History of Pebble Beach Golf Links, host of 2023 U.S. Women's Open
Pebble Beach, CA – This week, the 78th annual United States Women's Open conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA) will take place at the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California on July 6-9, 2023. The course had previously hosted 13 previous USGA championships including the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. In this article, we take a look at some history and some moments at Pebble Beach.
- Course history
The course began as part of the complex of the Hotel del Monte, a resort hotel in Monterey, California, built by Charles Crocker, one of California's Big Four railroad barons, through Southern Pacific Railroad's property division, Pacific Improvement Company. The hotel first opened on June 10, 1880. The famous 17-Mile Drive was originally designed as a local excursion route for visitors to the Del Monte to take in the historic sights of Monterey and Pacific Grove and the scenery of what would become Pebble Beach.
The par-72 course (par-71 during USGA championships) was designed by champion golfers Jack Neville and Douglas Grant and opened on February 22, 1919. Neville also designed the back nine at Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Course on the other side of the Monterey Peninsula. His objective was to place as many of the holes as possible along the rocky and beautiful Monterey coast line. This was accomplished using a "figure 8" layout.
The course was extensively revised in 1928 by H. Chandler Egan. Other architects who have worked on the course include Alistair MacKenzie and Robert Hunter (1927) and Jack Nicklaus (creation of the new fifth hole, 1998).
On February 27, 1919, Samuel Finley Brown Morse formed the Del Monte Properties Company, and acquired the extensive holdings of the Pacific Improvement Company, which included the Del Monte Forest, the Del Monte Lodge and the Hotel Del Monte. (After World War II, the Hotel del Monte building and surrounding grounds were acquired by the United States Navy to its Naval Postgraduate School and the building was renamed Herrmann Hall.) Golf Course Histories has an aerial comparison of the changes to the course, notably the 17th hole, from 1938 to 2014.
The course was bought by a consortium of Japanese investors during the upswing of foreign investments in American properties in the early 1990s. The sale, however, generated controversy when it was discovered that one of the investors had alleged ties to organized crime in Japan. It was then bought by another group of Japanese investors before being sold to Pebble Beach Co. several years later.
- Early tournaments and annual Pebble Beach Pro-Am
The first Pebble Beach Championship for Women was played February 9–12, 1923, with Marion Hollins as champion over defeated Doreen Kavanaugh.
The first professional tournament at Pebble Beach was the Monterey Peninsula Open in 1926, which had a $5,000 purse. "Lighthorse" Harry Cooper of Texas won with a 72-hole score of 293 (+5). In 1929, Pebble hosted its first major—the U.S. Amateur. A match play event, it was won by Jimmy Johnston of Minnesota, while Bobby Jones tied for medalist honors in the stroke play qualifier, but lost his first-round match to Johnny Goodman.
In 1947, Pebble Beach began its run as one of the host courses for the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am tournament, sometimes known as the "Clam Bake", and now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The tournament is held annually, usually in February, and is an unusual four-round tournament. The final round on Sunday is played at Pebble Beach, but the first three rounds of pro-am play are contested in round-robin format at Pebble Beach and two other courses—currently Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Shores Course.
- Previous USGA championships at Pebble Beach
1. 1929 U.S. Amateur: Jimmy Johnston defeated Oscar Willing 4&3
2. 1940 U.S. Women's Amateur: Betty Jameson defeated Jane Cothran 6&5
3. 1947 U.S. Amateur: Skee Riegel defeated Johnny Dawson 2&1
4. 1948 U.S. Women's Amateur: Grace Lenczyk defeated Helen Sigel 4&3
5. 1961 U.S. Amateur: 21-year-old Jack Nicklaus won his 2nd U.S. Amateur title by defeating Dudley Wysong 8&6
6. 1972 U.S. Open: The Golden Bear won his eleventh of eighteen major title, his third of four U.S. Open title, courtesy of his signature shot at 17th hole during the final round
7. 1982 U.S. Open: Tom Watson holed a dramatic birdie chip at 17th hole while battling Nicklaus for the title. Watson went on to win by one stroke over the Golden Bear.
8. 1992 U.S. Open: Tom Kite holed an incredible birdie chip at 7th hole enroute to win the title
9. 2000 U.S. Open: The 100th (centenary) edition of U.S. Open took place at Pebble Beach, and 24-year-old Tiger Woods dominated the championship, winning by 15 strokes over his contenders; this marked the start of Tiger Slam (Tiger won the following three other majors).
10. 2010 U.S. Open: Graeme McDowell became the first Northern Irishman to win the title after overcoming pressures from contenders like Ernie Els, Tiger Woods and two-time Pro-Am winner Dustin Johnson.
11. 2018 U.S. Amateur: Norwegian golfer Viktor Hovland defeated Devon Bling 6&5. Hovland went on to finish as a low amateur at following year's Masters and U.S. Open, and turned professional in September 2019.
12. 2019 U.S. Open: Gary Woodland clutched his birdie putt at 72nd hole to win the title over back-to-back champion Brooks Koepka.
Following the 2023 U.S. Women's Open, Pebble Beach will host future USGA championships: the U.S. Open in 2027, 2032, 2037 and 2044, as well as U.S. Women's Open in 2035, 2040 and 2048.
- Course layout
The Pebble Golf Links for 2023 (78th) U.S. Women's Open will be a 6,505 yards par-71, with several changes on the 2nd hole which is a par-4 hole during the USGA championships, rather than a par-5 hole in the non-USGA championships and tournaments.
Visit uswomensopen.com for live scoring and coverage of the 78th U.S. Women's Open Championship!
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