Tom Hoge may have beaten Jordan Spieth by two shots last year to get his first PGA Tour win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am but the lasting image from the 2022 event was Spieth’s second shot into the ironic, ocean-side eighth hole at famed Pebble.
Spieth’s drive during the Saturday third round came perilously close to going over the edge of the cliff at the end of the eighth fairway — it’s a 70-foot fall to the sand and ocean below. But the ball stopped about two feet short, leaving Spieth the option of hitting what looked like a very scary shot.
When Spieth took his stance, his lead foot was only inches from the edge of cliff. It was a bit of a downhill stance that made the shot even more dangerous. If he did lose his balance and fall one way or the other, since it was a downhill stance he likely would have fallen forward and went over the cliff. Spieth took an extra wide stance to help him not lose his balance. When he hit the shot, he purposely jumped backwards, even running, to make sure he wouldn’t fall forward.
Spieth’s ball went over the green onto a downhill slope but he made an incredible par save and went on to shoot 63. That got Spieth into the hunt. He shot 69 on Sunday, Hoge shot 68 and won with a 19-under par total, Spieth finished at 17.
There won’t be another chance for a dangerous shot this year. The red hazard line has been moved back a bit more toward the fairway and the grass on either side of that hazard line has grown long and very thick — no chance to going for the green.
Three Course Rotation:
With amateurs in the field, the rounds are long and the field plays a rotation of three courses — two round at Pebble for those (and low 25 amateur teams) who make the cut along with rounds at Monterey Country Club and iconic, difficult Spyglass Hill.
Last year, the winner — Hoge — opened with a 63 at Pebble Beach, then shot 69 at Monterey, 68 at Spyglass and his Sunday 68 at Pebble Beach.
Spieth opened with a 68 at Monterey, then shot 70 at Spyglass then rounds of 63-69 at Pebble Beach over the weekend.
Television Times:
Thursday-Friday: ESPN-Plus 11:30 a.m-3 p.m. (ET); Golf Channel: 1-3 p.m. (ET)
Saturday: ESPN-Plus 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (ET); Golf Channel: 1-3 p.m. (ET); CBS: 3-7 p.m. (ET)
Sunday: ESPN-Plus: 10:30 a.m-1 p.m. (ET); Golf Channel: 1-3 p.m. (ET); CBS: 3-6:30 p.m. (ET)
PGA Tour Creates Another Rule Regarding LIV Players:
The PGA Tour now has a new rule that is obviously aimed at college players who might be tempted by LIV Golf.
Per the new regulation, which began this season, “Any player who has participated in an unauthorized tournament is ineligible to compete in any event sanctioned by the PGA Tour for a period of one year.”
Said “unauthorized tournament” is defined in the player handbook as “any golf event for which the commissioner has denied or has indicated he would deny all conflicting event releases and/or media releases or not eligible for releases because it is to be held in North America.”
The new regulation applies to Tour events as well as any qualifying events including Monday qualifiers for both the Tour and Korn Ferry Tour and Q-School.
8 Comments
forky76
So some kid, lets say from europe, who doesn’t speak much English, plays on the secondary tours, and has never been within 1000 miles of a pga event.. plays in an unauthorized event that he didn’t know was unauthorized.. and he gets banned from q school for 1 year? Sounds like a great way to sure up support at grass roots level.
Yet another dumb and not thought through properly decision from tour management. It’s astonishing how bad they have handled this whole thing.
It’s one thing to ban members (I might not agree with it, but understandable) but to ban guys who are not members or bound by any tour rules beggers belief.
Tom Edrington
Serves as a deterrent for college players to pick LIV over the PGA Tour……looks Sebastian Munoz is the next defector…..I’m also getting a sense that LIV won’t win the anti-trust lawsuit……
forky76
If it was designed as a deterrent to American college players, it is yet another reminder of the narrow minded approach of the pga tour and ignoring its impacts on the rest of world golf. The Asian Tour has aligned itself with LIV and its international series. If young guys around the world are now second guessing whether they can accept starts on the Asian Tour for fear that it might come back to bite them in the future.. this is truly a scary message to be sending to young golfers around the world.
I honestly thought the anti trust case could go either way, but this latest move might be a step too far.. predatory monopolistic behaviour at its finest.
Tom Edrington
Forky, when someone steals your employees in hopes of starting a competing business…..well, that’s war in the biz world and LIV is the one filing the lawsuits, making incredibly false claims, internal strife, — look at the key execs who have left the sinking ship that is LIV…..their entire business plan hinges on suckers paying hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase one of those ridiculously-named “teams” — I don’t see that happening and that could spell the end of LIV, at some point Mr. Al-Rumayyan is going to pull the plug…..PLUS, now that it’s been unveiled that he is running the show and Norman is a figurehead, well, Al-Rumayyan is shaking in his Gucci loafers at the thought of being deposed by PGA Tour lawyers…..
forky76
Firstly, these guys are not employees, they are independent contractors. But using your employer analogy, Google can’t just say to someone you are ineligible to work here for a year because you’ve worked for Microsoft at some point in your past. Discrimination lawyers would have a field day with that.
Tom Edrington
Ah, first of all, you omit that Phil Mickelson was working to recruit players to LIV while still a PGA Tour member, so, to use your analogy, a Google staffer who secretly signed with Microsoft and was attempting to lure folks from Google to Microsoft, well, Google’s lawyers would have a hay-day; The Tour does have independent contractor agreements with its players, just as I have an independent contractor agreement with my real estate company….I agree to work only for this company (Florida law requires that, you cannot work for two different brokerages) and abide by my company’s rules…….Tour players agreed to abide by PGA Tour by-laws, so FOrky, your argument just doesn’t cut it. Not to mention that LIV guys sign EMPLOYEE CONTRACT — so they are now employees of The Saudi Public Investment Fund……
forky76
I think we’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent here Tom.. I’m talking about all the young guys out there currently not aligned to either tour. These guys are the ones looking at a ban and are not bound by any by-laws on either side. What’s going on is called blacklisting and that’s not legal.
I can see a case for the pga tour against the guys who broke their agreements.. i dont disagree with you here. Most of them fully knew what they were signing up for.
Tom Edrington
Professional sports operate by their own regulations. The Tour has created PGA Tour University to enhance opportunity for accomplished college players. We often hear about pro athletes who are secretly “black-balled” by their respective sports. Happens everywhere. The Tour is being consistent in banning ALL LIV participants.