Aaron Rodgers Adds an AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Title to His Resume
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Neither Josh Allen nor Aaron Rodgers had Pebble Beach circled on their calendars.
They hoped this would have been their first week of preparation for next week’s Super Bowl. But when the Cincinnati Bengals rolled into Orchard Park, N.Y., and took care of business, beating the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs, Allen, for the second consecutive year, had to go to plan B.
As for Rodgers, his Green Bay Packers didn’t even make it to the playoffs with an 8-9 season and the former Cal Bear, while looking at options for 2023, decided to come to a familiar spot.
So, with the football season in the rearview mirror, both highly competitive individuals made the trip to Pebble Beach with hopes of winning the Pro-Am portion of the AT&T.
For Rodgers the trip was worthwhile, winning for the first time as something clicked in his first round at Spyglass Hill on Thursday and he rode it all the way to the finish line.
Aaron Rodgers watches a putt in the third round at Pebble Beach, which would be the last in the pro-am competition.
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
“I had no confidence coming in,” Rodgers said after his team’s one-shot victory. “I shot 86 at Sherwood on Monday and that was with a couple balls in my pocket on some holes.”
That was Rodgers's first round since training camp and then after an equally poor round on Tuesday down the road at Cypress Point, he didn’t expect much.
But after a 10-under 62 at Spyglass and a 11-under 60 on the Shore course at Monterrey Peninsula Country Club, the duo of Rodgers and professional Ben Silverman were in the driver’s seat going into Saturday’s third round.
“He's an athlete, man, top performer,” Silverman said. “He knows how to get it done and that's what he did. It wasn't like all four days or three rounds of beautiful golf, but when he needed to—when I was making doubles, he was making pars. He knew how to get it done.”
When the winds made play impossible at Monterey Peninsula Country Club and the third round was postponed, the pro-am portion of the tournament was cut to 54 holes for the first time since 2009.
Rodgers and Silverman shot 67 at Pebble Beach on Saturday, with the quarterback's 10 handicap coming in very handy. The Canadian finished 1 over par (and missed the pro cut), with Rodgers contributing 27 strokes to the team's 26-under victory.
But with the ball in Rodgers's pocket for several holes down the stretch, including after two balls in the water on the 18th, Silverman finishing with a par was necessary to seal the victory.
Allen countered with a bit of a needle when asked if the win should carry an asterisk.
“One hundred percent,” Allen said. “It's only three rounds and a 2.6 handicap got 10 shots? Come on now. I don't know. I'm not the person to ask that question. But it is what it is.”
Next up for Rodgers is to determine where he will be playing in 2023.
Many of the fans this week had their opinions.
“It was all, 'come to the Raiders,' 'come to the Niners,' 'come to the Cowboys,'” Rodgers said of the fans along the rope line. “A couple Jets calls out there. But a lot of Raiders presence, for sure. You heard that Raiders chant for the last four days, Ben did, for sure.”