You can read Liam Williams’ Power Rankings for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at bet365 News.
Course Guide: The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2025 is a short 80 player event played over 2 different courses including amateur partners. The iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links is the host course and all competitors play the course once over Thursday or Friday. Now a Signature event, a new format twist ees amateurs playing for the opening two days, not for the weekend, and there is no cut.
2026 sees Spyglass Hill Golf Club host the non Pebble Beach Golf Links on Thursday or Friday. In effect as per standard on the coast, both these courses will play as tough as the weather conditions dictate with in-form players always able to shoot low scores on the Poa Annua greens.
Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California: Designer: Neville and Grant 1919 with Connor and Palmer 2007; Course Type: Coastal, Classical, Short; Par: 72; Length: 6,972 yards; Holes with Water Hazards: 1 (Pacific); Number of Bunkers: 116; Acres of Fairway: 27; Fairways: Ryegrass with Poa Annua; Rough: Perennial Ryegrass with Poa Annua 2-3″; Greens: 3,500 sq.ft average Poa Annua; Tournament Stimp: 10.5ft.
Course Scoring Average + PGA Tour Difficulty Rank:
2025: 70.10 (-1.90), Rank 38 of 50 courses
2024: 69.63 (-2.37), Rank 41 of 51 courses
Spyglass Hill GC: Designer: Trent Jones Senior, 1966; Par: 72; Length: 7,041 yards; Holes with Water Hazards: 4; Number of Bunkers: 62; Acres of Fairway: 24; Fairways: Perennial Ryegrass with Poa Annua; Rough: Perennial Ryegrass with Poa Annua 2″; Greens: 5,000 sq.ft average Poa Annua; Tournament Stimp: 10ft.
Course Scoring Average + PGA Tour Difficulty Rank:
2025: 69.99 (-2.01), Rank 40 of 50 courses
2024: 70.58 (-1.42), Rank 31 of 51 courses
Fairway Widths (yards): Below are the fairway widths for Pebble Beach Golf Links and how they compare to recent courses that we’ve seen on Tour:
Pebble Beach: Average 30-33 yards. Spyglass Hill: 25-30 yards.
TPC Scottsdale: Average 38 yards.
Torrey Pines South: Average 24-27 yards. Torrey Pines North: Average 24-27 yards.
Pete Dye Stadium: Average 33 yards.
Waialae: 250 yards from the tee: 34 yards wide; 275:32; 300:34; 325:37; 350:34.
Seaside Course: 250 yards from the tee: 42 yards wide; 275:40; 300:34; 325:31; 350:23.
El Cardonal: Average 60 yards up to 70 yards wide.
Black Desert: Average 30 yards up to 70-100 yards wide.
CC of Jackson: 250 yards from the tee: 29 yards wide; 275:28; 300:29; 325:28; 350:25.
Silverado: 250 yards from the tee: 27 yards wide; 275:26; 300:26; 325:27; 350:26.
Course Overview: This week’s format is for 54 holes on the host Pebble Beach Golf Links and 18 holes at Spyglass Golf Club – the Tournament Course.
There’s an undoubted link between host course Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines South Course. Yes, Pebble may be over 800 yards shorter than Torrey, but the courses share coastal locations and Poa Annua-seeded greens. Green complexes also vary in size with the 5,000 sq.ft. average greens at Torrey, replaced by postage stamp-sized 3,500 sq.ft. average greens at Pebble which are the smallest on Tour. 18 holes will also be played at Spyglass Hill which ably assists the famous host course, which has hosted 7 Major Championships. Spyglass is similar to Pebble in the fact that it has real teeth if the weather is non-compliant. As per coastal golf in general, in tranquil conditions both courses are very attackable.
Wide off the tee, where even the most wayward of drivers can hit over 1 in 2 fairways, host course Pebble Beach is a classical, second-shot golf course. The track is fairly unremarkable statistically unless the elements really close in. Fierce 2014-type conditions throughout are unlikely this year, so expect a similar -19 to -22 winning total to be required. Key stats are that the green complexes at Pebble are traditionally some of the hardest to putt on from within 10 feet on the Tour. Miss the green and scrambling from distance becomes a real problem, as does making par from Pebble’s notorious bunkers. Since 2024’s tournament the 6th green was rebuilt, and 50+ trees were planted.
