Pebble Champ Isn’t Bored

As far as moving the excitement needle, let’s just say that the sailboats bobbing up and down in Carmel Bay were about as thrilling as Sunday’s final round of the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where Arron Oberholser’s day amounted to a stroll on the beach.

It’s not Oberholser’s fault that his first victory on the PGA Tour in the four years since he turned pro had all the drama of a buffet lunch.

Oberholser couldn’t help it that Mike Weir, his closest pursuer, turned around and headed in the other direction with alarming speed.

Oberholser also couldn’t help it that it took 76 PGA Tour events for him to win for the first time. As it turns out, winning doesn’t listen to anyone’s timetable.

Oberholser did seem to be trying to make it interesting, struggling with his swing and turning in a round of even-par 72 that featured bogeys at the 13th and 14th. But it was still enough to easily beat runner-up Rory Sabbatini by five shots.

Cheered on by his mother and a gallery of fans from his high school in San Mateo, Calif., and from San Jose State, Oberholser steadied himself in pressure situations, relying on his new attitude adjustment program to remain calm.

“I think I can compete with the best players in the world,” he said. “It’s upstairs where I’ve been lacking.”

So he started talking to himself, coming up with reminders to remain in the moment.

“Who does that, and then answers himself?” Oberholser said. “Only a crazy person, right?”

Also rich people. Oberholser matched the largest winning margin in the 65-year history of the tournament, but the most important number might be his paycheck -- $972,000 -- with his rounds of 65-68-66-72 and 17-under-par total of 271.

In addition, he single-handedly turned around the power trend that has been one of the major PGA Tour talking points, averaging only 259 yards off the tee and ranking 64th in the Pebble Beach field.

But Oberholser hit 44 of 55 fairways and his average of 25.75 putts a round was unsurpassed.

On Sunday, the tension lasted three holes. Tied with Weir to begin the fourth round, Oberholser birdied the second hole and the third hole and Weir went double bogey and bogey over the same stretch.

Weir had the bad break of mud on his golf ball for his second shot at the second, which he knocked out of bounds. Afterward, he could say only that it simply wasn’t his day.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I thought I was going to win today, no question,” he said.

As it turned out, the tournament was over after the first three holes, except for the accounting. Bolstered with a five-shot lead, Oberholser didn’t have to do a whole lot except finish standing up, which he accomplished without incident.

Sure, with a four-shot lead and four holes to go, he did send the ball bouncing a couple of times off the cart path at the 15th and then watched it ricochet off a tree. But instead of heading out to 17 Mile Drive, the ball bounced back into the rough, where he had a clear shot to the green.

“That was a good break,” he said.

Oberholser recovered nicely, knocking it onto the putting surface, where he coolly made a birdie from eight feet.

When Weir made a bogey, he officially bid adieu to the proceedings, dropping six shots behind, which is where he finished. His closing round of 78 dropped Weir into a tie for third with Jonathan Byrd, who had a 69. They both made $313,200.

But Weir also added another chapter to his unwanted record of 1-8 after holding or sharing the 54-hole lead.

Sabbatini’s two-under 70 earned him $583,200, but he knew after bogeys at the ninth and 10th that it wasn’t going to work out for him.

“I went backwards and when you do that, you kind of take yourself out of the running,” he said.

It wasn’t an especially great day for the defending champion.

Phil Mickelson put the finishing touches on a frustrating week with a 77 and wound up tied for 38th. It’s the first time Mickelson has been out of the top eight in four tournaments this year.

His week included one eagle, 20 birdies, 12 bogeys, two double bogeys and a triple bogey. His 77 Sunday was Mickelson’s worst round since an 80 at the 2003 Chrysler Championship.

Oberholser’s day might have been long -- his round was clocked at six hours -- but he didn’t seem to mind.

After waiting so long for his first PGA Tour victory, he wasn’t going to worry about small matters like that.

Tougher pin placements and hard, fast greens didn’t make Oberholser’s task any easier, but it might have made what he accomplished even more enjoyable.

The first time he played Pebble Beach was as a 17-year-old in 1992 and there he was Sunday afternoon, at the very same place, holding up a winner’s trophy in a PGA Tour event for the first time.

“The walk up the 18th at Pebble Beach is unlike anything else,” he said. “To walk up knowing you’re going to be the champion is incredible.”