Pebble Beach Pro-Am Tips
It is the first meeting of the big two at the first signature event of the PGA Tour season as defending champion Rory McIlroy takes on Scottie Scheffler and 78 other rivals at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California this week.
McIlroy enjoyed a two-shot victory over his close friend Shane Lowry last year, revelling in the unusual format where players are accompanied by an amateur partner over four rounds.
Meanwhile, world number one Scheffler has already been in the winner’s enclosure this year following his win at the American Express, and he was third at last week’s Phoenix Open despite giving winner Chris Gotterup a 10-shot start after the first round.
So it is no surprise to see the best two players in the world dominating the market, but there are plenty of other hopefuls who have made a decent start to the new year and will be heading to Pebble Beach with high hopes of doing well in one of the Tour’s most prestigious tournaments.
Tip 1 – Russell Henley @ 25/1
One of the gathering pack behind the big two is Russell Henley, who knows exactly how it feels to win a signature event following his success at March’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
The Georgian produced his best Pebble Beach in six visits when he was fifth last year having carded a 64 in his opening round at Spyglass Hill, which co-hosts the tournament with one of America’s most famous courses this week.
Accuracy could be the name of the game on a course where long driving is not a huge advantage and that should allow Henley to flourish.
He has finished in the top 20 in his last 10 tournaments, which included second place at the Travelers Championship and in August’s Tour Championship, and he is showing no sign of slowing down.
His 19th at the Sony Open in Hawaii and eighth last time out at the American Express have greased the wheels and we can expect another bold bid.
Tip 2 – Viktor Hovland @ 28/1
Viktor Hovland will have been disappointed to have finished 22nd at Pebble Beach after an opening 65 last year, but there is scope for the Ryder Cup star to produce a much improved performance over four days this time.
The Norwegian, who was also 13th at the California venue in 2023, has pieced together some decent results.
Hovland produced some strong performances in the FedEx Cup playoffs with seventh spot at the BMW Championship and 12th at the Tour Championship, which was a building block for a fifth spot at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and sixth at the India Championship before the turn of the year.
He was then 14th at the Dubai Desert Classic and 10th in Phoenix last week when his effort included a joint-best Saturday round of 65, so his game is definitely heading in the right direction.
Tip 3 – Si Woo Kim @ 22/1
While Scheffler stormed back into Scottsdale contention after an opening 73 last week, Si Woo Kim did exactly the same as the world number one and he has been the model of consistency lately.
The South Korean has not finished worse than 11th in his last six tournaments and he did well to finish tied for third last week after an indifferent start, as he stormed back with a Friday 62.
He was one of the three players who got closest to runaway Farmers Insurance Open winner Justin Rose the week before and he has finished 14th and 12th in the last two Pebble Beach Pro-Ams, while he was also fourth in 2019.
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to fluctuation
