Good start for the Spanish pair at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with Jon Rahm (67) three strokes behind the two leaders of the tournament, Americans Kevin Streelman and Beau Hossler, who lead the standings with 7 under par. Rafa Cabrera-Bello has started the tournament at 2 under par. The Basque pocketed five birdies and made a bogey, while the player from the Canary Islands sealed his round with two birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on the 10th hole. Rahm is tied for sixth place with a dozen players, including Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar.
The world number one, Dustin Johson, has had a good first round and, with 5 under par, shares the sixth position with nine other players, including Paul Casey. Behind the co-leaders, Americans Matt Kuchar, Aaron Wise and Julian Suri share third place.
Defending champion Jordan Spieth has started the tournament with a mediocre result: par for the course.
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is one of the most unique and exciting tournaments on the PGA TOUR. It draws more than 190,000 spectators (totaling four days of competition) at three of the Monterey Peninsula’s premier golf courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, and Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore. The tournament distributes 7.4 million dollars in prize money, of which 1.3 million dollars will go to the winner. The Monterey Peninsula Foundation, host of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, donated a total of $12.8 million in fiscal year 2016/17 to support local nonprofit organizations in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.
The peculiarity of the competition is that it brings together 156 professionals and 156 amateurs, pairing each professional with an amateur. On the first three days the 156 two-player teams play in best ball format with one round on each of the three courses. Professionals also score under the traditional individual stroke format. On the final day, professionals and teams making the 54-hole cut will play at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
The cut for the pros leaves the top 60 most tied qualifiers in play, while the pro-am cut sees the top 25 teams go through. Rahm plays the first three days paired with the CEO and president of Taylormade, David Abeles, while Cabrera-Bello plays with Irish tycoon Dermot Desmond. The player from Barrika could become the new world number one if he wins the tournament and Dustin Johnson qualifies behind the 67th place, something that seems unlikely at the moment, both for the way the American has started the tournament and for the remote chances of more than 67 players making the cut and Johnson finishing as the red lantern.
Among the 156 amateurs playing in the tournament are numerous actors, singers, models, renowned athletes, financiers and politicians. Bill Murray (in the photo, emulating a rake), Ana Botín, Condoleezza Rice are some of them.
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