Pebble Beach loses star power as PGA tries to combat LIV
Rory McIlroy made birdie on the final hole Monday to edge Patrick Reed in Dubai, in a tournament rife with conflict and controversy. Max Homa surged past Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa, among other top players, to take the PGA Tour event Saturday in San Diego.
Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson used to reliably make the mid-winter trip to the Monterey Peninsula, becoming the tourpro faces of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am over the past 15 years.
None of those players are coming to Pebble this week.
Let’s be honest: The professional field for this AT&T is woefully short on big names, in part because of the lingering feud between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The only top 20 players at Pebble, according to the latest world ranking, are Patrick Cantlay (No. 5), Matthew Fitzpatrick (10) and Jordan Spieth (16). And of those three, only Spieth resonates with casual fans.
So the tournament’s totally transparent strategy: Celebrities, celebrities, more celebrities.
The 2023 edition will severely test Bing Crosby’s unique concept. He long ago launched the “Clambake” as an uncommon way for the sports and entertainment worlds to mingle, decades before Greg Norman grabbed piles of shady Saudi Arabian cash and upended the game.
Top golfers always showed up over the years — witness Mickelson’s five wins and Tiger Woods’ stirring charge to victory in 2000 — but the Crosbyturned-AT&T stood out because of its enduring, good-natured vibe. Laughter, smiles, fun. The golf matters, sure, but in a different way.
Now it will fall on Buster Posey, Gareth Bale and Jason Bateman, most notably, to keep the Pro-Am relevant on Northern California’s crowded sports landscape.
This is a familiar lament, because the AT&T has long struggled to attract marquee pros. They historically stayed away because of sketchy weather, long rounds and bumpy greens. Tournament officials shrunk the field, shortening the rounds. Mother Nature mostly cooperated. Some players came back.
Now the challenge is magnified by the PGA Tour’s fight with LIV Golf, which lured Mickelson, Johnson, Reed and other top players. Any sense of decorum disappeared into a rare, lively tussle.
The tour responded by throwing its own bundles of cash at certain “designated” events, intended to bring its top players together more often. Next week’s tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz., landed the coveted “designated” label and a $20 million purse, as did the following week’s event in Los Angeles.
This week’s purse at Pebble is $9 million, creating another sizable obstacle for tournament director Steve John to overcome. It’s akin to John trying to post up 7-footer Pau Gasol, one of this year’s first-time celebrities.
“It is weird to think golf could change that quickly,” John said. “But evolution is good, change is good in all sports. Maybe we’ll look back in three years and say, ‘This is good, I get it.’ …
“Would I love to have Phil and Dustin here? Absolutely. They’re past champions. But I can’t, that’s beyond my control.”
John thus leans on his event’s distinctive format and extraordinary setting. That’s a selling point more than ever: Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course, all tucked alongside the gorgeous coastline. Those blimp shots are still invigorating, especially for house-bound folks in the frigid East and Midwest.
John also has made a conscious effort to keep the amateur/celebrity field fresh. Bill Murray and Ray Romano can only carry the banner for so long.
That’s why the presence of Posey, a three-time World Series champion with the Giants, can only help. Posey will play in the Pro-Am for the first time since 2015.
Also consider Bale, a global soccer star (with nearly 50 million Instagram followers) making his tournament debut. Bateman, an actor known for his work on “Arrested Development” and more recently “Ozark,” also will play for the first time, alongside his friend Will Arnett (also from “Arrested Development”).
Even so, Crosby’s idea had more of a fighting chance with big-time pros when the playing field was level with other PGA Tour events. That’s not the case anymore. The battle with LIV prompted tour officials to create two tiers, and Pebble clearly did not come out ahead in the split.
Maybe the tour will rotate “designated” events from year to year, to spread its resources more equitably. Or maybe tournaments such as the AT&T are simply on their own, left to navigate golf’s new world order without a blueprint.
“It’s a valid question,” John said. “We have our own unique model with the pro-am, the celebrities and athletes, great history and tradition. … We’re the only tournament on the PGA Tour with three top 100 courses.”
In a curious twist, the AT&T occasionally turns to the “secret sauce” of its celebrity field to boost the pro list. One example: Webb Simpson will return for the first time in six years, in part because he’s friends with comedian Nate Bargatze, who is making his Pro-Am debut.
John smartly played along, granting Simpson’s request to team with Bargatze. Simpson brings some cachet, as a seventime tour winner.
He’s no McIlroy or Mickelson, but John must take small victories wherever he can. It’s a new day in golf, even for old favorites like the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.