Mickelson and Johnson Atop The Board as They Tee Off at Pebble

Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson will go off as the pre-tournament favourites at (7-1) in the PGA Tour’s annual stop at Pebble Beach.

Dustin Johnson would pretty much have been the owner of Pebble Beach the last two seasons, if not for an epic collapse in the final round of the US Open last season where he threw away a healthy lead on the final day letting Graeme McDowell sneak in and take the title.

However, despite missing out on two majors last season, Johnson doesn’t appear to dwell on any of it and has this season off to a great start.

He managed a 29th place finish last week in Phoenix where he simply couldn’t get on a consistent roll, but that followed 9th and 3rd place finishes respectively at the Tournament of Champions and the Farmer’s Insurance Open.

Johnson is also the two-time defending champion at the AT&T National Pro-Am and he’ll be tough to beat seeing as not a single player has managed to top him the last two times out.

Phil Mickelson is playing as solid as ever.  He just finished tied with Johnson for 29th in Phoenix.  Not as solid a finish as one would expect, but he did finish 2ndat the Farmer’s displaying his world class set of skills.

Lefty finished 8th last year at the Pebble Pro-Am and looks comfortable year after year in the pro-am format.  Expect good things from Mickelson this week.

Third on the betting board are Nick Watney and Jim Furyk pairing a player who has started 2011 with two straight top-10’s with a the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year.

Watney finished 5th last week in Phoenix in a performance where he finished just three back of a two-man playoff ultimately won by Mark Wilson.

That after he opened his season with a 6th at the Farmer’s in San Diego where he made a torrid charge on the last day with a closing 63.

Furyk hasn’t played since missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii.  An underwhelming performance that followed a lack of quality in the final two rounds at the opening event at Kapalua.

He tied 35th at Pebble Beach in 2010 and nothing special should be expected from Furyk this week.

From the land of long odds.  After missing the cut in Hawaii, Gary Woodland has posted two top-5’s in two of his last three events, including a playoff loss to Jhonattan Vegas at the Bob Hope Classic.

Ask any golfer around the world to name a golf course in the United States and Pebble Beach will be the first thing they say   - Tom Watson