This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links [Host] (6,972 yards, par 72), Spyglass Hill Golf Course (7,041 yards, par 72)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $3,600,000 and 700 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
The second Signature Event of 2025 takes us to arguably the most picturesque course in all of golf. The famed Pebble Beach Golf Links has hosted the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am since 1947. It has always attracted some of the biggest celebrities that get a chance to tee it up alongside the pros in a PGA Tour event. While this tournament moving to Signature Event status has taken some of the luster of the pro-am portion away, there will still be some familiar faces that get a chance to battle for the pro-am title over the first two rounds when all players get a crack at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, which has been in the rotation since 1978. Monterey Peninsula CC will not be apart of the rotation for the second straight year. Previously three courses were used, similar to The American Express a couple weeks ago, before a 54-hole cut was made and everyone played at Pebble Beach for the final round. Now there is no cut for the 80 professionals in the field, meaning to world's top players will take on Pebble Beach three times throughout the week. No amateurs will be present for the final two rounds.
This is a big week for a lot of marquee players. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler makes his season debut after slicing his hand open preparing Christmas dinner. Scheffler just started taking full swings last week, so we will see how quickly the best ball striker in golf can get back up to speed. World No. 3 Rory McIlroy is also making his season debut this week. The Northern Irishman usually begins his PGA Tour seasons around this time, as he likes to play in Dubai. McIlroy finished T4 in his bid to win three straight Dubai Desert Classics. Jordan Spieth will also make his return to action after undergoing wrist surgery last fall. The three-time major champ has struggled with wrist issues over the last couple years, and he is hopeful this surgery will put him in position to have a bounce-back season in 2025. Spieth received a sponsors invitation to this Signature Event as a long-time AT&T athlete, but you can expect him to receive sponsors invites to the remaining Signature Events as well should he not already qualify for them.
Every non-LIV player in the top 50 in the OWGR is teeing it up this week with the exception of World No. 2 Xander Schauffele, who is battling a soft tissue rib injury. It's unclear when the man who won two majors a year ago will be able to return to action. This was exactly the point of these Signature Events was to get the best players in the world playing against each other more often. While the WM Phoenix Open next week is not a Signature Event, it does have a pretty strong field. There will be quite a few players who will tee it up in three straight with the final event being the Genesis Invitational that was officially announced to be hosted at Torrey Pines South Course for one year due to the wildfires in the Pacific Palisades area.
A big topic of discussion every year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is the weather. It almost always plays a factor in the event. Last year the tournament had to be shortened to 54 holes due to incoming storms. That was the fourth time since 1998 this tournament was shortened to 54 holes. Things can change quickly in the Monterey Peninsula area, but it is looking like we should be able to get a full 72 holes in this year. That said, it is going to be chilly out there with temperatures expected to struggle to make it past the mid-50s. We also should see some precipitation on the weekend. The good news is that the winds are projected to be lighter than usual for this event, which will be a reprieve for those who teed it up a week ago at Torrey Pines. The winning score has been remarkably consistent in this event of late. Since Brandt Snedeker set the tournament scoring record of 22-under-par (265) back in 2015, the winning score has fallen between 17-and-19-under-par the last nine years.
Recent Champions
2024 - Wyndham Clark (-17)
2023 - Justin Rose (-18)
2022 - Tom Hoge (-19)
2021 - Daniel Berger (-18)
2020 - Nick Taylor (-19)
2019 - Phil Mickelson (-19)
2018 - Ted Potter Jr. (-17)
2017 - Jordan Spieth (-19)
2016 - Vaughn Taylor (-17)
2015 - Brandt Snedeker (-22)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- Proximity 50-125 yards
Champion's Profile
The first thing you have to talk about coming to Pebble Beach is the size of the greens. They are by far the smallest greens these players will see all season at just 3,500 square feet. The greens at Spyglass Hill aren't much larger at 5,000 square feet. Safe to say you have to start with approach play when looking at players to roster in this tournament. These are also both two of the shortest courses players will see all year. You won't need to hit many drivers and players will still get a lot of wedge and short iron opportunities. That magical 50-125 yard range will get a lot of action this week, and players who have the best proximity should be considered.
For as small as these greens are, however, putting is also crucially important in determining the winner. Wyndham Clark had one of the best putting rounds we have ever seen when he shot his third-round 60 to come from well back and end up taking home the trophy when it was announced they would not play the fourth round. Both these greens feature poa annua, which can be quite frustrating at times to putt on, but it does reward the players who are striking the putts the best. I also don't think short game can be overlooked, as just a slight miscalculation on approach can lead to having to find a way to scramble to save par.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Justin Thomas ($11,900)
Thomas is so close to getting back in the win column for the first time since 2022 and this should be a great setup for him. Thomas comes in to the week with top-three finishes in three of his last four starts. He has been tearing it up on approach and is annually one of the top players in that 50-125 yard range. Thomas also has one of the best short-game's on Tour as he ranked third in SG: Around-the-Green last season. He seems to have also found confidence in his putter and finished T6 in this event a year ago.
