The iconic Pebble Beach hosts the PGA Tour’s second Signature Event of the season where a stellar field battles it out for a $3.6 million payday.
The west coast swing of the PGA Tour’s reimagined 2024 season continues in California where the strongest field in Pebble Beach history takes to the links.
Historically, the tournament hasn’t always attracted the strongest field, however, the elevated status of this year’s event has well and truly laid that criticism to rest. Scheffler, McIlroy, Hovland, Homa, Spieth, Fowler – the list goes on – it’s the PGA’s Tour’s premier line-up.
A reduced number of amateurs, a limited no-cut field, and a $20 million purse have undoubtedly helped draw in the quality and strength in depth of players this iconic course deserves.
And be it not for Jon Rahm’s debut outing at LIV Golf Mayakoba running concurrently south of the border, Pebble Beach would be stealing all the golfing headlines this week.
An 11th PGA Tour win for Englishman Justin Rose at last year’s edition put an end to a four-year title drought for the Ryder Cup stalwart, finishing three shots clear of the pack on 18-under par.
The caliber of 2024’s field would suggest Rose is up against it to defend his title, although the early season champions of Chris Kirk, Grayson Murray, Matthieu Pavon, and Nick Dunlap should incentivize every player in the field to stand up and be counted on the Californian coast.
After becoming the first amateur in 33 years to win on the PGA Tour with victory at The American Express, Alabama sophomore Nick Dunlap catapults straight into the field where he will look to back up his landmark performance as a pro.
Unlike editions of the past, 2024’s Pro-Am features just a select number of amateurs who will only compete across the first two rounds. The field has been reduced by 100 players to just 80, dramatically raising the average quality on show.
The top 50 eligible players from last year’s FedExCup standings will all tee it up and are joined by the next 10 from the FedExCup Fall, 2024 PGA Tour winners thus far, and the current top five in the Aon Swing 5 points list.
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am used to be played over three courses in rotation (Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and Monterey Peninsula), with a cut made on Saturday evening before the top 60 battled it out on the Pebble Beach course for victory.
With no cut this year, the limited high-class field will alternate between Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill on Thursday and Friday, with the weekend’s action concluding at Pebble Beach.
The general consensus is that Pebble Beach requires a strong performance on the greens. Its generous fairways don’t heavily punish below-average driving performances, but getting close on the small greens is more of a challenge. It’s hard to find a meaningful angle here, particularly as only one of the last eight winners has started 10/1 or shorter. It’s perhaps why the bookmakers have priced the field largely in line with world rankings.
Selected odds
Rory McIlroy 8/1
Scottie Scheffler 8/1
Viktor Hovland 12/1
Xander Schauffele 14/1
Jordan Spieth 16/1
Max Homa 16/1
Justin Thomas 22/1
Ludvig Aberg 28/1
Tommy Fleetwood 35/1
Justin Rose 70/1
Nick Dunlap 90/1
With its new elevated status, the purse in 2024 rises by a staggering $11 million to $20 million, with this year’s champion taking home $3.6 million, compared to the $1.62 million received by Justin Rose in 2023.