The field for the 2022 Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am is likely taking a major hit, assuming the PGA Tour grants waivers to the slew of players who are preferring to play in the Saudi International in February.
That means five-time champ Phil Mickelson won’t be at Pebble Beach. Nor will two-time winner Dustin Johnson. Or Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott or Bubba Watson among many others.
On the flip side, the 2022 Saudi International, in its first year on the Asian Tour schedule, features the strongest field in the history of the tour.
In past years the PGA Tour granted releases to its members for the first three Saudi Internationals when it was a European Tour event. Last summer the PGA and European tours announced a strategic alliance, which removed the Saudi event from the European Tour (now DP World Tour) schedule and was widely interpreted as a joint effort to stymie any rival tours.
Others seeking to skip Pebble for the Saudi: Graeme McDowell, Abraham Ancer, Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Tyrrell Hatton, Adri Arnaus, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Paul Casey, Jason Dufner, Shane Lowry, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Harold Varner III and Jhonattan Vegas.
The PGA Tour has not granted releases for members to play the Saudi International. The Tour has until 30 days before the first round to decide on waivers. Per previous reporting, players who compete without a waiver would likely only face a fine.
— Eamon Lynch (@eamonlynch) November 29, 2021
Due to changes on the PGA Tour schedule, the AT&T is the first weekend of February in 2022. For many years, that Waste Management Phoenix Open held that spot, but that tournament was pushed back a week in order to stay on the same weekend as the Super Bowl, which is a week later due to the NFL’s new 17-game regular season.
Golfweek’s Adam Woodard contributed to this article.
