WGT Golf News

New Zealander Danny Lee, South Korean Charlie Wi, and Dustin Johnson tied at nine-under for the early lead in the first round of the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament today, as Tiger Woods made a solid start. Lee had two eagles and a flawless nine-under-par 63 at Pebble Beach Golf Links while Wi opened with a nine-under 61 at Monterey Peninsula.

American Ken Duke covered the back nine in a record eight-under 28 at Pebble Beach to complete a 64. Duke and American Brian Harman are right behind Lee, Wi and Johnson on the leaderboard.

Tiger Woods, making his first appearance on the U.S. circuit this year, finished with four under today.

Other notable scores today include Vijay Singh (-4), Jim Furyk (-3), Padraig Harrington (-2), Martin Laird (-2), Ian Poulter (-1) and Mike Weir (E). 

Visit WGT for daily updates on the AT&T Pro-Am tournament.

Full Leaderboard for AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

TV Schedule for AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

The 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am has been an institution on the Central Coast since Bing Crosby launched the event in 1937, and is played on Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club. 

The first round of the AT&T Pro-Am starts on Thursday, February 9, at 8:00am PT, although events leading up to the first round are already under way. Practice rounds continue through the week and the charity golf 2012 3M Celebrity Challenge took place earlier today. Celebrity golf players participating in the 3M Celebrity Challenge include returning champion Bill Murray, San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, actors Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, George Lopez, Ray Romano and Josh Duhamel and musicians Huey Lewis, Kenny G and Michael Bolton.

Tomorrow, 2011 AT&T Pro-Am champion D.A. Points will return to defend his crown (Points partnered with Murray for the tournament in 2011). Also participating is Tiger Woods, who is returning to Pebble Beach for the first time since he won the AT&T Pro-Am in 2000. Returning champions Dustin Johnson (back-to-back wins in 2009 and 2010), Davis Love III, and Phil Mickelson will also participate in this year's tournament.

PGATour.com experts weigh in on their top picks for this year's AT&T Pro-Am with Woods, Mickelson, Johnson, John Huh, and Rickie Fowler leading the pack. To see all the expert picks, visit: http://www.pgatour.com/2012/tournaments/r005/02/07/picks.attpebblebeach/index.html

Stay tuned for more updates from the AT&T Pro-Am here at WGT!

Check-out the special holiday offers on flowers, treats and jewelry just in time for Valentine's Day. Buy your gifts online thru WGT and get yourself free WGT Credits.

Here are some examples of the available offers...

• FTD - Save up to 50% on flowers and get 1,750 WGT Credits
• ProFlowers - Save up to 50% on flowers and get 1,250 WGT Credits
• Shari's Berries - Hand-dipped berries from $19.99 and get 1,250 WGT Credits

See All Valentine's Offers

As a reminder, use your free WGT Credits to upgrade your clubs, helping to improve your scores, win more matches and have more fun!

Kyle Stanley delivered a truly super performance on Super Bowl Sunday...from tears of pain last week to tears of joy this week!

Last week, Stanley blew a 7-shot lead with an 8 on the last hole to lose to Brandt Snedeker in a playoff. But this week, Stanley started the day 8 shots behind Spencer Levin, but was able to take the lead on the 13th hole and hung on, shooting a 65 for -16 and and the victory.

The fans at the Waste Management Phoenix Open went crazy, with a total record audience of 518,000 fans.

Also in contention was Ben Crane, who continues to play well this year, shooting 66 for second place at -14. Third-round leader Spencer Levin struggled, shooting 75 for third place at -13.

Stanley pulls off one of the best week-over-week comebacks in PGA History. WGT GOLF reported that Stanley might pull off a "Rory" (see original post) from the 2011 Masters-U.S. Open, but it was a real long shot and Stanley delivered.

Follow Kyle Stanley on Twitter to see what he posts about his first victory

Phoenix Open PGA Tour Leaderboard

Some of the new Super Bowl ads are already available on World Golf Tour, including...

• Acura NSX ad with Jerry Seinfield 
• Hasbro Family Game Night ad
• Honda CR-V ad with Ferris Bueller

If you watch these ads on WGT, you earn free WGT Credits. Note, be sure to click on the Gray Box at the bottom of the page to see all the Super Bowl ads.

Watch Super Bowl Ads

There are many ways to earn free WGT Credits...by watching videos, taking surveys and shopping on hundreds of websites...including lots of Valentine's Day special offers for flowers, jewelry and holiday gifts. 

Use your WGT Credits to upgrade your virtual golf equipment, play against other WGT players for credits in matchplay or Skins challenges, or compete in WGT golf tournaments for credits and prizes.

To celebrate the Big Game this weekend, you can get 3 free Callaway virtual golf balls when you purchase $10 or more WGT Credits.

Get more distance and control on all your WGT shots with these very popular Callaway virtual golf balls, which are normally not unlocked until Level 39, but are yours free with this offer.

Buy Credits and Get Free Callaway Balls

The Callaway's Tour i(z) Vapor Balls represent the perfect combination of Tour player feedback and R&D excellence--delivering the longest Tour virtual golf ball with penetrating ball flight—plus Vapor Trails to trace your ball thru the air.

*Unlimited offer available to WGT players buying $10 or more WGT Credits 2/3/12-2/5/12. Hack-Master players receive 3 Callaway Tour i(z) Vapor Ball (L39+) virtual golf balls. Tour Master-Legend players receive 3 free Callaway Tour i(z) Vapor Ball (L55+/Legend+) virtual golf balls.

