A Sad Contrast In Field Strength: This Week's AT&T VS. Next Week's Genesis

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A quick review is in order to put the putrid turnout for the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am into perspective.

  • The Official World Golf Ranking puts the strength of field at 141.

  • Last week’s two events had strength of field scores of 395 and 463 (Saudi International and Waste Management Open).

  • The 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach features zero top 10 players and only five inside the top 50

  • The field has just 23 of the world top 100 and only 55 of the world top 200 WITH NO OTHER EVENT ON THE CALENDAR THIS WEEK.

  • There are 14 players outside the top 1000.

  • In 2020 the only fields with weaker SOF: Bermuda Championship, Sanderson Farms, Barracuda Championship, Safeway Open and Puerto Rico Open. The biggies.

  • There is no pro-am format this year, with play whittled to Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hills

  • John Daly is playing on a former PGA Champion exemption. That’s a tournament he captured 30 years ago this year. We are on our sixth American president since that win.

  • AT&T or some form of the corporation has been one of the tour’s longest running and most devoted sponsors now propping up two events featuring opposite-event quality fields.

Well, I guess you can’t say now-retired CEO Randall Stephenson’s company earned special interest thanks to his ongoing role seat on the PGA Tour Policy Board.

The event is obviously getting hit by a ton of surrounding “playing opportunities” of high quality or easy money (WGC Formerly of Mexico City).

Still, it’s Pebble Beach and one of the cornerstone events that built the Tour. Shameful.

But northern California’s loss is southern California’s gain. I’m not complaining, just sad for Pebble Beach.

Here is next week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera sports a loaded field minus tournament host Tiger Woods.  

The numbers:

  • 7 of the world top 10

  • 20 of the world top 30

  • 30 of the world top 50

The tournament announcement summing up the field:

The Genesis Invitational field is highlighted by seven of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, including World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, World No. 2 Jon Rahm, World No. 3 Justin Thomas, World No. 4 Xander Schauffele, and World No. 6 Rory McIlroy. Johnson, the reigning FedExCup Champion and 2020 Masters Champion, is joined in the field by 2020 PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa (World No 7), and 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (World No. 9).

 The field features 19 past major champions in total including Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland and Adam Scott who returns to Riviera where we won in 2020. Scott is joined by past winners at Riviera J.B. Holmes (2019), Bubba Watson (2018, 2016, 2014), Johnson (2017), James Hahn (2015), and Charles Howell III (2007). California native Rickie Fowler is making his first tournament start at Riviera since 2014.