PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – It begs the question: Daniel Berger, why haven’t you played the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am more often?
Seriously, just look at the stats: Two starts, two top-10s – a tie for 10th in 2015 and a tie for fifth in 2020. Eight rounds played, eight sub-par rounds. Well, make that 10 rounds played, 10 sub-par rounds as Berger, after opening with a 5-under-par 67 at Spyglass on Thursday, fired a 6-under-par 66 Friday at Pebble Beach to move to 11 under and just one shot behind pace-setter Jordan Spieth.
So what gives, Daniel?
“That’s a great question. I feel like the guys on my team have always told me this would be a good (tournament) for me and it just kind of felt weird in the schedule,” Berger said. “Sometimes I haven’t played, but every time I’ve come here I’ve really enjoyed it, so I think I’ll be coming back next year for sure.
“I think it’s hard to have a bad day at Pebble. It’s one of those courses when you walk you just kind of enjoy it. And I just think I’m in a good rhythm now and my body feels good, so I’m just trying to enjoy it and try to play the best golf I can.”
Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Leaderboard | Photos | Tee times, TV info
Yes, his body feels good again. A lingering wrist injury hindered him through the past few years but no longer poses a problem. Just a little over a year ago, he was ranked 152nd in the world and in one stretch went nearly 18 months without a top-10 finish; now he’s 15th in the world with nine top-10s in his past 18 starts, including victory in the Charles Schwab Challenge in June, the first event after the PGA Tour resumed play following a COVID-19 break.
“My body feels amazing and I just think, it’s a nice place to be when you don’t have to worry about if you’re hurt every week when you show up,” Berger, 27, said as he tries to chase down his fourth PGA Tour title.
It’s also nice to blaze a sub-par trail on some of the most visually stunning real estate along Stillwater Cove. Berger needed just seven strokes to go birdie-eagle-birdie on holes 5-7. He scored from 15 feet on the par-3 fifth, chipped in for eagle from 20 feet on the par-5 sixth and rolled one in from 15 feet on the par-3 seventh.
“It was a nice little stretch there,” Berger said with a smile.
But it was his patience that keyed the round, he said, just like it was patience he drew upon as he battled through his wrist injury.
“I didn’t make a bunch of birdies in the middle of the round and then hung in there and toward the end rattled off a couple and got myself in a good position going into Saturday,” Berger said. “The work that my coach Cameron (McCormick) and I have been doing has really helped me prepare week-in and week-out.
“I feel like I know what I need to do and if I take care of those things I can kind of just free myself up and play golf and it usually turns out to have some good results.”
[vertical-gallery id=778088173]