Everyone in the USA knows that the NFL Super Bowl is this Sunday, where over 100 million fans will watch the New York Giants play the New England Patriots, in a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl that the Giants won in the closing seconds.

More importantly...which team's quarterback is the better golfer?

Tom Brady and Eli manning are among the best golfers from the NFL, including other top quarterbacks like Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Bees, Sam Bradford and even Eli's brother Peyton.

So, let's compare their golf games...

1. Golf Digest Top Athlete Golf Rankings

• Brady #83
• Manning #98
• Brady wins

2. Golf Handicap Estimates

• Brady 4-8 handicap
• Manning 7-10 handicap
• Brady wins

3. Charity Golf 

• Brady hosted the 2009 Patriots Charitable Foundation Golf Tournament (not an ongoing annual event)
• Manning hosts the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Charity Golf Classic (annual ongoing event)
• Manning wins

4. PGA Tournaments

• Brady has several appearances at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
• Manning has no major PGA Tour appearances
• Brady wins

5. TV Golf

• Brady's cool golfing performance on HBO's Entourage Season 6, Episode 5
• Manning's amusing Gatorade golf commercial
• Manning wins

So, it's close, but a 3-2 win for Tom Brady. Therefore, the WGT GOLF Super Bowl Prediction is: New England Patriots 41 - New York Giants 30

World Golf Tour has added more new features, including the new PING G20 virtual golf clubs, new virtual golf tournaments, and Valentine's Day special offers for free WGT credits.

New PING G20 Clubs

The latest from PING and WGT, the new PING G20 golf clubs are a major upgrade to the popular G10s, featuring a new driver, woods, irons and discounted full set. These clubs are top perfomers with a slower WGT swing meter, and start unlocking at Level 58. Note, higher level clubs unlocking at Level 81 will be available later in February.

The G20 Driver just made the Golf Digest 2012 Hot List, and golf professionals playing the G20s include Bubba Watson (read about Bubba's custom pink shaft), Angel Cabrera, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Tom Lewis.

New Tournaments

WGT recently launched the fourth new "Best Of" course as voted on my WGT players, the Best Of Hardest Holes. It features 18 of the hardest strokeplay holes from other WGT courses, based on average scores to par. This extra challenge deserves an extra reward, so we've doubled the WGT Credit prizes for players of all Tiers in the free Best of Hardest Holes tournament played on this new course in February. Note, tournament will be available by end of day on 2/2/12.

For Legend players only, we're hosting a free 1-day Legends-Only Leap-Day Tournament on 2/29/12, with special virtual equipment prizes. Legend players should wait until February 29th to enter and play!

And be sure to check-out the expanded Ready-Go golf tournaments, with $1, $2, $5, $10 and $20 entry fees. Ready-Go's are quick paid tournaments for 50 players that typically close in just 24-48 hours. The top 30 of 50 players all win credits and the winner gets 6X credits. You'll find Ready-Go's available on different courses and for players at different skill levels, for Pro, Tour Pro, Master, Tour Master and Legend players.

Valentine's Day Offers

Back by popular demand from last year, WGT has expanded the number of Valentine's Day special offers. 

Just click from WGT to buy your Valentine's flowers, treats and gifts online AND you automatically get free WGT credits for yourself. See great offers from ProFlowers, FTD, Sharri's Berries, M&M's and other top retailers.

Love and Golf...a beautiful thing!

Country Clubs

We fixed an issue with Country Club tournaments where players weren't playing on the correct tee based on their Tier. Our apologies for that.

There are hundreds of thousands of WGT players who have joined WGT Country Clubs, playing in thousands of private tournaments every day where credit prizes are limited to just those Country Club members. Get in on the fun by joining or starting your own WGT Country Club!

Golf Course Pages and Golf Replay Highlights

In case you've missed it recently, be sure to check-out the new WGT Course pages where anyone can play any hole on our strokeplay courses without joining WGT, or the new WGT Replay pages where top golf shots are automatically updated every day from saved WGT player replays.

The PGA Tour travels to TPC Scottsdale this weekend for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, one of the largest and funnest events in golf, with over 500,000 fans expected.

When you think of the Phoenix Open, you immediately think of the loudest hole in golf, the famous 16th hole (pictured above). This ampitheater par 3 is home to over 20,000 screaming fans fueled by the warm weather, great shots, and plenty of beer! The traditional "Quiet Please" signs are ignored by crowd boos, cheers and chants.

See and hear it for yourself in this video of Tiger Woods and his epic hole-in-one at the 1997 Phoenix Open...and the crowds have only gotten bigger since!

Back to the golf, here are some players to watch this weekend...

• Phil Mickelson - rocky start but won here in 1996 and 2005 and has the Arizona State Sun Devils and Sparky on his side 
• Rickie Fowler - debuted in 13th place last weekend at Torrey Pines and should have the co-ed support 
• Mark Wilson - defending 2011 champion off to another strong start 
• Bill Haas - 2011 FedEx Cup Champ is coming on strong with 4th place at Torrey Pines 
• Brandt Snedeker - riding high with three straight Top Ten's including last week's gift 
• Kyle Stanley - can he pull a "Rory" from 2011 and bounce back from his meltdown at Torrey Pines

PGA Tour Tee Times & Leaderboard