"Years ago, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was one of the biggest events of the season. Now, for TV viewers, it’s just a white-hot mess of utter unwatchableness."

Golfweek's Martin Kaufmann clearly heard all of those who have been conversing on social media and via private messages: Saturday at the AT&T National Pebble Beach Pro-Am is painful to watch. Guantanamo Bay worthy. A reminder why people hate golf, celebrity, etc...

Always a lightning rod for criticism, I think I heard more vitriol than ever because of the epic weather (blimp shot Heaven!) and a solid leaderboard considering the dated vibe of the field (Vaughn Taylor!). Throw in so many celebrs with C-list vibe who run for the CBS cameras like a fly spotting a poodle turd, then contrast with the NBA's slick presentation of All-Star weekend, and you have a perfect storm of criticism.

Because as Kaufmann writes, the event has "the odd distinction of being perhaps the PGA Tour’s best venue and the site of its worst tournament."

We know that CBS is going to give viewers an unhealthy dose of Chris Berman and Kenny G and Craig T. Nelson and Michael Bolton and Chris O’Donnell and Huey Lewis and Ray Romano and more. These guys are like Masters champions – they apparently have lifetime exemptions into the event. Huey Lewis noted Saturday that he’s been playing in the tournament for 25 years. Has he even had a hit in the past quarter century?

Easy there. Heart of Rock ’N Roll has aged just fine, thank you.

Anyway…

I’m not sure how the Clambake got this bad or how to allot blame. If you want to point fingers at the culprit, you probably would need a lot of fingers, aimed at, among others, tournament organizers, AT&T and other sponsors, the Tour, CBS and perhaps a few other entities that I’m forgetting.

A wise television person mentioned to me before the annual Saturday nonsense that CBS could remedy so much of the vitriol by having a secondary telecast on Golf Channel that is all about moving day PGA Tour golf. But the current PGA Tour television contract and general CBS stubbornness to present golf as it was in 1998 would make that tricky, if not impossible. But as other sports and their network partners continue to innovate broadcast presentations, the stuck-on-98 vibe of the AT&T National Pro-Am only exaggerates the effect.

Speaking of the event, Jim Furyk could not do much with his one-stroke lead and Brandt Snedeker ultimately coasted to a win that gets him in the Masters, reports Doug Ferguson. And he did it with a $20 driver, explains E. Michael Johnson.

The highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment: