This ‘extremely noticeable’ Pebble Beach change caught Jordan Spieth’s eye

Change is afoot on the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The discipline is smaller (simply 80 gamers, on account of the match having fun with “Signature” standing for this yr’s version); the pro-am element of the occasion will likely be solely two rounds versus the normal 54-hole or, for some, 72-hole affair; and the brand-name amateurs within the discipline are restricted to athletes (Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, et al.), which means no actors or gallery-rousing comedians, together with staples like Ray Romano and Bill Murray.

“Honestly, it has a little less Bing Crosby to it,” Jordan Spieth mentioned Wednesday, referring to the match’s heyday when Crosby served because the host. “It feels more like a major championship.”

And not simply the vibe — the course setup, too.

Spieth mentioned Pebble’s fairways are narrower than in years previous, most notably on the par-5 sixth gap, which runs onerous towards Stillwater Cove.  

“The biggest change that’s extremely noticeable is No. 6,” Spieth mentioned. “Even in the U.S. Open there was no rough down the right side, at least as far as I can remember, and it’s cut in quite a bit. If you miss the fairway to the right now, but you’re not in the hazard, you’re just in the right rough and you’ll have a pretty difficult decision trying to hit up that cliff or you lay it back.”

Spieth didn’t say whether or not he authorized of the buffer, which was put in upfront of the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach final summer time, however on X (previously referred to as Twitter) the architecture sharpies at Fried Egg Golf characterised the ball-grabbing grass as “a painful neutering of the ocean and cliffs as the real hazard on one of the best par-5s in the world.”   

Which drew this response from Tour professional Michael Kim, who isn’t within the discipline this week however has performed in three different editions of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, together with an Eleventh-place end a yr in the past: “My opinion but the only goal on that tee shot…is to hit the fairway and any piece of the fairway. No one is trying to find a different angle. With it being a blind shot and trying to hit it like 230, we’re only thinking fairway.” He added: “On this hole, I don’t see anyone taking on the risk of a penalty shot to give themselves 5-10 less yards. No one is trying to ‘attack’ that right flag. It’s way too narrow there. Ur just trying to hit the middle of the green on that hole, give yourself a 20ft.”

The choking of the sixth fairway didn’t occur in a single day; its evolution has, in truth, been a century within the making.

In preparation for the 1929 U.S. Amateur at Pebble, Chandler Egan, a former U.S. Amateur winner, was tasked with tightening the screws on the hyperlinks. Among the various modifications he carried out was shifting the bunkers to the left of the sixth gap driving zone nearer to the green. In 2016, Pebble made one other tweak that difficult the tee shot, re-angling the tee field towards the cove to juice the worry issue. The course additionally beefed up the gathering of left-side fairway bunkers.

Here’s how GOLF course rater Michael Pellicione described the tee shot in a 2020 essay for this web site: “Standing on the tee high above the fairway, one might feel the urge to let your tee shot fly, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. Though the fairway is one of the widest on the course, you can’t just hit it anywhere. The left side is littered with bunkers to penalize those looking to bail out, while the right side is property of Stillwater Cove, which comes into play more readily than it appears. Simply put: don’t go right!”

Right ought to nonetheless be prevented, in fact, however now gamers who do miss on that facet have extra hope of their balls not discovering a watery grave. As the stress mounts by the week and with wild and windy circumstances forecast, the new-look tee shot at 6 will likely be one price watching.

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s government editor, Bastable is answerable for the editorial path and voice of one of many sport’s most revered and extremely trafficked information and repair websites. He wears many hats — modifying, writing, ideating, growing, daydreaming of at some point breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely gifted and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the options editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey along with his spouse and foursome of children.