AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links – 2025 Preview

The PGA Tour heads north up the Pacific Coast to the Monterey Bay Peninsula for the year’s second “Signature” event featuring the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links and the challenging Spyglass Hill course.

Last year’s tournament saw the beginning of numerous changes to the event’s structure that will continue this year. The field size was sliced in half to 80 golfers with only two courses in play. On Thursday and Friday, thirty-six holes will be played between Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill with each of the PGA Tour golfers paired with an amateur. Similar to last year, there is no cut, and the final two rounds will be played solely at Pebble Beach and only by the pros.

Both courses are exposed to the Pacific coast, where the weather can change quickly and influence the outcome of this tournament. However, they also share other similarities. Each is among the shortest courses on Tour, at under 7,100 yards. They also have among the top five smallest greens, with Pebble Beach having the most minuscule greens on Tour, at an average of only 3,500 square feet. Finally, each course has the same agronomy, with a blend of Poa annua and Ryegrass in the fairways and rough and pure Poa greens.

While Spyglass Hill is scenic in its own right, Pebble Beach is the crown jewel of this tournament. The way the jagged coastline meets the cliffs is beyond words. It truly is the greatest meeting of land and sea in American golf. Said Jack Nicklaus, “If I had only one more round to play, I would choose to play at Pebble Beach. I loved this course from the first time I saw it. It’s possibly the best in the world.”

Having hosted this event since 1947, past winners are a historical “who’s who” of golf including Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Billy Casper, Ken Venturi, Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, and Tiger Woods.

A second-shot course if there ever was one, players will be provided with a challenging test of patience, pitching wedges, and Poa putting. For those who played last week at Torrey Pines, the emphasis shifts from distance and long-iron play to short-iron precision on equally difficult greens. Since 2010, winning scores have averaged 18-under par.

Last year’s event was shortened to 54 holes due to persistent rain and high winds, and Wyndham Clark was declared the winner at -12. With warm days and no rainfall leading into this week’s tournament, expect both courses to play firm and fast.

The Field

In recent years, this tournament has struggled to attract an elite field. Things changed completely last year when it became a Signature event. This year, 27 of the world’s top 30 golfers are in attendance and will compete for the $3.6 million winner’s check (from a $20 million purse). The only players missing are world No. 2 Xander Schauffele (rib injury) and LIV golfers Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler makes his season debut following a holiday kitchen hand injury and No. 3 Rory McIlroy is in the field after starting his year in Dubai. Jordan Spieth is also making his first start after having surgery last August on his left wrist. He is in the field on a sponsor exemption, along with Rickie Fowler, Harry Hall, and Gary Woodland (who won the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble). Past winners of this event who are participating this week include Justin Rose, Tom Hoge, Nick Taylor, and Spieth.

Pebble Beach Course History

Pebble Beach Golf Links was built by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant during the golden age of golf course architecture in 1919. When it opened for play on February 22nd, it measured slightly over 6,000 yards. “The big idea was to get as many holes as possible along the bay,” Neville said. “Nature had intended it to be nothing else but a golf links.”

The San Francisco Chronicle said the course was opened “somewhat prematurely.” At a time when golf balls cost more than the greens fee, the course was deemed too difficult. The California Golf Association, however, did not believe the course suitable to host even the state amateur. Improvements were continually made over the next decade, culminating with a renovation to prepare Pebble Beach to host the 1929 U.S. Amateur, which was the first of the United States Golf Association’s major championships to be held west of the Mississippi.

Neville’s and Grant’s routing provided the framework for today’s course, but H. Chandler Egan is most responsible for how the course plays today. In 1928, he extensively revised the layout by replacing 16 of the 18 greens and completely reconfigured the bunkering on the course bringing much more strategy into play. Other architects who have helped to renovate the course in different ways include Alistair MacKenzie, Robert Hunter, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus (who created the new 5th hole in 1998).

The Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was originally called the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, and it has been held at Pebble Beach Golf Links every year since 1947. This year’s tournament notwithstanding, this event has typically had a trio of courses in play for the week. Along with Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula – Cypress Point and Poppy Hills have also been utilized in years past. Along with all of the legendary golfers who have walked its fairways, it has hosted six U.S. Opens and one PGA Championship.

Changes since last year’s tournament at Pebble Beach include a rebuilt 6th green which was expanded by 1,200 square feet providing more pin locations. 50+ trees were also planted on the course. At Spyglass Hill, December storms took out 30 trees including the featured Cypress in #16 fairway.

Finish Position and Strokes Gained History at the AT&T Pro-Am (2016-2024)

This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round. Players are sorted by SG: Total.