With heavy rain in forecast, lift, clean and place invoked at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for 54 holes

Even though it’s 60 degrees and sunny in Round 1 of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, preferred lies — lift, clean and place — are in effect for each of the first three rounds. 

Why?

Well, bad weather could potentially wreak havoc on the event, as up to a half-inch of rain is in the forecast for late Thursday night into Friday afternoon, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported from Pebble Beach. 

Therefore, with this week’s tournament a three-course event (Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula and Spyglass Hill) the PGA Tour wants the players to have equal conditions for the first three days. With a 54-hole cut, players will play each course in the first three rounds. 

“In anticipation of (the rain), we want to make it fair and equitable for all the players,” tournament director and Monterey Peninsula Foundation CEO Steve John told Fox Weather, “because we play three golf courses and the course conditions obviously change. But if we get some rain and it changes the dynamics of one golf course, it needs to be constant.” 

Rain, however, could pose issues beyond the first three rounds.

A quarter to a half inch of rain is projected for Sunday and they could play lift, clean and place then, too. Plus, wind gusts up to 25 mph are in the forecast for this weekend.  

In December and January, Pebble Beach was victim to the historic amounts of rainfall that hit California, which Lewis said “saturated” the course.

Though the rain at Pebble Beach will be benign compared to last month, still expect the weather to possibly affect the entirety of the event.