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Winners: 2025: Rory McIlroy (-21); 2024: Wyndham Clark (-17); 2023: Justin Rose (-18); 2022: Tom Hoge (-19); 2021: Daniel Berger (-18); 2020: Nick Taylor (-19); 2019: Phil Mickelson (-19); 2018: Ted Potter Jnr (-17); 2017: Jordan Spieth (-19); 2016: Vaughn Taylor (-17); 2015: Brandt Snedeker (-22); 2014: Jimmy Walker (-11); 2013: Brandt Snedeker (-19); 2012: Phil Mickelson (-17); 2011: D.A. Points (-15); 2010: Dustin Johnson (-16).
2025: Rory McIlroy 66-70-65-66 -21/267
2024: Wyndham Clark 72-67-60 -17/211
OWGR of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Signature Event Winners: 2025: McIlroy 3, 2024: Clark 10.
Datagolf Ranking AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Signature Event Winners: 2025: McIlroy 3; 2024: Clark 41.
Lead Score Progression:
2025: Round 1 -8; Round 2 -14; Round 3 -16; Round 4 -21.
2024: Round 1 -8; Round 2 -11; Round 3 -17.
Path to Victory: Below are the end of round positions for AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Signature event winners since 2024:
2025 – Rory McIlroy: Round 1: 8th, Round 2: 13th, Round 3: 2nd.
2024 – Wyndham Clark: Round 1: 50th, Round 2: 23rd (54 Holes).
Shots From the Lead: Below are AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM Signature event winners and where they were positioned in terms of shots from the lead during the tournament since 2024:
2025 – Rory McIlroy: Round 1: 2 back, Round 2: 6 back, Round 3: 1 back.
2024 – Wyndham Clark: Round 1: 9 back, Round 2: 6 back (54 Holes).
Incoming form of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Signature event winners since 2024:
Rory McIlroy: 4th Dubai/1st DPWTC/3rd Abu Dhabi/25th Dunhill Links.
Wyndham Clark: 39th Amex/29th Sentry/19th Hero WC/37th Dunlop Phoenix.
Tournament Stats: We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s event that are well worth a look. Naturally they’ll help to shape a view on players who could go well this week: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader | Combined Stats.
My published predictor is available here. Top 10 of my published predictor are: 1) Scottie Scheffler; 2) Si Woo Kim; 3) Rory McIlroy; 4) Justin Rose; 5) Pierceson Coody; 6) Chris Gotterup; 7) Matt Fitzpatrick; 8) Maverick McNealy; 9) Patrick Cantlay; 10) Russell Henley.
Our brand new predictor model is running alongside, where you can build your own rankings in live time, using the variables listed on the left hand side.
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Winning Prices: 2025: McIlroy 12/1; 2024: Clark 70/1 Overall Average: 41/1.
Historical Weather:
2025: Thursday: Mostly cloudy. High of 53. Wind WNW 6-12 mph. Friday: Cloudy. High of 57. Wind SSE 5-15 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph. Saturday: Cloudy with rain showers. High of 59. Wind SSW 14-20 mph, with gusts up to 28 mph. Sunday: Partly cloudy. High of 62. Wind SSW 6-18 mph, with gusts up to 26 mph.
2024: Thursday: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. High of 58. Wind SW 10-15 mph. Friday: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. High of 57. Wind W 10-15 mph. Saturday: Cloudy with afternoon showers. High of 56. Wind SSW 5-10 mph.
Weather Forecast: The latest weather forecast for Pebble Beach, California is here.
Conditions for the 2025 renewal of the AT&T Pebble Beach look very northern European in their nature. With temperatures around 10-14 degrees Celsius (50-57 Fahrenheit) across all 4 days, plenty in the field will find this pretty cold. Turf conditions are likely to be soft as per 2025, with a 60-75% chance of rain on tournament Tuesday and Wednesday. Ground staff kept greens soft in 2025 anyway, but expect divots in fairways this week.
Wind here is difficult to forecast, but early forecasts of 25-30 mph south-westerly winds on both Saturday and Sunday – the exact strength and direction we saw 12 months ago – have subsided to 10-12 mph as this preview was released.
