The AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am gets underway as the PGA Tour looks for an event to provide plenty of interest after the Farmers Insurance Open fell flat last week.
The AT&T at Pebble is always one of the more standout events on the circuit before we get to major season and with the return of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy to the field, the PGA Tour will be hoping for a timely boost.
As we know, Pebble Beach is quite the challenge and if the winds get up around the California coast, then we’ll be in for some eventful golf to say the least.
Of course, one man who knows a thing or two about Pebble Beach is a certain Jack Nicklaus. The 18-time major winner has won at Pebble more than once.
In fact, such is his love affair with the course, that Nicklaus actually picked Pebble Beach over Augusta if he was to play one more round.
Still, that doesn’t mean he thinks everything is perfect, as highlighted by his past comments on the course.
Jack Nicklaus wants Pebble Beach to be more like courses in the UK
Speaking in an interview about Pebble Beach back in 2000, Nicklaus opened up on his love for the course but admitted that he’d love to see a bit more rough, just like players get when they play in Scotland.
“Well, in my mind, I’ve always said that if I had one round of golf to play, I’d like to go to Pebble Beach. I love Pebble Beach. I love the golf course. I love the conditions we had here when we played in — when I played the Amateur here, when I won the Open, in ’82,” Nicklaus said.
“I think that the conditions have changed a little bit since then. Of course, I’ve changed a little bit since then. Not that the course has gotten older, but I have. I like the fast conditions. I like the seaside feeling of it. And I think they’ve taken a little bit of that away with the ryegrass.
“But that’s — with the number of rounds of golf they play every year, I can understand that. The fairways are terrific. I certainly don’t have any complaints with that. It’s just that the density of the grass, in the rough, is the only thing that I think is basically different, that has changed on the golf course. And that’s — it’s the same for everybody, so it’s not that big a deal.
“I don’t mind it from a golf standpoint. I mean from a Pebble Beach standpoint. I’d like to see Pebble Beach in fescue roughs, and the Openish-type rough that you see in Scotland, and which you can have here. But that’s the only thing, but we don’t have it; so I don’t worry about it. We had it back in ’82 and ’72 and before then.”
Jack Nicklaus’ record around Pebble Beach
In terms of success at Pebble Beach, Jack Nicklaus is right up there.
Nicklaus has won five times around the famous course, including a US Open in 1972, three pro-ams, and the 1961 US Amateur.
Others have had success there as well, with Mark O’Meara winning five pro-ams in a 13 year span, although Tiger Woods has only won once.
Remarkably, the course record is held by a current PGA Tour player, Wyndham Clark. Clark shot the lights out in 2024 with a 12-under par 60 to put himself into the record books.
With so many variables and so much history, we should very much be in for a big week.
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