Pebble Beach’s beauty, loaded field gives PGA Tour chance to shine

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For a sport needing a jolt of energy, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is as good a test as any.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy make their PGA Tour season debuts, while Jordan Spieth returns following wrist surgery last summer. The field is stacked. The forecast is reasonably good. The NFL has an open weekend ahead of the Super Bowl.

And there’s one other important factor: It’s Pebble Beach.

Scheffler has been on the sideline to start the year recovering from minor surgery on his right hand, but he has been paying attention. Is the indoor league worth watching? Why are rounds taking so long? Should players be more engaged?

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“I’m sure a lot of the talking points in here are about pace of play and TGL and all this other stuff, and we’re playing Pebble Beach this week, one of the most beautiful, iconic golf courses in the world,” Scheffler said. “And we’ve got some of the best players in the world competing. Like, let’s soak that in.”

It’s one of the few times where the course is as big — if not bigger — a star as any player. Wyndham Clark has watched highlights of his course-record 60 last year, and he still hasn’t watched video of his U.S. Open win in Los Angeles two years ago.

Viktor Hovland is one of the top players in golf, a former FedEx Cup champion, and he still marvels at his 2018 victory in the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach.

“One of my favorites courses in the world, places in the world,” he said.

The opening two rounds are at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill with 80 players, the largest fields of the signature events to accommodate the amateurs for two days. And then the pros finish up on the weekend at Pebble Beach.

The only top player missing is Xander Schauffele, who is coping with a rib injury.

This is not the same course where Clark shot 60 on Saturday, which turned out to be the final round because of dangerous wind and rain that had soaked the seaside course. This is a firm Pebble Beach, bouncy in the fairways (and on the poa annua greens, the smallest on tour).

But it has the same spectacular views along the rugged Pacific coastline.

“Outside of probably Augusta and St. Andrews, there’s … honestly, I would even put this place ahead of that. This is kind of one of the most iconic places, kind of the home of golf in the U.S. in my opinion,” Clark said. “It’s my favorite place in the world.”

And it’s a chance for the PGA Tour to shine amid growing concern of falling TV ratings and a sluggish start.

Justin Thomas recently sent a letter to players encouraging them to be more accessible to television partners to improve the entertainment. That led to a question of the balance between sport and entertainment.

“When we’re growing up dreaming of professional golfers and trying to get the best out of ourselves, the last thing on our mind is being an entertainer,” McIlroy said. “We’re competitive people at the end of the day, we want to play against the best players in the world and we want to try to come out on top. I think that in itself should be entertaining to people.”

He pointed to the U.S. Open last year, a bad memory for McIlroy because he missed a pair of short putts toward the end and finished one shot behind Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst No. 2.

“I came out on the wrong side of it last year, but I would say the last round of the U.S. Open was pretty entertaining last year and that was pure competitive golf,” McIlroy said.

Pebble Beach is one of the great theaters in golf that has delivered its share of entertainment over the years, some of that from celebrities back in its “Crosby Clambake” days, some of that from Tiger Woods, whether it was his 15-shot win in the 2000 U.S. Open or storming back from a five-shot deficit in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier than same year.