PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — After Kevin Streelman tapped in at 18 to clinch the pro-am portion of the annual Tour stop at Pebble Beach, his partner Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald went over to Pebble Beach Resort CEO Bill Perocchi and asked, “Do you think I’ll get an invitation to come back next year?”
“That’s a given,” Perocchi said as the two men embraced.
This is the second time in three years that Fitzgerald and Streelman, who have never finished worse than T-27 in five appearances as a team, have won the title. In doing so, they became the first team to win the pro-am twice since Hubert Green and Dean Spanos in 1985 and 1990. Only four teams have claimed multiple victories at an event that dates to 1937 when it was called the Bing Crosby Clambake.
Perhaps some of that success can be attributed to their on-course chemistry. The two walked off the 18th green joking with each other, and with Fitzgerald, an eight handicap, draping an arm over the shoulder of his partner, who made a serious run at the individual title on Sunday, too.
“His back must be sore because he carried me,” Fitzgerald told CBS immediately after he and Streelman finished. “He played outstanding. Some of the putts he made, some of the shots that he made with the wind blowing out there were terrific.”
Streelman and Fitzgerald played in the next-to-last group on Sunday. Their final-round 66 was their highest of the week, but still left them five shots ahead of the next-best team at 33 under.
That next-best teams happened to be winner Nick Taylor and his celebrity partner Jerry Tarde, the editor-in-chief of Golf Digest, and Mickelson with his partner, former NFL quarterback Steve Young. Both teams finished at 28 under, and played together in the final group.
Conditions were difficult on Sunday but Streelman kept pouring in birdies while Fitzgerald just kept it in play.
“I had a feeling it was going to get nasty this afternoon,” Streelman said in his post-round interview on CBS, referencing a forecast that called for 20-30 mph wind gusts.
“I kind of had to carry him at the end there,” Streelman added. “(Larry) got the tops going, but we’re working on that. I just love the guy.”
Streelman closed with back-to-back rounds of 68 on his own ball, good for a solo second finish at 15 under. That was four shots behind Taylor, who close in 1-under 70 and a 72-hole total of 19-under 268.
During one celebratory interview, a reporter referred to the winning duo as three-time champions, which led to Fitzgerald cracking, “He’s speaking No. 3 into existence. Next year. Next year.”
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