Fantasy Advice
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am DFS picks 2025: Why Rory McIlroy will struggle

The PGA Tour returns this week to Pebble Beach, one of golf’s most iconic venues. This is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am’s second iteration as a signature event and a reduced pro-am. After spending decades with a 156-man field rotating across three courses, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am features just 80 players with no cut, where competitors will rotate their first and second rounds across Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill before playing both weekend rounds at Pebble.
Last year, Wyndham Clark won a shortened, three-round event after a course record (preferred lies) 60 at Pebble Beach on Saturday. The final round of the event was cancelled due to weather concerns, and it was shame that we did not get to watch a potential Sunday duel between Clark and other contenders such as Justin Thomas and Ludvig Aberg. Early forecasts show fairly benign conditions in 2025. This will be our first look at Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who are making their 2025 PGA Tour debuts. Xander Schauffele appears to be recovering from an injury, but most of the world’s best players congregating at one of the game’s great settings is a major win for golf and sure to provide some fireworks. Let’s dive into the DraftKings slate.
$10,000 range

Maddie Meyer
Play: Collin Morikawa, $10,200
Collin Morikawa’s fit on paper at Pebble Beach makes loads of sense. He is a California native who has already a major in Northern California at Harding Park, one of the shorter major venues of the last decade that also mandates short iron play and putting on tricky Poa Annua greens. The two-time major winner opened his 2025 campaign with a runner-up finish at the Sentry and is more than due to get back into the winner’s circle.
Fade: Rory McIlroy, $10,700
Rory McIlroy will be making his PGA Tour season debut this week, but Pebble Beach is not the golf course to deploy him. Pebble is one of the least driver-heavy golf courses on the PGA Tour, and it consistently mitigates McIlroy’s advantage off the tee, which properly explains his porous 66th-place finish at this event last year.

$9,000 range

Orlando Ramirez
Play: Justin Thomas, $9,800
I have long believed that Pebble Beach was an excellent golf course for Justin Thomas, as it takes driver out of his hands and allows his elite ability from 125 yards and in to shine. The putter will always remain the biggest question mark, but Thomas has now gained strokes putting in back-to-back weeks to open his 2025 campaign. If that area of his game is starting to turn around, watch out.
Fade: Sam Burns, $9,200
I have no significant problems with Sam Burns’ course fit at Pebble Beach, but I was surprised to see this price tag attached to his name in a signature event. Burns is coming off a middling 29th-place finish at the American Express where he lost strokes on approach, and I simply do not trust his iron play enough to keep pace in this tournament.
$8,000 range

Orlando Ramirez
Play: Taylor Pendrith, $8,300
Taylor Pendrith is quietly playing some phenomenal golf, and his seventh-place finish at Torrey Pines paid dividends for us last week. Now the Canadian returns to a golf course where he finished seventh last year, and his underrated wedge play and putting should continue to shine at Pebble Beach.
Fade: Will Zalatoris, $8,400
The Will Zalatoris renaissance is coming in 2025, but it likely won’t be this week at Pebble Beach. The Wake Forest graduate has finished 68th and 55th in both of his appearances at Pebble Beach, and I simply do not see his putter to hold up on these tricky, Poa Annua greens.
$7,000 range

Andrew Redington
Play: Adam Scott, $7,600
Adam Scott has played some solid golf at Pebble Beach over the years, including a seventh-place finish at the 2019 U.S. Open and a 20th at this event last year. One of the more underrated putters in this field from five to 15 feet, Scott deserves a lot more respect this week than the market is currently giving him.
Fade: Max Greyserman, $7,800
I’ve been riding the fade train on Max Greyserman for a couple weeks, as my numbers continue to be lower on him than market opinion. This will be Greyserman’s first appearance at Pebble Beach, a golf course that will not accentuate his power off the tee, and the approach play leaves a lot to be desired.

Maddie Meyer
Flier: Denny McCarthy, $7,000
If you’ve been reading this column for a while, you are probably used to Denny McCarthy showing up in the fade section, yet if there is ever a golf course for the putting wizard to break through, Pebble Beach is it. McCarty has already recorded two top-12 finishes at this event and is coming off an impressive 16th-place finish at the Sony Open where he gained 4.5 strokes on approach.
$6,000 range

Orlando Ramirez
Play: Eric Cole, $6,800
I would not put too much stock into Eric Cole’s poor performance last week at Torrey Pines, as that golf course was always going to be a big ask for a player who struggles off the tee. Pebble Beach is not remotely the driving test of Torrey, and it actually devalues the importance of driving skill in exchange for wedge play and putting, which plays right into Cole’s hands.
Andy Lack is a PGA Tour writer and podcaster from New York City who now resides in Los Angeles. Andy is the founder and CEO of Inside Sports Network, a website devoted to the predictive quality of advanced analytics and golf course architecture. He came to Golf Digest’s betting panel after previously writing for Run Pure Sports, RickRunGood.com, the Score and GolfWRX. In his free time, Andy can likely be found on a golf course. Follow him on Twitter: @adplacksports