Pau Gasol made his debut as a celebrity golfer at Pebble Beach in 2023 and since then has become a regular at one of the most popular events of the year on the PGA Tour. It is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a tournament where each professional player plays with an amateur in a dual competition, with parallel classifications, the classic individual for the professionals and another for the teams formed by the professional and the amateur. This week, this tournament is held on the courses of Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, and Gasol will be participating for the third consecutive year.
Pau will be accompanied by JT Poston, a 31-year-old American golfer with three victories on the PGA Tour. He won the Wyndham Championship in 2019, the John Deere Classic in 2022, and the Shriners Hospitals For Children in 2024, just a few months ago. Poston, born in North Carolina and residing in Sea Island, is ranked 38th in the world rankings and has secured his presence at the upcoming Masters Tournament. He has played a total of 16 Majors, with his best result being a thirtieth place at last year’s Masters. Gasol and Poston will share the game with Sam Burns and Eric Church, a country music singer-songwriter and guitarist.
The tournament format is very simple. The amateur plays only the first two days, one round at Spyglass Hill and another at Pebble Beach. The one who achieves the best result in those 36 holes in the company of their professional will be the champion. The best ball of the two counts. In 2024, Rory McIlroy won alongside Jeff Rhodes, an investment fund manager with whom he repeats in 2025. On Saturday and Sunday, only the professionals will play, and the two rounds will be at Pebble Beach. Pau will play on Thursday at Pebble Beach and on Friday at Spyglass.
Gasol’s numbers in the Pebble Beach tournament are not bad at all. In his debut in 2023, he finished in ninth place, teaming up with Mark Hubbard, while last year he played with Argentine Emiliano Grillo and finished in sixth position.
Playing at Pebble Beach as an amateur has become much more demanding in the last two years, specifically since the tournament is a designated event and only 80 professionals play. The amateur spots have been reduced by almost half, but Gasol, highly appreciated and valued in California for his career with the Lakers, never misses. In fact, he always takes the opportunity to make some nod to Kobe Bryant. Last year, he wore a cap with his logo and shoes in the Lakers’ yellow and purple colors.
Among the celebrities, beyond Gasol, the absence of Bill Murray, a regular at these events, stands out, as well as the presence of Condoleezza Rice or former footballer Mia Hamm. Another absence is Rafa Nadal. One might think that now that he is away from the tennis courts, he would take the opportunity to play this type of tournament, both this one at Pebble Beach on the PGA Tour and the Dunhill Links on the DP World Tour, but for now, it is not the case. It would be unusual not to see him participating in the future. The tournament is played from Thursday to Sunday.