Strokes Gained Rankings: These top 25 in the field rankings are based on an 8-tournament window that stretches back to the WWT Championship / Abu Dhabi Championship which includes both PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, where recorded. Player rankings are based on performance relative to the rest of the field:
Top 25 SG Off The Tee: 1) Rory McIlroy; 2) Chris Gotterup / Scottie Scheffler; 4) Marco Penge; 5) Keith Mitchell; 6) Ludvig Aberg / Jake Knapp; 8) Harris English / Tommy Fleetwood; 10) Keegan Bradley; 11) Si Woo Kim / Robert MacIntyre; 13) Justin Rose / Sam Stevens / Sepp Straka; 16) Sam Burns; 17) Cameron Young; 18) Min Woo Lee; 19) Ryo Hisatsune / Collin Morikawa; 21) Ryan Gerard; 22) Corey Conners / Shane Lowry; 24) J.J. Spaun; 25) Maverick McNealy.
Top 25 SG Approach: 1) Russell Henley; 2) Hideki Matsuyama; 3) Shane Lowry; 4) Viktor Hovland / Si Woo Kim; 6) Tommy Fleetwood; 7) Aaron Rai; 8) Jason Day; 9) Sepp Straka; 10) Rickie Fowler; 11) Chris Gotterup; 12) Rory McIlroy; 13) Corey Conners; 14) Justin Rose; 15) Alex Noren; 16) Matt Fitzpatrick; 17) Kurt Kitayama; 18) Chris Kirk / J.T. Poston / Scottie Scheffler; 21) Maverick McNealy; 22) Sam Burns / Patrick Cantlay / Pierceson Coody / Sam Stevens.
Top 25 SG Around The Green: 1) J.J. Spaun; 2) Ben Griffin; 3) Hideki Matsuyama; 4) Viktor Hovland; 5) Scottie Scheffler; 6) Sepp Straka; 7) Chris Gotterup / Aaron Rai; 9) Mackenzie Hughes; 10) Ryo Hisatsune; 11) Matt Fitzpatrick / Sami Valimaki; 13) Stephan Jaeger; 14) Shane Lowry; 15) Patrick Cantlay / Bud Cauley / Harry Hall / Cameron Young; 19) Nick Taylor; 20) Robert MacIntyre / Sam Stevens; 22) Rory McIlroy; 23) Akshay Bhatia / Tommy Fleetwood; 25) Ryan Gerard / Maverick McNealy.
Top 25 SG Tee to Green: 1) Si Woo Kim; 2) Scottie Scheffler; 3) Chris Gotterup; 4) Rory McIlroy / Sepp Straka; 6) Hideki Matsuyama; 7) Viktor Hovland; 8) Tommy Fleetwood; 9) Russell Henley; 10) Shane Lowry / Sam Stevens; 12) Patrick Cantlay; 13) Aaron Rai; 14) Pierceson Coody; 15) Maverick McNealy; 16) Ryo Hisatsune; 17) Jason Day / Jake Knapp / J.J. Spaun; 20) Taylor Pendrith; 21) Corey Conners / Ryan Gerard / J.T. Poston / Justin Rose / Cameron Young.
Top 25 SG Putting: 1) Michael Kim; 2) Scottie Scheffler; 3) Robert MacIntyre; 4) Jake Knapp; 5) Rory McIlroy; 6) Harry Hall / Shane Lowry; 8) Ryan Fox; 9) Aaron Rai / Nick Taylor; 11) Tommy Fleetwood; 12) Stephan Jaeger; 13) Wyndham Clark / Matt McCarty; 15) Alex Noren; 16) Maverick McNealy / Cameron Young; 18) Jason Day / Justin Rose; 20) Sahith Theegala; 21) Chris Gotterup / Denny McCarthy / Sami Valimaki; 24) Jacob Bridgeman; Brian Campbell / Jordan Spieth.
Top 25 SG Total: 1) Scottie Scheffler; 2) Si Woo Kim; 3) Hideki Matsuyama; 4) Jake Knapp; 5) Chris Gotterup; 6) Rory McIlroy; 7) Shane Lowry; 8) Russell Henley / Robert MacIntyre; 10) Viktor Hovland / Maverick McNealy; 12) Ben Griffin / Tommy Fleetwood / Rickie Fowler; 15) Jason Day; 16) Pierceson Coody; 17) Cameron Young; 18) Matt Fitzpatrick; 19) Harris English / Min Woo Lee / J.T. Poston; 22) Ryan Fox / Aaron Rai / Sam Stevens; 24) Justin Rose / Sahith Theegala.
