Record performance earns Clark weather-shortened title at Pebble Beach | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
Feb. 4th, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing. This week all eyes were on Pebble Beach Golf Links for the playing of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. This year, the event featured its best field ever thanks to the event's signature status for the first time. With a $20 million purse, extra FedEx Cup points, and an 80 player field, expectations were high for an exciting tournament at arguably the most iconic venue in golf history. 

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - Tournament History

The Pebble Beach Pro Am’s history began back in 1937 in Rancho Santa Fe, California when Bing Crosby hosted the first ever pro-am golf tournament where Sam Snead won first place which back then was simply a $500 check. Throughout the years since, the tournament has evolved into one of the most fun events of the year for casual golf fans as some of the most popular celebrities, athletes, and musicians get a chance to showcase their golf games and raise money for charity. 

Traditionally played on rotating courses including Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and Monterey Peninsula, this year the PGA Tour removed Monterey Peninsula from the rotation and cut the pro-am to just 36 holes to give the tournament a feel resembling a major championship on the weekend- especially with the signature status. Pebble Beach, of course, has hosted major championships for both the PGA and LPGA most recently for the 2019 U.S. Open and 2023 U.S. Women’s Open. In 2000, Tiger Woods won the Pebble Beach slam after winning the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and then later winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in the same season. 

This year the field consisted of 14 of the top 15 players in the OWGR, including Rory McIlroy who will be making his PGA Tour debut this season. McIlroy entered the week as the betting favorite after winning in Dubai last week, with a chance to overtake the world #1 ranking this week with another win. To do so in this field will be a tall order as the games best hope to add their name to the list of players to win at Pebble Beach. 

The most recent five players to win this event are as follows: 

2024 - Wyndham Clark (-17)
2023 - Justin Rose (-18)
2022 - Tom Hoge (-19)
2021 - Daniel Berger (-18)
2020 - Nick Taylor (-19)
 

The Big Swing 

This week the big  swing belongs to Wyndham Clark. Last year's U.S. Open champion entered the field flying under the radar as he has not posted better than a T29 at the Sentry so far this season. Even after two rounds, it seemed unlikely that Clark would have a chance to hoist the trophy on Sunday. After opening with rounds of 72 and 67, Clark sat at 5-under par and seven shots back of the leaders Scheffler, Aberg, and Detry who were all at 11-under after two rounds. With lots of rain throughout the week, the course was playing very soft allowing players to attack the flags. 

Saturday was another example of this as players who were well behind the lead made their move early in the day. One of these players was Jason Day, who went out early and fired a third round 63, making eight birdies and an eagle vaulting him all the way up into a tie for 6th. But it was Clark who made the biggest jump up the leaderboard. He proved last season he was a force to be reckoned with, winning a major and a designated event on his way to the best season of his career. One of his biggest strengths was putting, and his exceptional putting was on full display on Saturday at Pebble Beach. 

Clark began his day with an eagle at No. 2, birdie at No. 4, eagle at No. 6, and birdies on Nos. 7-9 for a front nine record of eight-under-par 28. His momentum didn’t stop there, making birdies at 10 and 11. On the par-3 12th, it seemed he would give at least two shots back, but he was able to hole a 25-footer from off the green for bogey, making his round feel truly special.

He went on to birdie holes 13, 14, and 18 where he just missed an eagle putt that would’ve carded a 59. In the end, it was a third-round 60 and a new 18-hole course record at Pebble Beach. Throughout his historic round, Clark made over 180 feet of putts, including over 150 on the front nine alone. The tour average for an entire round is about 80 feet for perspective. 

At the end of Saturday, Clark held a one shot lead over the youngster Ludvig Aberg. On Sunday, Pebble Beach was hit with a wave of brutal weather with rain and wind gusts up to 60 mph causing the 4th round to be suspended until Monday. However, the forecast for Monday didn’t look much better and Sunday evening the PGA Tour made the decision to call the event after 54 holes making Wyndham Clark the unlikely champion. 

Winner’s Bag - Wyndham Clark 

Wyndham Clark’s winning bag features mostly Titleist clubs with a few other manufacturers mixed in. For his driver, Clark uses a Titleist TSR3, playing it at 9 degrees. His first non-Titleist club comes with his only fairway wood in the bag, using the new TaylorMade Qi10 for his 3-wood. Moving into his irons, Clark opted for a driving iron this weekend, using the Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi. He blended that with his trusted Titleist 620 CB’s, which he used for his 4-9 irons. Moving into his wedges and Clark games the newest Vokey release, the SM10 for his pitching wedge, gap wedge and sand wedge, while going with a Vokey WedgeWorks model for his lob wedge. For his putter, Clark had used the Odyssey Versa Jailbird last year, and while staying in the Jailbird family, he opted into their newest Ai-One Jailbird model for his win this weekend.