Collin Morikawa ($11,800)
Morikawa is another player who is close to returning to the winner's circle. He has a pair of runner-up finishes in his last three starts and has finished inside the top-25 in 15 of his last 17. Morikawa is a short, but accurate hitter which will play perfectly here, and like Thomas has been one of the best iron player over the last 18 months. Morikawa also took big strides last season with his putting and short game to make him a more complete player ranking top-10 in SG: Around, scrambling and putts per GIR.
Patrick Cantlay ($11,200)
Let's make it 3-for-3 with guys looking to end long winless droughts. Cantlay has a great history in this event with five top-11 finishes in seven starts. It makes sense given how good of a wedge player and putter he is. Cantlay comes into the week having finished top-25 in his last nine starts, including a couple weeks ago in Palm Springs where he was T5. During that run he has gained strokes off the tee in every event and on approach in all but two.
The Middle Tier
Jason Day ($10,600)
Day having such an amazing record in this event doesn't really add up given that he has been a relatively poor iron player throughout most of his career. That said, he has never missed a cut in 14 starts and has nine top-seven finishes. I just can't argue with those ridiculous numbers. I wouldn't be surprised to see Day's ownership take a slight dip after a middling performance last week at Torrey Pines where he has strong history as well. He's top-30 early in the season SG: Approach and GIR percentage.
Tom Hoge ($9,400)
We need to find some dart throwers and there aren't many better for the job than Hoge, who has been on the Tour's leaders in SG: Approach for the last several seasons. He is also starting to get back to the way he putted early last season, gaining strokes on the greens in his first three events of 2025. Not many have putted these Pebble Beach greens better than Hoge over the last four years and it's a big reason why he has a win and three top-12 finishes over that stretch.
Robert MacIntyre ($9,100)
MacIntyre has never played this event, but the cold, rainy and possibly windy conditions just seem right up the Scot's alley. MacIntyre has evolved his game from a scrambler and high-level putter, into quite the reliable ball striker. He has gained strokes off the tee in 18 of his last 19 starts and on approach in 11 of 14 starts. MacIntyre struggled out of the gate as a rookie last season, but has picked up two wins, eight top-10s and 16 top-25s over his last 24 starts.
The Long Shots
Denny McCarthy ($8,600)
McCarthy remains arguably the best putter on Tour and he makes for a great value play in this stacked field. The 31-year-old comes into the week having finished T26 or better in four of his last five starts. He also has finished T12-T4-T26 the last three years at Pebble Beach, putting exceptional in each of those tournaments. McCarthy ranks top-35 early in the season in GIR percentage and proximity from 50-125 yards.
Andrew Novak ($7,800)
Novak's stat profile does fit a lot of the things we're looking for at Pebble Beach. He's a very good approach and short-game player ranking top-40 in SG: Approach, SG: Around, GIR percentage and scrambling. Novak has also really improved his driving gaining strokes off the tee in six of his last seven measured starts. The only area that he had struggled with recently was the putter, but was strong on similar poa annua greens at Torrey Pines last week en route to a solo third.
Mark Hubbard ($7,600)
Hubbard has progressively gotten better in this event over the last four years, going T55-T33-T20 and then a T4 last year when it was a Signature Event. Hubbard has gotten back to his typical strong iron play gaining strokes on approach in six of his last seven measured starts. The one in that stretch with no ShotLink data was a T3 in Bermuda where you can bet he was striking it well in what is a similar golf test to what players will face this week.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
This field is so deep loaded with top 50-60 players you can find in the $8K and even $7K range this week. It certainly gives DFS players the ability to build in a lot of different ways. The stars and scrubs method is certainly viable considering there really aren't many scrubs in this field at all. The $9K land is best overall range for value this week, however, with guys like Taylor Pendrith ($9,900), Max Greyserman ($9,800), Maverick McNealy ($9,500) and Beau Hossler ($9,300) as other options not mentioned above I have interest in. The two $12K options -- Scheffler ($12,800) and McIlroy ($12,100) -- are both fades for me, as Scheffler only recently started taking full swings and likely will be rusty, and McIlroy doesn't have much history here and won't be able to use his biggest weapon of the driver that often.
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