Notable Stars Set to Return as the PGA Tour Returns to Iconic Pebble Beach
The PGA Tour is set to return to one of the most famous venues in the sport this weekend, and some of the biggest names in golf will be there teeing it up for the first time in months. Stars Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Speith will both be returning to play this weekend after coming off of surgeries that caused each of them to take multiple weeks away from golf this winter to recover. Rory McIlroy is also set to make his 2025 PGA Tour debut this weekend. These are just three of the names headlining an 80-player field featuring some of the best players the PGA Tour has to offer, making this tournament very appealing to golf fans given the iconic venue as well. So, let's take a look at this loaded field that should produce a great first premier event of the 2025 PGA Tour season.
The Favorites
Eight of the top 10 players in the official world golf ranking are included in this weekend’s field. The previously mentioned Scheffler (world number one) and McIlroy (world number three) will be joined by major winners Collin Morikawa (world number four), Hideki Matsuyama (world number five), and Wyndham Clark (world number seven). The other top 10 players include young stars Ludvig Åberg (world number six) and Viktor Hovland (world number nine), as well as the consistent Tommy Fleetwood (world number 10), who always seems to be in contention on Sundays. Clark is the defending champion in this event after an odd finish to last year’s tournament where Clark, who held the 54-hole lead, was awarded the win after the course conditions were unplayable on Sunday because of awful weather. Luckily, weather is not expected to play nearly as big of a factor this year aside from the possibility of some rain on Saturday and Sunday. With all of these big names competing this week, this tournament has the potential to have some critical moments with dramatic finishes, which is all a fan can ask for. Obviously, anything can happen in golf, but it would not shock anyone if the winner on Sunday afternoon came from one of the names in this group.
The Dark horses
While this field is fluttered with top 10 players, numerous players outside that group have a legitimate chance to come out victorious if they get hot this week. Players like Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley, Patrick Cantlay, Sepp Straka, Rickie Fowler, and the aforementioned Spieth are all no strangers to competing at the top of the leaderboard in premier PGA Tour events. In fact, Spieth has recorded six top-10 finishes, including a win in 2017 at Pebble Beach. This event has been known to produce chaos in the past due to the twist where each pro plays with an amateur, so look for these guys to try to capitalize on that and play their way into contention come Sunday.
The Course
Another interesting factor that is in play this weekend, aside from the playing with an amateur rule, is that this event will have a two-course rotation for the players to contend with. Instead of the players just playing Pebble Beach all four days, the field will play Pebble Beach on Thursday, then Spyglass Hill on Friday before playing the last two days back on Pebble Beach. While this is very unconventional for a premier PGA Tour event, it presents a unique challenge for the players to work around, which has the potential for even more variance and unpredictability. Both courses are par 72, and Spyglass Hill is only slightly longer, totaling 7,041 yards compared to Pebble Beach’s total yardage of 6,972. Neither course is considered very long as far as yardage goes, especially by today’s standards, but remember that Pebble Beach is a U.S Open course, which is well-known as one of the toughest tournaments on the PGA Tour. Pebble Beach challenges the player with its small greens, making it critical to drive the ball well off the tee in order to give the easiest approach shot possible into those smaller greens with precise landing areas.
Overall, this is shaping up to be a fantastic opening premier event to the 2025 PGA Tour season. The first round from Pebble Beach will take place throughout the day on Thursday, and coverage of that round can be found on the GOLF Channel. The GOLF Channel will also have coverage of the second round from Spyglass Hill. Finally, the weekend rounds can be viewed on CBS from 3-7 pm EST.
