AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Rory McIlroy returns as part of busy PGA Tour schedule ahead of The Masters
Rory McIlroy has already won on the DP World Tour in 2024 but now begins his PGA Tour campaign at the A&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California; McIlroy is scheduled to play at least six times in the build-up to The Masters; Watch live on Thursday from 4.45pm on Sky Sports Golf
Monday 29 January 2024 13:57, UK
Rory McIlroy begins his PGA Tour season this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, live on Sky Sports, with the Northern Irishman set for a packed schedule in the run-up to The Masters.
McIlroy said at the start of 2024 that he intended to play more ahead of The Masters and make Augusta National his "ninth or 10th event", an increase on recent years, with the change aiming to increase his hopes of claiming an elusive fifth major.
The former world No 1 opened the year with back-to-back appearances on the DP World Tour, finishing second to Tommy Fleetwood at the Dubai Invitational ahead of claiming a record fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic victory the following week, but now switches his focus to the PGA Tour.
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McIlroy has only played the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am once in his career, missing the cut on debut in 2018, although returns to feature in a stacked field including Scottie Scheffler, FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland and 14 of the world's top 15 players.
This week's appearance in California marks the start of at least six tournaments over the next 10 weeks ahead of The Masters, where he will once again arrive as one of the pre-tournament favourites to win his only missing major and complete the career Grand Slam.
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McIlroy's route to possible Masters success
McIlroy increased his busy early-season schedule by committing to two more PGA Tour tournaments over the past week, the Cognizant Classic - formerly known as the Honda Classic - and the Valero Texas Open, which currently makes The Masters his ninth planned event of the year.
He skipped The Sentry in Hawaii at the start of the season to begin his year on the DP World Tour but will feature in the next two PGA Tour Signature Events, starting with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week ahead of the Genesis Invitational in California from February 15-18.
The 34-year-old will be part of the first mixed edition of The Match when he competes alongside Max Homa, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang, with the 12-hole floodlit skins match taking place at The Park in West Palm Beach on Monday February 26.
McIlroy makes his first competitive visit to PGA National since 2018 later that week for the Cognizant Classic, an event he won when it was called the Honda Classic in 2012, with the tournament the first of three consecutive Florida-based starts.
He will tee it up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 7-10) and The Players (March 14-17), which are both Signature Events and tournaments where McIlroy is a former champion, then is currently scheduled to take two weeks off ahead of the Valero Texas Open (April 4-7).
McIlroy missed the cut in his 2022 appearance ahead of his runner-up finish at Augusta National that month, with the world No 2 electing to tee it up the week before a major once again to try and be as sharp as possible for The Masters.
"My big thing about Augusta is just to go in there playing well," McIlroy told Golf Digest. "The weeks before are important just to get me feeling like I'm in good form. This year, in fact, I'm going to play more before the Masters. I'll hopefully be a bit sharper and know exactly where my game really is."
What is different at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am?
The tournament's elevation to a Signature Event means a reduced field than previous years, with just 80 players in action and amateurs only included for the first two days.
Live PGA Tour Golf
Amateurs feature in 80 two-person teams for the first two days, with the professional event having no cut and the winner getting a $3.6m share of a $20m prize purse.
Monterey Peninsula Golf Club is no longer in the tournament rotation, with Spyglass Hill being used for the first two rounds and Pebble Beach Golf Links used for all four tournament days, while Justin Rose returns as defending champion after last year's three-shot victory.
Watch the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Featured Group coverage live on Thursday from 4.45pm on Sky Sports Golf ahead of full coverage from 8pm. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and more on NOW.
