Weekly Recap: Rose to the Occasion

In the end, through all the issues facing the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, from the woefully weak field to the four-pronged weather attack of wind, rain, cold and even hail -- though not the size of golf balls -- it turned out to be a pretty good finish to the tournament, if you were willing to wait till Monday to find out who won.

Justin Rose, who went to bed on Sunday night with a two-stroke lead, awoke on Monday morning with a red-hot putter that carried him to his first win in four years and a return to the top-50 in the world rankings at No. 35.

The 42-year-old Englishman, who sat at 15-under through nine holes when play was called on Sunday, sank a 27-footer for birdie on No. 11, a 19-footer for birdie on 13 and an 8-footer on 14 for yet another birdie, and coasted to an 18-under total and a three-stroke win over Brendan Todd and Brandon Wu.

Perhaps most importantly, it gets Rose back into the Masters, which is now just a little more than two months away. The victory also enhances his chances to be a part of the European Ryder Cup after not being selected two years ago.

When play was called on Sunday evening, it was a hodge-podge of guys atop the leaderboard. Rose was by far the most accomplished, and some might say the only truly accomplished golfer. The top 12 were all seeking a coveted spot at Augusta.

And while they were tightly bunched, all within five strokes, Rose removed the opportunity for late drama with those three birdies in four holes.

Rose was coming off a year in which he had only three worldwide top-10s and had seen his world ranking plummet into the mid-70s. But he has opened 2023 with renewed vigor, with a tie for 26th at the Amex, a tie for 18th at the Farmers and now Pebble. His previous win came at the 2019 Farmers.

With Rose's two prior good outings this season, it's a little easier to grade his performance this week. But with the poor field, the weather issues and the three-day pro-am component, it's a little hard, actually very hard, to judge most of the golfers based on this tournament. Maybe the guys who contended until the end showed the most mental toughness through all the adversity, while also perhaps getting an edge with their tee times.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Brendon Todd
Todd is back in the top-100 in the world (76th) for the first time in about a year and a half. The shared runner-up was his best finish on Tour since winning twice late in 2019. As we have written many times, Todd has proven to be a good option in weaker fields on shorter course. So why didn't we pick him this week, you ask? Good question.

Brandon Wu
Wu has shown mini-flashes in his brief PGA Tour career. He even was runner-up before, to Jon Rahm in Mexico last spring. But this week kind of came out of the blue – Wu was not playing at his best, with nary a top-25 in his past 10 starts. So consider all the circumstances before thinking this is a big breakthrough for the 25-year-old Californian and Stanford alum.

Peter Malnati
Malnati has made a pretty decent living on Tour being one of the shortest hitters and best putters. He's won only once, at the Sanderson Farms way back in 2015, but he does have a few good results every year, enough to keep him afloat. Like this week's tie for fourth. Like Todd, Malnati is worth consideration on shorter tracks, and a weak field would help a lot too.

Keith Mitchell
Mitchell had a great first half of 2022, then tailed off. Now, he seems to be returning to form. His tie for fourth gives him a second top-10 and third top-25 in his past five starts. Mitchell has the kind of game – great ball striker – that you would think is largely slump-proof. He offers encouragement for his backers in the weeks ahead. He's up to 55th in the world, within range of a top-50 spot to qualify for the Masters.

Denny McCarthy
McCarthy showed why he is one of the Tour's best putters when he went out in 7-under 29 in the fourth round. A couple of bogeys on the back blunted his charge, but he still tied for fourth. McCarthy has now played 145 tournaments on Tour without a win. You'd think that with his elite putting, it would've happened by now. But the rest of his game, tee-to-green, just hasn't been good enough.

Taylor Pendrith
Pendrith went to bed on Sunday night as the clubhouse leader after a closing 64. Which is probably pretty cool. He ended up tied for seventh. Which is also pretty cool. It's the first top-10 for him this season, though he did have a runner-up last season at the Rocket Mortgage. Pendrith did well this week, but he needs vast improvement in his approach and wedge play to be a greater force week in and week out.

Kevin Yu
Yu is a 24-year-old rookie by way of Arizona State who is playing pretty well. He tied for seventh at Pebble, and that follows a tie for third at Bermuda in the fall. He has made seven of 10 cuts. He's a very good greens-in-regulation guy, but his putting needs to improve -- a lot. In the two tracked rounds at Pebble this week, he ranked 36th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Pretty good. Let's see what happens next time out before calling his putting improved.

Beau Hossler
Hossler tied for 11th, just missing his first top-10 since the Valero Texas Open close to a year ago. As has long been the case, Hossler is a great putter who doesn't do other things well enough. Except at Pebble, he ranked only 55th in SG: Putting. He ranked second in SG: Around-the-Green.

Kurt Kitayama
A top-50 player, Kitayama did not have a good start to 2023, with at T73 at the Sony and a missed cut last week at the Farmers. He began the final round at Pebble sitting inside the top-10 but proceeded to implode on the front nine, going out in 41 with four bogeys and a double. Kitayama ended up tied for 29th, so we'll say his year-opening slump is still active.

Joel Dahmen
Dahmen was one of the last players to make his season debut, after becoming a father just a few weeks ago. He tied for 41st. Often, a big change to one's personal life can really impact a golf game. Let's monitor Dahmen going forward, beginning this week at Phoenix.

Geoff Ogilvy
The 45-year-old former U.S. Open champ made his first cut on the PGA Tour in five years. He had made only six starts since that 2018 Byron Nelson – four later that year and two more last season. But he also recently tied for 18th at the Australian PGA Championship in November. Ogilvy still has a ways to go before the Champions Tour beckons and, even though he's been busy with a burgeoning design business, he has said he'd like to play more. He tied for 74th, second last among those who made the cut, but he did beat more than 80 guys.

Webb Simpson
In a weak field during a week he could've given a nice boost to his world ranking, Simpson continued his decline with a missed cut. Entering the week at No. 146 OWGR, Simpson missed his fifth cut in six starts dating to last season. He did not qualify for Phoenix, where he won only three years ago. Simpson is now out of the top-150 in the world, at No. 154.

Matt Fitzpatrick
Amid all the withdrawals that hit the tournament after the weather delayed play on Saturday, Fitzpatrick was not one of them. And he had a good reason – he was hurt. Fitzpatrick said he was nursing a neck injury that has bothered him "on and off throughout the years" and he was treating Pebble Beach as a "warm-up week." When play was halted during the third round on Saturday, Fitzpatrick was far back and had no chance to make the cut. He honorably came out on Sunday and completed his round. He remains in the field for this week's Phoenix Open.

Maverick McNealy
One of the pre-tournament favorites, McNealy wrecked a lot of lineups and betting slips when he withdrew during the third round right after a double bogey on 18 at Pebble Beach. At least he was hurt, unlike many of the WDs, citing a left shoulder injury. He had a chance to make the cut, too. As of now, McNealy remains in the Phoenix field.

Justin Suh
The Korn Ferry grad trying to make it to full status on the PGA Tour pulled out during the first round with a shoulder injury. Nothing more was specified at the time.