Trends & Key Factors: Analysing the Strokes Gained Stats of the AT&T Pebble Beach winners since 2024 gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this short, coastal, classical, Par 72:
Strokes Gained Tournament Trends:
2025, Rory McIlroy (-21). SG Off the Tee: 1st, SG Approach: 17th, SG Around the Green: 33rd, SG Tee to Green: 1st, SG Putting: 7th.
2024, Wyndham Clark (-17). SG Off the Tee: 3rd, SG Approach: 58th, SG Around the Green: 14th, SG Tee to Green: 25th, SG Putting: 2nd.
Strokes Gained Tournament Skill Averages:
SG Off the Tee: 2nd, SG Approach: 38th, SG Around the Green: 24th, SG Tee to Green: 13th, SG Putting: 5th.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors: Analysing the final stats of the winners here since the AT&T Pebble Beach became a Signature event – 2024 – gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this test:
2025, Rory McIlroy (-21). 337 yards (1st), 67.9% fairways (19th), 70.8% greens in regulation (19th), 76.2% scrambling (8th), 1.63 putts per GIR (15th).
2024, Wyndham Clark (-17). 310 yards (3rd), 64.3% fairways (45th), 68.5% greens in regulation (47th), 64.7% scrambling (46th), 1.51 putts per GIR (1st).
Tournament Skill Averages:
Driving Distance: 2nd, Driving Accuracy: 32nd, Greens in Regulation: 33rd, Scrambling: 27th, Putting Average 8th.
So let’s take a view from players as to how the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am courses set-up plus what skill sets they favour:
Rory McIlroy 2025 [on Pebble Beach]: “Pebble Beach – it’s quite a benign setup. There’s not a ton of rough. There wasn’t a lot of wind when I played. Yeah, look, you can certainly make a score there, and if the conditions are similar tomorrow to what they were today, then I would expect the scoring to be pretty low.
I feel like we got the first five holes pretty, not benign but it was manageable. Then 6, I would say 6 through 10 was like the really tough stretch of the golf course. Like the tee shot on 7 was just like it’s in the air and you don’t know whether to tell it to sit or go or whatever. To play 6 through 10 in 1 under was huge. I knew getting up to that back nine it was going to be a little more sheltered and I think I didn’t play perfectly, I made some key up-and-downs, 10, 11, 12. Then I think the birdie on 15 after not birdieing 14 was big, too. Yeah, it was a really good poor weather performance. I think if there’s a wind that you want to play Pebble Beach in, this is sort of it. So it was, as long as you managed it and sort of really controlled the flight of your golf ball, which I did well today, I still felt with how receptive the greens were, I still felt there was a score out there.
I think playing venues like this, it plays into some players’ hands maybe more than others and they can excel. Just sort of like a Hilton Head does for some people. I hate Hilton Head and I don’t like playing it but other people do. That’s the cool thing about going to different golf courses.”
Wyndham Clark 2024 [on Pebble Beach]: “Yeah, I mean, this is one of the most iconic places in golf. I think if you ask any player their favourite place in golf, I’d say it’s Pebble Beach or Spyglass or anything in the Monterey area. There’s just something special about this place, it’s so beautiful and has so much rich history. To come back here year in and year out is amazing, I feel very privileged that we get to do that. Then this year being one of the signature events, it makes it even more exciting. Now we have the best players. These big events feel like majors and now playing it on a major venue makes it even in my mind seem bigger. So I’m excited to be back here.
The course is in great shape. They actually made a couple changes from the last time I played this. Some of the fairways are brought in a little bit on both courses, both Spy and Pebble. Even little things like that make it feel more like a major. We’re sitting here on No. 3. Go to hole 4, they brought the fairway in significantly. Used to have a lot of room left, now you have to challenge the right side. Little things like that that I think they’ve done in majors in the past.
Yeah, I mean, out there I really wasn’t thinking much until you kind of get to that back nine where those last few holes, I was just, you know, see ball, hit ball, try to hit it where I wanted to. I really had a good feel on the greens. So in my mind I was like, all right, let’s just get us to where we’re putting because the hole seemed like a bucket today.
We were trying to have the best attitude we could possibly have, especially coming into greens like this where they are really bumpy, so slopey and it makes it really hard to make putts. So I was really just trying to focus on making the best stroke I can and regardless of where the ball goes, even though everyone tries to do that, it’s been really hard for me lately. And I’ve done a good job this week of that and I think my patience the first two days on the greens really paid off because obviously I made a lot of putts today.”
