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Once considered the true "start" of the PGA Tour season, last week's Farmers Insurance Open was reduced to a withdrawal-laden, windswept event without much star power.
The combination of difficult weather conditions and a lengthy Torrey Pines layout limited scoring and enabled battle-tested pro Harris English to outlast the field with his ability to grind out pars. The win was English's fifth career victory on the PGA Tour.
Horse For The Course is an article highlighting players in this week's field with elite course history and is part of our free PGA DFS content here at RotoBaller. For some of the favorite DFS plays of the week check, out the Core Four article written by my buddy, Joe Nicely here at RotoBaller every Wednesday. It's part of our amazing PGA Premium package that includes an all-new PGA Research Station, Lineup Builder & Optimizer, and some of the best articles in the PGA DFS industry! You can sign up now using Promo Code: TDG for an extra discount at checkout!
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2025 ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am
With the Genesis Invitational moved to Torrey Pines due to the California fires, many of the top stars in last week's Farmers field elected to WD rather than face the lengthy behemoth twice within a month. However, we have no such shortage of firepower for this week's Signature Event at Pebble Beach, an event that comes with a guaranteed mega payday for those fortunate enough to earn their way into the limited field.
It is nice to see the world's best golfers teeing it up on one of America's most iconic courses, Pebble Beach. Continuing a change that started with last year's edition, the pro-am format will be narrowed down to two days and we'll get to see more of Pebble itself, as the former three-course rotation that included Pebble, Spyglass Hill, and Monterrey Peninsula has been whittled down to a two-course rota similar to what we saw last week at the Farmers. The field will play one round each on Pebble and Spyglass before spending the entire weekend on the jewel of the West Coast.
This will mark the first time we've seen World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler in action this year. Scheffler has been sidelined since cutting his hand in a Christmas kitchen accident. With the exception of Xander Schauffele, the Pebble Beach field includes the best that the PGA Tour has to offer, including Rory McIlroy in his first U.S. start of the year, Collin Morikawa, and defending champion Wyndham Clark, who won last year's rain-shortened 54-hole edition.
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The Courses:
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Par 72 - 6,972 Yards, Greens: Poa Annua, Designed By: Jack Neville and Douglas Grant
Spyglass Hill: Par 72 - 7,041 Yards, Greens: Poa Annua, Designed By: Robert Trent Jones
As mentioned in the intro, we are dealing with two different courses this week. In addition to Pebble, which players will play once in the first two rounds and again for the entire weekend, Spyglass Hill will also be in the rotation. Both are ruggedly beautiful, with the famous Pebble Beach being the crown jewel.
A few things stand out drastically this week, as both Pebble and Spyglass come in at 7,000 yards or less, which is extremely short by modern standards. The biggest defense of both courses is the weather. Basically, windy conditions can make these layouts very difficult, while tranquil weather makes them gettable.
Pebble, where golfers will play three rounds this week, has a well-known championship pedigree and has hosted seven different major championships. It infamously has some of the smallest greens on the PGA Tour schedule, though the fairways are wide and generous. Power off the tee is largely mitigated here due to the number of forced layups, so this is one of the few weeks of the year when I'll lend almost no weight to driving distance, and will instead focus on sharp iron players and strong short games.
Recent ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am Winners
- 2024: Wyndham Clark (-17) *Shortened to 54 Holes Due to Weather
- 2023: Justin Rose (-18)
- 2022: Tom Hoge (-19)
- 2021: Daniel Berger (-18)
- 2020: Nick Taylor (-19)
The Horse
Patrick Cantlay
- Notable Finishes: T11 ('24), T4 ('22), T3 ('21), T11 ('20)
- Career Event Scoring Average: 69.26 (Seven Starts)
The Californian obviously feels a connection to Pebble Beach. In the years before this became a Signature Event, most of golf's biggest stars elected to skip the AT&T Pro-Am. However, Cantlay has routinely teed it up in this event over the past five years, amassing four consecutive finishes of T11 or better at Pebble.
Course record = tied.
The best from @Patrick_Cantlay's 62 at Pebble Beach in Round 1 @ATTProAm. pic.twitter.com/MP92MO9Ji4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 12, 2021
It's been a rock-solid start to the calendar year for Cantlay, who most recently logged a T5 in the American Express on the heels of a T15 in The Sentry at Kapalua. Those results are especially encouraging when considering that the 32-year-old has yet to truly get his irons dialed in for either of his 2025 starts. We could see an uptick in that area this week in an event where he's gained an average of .280 strokes on Approach per round over the last five years.
The Ponies
Jason Day
- Notable Finishes: T6 ('24), T7 ('21), 4th ('20), T4 ('19), T2 ('18)
- Career Event Scoring Average: 69.09 (14 Starts)
Ages removed from his place as one of the game's most dominant players, J-Day's career has had noticeable peaks and valleys in recent years, as he's battled numerous injuries, as well as the influx of a new generation of powerful Tour pros who have stolen - and perfected - his bomb-and-gouge playbook.
Jason Day's fit at Torrey Pines is _______. pic.twitter.com/a74mOYJwrt
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) January 25, 2025
Despite the ups and downs in his overall game, the Aussie has remained a bankable option at Pebble Beach, a layout where he's recorded nine finishes of T7 or better across 14 career appearances. It's hard not to like his chances again this go around, as he heads to the AT&T with his ball-striking in sharp form. The veteran has gained strokes T2G in all three of his 2025 starts and gained a combined 16.8 strokes total over his last two - a T3 at AmEx and a T32 last week at the Farmers.
Maverick McNealy
- Notable Finishes: 2nd ('21), T5 ('20)
- Career Event Scoring Average: 69.80 (Six Starts)
After missing a large chunk of 2023 with an injury, McNealy capped a comeback campaign with a breakthrough victory at the RSM Classic to close out 2024 - the former Stanford star's first career win on the PGA Tour.
A birdie to win on the 72nd hole!
Maverick McNealy is a first-time PGA TOUR winner 🏆 pic.twitter.com/z4eh8utuIR
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 24, 2024
With that monkey now off his back, we might see the 29-year-old start ticking off some victories. Pebble Beach is a logical candidate, as McNealy - the son of Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy - used to live in a house just off Pebble's 15th hole. That familiarity with the iconic layout has translated into a pair of top-five finishes in the AT&T Pro-Am across six career starts in the event.
McNealy's form has been a bit uneven since he opened the calendar year with a T8 at the Sentry, though he could quickly put things together on this course that he knows so well.
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Tom Hoge
- Notable Finishes: T6 ('24), Win ('22), T12 ('21)
- Career Event Scoring Average: 70.31 (10 Starts)
It took a while for things to click at Pebble Beach for Hoge, a player who missed the cut in three of the first five AT&T starts of his career. Despite the wobbly start, the man from Fargo, North Dakota has settled in beautifully on the Monterey Peninsula in recent years, posting a win and a pair of additional top-12 finishes at Pebble Beach across the last four years while also ranking third in birdies or better per round in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Most birdies or better per round at @attproam since 2020, minimum 8 rounds played - among players in the field this week:
Patrick Cantlay, 5.13
Denny McCarthy, 4.92
Tom Hoge, 4.84
Wyndham Clark, 4.80
Jason Day, 4.80— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) January 27, 2025
Hoge doesn't boast the same star power as many in this week's Signature Event field, but his ball-striking can touch elite levels on occasion. It feels as though an outburst is brewing when looking at the numbers he's put together to start 2025. Hoge has been razor sharp with the irons across his three starts this year, gaining a combined 11.6 strokes on Approach. He is capable of competing against the best players in the world on this short golf course that doesn't make huge demands off the tee.
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