Tiger Woods was one of more than 30 players who decided to not play the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am back in 1998.
Weather threatened to derail the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 1998. The same event had been cancelled after two rounds just two years earlier largely due to one hole at Spyglass Hill being unplayable.
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The 1998 tournament began in late January, with Tim Herron and Tom Watson finding themselves at the top of the leaderboard after two rounds.
Remarkably, there would not be another shot hit in the event until after the PGA Championship had concluded in August.
Why Tiger Woods withdrew from the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
In fact, the third and final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was held the day after Vijay Singh clinched his first major championship at Sahalee.
Unsurprisingly, the decision divided opinion, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that Tom Lehman was baffled by the plans to ensure that there was a 54-hole event and a winner could be crowned.
Lehman was particularly confused given that Watson had had the opportunity to practice at Pebble Beach after missing the cut at the PGA Championship.
“That just goes to show you what a ridiculous situation that was for the tour to do such a thing,” he said. “The best thing would have been to say ‘Sorry, Mother Nature won, I’m going home’.”
As reported by CBS, 133 of the 168 players who featured in the first two rounds returned in August. Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus were among those who decided to not come back.
Woods was 14 shots off the lead at the time.
Singh also decided against playing following his major victory.
Phil Mickelson would begin his love affair with Pebble Beach
Lehman’s criticism of the event continuing was particularly interesting given that he was one shot off the lead after 36 holes.
Alongside him was Phil Mickelson.
A 67 on the final day was enough for Mickelson to go on and win by one shot.
It would be the first of five wins for Mickelson at the iconic venue.
Woods, meanwhile, would secure his only victory at the event in 2000. But of course, that was overshadowed by perhaps the most famous win of his career at the same venue later that same year.
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