The pristine Monterrey Peninsula hosts the 82nd playing of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am at 3 selected courses. Pebble Beach Golf Links, 6,972 yards, Par 72, Spyglass Hill, 7,041 yards, Par 72, and Monterrey Peninsula Country Club, 6,957 yards, Par 71.

Tom Hoge is the defending champion as he outlasted Jordan Spieth, who had a death wish on Number 8 on Saturday last year as he hit a seven iron on the par 4 to the green while just above the cliff with the Pacific Ocean 68 feet below. Hoge shot a 68 on Sunday birdieing 16 and 17 with Spieth bogeying 17 and shooting a 69, a pretty good score as well. Hoge finished -19 and Spieth finished -17.

The Purse for Pebble Beach is $9,000,000 with the winner’s share $1,620,000. Hoge won 1,566,000 last year. Pebble is not one of the 17 designated tournament this year, so there are not as many elite names in the field. But it’s history and legacy has attracted some excellent players.

There are 17 designated tournaments this year with purses ranging from $15 to $25 million. The PGA decided they had to step up their purses to keep up with their rival, LIV Golf. The top players in the world, who are not on the LIV Tour, they are not allowed to play on the PGA Tour, are requited to play in the Designated tournaments. Those 17 tournaments with the purses are:

1. Sentry Tournament of Champions, Jan. 5-8, $15 M, Jon Rahm, $2,700,000 for first

2. Waste Management Phoenix Open, Feb. 9-12, $20 M, $3.6 M first

3. The Genesis Invitational, Feb 16-19, $20 M, $3.6 M

4. Arnold Palmer Invitational, March 2-5, $20 M, $3.6 M

5. The Players Championship, March 9-12, $25 M, $4.5 M

6. WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, March 23-25, $20M, $3.6 M

7. RBC Heritage, April 13-16, $20 M, $3.6 M

8. The Memorial Tournament, June 1-4 $20 M, $3.6 M

9. Wells Fargo Inivitational, May 4-7, 20M, $3.6 M

10. Travelers Championship, June 22-25, $20 M, $3.6 M

11. Fed Ex St. Jude Championship, Aug. 10-13, $20M, $3.6 M

12. BMW Championship, Aug. 17-20, $20 M, $3.6 M

13. The Masters, April 6-9, $15 M, $2.7 M

14. PGA Championship, May 19-22, $15 M, $2.7 M

15. U.S. Open, June 15-18, $15 M, $2.7 M

16. Open Championship, July 20-23, $15 M, 2.7 M

17. The Tour Championship, Aug. 24-27, $70 M, 17 M

    Wow, that’s mind blowing. You win one of these and you take care of your finances, you’re in good shape for life. Who would want to play on any other tour? The PGA Tour is keeping the key guys.

I would argue that the fields in the PGA are still much stronger than they are on the LIV Tour. Rory, Rahm, as Tripp Isenhour said on Golf Channel, he bets captain Luke Donald is ecstatic that those two are going to be on his Ryder Cup team in Rome, September 29-Oct.1, on NBC at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Guidonia, Montecelio, just outside of Rome. Zach Johnson will be the U.S. Captain. There are some stellar U.S, players as well who will be colliding with that European Team. Also on the PGA Tour, you have Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler, how could I leave him out?Will Zalatoris. These are the who’s who of younger, stellar players who headline the Tour. On the LIV Tour, you have Dustin, who hadn’t done much in a while, won the 2020 Masters on a course with no fans. He usually chokes in the clutch. Brooks Koepka, who was sliding when he left the tour. Bryson DeChambeau, whose awkward bulkiness cost him his short game and he was sliding. Phil Mickelson. He wants to still be relevant, but he really isn’t. Cameron Smith is stellar, but why do it Cam? Matthew Wolff,. Was a head case and sliding badly. Sergio? Poulter? Westwood? Give me a break.

So the PGA roster is far superior. That’s poetic justice. I might watch the LIV Tour every once in a while if I get bored. But not much at all. Fifty four holes of no cut golf doesn’t cut it for me.

Last week’s winner at Torrey Pines was Max Homa, who shot a final round 66 and came back from a 5 shot deficit to capture the championship at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Homa is an interesting, cool guy. A Cal-Berkeley graduate, 32 years old from Burbank, California. Kind of a self deprecating, but confident golfer. He’s worked with sports psychologist Julie Elion, which has really helped him. He’s worked on the range like a Trojan, and has been super successful on tour. In 9 tournaments he’s played in where he’s in the top 5 going into the final round since 2019, he’s won 6 times. At the 2019 Wells Fargo, he was tied for first entering Sunday, and won it. At the 2021 American Express, he was T-2 and won it. At the 2021 Fortinet Championship in Napa, CA. he was T-3 and won. At the 2022 Wells Fargo, he was second, and won. At the 2022 Fortinet, he was T-2, and won. And at the Farmers last week, he’s was tied for 4th and won. That’s remarkable.

Homa is a closer to the “Max.” I expect major things from him going forward. Isenhour predicted an Oak Hill (Rochester, NY) victory at the PGA Championship in May. Maybe a U.S. at Los Angeles Country Club, the North Course, in June, his home turf. The guy is an absolute stud.