Justin Rose 2023 [on Pebble Beach]: “Yeah, I mean, obviously it’s one of those places that you just come to and you feel inspired and you look around and you’re like, wow, what an amazing place to be. There’s a little bit of gratitude in you know, the fact that you’re actually enjoying being here I think always lends itself to playing well, and that’s not unique to me. Strategically I think this golf course has a lot to it. There’s a lot of angles, a lot of strategy. The greens are quite steep in certain areas. I think I read sloping putts pretty well. It’s probably a strength of mine. So I think some of those things stack up to why I’ve been able to do well here.
I missed the fairway on No. 1, which is really a bit of a cardinal sin. I missed it, well I’ve missed it twice with a 4-iron now this week, which is — but I’ve had a lot of tee shots this week where I’m between 5-wood and 4-iron, so I’m stretching the 4-iron. I’m trying to hit the 4-iron hard. So I felt like it’s been a good week to have had a 3-iron in the bag, to be honest with you. But that kind of led to a lie in the right-hand rough that came out a little bit quick. But I had to get it up and over the tree, so I had to swing hard. Actually from over the back of the green I hit an unbelievable chip shot which I thought was going to be – I didn’t think I could leave it short, but left it four, five feet short. Such a quick putt as well. I dribbled it down there a bit.
The long bunker shot on 6. No that’s not comfortable. First and foremost, it’s actually a really well-designed hole, first and foremost. The fairway’s huge, but the fact there’s a cliff on right those bunkers are just in the right place. They’re not too deep because they give you a shot. But you got to strike it. You know that if you catch it half an inch fat, you could be in the ravine dropping and making all sorts of trouble there. So, yeah, I was really just focused on putting the ball in the middle of my stance, making sure I hit the back of the ball. Obviously for it to climb up there to 6 feet was, there’s a little element of a nice hop, skip, and a bounce up there obviously.
But I did my part. I struck it, stayed out of trouble, committed to it. Because, yeah, it would have been easy to have played a different shot, just try to hit a high cut 7-iron up onto the top of the ridge, give myself a wedge shot, but I only had 214 to the front so the shot was on.”
Justin Rose 2023 [on Spyglass]: “I don’t know how the other courses, the more coastal courses have played today, but obviously I feel like Spyglass played very long out here today. You had to drive the ball well and I did that today. I feel like we do have quite a lot of wind forecast the next couple days, but I think both those courses are somewhat geared up for it. So this was the course today that wasn’t really sure how it would play in these types of conditions. But, yeah, looking forward to each course presents a different challenge, which makes the tournament fun.”
Tom Hoge 2022 [on Spyglass]: “Yeah, I guess first off I just love being at Spyglass I always enjoy playing there. It’s usually the first nine holes I go play is the back nine at Spyglass when I show up here. But it’s a hard golf course, I knew it was going to be a challenge today that some of the leaders had the easier golf courses, so I had to make some birdies to keep pace there.”
Tom Hoge 2022 [on Pebble Beach]: “I just feel like for me if I can just get the ball in play off the tee you don’t necessarily have to push it with drivers that much, but lay back a little bit and it’s definitely a second-shot golf course which I feel like is the strength of my game.”
“It was a tough grind out there. The wind was really tricky today getting the wind right and I had a few times I got frustrated, because I didn’t quite time it right and had some gusts and the wind switched directions, which led to that double on No5. But I hung in there really well, that wedge shot on 14 was really tough one getting the wind right there as well. So when I walked up and saw that I was pretty close to pin high there I was really happy. And to roll that putt in was great.”
Daniel Berger 2021 [on Spyglass]: “Yeah, I think this is the harder golf course for me so just to shoot 5-under here is a good round and anything under par here is a good round. Tomorrow if the wind blows it’s going to be much tougher here so I prefer to play over there at Pebble. But I’m in a good position. So I hit a lot of good shots today and putted really well and much improved from last week. It’s receptive here, it’s receptive there (Pebble Beach), but like I was saying, if the wind picks up tomorrow, it’s going to be much tougher here hitting shots through the trees and trying to figure out where the wind is. So I’m in a great position.”
