Fantasy Crystal Ball: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

The West Coast Swing concludes this weekend with the playing of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.  Last year's tournament was won by Dustin Johnson in a washout, but it seems like Johnson will be defending his title in a fully 72 hole event.  The field is pretty good this weekend, which means some easier choices for fantasy golf as opposed to the last several weeks.

If you haven't been using Phil Mickelson a lot lately, this would be a good week to have him.  Yes, he has fizzled out in each of his two PGA Tour starts in 2010, but he has three wins at this tournament and shares the tournament scoring record.

I always recommend taking the defending champion, but Dustin Johnson gets some extra points from me for playing very well at Riviera.  His third round wasn't so hot there, but he played very well.

Seems like Vijay Singh is on a rapid decline in his career, but he has been a runner-up in this tournament three times.  Maybe this is the tournament that can light a fire under the Fijian.  Going strictly on a hunch, I'll have him this week.

Retief Goosen is really flying under the radar so far in 2010 despite not having finished outside of the top 6 yet.  Though Pebble will be very different in June for the US Open, the two-time national champion might be playing to get in form for then.

Nick Watney is in a similar spot, averaging a 12th place finish in three starts so far this season.  He might sneak up on the field in California like he did in San Diego last year.

And I'm throwing in Jim Furyk on there for good measure.

For the C-list, I'm keeping Mike Weir on the bench in the event that his 77 at Riviera is an aberration.  I think it is, but I'm going to burn a start on Ricky Barnes this week.  Why?  Seems like a guy with that kind of power might have a special round at Monterey Peninsula, the new course in the rotation that is really tough in the wind.

If you want to get some good info about the course and the historical profile of a winner in this event, check out Sal Johnson's tournament preview at Golf Observer.  Also, Devil Ball Golf has a great pull for the season: Jerry Pate.  He'll be talking about the Tour's courses every now and then for their shop.  Check out Jerry's thoughts on Monterey Peninsula. Good luck this week!