On the DP World Tour, Rory won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic shooting a 19 under score and defeating Patrick Reed, an LIV player and a very compelling and juicy matchup story. Rory won by a shot with a 15 foot birdie putt on the Par 5, 18th. Last week on the practice range, Reed, who had subpoenaed Rory on Christmas Eve at Rory’s home with his family in attendance in his suit against the PGA Tour, came up to Rory and attempted to shake his hand. Rory ignored him, and Reed walked away fuming and tossed a tee in Rory’s direction. TeeGate resulted from that. Then, Tree Gate emerged in the third round on Sunday. Reed hit his drive on the Par 4, 17th into a set of three palm trees. It clearly looked like his ball went into the first of the three trees. Using binoculars and with an official with him, Reed said he was “100 percent” sure his Titleist Pro V one ball with an arrow and marks on it was lodged in the third tree. The official, using the binoculars, concurred. He took an unplayable lie and made bogey, which kept him alive for the Monday final round finish. But it looked like there was no chance his ball made it to the third tree. Brandel Chamblee, the great Golf Channel analyst, who was sued by Reed as well for defamation but won the case, clearly questioned it. And the tape shows it landing in the first tree and staying there. The Patrick Reed sage never ends does it. Just glad he’s off the PGA Tour, though the American team might miss him on the Ryder Cup, but I doubt it. He has made some enemies. He’s an elite player on the LIV Tour. He’ll do well there, though the tour is a joke. The LIV players will play at three of the four majors all except the PGA Championship. So the 32 year old Reed, who has won nine times on the PGA Tour and won the 2018 Masters, by defeating none other than Rory on Sunday, will compete. He’s a a terrific player, but controversy follows him everywhere it seems.

Key Holes on Pebble

The 7th, par 3, 112 yards. Into the wind could be a 4 or 3 iron. Calm conditions, a sand wedge or lob wedge, 56-58 degrees.

The 8th, Par 4, 424 yards. One of the best holes in the game of golf. Second shot is over the Pacific Ocean. Jack Nicklaus called it “the greatest second shot in golf.”

No.9, Par 4, 477 yards. Considered the toughest hole on the course. The ocean on the right and rough is on the left. A player has to contend with a deep bunker on the left front side of the green. Challenging. Par is a good score.

No. 10, Par 4, 454. The last in the stretch of holes along the Carmel Bay, or the Pacific. It’s a long par 4 that features a challenging tee shot that if the ball lands center right, it will roll into the rough on the right hand side. If the ball is center left, it should be OK. But too far left and the player is in the rough or the sand. There are bunkers left and long by the green and enough club is needed to clear the inlet on the right. The green slopes left to right.

No. 17, Par 3, 179 yards, Wind is a clear factor on this hole, as the player is usually playing right into it. You can win it here, like Tom Watson did in 1982, when he told his caddie, the late Bruce Edwards, who passed away from ALS in 2004, “I’m not going to get it close, I’m going to make it.” He proceeded to chip it in and had one of the great reactions in golf history, running to his right holding his putter in the air. It’s said that he said to Jack Nicklaus going into the 18th, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” That’s not confirmed, but they were ferocious competitors, yet became great friends as well. He outlasted the great Jack by a shot to win the Open, one of his 8 major championships. Jack won 18, of course.

On the other side of that, and this is just one example, Spieth bogeyed 17 in 2022 and Tom Huge birdied it to win the title.

No.18, 530 yards, Par 5. An awesome finishing hole with the ocean on the left for over-cooked drives, a couple of trees in the middle, and rough on the right. More dramatics can be found on this finishing hole. I remember Graeme McDowell winning the U.S. Open in 2010 on Father’s Day by birdieing 18. He was quite the player from Northern Ireland and UAB. He’s now on the LIV Tour. There are some likable guys on the LIV. I rode with Greame in a cart one time at Old Overton when he played at UAB and I was writing a story on him for the Birmingham Post-Herald. He was a heckuva great guy, and just hit it so purely and was a terrific putter. He likes to have a good time as well, a few cold ones or maybe 3, 4 or 5.

Odds

Jordan Spieth, 9/1

Matt Fitzpatrick, 10/1

Viktor Hovland, 10/1

Maverick McNealy, 16/1

Tom Hoge, 17/1

Seamus Power, 19/1

Justin Rose, 24/1

Andrew Putnam, 31/1

Matt Kuchar, 37/1

Kevin Kisner, 65/1

Brendon Todd, 70/1

Weather

Today, Cloudy, high 60, wind SSE 11 MPH

Friday, 57, light rain early, then cloudy, wind SE 9 MPH

Saturday, 61, Cloudy early, then chance of showers, Wind S 15 MPH. 40% chance of rain.

Sunday, Steady rain predicted, but not guaranteed. High 54, WNW 15 MPH. Rain chances, 66%.

The greens, which are Poa Annua, will be stimping at around 12, and the rough at its highest will be at 2 inches, so the amateurs can handle it.

TV

Today-Friday, 2-5 PM CT, Golf Channel

Saturday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-6 PM CT, CBS

Sunday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5:30 PM CT, CBS.

Winner

I was thinking hard about going with the 33 year old defending champion from Statesville, North Carolina by way of TCU, Tom Huge. However, I’m going to select the 25 year old from Oslo Norway by way of Oklahoma State, who won the 2018 U.S, Amateur at Pebble Beach. Please give me:

Viktor Hovland

Sleeper

I’m taking the 27 year old from Mission Viejo, Cali, by way of the University of Texas. He’s 90/1, but he finished solo 3rd here last year.

Beau Hossler

Elite Music Vid

The great Luke Combs sings this classic 2019 song about a son and his father, Even Though I’m Leaving.