Daniel Berger 2021 [on Pebble Beach]: “For someone that cuts the ball like myself, 18 tee actually, I feel like it’s a relatively easy tee shot because you can start it down the left in the water and you just cut it off the water. Yesterday I just kind of flared it. Today I stepped up there, and I wanted to be as aggressive as possible and I would rather go down swinging than making a conservative swing that doesn’t end up really well. Then the 3-wood was, like I was saying earlier, one of the best 3-woods in my life. I’ve always struggled with finding a good 3-wood. It’s either good off the tee or good off the deck, but this one I’ve really been comfortable with for a long time. I just try to be aggressive. I wanted to win the golf tournament. I didn’t want to lose it on the last. I just wanted to go out there and try to hit the best shot that I could and I wasn’t going to be conservative on the 3-wood coming in.”
“Yeah, you know, I think I’ve played it three times and I’ve had a 10th, a 5th, and now a victory. But I love Pebble Beach. Every time I’ve ever played it I wonder why I don’t come back more often, and this year was, I knew I was going to play it. I set it on my schedule early. I didn’t commit until kind of late, but I knew I was going to be here. It’s just a special place. Every time you step up to the tee, you just, you tend to take in the sights and sounds and don’t really focus on the golf as much and I think that’s kind of helpful for me.”
Nick Taylor [on Spyglass]:“ That’s the No. 1 thought on the range in the morning, the first ball, don’t thin it. But yeah, I had the cart gloves on, I had a beanie on this morning just trying to keep your hands warm as well as possible. The ball’s going much shorter which you have to factor in. They added a few tees on the par-5s out at Spyglass, so for me they’re borderline reachable, which kind of I feel a strength of my game is driving it straight and my woods into the green. So when I can’t really reach those it took away maybe a couple opportunities there. But it was cold, once the fog kind of went away a little bit, or the overcast, it warmed up a little bit, which was nice, but it was definitely cold this morning. I definitely putted well this week, which I think if you talk to anybody who has had average weeks then all of a sudden in contention to win, that’s usually a big reason. I’ve been driving it well for a long time. And this course being a hair shorter, I think it just suits my game a little bit better. I’m definitely not bomber but just putt well.”
Phil Mickelson [on Pebble]: “Yeah, I actually thought it was a successful round. It was difficult out there, especially around the turn there, 9, 10 — 8, 9, 10, and that was really the only point where I had a couple of bogeys and it was very difficult, but I was able to come back with a few birdies when it cleared up. And I thought anything in the 60s was going to be a heck of a round, and I was one shy. I just enjoy it here and I think the challenging conditions oftentimes comes into play. I think the grass and the little half shots to get back to some of these pins, a lot of guys struggle with and it’s been a strength of my game, so I’ve been able to make a few more birdies on some of these holes.”
Ted Potter Jnr [on Pebble]: “I was just trying to take one shot at a time, pick a small target on the fairway, pick a small target on the middle of the green. I knew I had a couple shot lead going into the back nine, so I knew that they were going to have to make some birdies and the back nine’s tough, especially with the wind how it is right now. So I just wanted to give myself plenty of opportunities coming in. I just tried not to attack the pins, but give myself good 20-footers to have a chance to make birdie.”
Jordan Spieth [on Pebble]: “Yeah, on this type of poa annua, it’s still going to be very soft and spinny. Even on this course I was hitting low 9-irons or 8-irons and they were coming backwards a few feet. Normally those skip five yards forward. So it’s very difficult to throw the ball with a lot of extra club and hit it low and land it back by the pin. It’s difficult to do because we almost never have to do it. So, very rarely do we actually practice it or can trust it in a tournament setting. Holes like number 4 today, when you’ve got to hit an 85 yard shot and you got to hit a gap wedge and fly it 85 when it’s normally just a perfect number for a 63 degree, it’s just an abnormal thing for us to do and to get our brains wrapped around. That’s going to stay that way. The course isn’t going to change much tomorrow, in my opinion. It’s just not getting hot enough, it’s still too early. But, yeah, so it will be kind of dart throwing contest again and who can make the putts. And Sneds has won here I think twice and I think we’re playing with him. He’s going to be somebody who can very easily, I mean, I say very easily, but he’s somebody who can go out there and shoot 7-, 8-under tomorrow. So, I’ve got to set a goal and stay real patient, try not to make many mistakes, hit a lot of greens in regulation.”
Justin Rose [on Spyglass]: “That was actually my first look at Spyglass. I came out here the other day and went around a couple of holes checking it out, but I picked the wrong one not to play, because it’s a pretty tough course. There’s some strong holes on it. And I heard some strange reports about Spyglass, like the first few holes are great then it disappears into the hills and it’s not that good. That’s not what I saw. That’s a pretty stellar golf course to me and really enjoyed playing it. All the courses in the rotation have impressed me this year.”
