The PGA Tour will finally hold its star-studded event at Pebble Beach next week.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will make his debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, returning after being cut by broken glass while making ravioli over the holidays. He required surgery to remove the glass, which caused him to withdraw from this month's Sentinel and American Express Championships. Scheffler, who has won nine global championships including the Masters in 2024, will try to win the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.
But this is debut week. Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy will also make his first PGA Tour start of the year at Pebble Beach. The world No. 3 usually waits several weeks before joining the West Coast swing after competing on the DP World Tour during the winter. McIlroy won the DP World Tour Championship in November, his sixth Dubai title, and tied for fourth at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last week.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth will make his first appearance after undergoing wrist surgery at the end of the 2024 season in August. The wrist injury first surfaced in 2023, but Spieth decided to keep playing. It turned out to be the worst season of his career, with just three top-20 finishes in 22 starts. He did not finish in the top 50 of the FedExCup, meaning he needed a sponsor exemption to compete in early signature events. AT&T considered Spieth a long-term partner and offered one to Pebble Beach.
However, Xander Schauffele did not play, withdrawing from the tournament for the third consecutive time with a rib injury reported by Golf Channel's Todd Lewis. Schauffele was working on that issue when he opened the year with a T30 finish at Sentinel, but ultimately decided to take a break from there.
One question mark is Viktor Hovland. The Norwegian, who injured his toe while competing in the Sentinel, told reporters he would see how he felt before joining Pebble Beach. He last traveled to Dubai for the DP World Tour but failed to make the cut. He will try to return to form in his second signature event of the season.
Pebble Beach will feature eight of the OWGR's top 10 golfers and 17 of the top 20, making it the first truly premier event of the season.
This week's Farmers Insurance Open has a particularly poor field relative to PGA Tour history, in part because some of the top players aren't ready to start their seasons yet, while others are opting out after the tour's apparent arrival Two weeks after quitting, he returned to Torrey Pines for the Genesis Invitational. Hideki Matsuyama and Ludvig Åberg are the only two top-10 players in the competition, which ends on Saturday.
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(Above photo of Rory McIlroy (left) and Scottie Scheffler: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)