt moving our attention list having proven he can win nationwide. But now he has to prove he is a major contender; win one. Then the respect he seeks will really come.
Jordan did awesome Again. He is ready to win. I would love for Jordan to commit to draws with the driver. Like Rory he can pull off some fades with the big stick but he seems to get in trouble more often hitting left to right off the tee.
Berger’s banana fades seem like a bad example for juniors imo (I’m probably wrong) but a great example in playing the shot he knows. He has that nice straight ball when he cannot fade. That being said if Berger can learn to turn the ball right to left- easier said then done for that swing— he could really catapult himself past some of the really big names ahead of him on our attentions list.
Cantlay was atop my AT&T list before the first tee shot at Pebble this week, and he was better than that after day 1, but while he hung around to the end, unlike Berger, he was not able to come back from his misfortunes; starting with his first hole double on Friday; his ball lost in one of those baseball glove trees we call cypress’; which btw are so majestic they should be reason alone to visit pebble before kicking it.
If Cantlay isn’t fried already, riviera is an even better opportunity for him. Like Berger, he needs to get a little pissed. We get the flat line. But Cantlay has high standards; maybe showing them a tiny bit more might help.
Gotta feel for lashley. I saw something on my phone so naturally I was like: with all those names…Lashley won?
Not exactly. Instead Lashley had one of the most painful 4 putts in recent memory. Going long on that hole was unfortunate. The pitch was decent but left above the hole. Even my 2 year old knows by now —you dont have to call it a defensive putt — but as Cantlay explained its easier to miss those downhillers if you want to hit them smartly just a foot past. Lashley instead focused solely on making all 4 of those putts; he made 1.
We can blame bumps but what really got Lashley was Pebbles terrific design. Gotta play super smart on that 16th. Lashley did not do that.
Between Jordan’s hole out and this, the land locked 16th, which is incredibly beautiful despite no ocean, has moved up the list of holes to pay attention to at pebble.
Berger’s drive at 4 was also very memorable. 4 and 10 are both pretty cool as driveable par 4s. The beauty is unmatched but the design of pebble —like Berger — is underrated on the list of great courses.
One thing is clear: fans or not. Celebrities or not. As always, pebble beach is the real biggest star this week.
A must see baby!
Tom Edrington
Pebble is the attraction, which means they should cut the field to 120 so they can play just two courses…..It was so enjoyable to see everyone play quickly and without the side shows…..Pebble is a serious course and should merit more serious consideration…..Larry The Cable Guy is not serious….
baxter cepeda
Just because it’s slow for the pros doesn’t mean it has to be slow for the viewers.
Hopefully Next year they show more players on tv; but it’s still great for the players to have to deal with the unique challenges (and fun) of this event.
The courses around pebble are amazing in their own right. Each better than 90 % of courses on tour. Obviously it would be cool if cypress point got back in the rota but they are all amazing. Poppy hills is incredible and it’s quite accessible.
The Peter hay par 3 renovations look amazing. They made a replica of 7 green. Hope is the price is still reasonable and the new bar doesn’t make it too adult and less family friendly (as it has been).