Steve Palmer's Pebble Beach Pro-Am first-round preview and free golf betting tips

Where to watch the Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Sky Sports Golf, 4.30pm Thursday

Best bets

Adam Svensson to win 5.57pm twoball
3pts 10-11 BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes

Xander Schauffele to win 6.21pm twoball
3pts 8-15 general

No hole-in-one
2pts 11-8 bet365

Max Homa and Matthew Fitzpatrick dual forecast
0.5pt 250-1 bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes

Pebble Beach Pro-Am first-round preview

The Pebble Beach Pro-Am favourites will start their tournament at Spyglass Hill – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland have all been drawn to play their final three rounds at Pebble Beach in this two-course event.

The driving prowess of McIlroy, Scheffler and Hovland counts for plenty at Spyglass, so strong starts can be expected from the all-star trio. McIlroy will be joined by Ludvig Aberg in a mouthwatering twoball.

Pick of the day-one twoball investments are arguably Adam Svensson and Xander Schauffele, who both start their Pro-Am campaign at Pebble Beach. Svensson is up against Nick Hardy (5.57pm), while Schauffele plays alongside Nick Dunlap (6.21pm).

Svensson won his maiden PGA Tour title at a similar layout to Pebble Beach in the 2022 RSM Classic and he finished fifth in his RSM defence in November. He won a Korn Ferry Tour event in the The Bahamas and should raise his game this week at a coastal venue.

Hardy, a PGA Tour maiden who has been in humdrum form, has not posted a top-ten finish since the low-grade Sanderson Farms Championship in October, 2022.

Schauffele skipped the Hero World Challenge last year to give himself more time to freshen up and prepare for 2024 – a tactic which appears to be paying off. Three tournaments have yielded three top-tens – and another could be coming in his home state this week at a course where he finished third in the 2019 US Open.

Dunlap, playing his first tournament as a professional, seems likely to find this event much tougher than The American Express he conquered the week before last. With poor weather forecast, the much more experienced Schauffele should succeed.

Bet365's 11-8 about there being no hole-in-one in the event looks juicy. There are four par-fours on each course and a field of 80, so those who take the 11-8 have 1,280 shots about which to fret. With amateurs getting in the way over the first two days – and strong breezes forecast for Sunday – an ace seems unlikely.

The short seventh hole at Pebble Beach is probably the best ace opportunity, but the windy Sunday should turn that into a tricky customer. Two of the par-threes at Spyglass Hill have greenside water hazards, lessening any urges to go pin-hunting.

Twelve of the last 20 Pebble Beach Pro-Ams have seen a hole-in-one, but this used to be a 156-runner event with three rounds before a cut.

Max Homa and Matthew Fitzpatrick have an ideal game for the assignment ahead and 250-1 seems generous about them filling the first two places on the leaderboard come tournament end.

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