The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am now has an elite field to match the aura of its famed California courses.
As the only new addition to the PGA Tour’s signature event series in 2024, the Pro-Am will tee off Thursday at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill with a reduced field of 80 of the world’s best golfers. They’ll be vying for shares of a $20 million purse amid a forecast of rainy and windy conditions.
Many top players skipped the tournament in years past as they carefully designed their schedules. This will mark the tournament debuts for World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is back for the first time since 2018, and Justin Thomas is making his first appearance since 2014.
“There’s arguably no place better in the world when it’s like this out at Pebble Beach,” Thomas said Tuesday. “Yeah, enjoy being here. It’s just been unfortunate kind of timing or slot in the schedule for past years why I haven’t come back.”
The pro-am portion of the tournament has been scaled back to Thursday and Friday only. Everyone will play each course once over the first two days. There will be no 36-hole cut before the pros proceed to Pebble Beach for the third and fourth rounds.
Thomas appears to have moved on from a tough 2023 season. In his first outing of 2024, he tied for third at The American Express.
“I think — well, I know that I got into some bad habits swing-wise last year,” Thomas said. “To be perfectly honest, I think it just took a little bit of time to get out of some of those.”
The winner of The American Express, Nick Dunlap, was an amateur in his sophomore year at the University of Alabama. After becoming the first amateur to win on tour since 1991, Dunlap turned pro and will make his professional debut this week.
“I’ve had numerous moments where you just kind of have to take it all in, it’s overwhelming,” Dunlap said. “But also, I’ve dreamed about doing this my whole life and playing golf on the PGA Tour. To finally be here and to be able to do that as a 20-year-old is pretty cool.”
While players try to concentrate on the golf itself, the news of the week is the PGA Tour’s newly finalized deal with a collection of U.S.-based sports owners who are investing $3 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, its new for-profit wing.
Negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund are ongoing, but it may mean a reunification of the splintered men’s golf landscape is a step closer. McIlroy, once a fierce critic of LIV Golf, said this week that players who want to return to the PGA Tour should not be punished.
He was also asked if the Pro-Am is cheapened by the absence of players like Spaniard Jon Rahm.
“Yeah, I’d like to win here and stand up with a trophy on 18 green and know that I’ve beaten all of the best players in the world,” he said.
Englishman Justin Rose is the defending champion, and Jordan Spieth (2017), Canadian Nick Taylor (2020) and Tom Hoge (2022) are some other past winners in the field.
Among the amateurs competing are quarterbacks Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and Steve Young; fellow athletes Larry Fitzgerald, Pau Gasol and Buster Posey; and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
–Field Level Media