5 picks our professional loves

It’s been fairly the run in these elements, starting with an outright winner on Kevin Yu final fall on the Sanderson Farms Championship. The newest windfall, Harris English final week on the Farmers Insurance coverage Open, provides us three outright winners because the Hero World Problem in December. Like they are saying, keep sizzling.

From excessive atop the cliffs overlooking La Jolla shores, we journey up the coast to Carmel, California for the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am. This would be the second Signature Occasion of the 2025 season and the second straight week through which the gamers face Poa Annua grass greens.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is again, hand absolutely wholesome that he injured whereas cooking over the Christmas vacation. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is right here, additionally making his 2025 PGA Tour debut. A former winner right here at Pebble Seashore, Jordan Spieth can also be within the discipline this week after present process surgical procedure on his wrist through the offseason.

That is the second straight season that the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am has been a Signature standing occasion. Wyndham Clark is your defending champion after final yr’s match was minimize to only 54 holes on account of inclement climate. Previous to final yr, the match concerned a three-course rotation and a 54-hole minimize on Saturday. Now, it’s much like final week at Torrey Pines, the place it is just a two-course rotation and three of the 4 rounds are performed on the host course. Every participant will play one spherical this week, on both Thursday or Friday, at Spyglass Hill, three rounds at Pebble Seashore, and there’s no minimize for the 80-player discipline. The gamers are joined by amateurs on each Thursday and Friday.

Spyglass Hill sometimes performs barely harder than Pebble Seashore. It’s extra shielded from the wind with tree-lined fairways and fewer coastal publicity. Spyglass is only a contact over 7,000 yards. Pebble is only a hair underneath 7,000 yards. The fairways are large and the greens are the smallest placing surfaces on Tour. Whereas now we have seen some bombers win right here up to now — Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, and Davis Love III — it isn’t a golf course that may actually be overpowered. It’s extra about hitting these small greens in regulation, scrambling if you miss them, and discovering a sizzling Poa-Annua placing week.

In whole this week, I checked out Strokes Gained: Strategy, Good Drives Gained, Gap Proximity from 75-150 yards, Par 4 Scoring (350-450 yards), Par 5 Scoring (500-550 yards), Greens in Regulation Gained, and Scrambling. For correlated programs, I used Silverado in Napa the place they play the Procore Championship (one other Northern California location at which now we have seen some crossover with Pebble Seashore up to now); Port Royal Golf Membership, one other coastal location, the place they maintain the Bermuda Championship after which TPC Southwind, TPC Summerlin, Hamilton Golf & Nation Membership, and St. George’s Golf & Nation Membership.

I landed on 5 gamers for an outright win this week and performed every for a top-20 end as effectively.

Taylor Pendrith (55-1)

This was the primary identify that jumped off the board at me this week. I performed him final yr on the Farmers Insurance coverage Open and he recorded a top-10 end, which he did once more final week, and I felt this could be the proper time to get again on board with the shortly enhancing Canadian. He actually nails it within the stats this week. He hits a ton of greens, is great on the par 4s and par 5s, and is actually in a position to dial within the wedges from 75-125 yards out. He earned his first Tour win final yr and in addition has a top-10 end right here at Pebble Seashore in 2023, two top-10 finishes on the Bermuda Championship, and two additionally at TPC Summerlin.

Maverick McNealy (55-1)

McNealy is at all times a participant I think about when the Tour heads to the Monterey Peninsula. He grew up not distant and in addition graduated from close by Stanford College. He’s completed fifth and runner-up up to now at Pebble Seashore and in addition has a runner-up end at Silverado in Napa. He has wonderful finishes at all the different correlated programs too, together with a seventh final yr on the Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Nation Membership. Like Pendrith, McNealy additionally lately earned his first-ever Tour victory at what occurred to be at a shorter, coastal course in Sea Island. Over the past 36 rounds, McNealy ranks third on this discipline for SG: Placing (Poa Annua).

Viktor Hovland (60-1)

It has been fairly a while since I’ve backed Hovland however I’m questioning if this venue could be the proper time to take action — together with a value that’s fairly loopy for a man that ranks ninth within the OWGR. Hovland completed twelfth right here on the U.S. Open in 2019 and gained the U.S. Novice right here at Pebble Seashore the yr prior. He has gained 5 occasions in his profession on coastal golf programs and completed thirteenth right here in 2023. Hovland additionally simply completed runner-up again in August at TPC Southwind — that could be a nice signal, on a correlated course, for a man that has been struggling to seek out his recreation. A snug venue the place he’s had great success, simply could be the treatment.

Robert Macintyre (65-1)

At the beginning, Bobby Mac gained the Canadian Open final summer time at Hamilton Golf & Nation Membership — one in all our correlated programs. The forecast this week just isn’t calling for a lot wind however a seaside, chilly, cloudy, location with potential rain on the best way, seems like a fantastic match for a Scotsman, who has additionally been lights-out on the Scottish Open, ending 1-2 the final two seasons. I fear that he’s by no means been to Pebble Seashore earlier than however once more, this surroundings is one which I imagine will go well with him fairly properly. Macintyre performs very effectively on the par 4s and 5s, and has a terrific quick recreation, rating 14th on Tour final season in Scrambling and thirty fifth for SG: Placing.

Thomas Detry (110-1)

That is the second time this season I’ve taken a stab with the person from Belgium. Related to a couple others on this week’s card, I imagine Detry has been enjoying his greatest golf lately. He comes off of a Fifteenth-place end at Torrey Pines final week and was fourth right here at Pebble final yr. He’s additionally completed twelfth at Silverado and has been runner-up at Port Royal Golf Membership. He ranked tenth on Tour final season for SG: Placing and final week, he was eighth within the discipline for Greens in Regulation.