PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Whether Wyndham Clark already is the winner of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am or he’ll have to play 18 more holes to earn it rests on the shoulders of Mother Nature.
The final round of the tournament is in doubt due to high winds and rain forecasted for Sunday.
PGA Tour Chief Referee Gary Young said he’s “hopeful” that the tournament will be able to complete 72 holes, but there is a possibility that Clark, who shot a course-record 60 on Saturday to grab a one-stroke lead after 54 holes could be declared the winner. One decision already has been made: out of an abundance of caution, no spectators will be allowed on property for the final round if it is played on Sunday.
“Our regulations say we need to make every effort to play 72 holes, which includes playing on Monday,” Young said. “We would not start play on Monday if we knew we couldn’t finish the round on Monday. So, the drop-dead time on that would mean we would have to start play on Monday by 10:15 a.m. at the latest in order to complete play.”
Young said that his staff would be on site at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Sunday at 5 a.m. local time, to assess the situation and message players at 5:15 to let them know whether there’s going to be a delay to tee times. The final round is scheduled to start at 7:45 a.m. Young noted that if there is a delay it would likely be a significant one and that the next update would be at 9:30.
“That realistically means we won’t start before noon tomorrow,” he said.
If that’s the case, it would be for good reason.
Pebble Pro-Am: Sunday tee times
“We have really high winds forecasted, it hasn’t come down at all. (The weatherman) is talking about gusts in the 60 (mph) and even above that range, so sustained winds 35 to 40 miles per hour in the morning,” Young said, noting that between one and three inches of rain also is expected.
Asked the chances that 72 holes would be completed, Young said, “I’m hopeful right now. I mean, we have been playing a pretty soggy golf course. Obviously if we get upwards of two to three inches on the high side right now, then that makes that a little more doubtful.”
Saturday weather forecast for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Preferred lies are in effect for the third round. pic.twitter.com/BLF8ShNOkx
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 3, 2024
The forecast Monday is for showers in the morning too. The course already is waterlogged from a collection of on-and-off rain all week.
“We just want to make sure that on Monday, if we get to that point, that the golf course is such that we are conducting a good quality championship, the conditions are of professional standards,” Young said. “We want to make sure that the golf course is of the quality on Monday that we would not want golf balls disappearing into the fairways and losing golf balls.”
There also is a scenario where play could extend to Tuesday.
“Our regulation states that we can’t start play on Monday without knowing that we could finish play on Monday. If we did that and then for some reason weather rolled in on us that caused us to delay again, if more than half the field has finished play, then we would extend play into Tuesday,” he explained. “But we would need more than half of them to have completed their round on Monday.”