This week, the PGA Tour heads to its most dramatic venue, Pebble Beach, for one of its most historic events, the one originally known as the Crosby Clambake.
If it feels like this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has a little more juice than in years past, that’s because it does. For the first time, the tournament is one of the PGA Tour’s eight Signature Events, which has led to a host of changes to one of the most unique weeks of the year.
The tournament started in 1937 as the National Pro-Am Golf Championship, hosted by legendary entertainer Bing Crosby. Since then, the event has served as the only true pro-am on the PGA Tour, with pros being joined by their celebrity/amateur partner for the entirety of the event (if they make the cut).
But 2024 will see that practice — as well as many other traditions from the long-running event — changed to accommodate the strongest field in tournament history. Here’s what you should know.
Smaller and stronger field, bigger purse
For years, the AT&T was one of the biggest productions on the PGA Tour. That’s because each of the 156 professionals in the field was paired with a celebrity partner for the first 54 holes of the event. Before 2010, it was 180 players! They also played across three different courses, but more on that later.
However, with the PGA Tour’s Signature Events limited to just 80 players, that’s the number of pros in the field this year. There will also be exactly 80 amateur partners, making this a unique format among the Signature Events as the only one to require exactly 80 players.
And because being a Signature Event means a massive $20 million purse and $3.6 million first-place prize (up from $9 million and $1.62 million, respectively, in 2023), the tournament has drawn a field stronger than any in recent memory.
Because of the previous 156 pros/156 ams format, many stars started to skip the tournament. Why? Well, because it’s a logistical nightmare and nearly six-hour rounds were common. After playing the tournament every year from 1997 to 2002, including winning in 2000, Tiger Woods has only shown up once since that run.
But with the increase in purse and reduced field size, this year’s Pebble field could end up as one of the strongest non-majors/Players Championships in the history of the Official World Golf Ranking, according to Twitter OWGR guru Nosferatu.
Several big-name players like Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama, among others, are making their first career appearances at the AT&T this week.
This is hopefully the new norm for the event, as tournament director Steve John told KSBW News that it will be a Signature Event “in perpetuity.” The WM Phoenix Open was given elevated status in its place last year.
No MPCC this year
The tournament has been played across three golf courses ever since Pebble Beach became the host in 1947. The original rotation saw the famed Cypress Point Club and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Dunes course join Pebble.
The most recent rotation, which has used a combination of six different courses over its history, included Pebble, Spyglass Hill (another one of GOLF’s top courses in California) and MPCC’s Shore Course, the No. 66 course in GOLF’s 2022-23 Top 100 U.S. list. (We know, they really have a shortage of good golf courses in Monterey.)
However, with just 160 total players as opposed to 312, there’s no need for a third course, so the event will be dropping MPCC from this year’s tournament.
Likewise, unlike in previous years where competitors played a different course for each of the first three days, Spyglass Hill will only be used on Thursday and Friday.
No cut … for the pros
The PGA Tour’s revamped schedule has 1 controversial flaw
As this is a Signature Event, all 80 professionals in the field are guaranteed to play all four rounds, barring a WD or DQ. Previously, the AT&T had a unique 54-hole cut, with the top 60 pros (and ties) making it to the weekend, while the players finishing between 61st and T70 were still paid out and awarded FedEx Cup points.
The typical PGA Tour cut is the top 65 and ties, but this was used to accommodate the top 25 (and ties) pro-am teams to play on the final day of the tournament. There were some instances when pros would miss the cut, but their amateur partner played well enough for the team to play the weekend. This meant the pro played the final day just for the pro-am portion of the event.
However, this year the amateur partners will only play Thursday and Friday. The weekend will just be for the pros.
Ironically, we got a preview of this last year when high winds Saturday necessitated the third round being completed Sunday and the final round being played that evening and Monday morning, sans amateurs.
No Bill Murray
While the celebrity field list has yet to be fully announced, many of the more well-known celebs like Jake Owen, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are slated to return.
But the one thing they all have in common is they all carry single-digit handicaps — well, Rodgers is supposed to.
According to a tweet from sports betting network VSiN host Wes Reynolds, some of the higher-handicapped celebs, like comedian and actor Bill Murray, a staple with his antics on the course during the event, aren’t included this year. Murray played to a 17 handicap last year.
And while the playing ability barrier to entry has apparently gone up, so to has the financial barrier. According to a report from Golfweek, the entry fee for amateurs in the event has gone from roughly $38,000 to $70,000 to offset the loss of nearly half the field.
