Star power at Pebble comes from amateurs rather than professionals

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is one of only three players to make the world top 20 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It lacks star power by PGA Tour standards.

Fitzpatrick didn’t see that.

He played nine practice holes with retired Welsh football star Gareth Bale at Pebble Beach on Wednesday. And as he browsed the pairings for the three-course rotation, he realized that actor and producer Jason Bateman would be behind him in the group.

Fitzpatrick wants to meet him in hopes of being included on Bateman’s podcast, raising questions about whether Bateman knows the US Open champion.

“Oh, I doubt it. I highly doubt it,” Fitzpatrick said.

Back to Bale, who retired after the World Cup and loves golf so much that Jon Rahm raved about his game at the Pro-Am in Torrey Pines.

Fitzpatrick and Bale met a few years ago when Bale’s management team recruited Fitzpatrick’s younger brother.

“I ended up having a chat with him and his manager and he jokingly said to me, ‘If you sign for my management company, I won’t score three goals against your team, my team is Sheffield United,'” Fitzpatrick said. “Obviously I didn’t sign it. I’m happy with where I am.”

Bale, then on loan at Tottenham, scored three goals against Sheffield.

“I just remember watching the game and he scored all three goals and I laughed,” Fitzpatrick said. “Obviously disappointed too.”

Such is the nature of this tournament, set amidst the unparalleled scenery of the Monterey Peninsula between the championship games of the NFL conference and the Super Bowl, a beautiful sight for those dealing with the worst of winter.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has retired from the Pro Bowl and is playing for the second straight year hoping to make the cut this time. His caddy for this week is one of his best friends, Kyle Allen, who started two games as quarterback for the Houston Texans late in the season.

It’s easier to predict if Aaron Rodgers will be at Pebble Beach in early February than if he will be at training camp in July.

That part of the tournament — athletes, actors, singers, corporate figures shaping the economy — doesn’t change. It’s the PGA Tour players who seem to be in short supply this year, perhaps with two $20 million events in Phoenix and Riviera to follow.

And maybe that’s exactly where Pebble Beach is headed.

Jordan Spieth never missed Pebble Beach, playing there for the first time in 2013 before he had a PGA Tour card and a relationship with AT&T.

“I would fight to make this a high-profile event for years to come,” Spieth said. “I’m not sure if the format would need to change or what would need to happen. I really think that if you could have the top 50, 60, 70 players in the world play Pebble Beach and it would be a PGA Tour event, it would be as successful as the US Open being held here. I think trying to go to the best golf courses in the world when you have the opportunity would be beneficial.”

What gives Pebble such a rich legacy – the amateurs – could be the sticking point. The only time amateurs did not compete in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was in 2021 amid severe restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything was different this year.

There were rumors that Pebble occasionally had no amateurs and played at Pebble Beach every four days – rather than incorporating Spyglass Hill and the Shore course on the Monterey Peninsula. This could feel like a US Open in February.

Could it form a rotation with Phoenix and Torrey Pines? Is there a way to make it an upscale event and get the amateurs involved?

This is part of the puzzle the PGA Tour is trying to solve for 2024 and beyond.

Regardless of who’s playing, Pebble is rarely short of memories, whether it’s pure golf (Tiger Woods coming back with seven shots to play seven), pure entertainment (Bill Murray’s antics), or pure danger.

The latter was Spieth on the eighth hole last year when his drive shot through the fairway on top of a cliff with a 60-foot drop to the rocks and ocean below.

Keeping his balance and against his caddie’s advice, Spieth hit iron 7 for par.

“I think I saved a stroke,” he said. “Does the reward outweigh the risk? Not if you think the risk is dying. … I think now that I know my son (14 months old) a lot better – he was very young at the time – I might not have gotten that shot.”

That shouldn’t be an option this year anyway. While attention is focused on the eighth green, which has softened some ridges, the edge of the cliff is now rough enough to prevent balls from rolling too far to the edge.

“Yes, we advise against it,” said Spieth. “I’m glad I made a 4 in the end. Because if I had gotten a 5, it would have been one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. Instead, it was just a bad decision.”

At least he lived to tell about it.