Monday Backspin: Seed math, Adam Scott, grooves update

text size

Before I get to what Dustin Johnson's win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am means for the 25-year-old, I'm going to start this week's column by looking ahead because it's a short week with the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship beginning on Wednesday.

Is there anything more fun than printing out a bracket (click here for ours) and filling in whom you think will make it to the Final Four? Whether it's March Madness, or golf's version, filling out these sheets is practically an American pastime, at least for basketball anyway.

Champion's Replay

Want to hear what Dustin Johnson said about his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am? Click here Shot Tracker Replay Johnson's final round MORE PLAYERS • Final-round highlights • Shot of the Day • Final wrap-up • Complete tourney coverage

There are some major differences between the golf and basketball brackets, of course.

The biggest this year is that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will not be in the field. That's like North Carolina and Kentucky not making the NCAA tournament -- it opens the possibility for more intrigue. Indeed, the other significant difference is that unlike in basketball, a No. 16 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed.

As for Johnson, he's a No. 11 seed in the Gary Player bracket and will play sixth-seeded Camilo Villegas in the first round. Does anyone really think it would be an upset if Johnson won that match with the way he's playing right now?

Should Johnson knock off Villegas, he'll likely face defending champion and No. 3 seed Geoff Ogilvy in the second round, which would probably be the most interesting second-round match ... provided they both get there. In match play, like in the NCAA tournament, you never know.

Stock up

Dustin Johnson: Snead, Middlecoff, Nicklaus, Watson. And now Johnson. Those are the only players to have won at Pebble Beach in consecutive years. Johnson's '09 victory did come in 54 holes, but he's playing some great golf right now. Johnson's scoring average the last eight rounds: 67.63 -- and that's with two 74s. FedExCup rank: 1 (14 last week) Paul Goydos: Forget about that 9 for a minute and think that Goydos could play his way onto the Ryder Cup team come September. If he does, Corey Pavin will have to find a new assistant captain. Either way, the U.S. will benefit from having him on the team. FedExCup rank: 19 (38 last week) David Duval: I don't know what to make of Duval -- Pebble Beach was his first top-50 since last year's U.S. Open -- but those were the best four rounds of golf he's played since Bethpage. He may contend a few more times this year. FedExCup rank: 16 (167 last week)

Stock down

Phil Mickelson: That was one of the more non-threatening top-10 finishes you'll ever see. For the week, Mickelson hit just over half his fairways and took 30 putts or more in three of four rounds. For the year, Mickelson ranks 177th in driving accuracy and 143rd in putting average. FedExCup rank: 35 (75 last week) Vijay Singh: Six of his last seven rounds and seven of his 10 rounds this year have been in the 70s. Singh used to be a fast starter. The last two years, however, he hasn't had a top-25 in any of his first three starts to the season. Maybe the hard-working Singh needs to dial it down during the offseason. FedExCup rank: 119 (135 last week) Rory Sabbatini: It hasn't exactly been a banner last few events for Sabbatini. Since that runner-up at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Sabbatini has a tie for 39th, a tie for 76th and a missed cut. So much for momentum. FedExCup rank: 13 (9 last week)

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. What did we learn from last week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am about the U.S. Open, which will be played at Pebble Beach later this year? Almost nothing. The course will be set up much differently come June, and the greens and fairways will be much firmer. Well, almost nothing ...

2. The one thing we did learn is that the par-5 14th is going to be giving players a lot of headaches come this summer. If three players made 9 on it now, what's going to happen in June? You can bet USGA officials will pay careful attention to the green on that hole and it will be a topic of conversation -- if not a significant factor -- in the year's second major.

3. Next to Sean O'Hair, Dustin Johnson might be the best U.S. player under the age of 30. He now has three wins -- O'Hair is the only other U.S. player under 30 with that many -- and two of them have come at venerable Pebble Beach. Johnson is now No. 2 in the Ryder Cup standings, too.

4. Speaking of Johnson, watching him dunk a basketball might be better than watching the NBA's Slam Dunk Contest. The 6-foot-4 Johnson, can, in fact, actually dunk a basketball. The guys in this year's dunk contest in Dallas? They can, but not very well.

5. A few guys have been channeling their inner Brett Favre of late. Jesper Parnevik became the second golfer in three weeks to back off retirement talk (and it should be noted John Daly was the other). If Parnevik does need fusion surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae in his lower back, though, his career will likely be over. The Swede remains hopeful he won't, however.

6. Brad Faxon is going to be good for NBC. He's smart, articulate, opinionated in a not over-the-top way and is a student of the broadcasting game. Faxon, who will be on assignment some for the network this year, admitted he watches a lot of golf on television and even studies all the different announcers. He's even been known to call in to local sports talk radio in Boston on occasion.

7. Note to anyone talking about guys who played college golf at the University of Washington -- like rookie Alex Prugh -- or other notoriously rainy spots: Just because they've played a lot in the rain doesn't mean they're good at it. Or even like it. "No one does," Prugh said.

8. Rickie Fowler is one of the flashier players on TOUR and apparently has six pairs of golf shoes that he color coordinates with his outfits. Of course, that's nothing compared to Ian Poulter, who added 16 pairs of shoes to his wardrobe last week alone. "Rookie, he will learn quickly," Poulter said.

9. So you want to expand the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship to the top 96 players in the world? That's essentially what the NCAA men's basketball tournament is seriously looking at doing. My take -- neither would be a good idea. More isn't always better, folks.

FROM THE MAILBAG (Click here to send your question)

"Is there any update regarding the new grooves?" -- Dylan Evans

The latest is that the USGA and the folks from Ping met last Tuesday. As for what came out of that meeting, we don't much other than the talks were "productive" and both sides are "hopeful that a solution can be found that respects and reflects the best interests of golfers and the game." (Click here to read the rest of what was said.) The other option, as mentioned by PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, would be to involve an independent committee, but even Finchem called that process "cumbersome." Stay tuned.

Last week's Kodak Challenge hole

HOLE: The par-5, 543-yard 18th at Pebble Beach THE LEADERS: Dustin Johnson's 4-foot putt for birdie on No. 18 at the Pebble Beach Golf Links sealed his victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The birdie moved him into a tie for second place in the Kodak Challenge lead at 3 under. Click here for results

The Forward Spin

As mentioned in the opening, seeds in this tournament mean little when trying to predict the winner. Unless maybe you're talking about Geoff Ogilvy, who, with a 17-2 mark in the event, has the best record of anyone in the field. Only Tiger Woods has been to more finals than Ogilvy. Another item of note to watch for is play on the greens. Last year, players were critical of the severity of some of the slopes on the green complexes of the Ritz Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Ariz. Changes have been made for this year's event, however, and we should see some new pin positions.