PEBBLE BEACH—The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am made its grand return to the Central Coast last weekend, featuring some of the best professional golfers from around the world.
Tom Hoge was one of seven players who had at least a share of the lead going into Sunday’s final round. He made two tough birdie putts on the 11th and 14th to stay in the game.
Hoge made the biggest putt of his career, a 20-foot birdie on the par-3 17th, that carried him to a 4-under 68 and a two-shot victory over Jordan Spieth.
Hoge finished at 19-under 268 and earned $1,566,000 for his first win on the PGA Tour after making 203 career starts.
Also making the return were celebrities and spectators, who were left out of the fun in last year’s event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Julian Silva made his first trip to Pebble Beach on Feb. 5 and he traveled more than two hours from Santa Maria to catch a glimpse of the action.
“It’s a beautiful course, beautiful layout and AT&T put together a really good event,” he said. “Everybody seemed to get along well and the restrictions weren’t as bad. A real good time today.”
One of the biggest celebrities that made their tournament debut was Saul “Canelo” Álvarez, a Mexican professional boxer who has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light-middleweight to light heavyweight.
“I saw him and I was like ‘Oh, wow. There he is,’” Silva said. “I follow him on social media and I see some of his videos when he goes out golfing. Seeing him in person was a real treat.”
Silva’s wife, Leslie, got a chance to take a photo with Alvarez’s wife, Fernanda Gómez, who is a social media influencer and model.
“[Gómez] was being really friendly, so I went up to her and I asked her in Spanish if it was OK if I could bother her with a photo,” she said. “It was a good experience and it was good to see her in the crowd. She was in the crowd just like all of us, which was pretty cool.”
Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said the AT&T Pro-Am is a premier golf event in a county that is 60% Latino.
“It’s outstanding to see the best pound for pound boxer today and the beloved Mexican sports legend Canelo Alvarez participate in this year’s tournament,” Alejo said. “He has a great golf game and is sure to attract more Latino fans to the annual event and to the sport of golf. We welcome Canelo any time to Monterey County.”
The four-day tournament began Feb. 3 with play on Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore course. The final round was Feb. 6 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
“There is always considerable excitement around the tournament but with the spectators and celebrities on hiatus last year, the buzz is even greater with their return for 2022,” said Steve John, CEO of Monterey Peninsula Foundation. “It promises to be memorable for the players, fans, volunteers and the deserving charities that will benefit.”
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which is hosted by Monterey Peninsula Foundation, featured United States Ryder Cup teammates Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger and Spieth.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose and Maverick McNealy, the Stanford graduate who was runner-up to Berger in 2021, also made the trip to Monterey.
Other celebrities that made their tournament debut include Mia Hamm, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts, who was the first player in Major League Baseball history to win Most Valuable Player awards and World Series titles with different teams before the age of 30.
Lukas Nelson, country rock musician and son of Willie Nelson; ScHool Boy Q, American rapper and songwriter from South Central Los Angeles; and
Scott Eastwood, actor and producer were also first timers to the event.
Returning favorites in the celebrity field included Bill Murray, Macklemore, Don Cheadle, Josh Duhamel, Kira Dixon, Huey Lewis, Ray Romano, Alfonso Ribeiro, Darius Rucker and Jake Owen.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen along with former NFL stars Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Young and Alex Smith also hit the links.