For the record, here’s the breakdown of pure Poa Annua and Bentgrass/Poa Annua mix PGA Tour victors in the field since 2008:
4 – Keegan Bradley, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose.
2 – Harris English, Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Nick Taylor.
1 – Ludvig Aberg, Daniel Berger, Akshay Bhatia, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Ryan Fox, Ryan Gerard, Emiliano Grillo, Tom Hoge, Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre, Aldrich Potgieter, Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun, Sahith Theegala.
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is always a memorable tournament, although the coverage can be extremely painful to watch. Recent winners include Tiger Woods, Davis Love III (x2), Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson (x5), Dustin Johnson (x2), Jimmy Walker, Brandt Snedeker (x2), Jordan Spieth, Daniel Berger, Justin Rose, Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy with Matt Gogel, Aaron Oberholser, Steve Lowery, D.A. Points, Vaughn Taylor, Ted Potter Jnr, Nick Taylor and Tom Hoge thrown in for good measure. My take on the tournament is that a number of elite players always seem to contend – even more likely in this elevated event format – and in most cases quality vanquishes the lesser opposition, but in the case of Lowery, Points, Taylor (of the Vaughn variety), Potter Jnr, Taylor (of the Nick variety) and Hoge, they defeated Vijay Singh, Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth respectively to capture their career biggest tournament titles.
Experience at Pebble Beach is another key factor. Dustin Johnson’s win here in 2009 came on only his second appearance at the tournament, but his liking for the format was already plain to see as he’d finished 7th on debut the previous year. Johnson went on to defend his title in 2010 and since then players with 4, 16, 6, 6, 7, 8, 4, 3, 21, 5, 2, 7, 5, 3 and 4 previous appearances have triumphed. The specialist nature of golf here can be seen in the fact that every winner here since Aaron Oberholser (2006) had delivered a top 21 finish at Pebble prior to their victory. That link continued again with 12/1 chance Rory McIlroy 12 months ago, who in 4 previous Pro-Am visits had finished 9th prior to capturing his Signature event AT&T victory. A close association with Torrey Pines can’t be overlooked either, although it is not essential, or the liking for the West Coast Swing in general.
Taking that last statement a step further, going back to Dustin Johnson the 2009 and 2010 champion, he’d already finished 10th at Waialae, 12th at PGA West and 7th at Pebble Beach in his rookie season of 2008 before triumphing here in consecutive years. The 2010 victory came off a 3rd at Riviera.
Phil Mickelson in 2012 had won 17 times on the West Coast including 3 Pebble National titles. Brandt Snedeker had won at Torrey Pines and had a number of high West Coast finishes across Kapalua, PGA West, TPC Scottsdale and a top 10 in the U.S. Open here, whilst Jordan Spieth had won at Kapalua and had finished 4th and 7th here prior to his 2017 victory.
Daniel Berger had 10th and 5th here at Pebble Beach with 10th at Kapalua, 7th at Waialae plus 3 top-10 finishes at TPC Scottsdale as supporting West Coast form. Tom Hoge had finished 12th here in 2021 prior to winning in 2022 and had supporting West Coast form of 3rd (2018) at Waialae, 6th (2020) and 2nd (2022) at PGA West, with 5th (2020) at Torrey Pines. Justin Rose had finished 6th at the AT&T in 2016, plus 3rd at the 2019 Pebble-hosted U.S. Open. Naturally he’d also won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in 2019 – with 3 additional top 8 finishes in La Jolla, plus 2nd at Waialae in 2017.
Wyndham Clark’s West Coast footprint included 8th at Riviera in 2021, 10th at TPC Scottsdale in 2023, and the last time he’d played in California he had won the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
Prior to winning this in 2025 you’d have said that Rory McIlroy’s West Coast form was – for him – underwhelming. A win at the WGC World Matchplay at TPC Harding Park in 2015 was his only victory in the Golden State prior to here at Pebble. However 3rd (2020) and 5th (2019) at Farmers Insurance Opens held at Torrey Pines, plus 7th at the 2021 Torrey-hosted U.S. Open allied to 9th at the 2019 Pebble-hosted U.S Open, were pretty significant pointers that the Northern Irishman was comfortable on the California Poa Annua greens. Rory also finished runner-up to Wyndham Clark at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.