Goodbye, Shinnecock; Hello, Pebble Beach

The last putt dropped in the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills about 30 minutes before I started typing this story, and it had been a day. Wyndham Clark, the 2024 U.S. Open champion at Los Angeles Country Club, notched up a wire-to-wire win last Sunday that nevertheless provided plenty of drama in the final round.

I’ll admit, I was nodding off on my sofa mid-round on Saturday, but Sunday’s final round kept me interested. And while Clark is not my favorite player on the circuit, he opened the tournament with a blistering six-under 64 and gutted out a win despite carding a three-over 73 in the final. Chasing down a six-shot lead going into the final round is a tall order, and neither World #1 Scottie Scheffler nor (eventual) repeat U.S. Open runner-up Sam Burns – who turned in a challenging 3-under 67 (after heartbreaking missed birdie putts on 17 and 18) – were ultimately able to take Clark down.

But enough about history; I’m here to talk about the future, and the future of the U.S. Open (at least in 2027) is Pebble Beach.

The ninth hole at Pebble Beach affords the golfer a sweeping view along Carmel Beach. (Image by author)

I am an unrepentant aficionado of Pebble Beach Golf Links. As a kid in nearby Salinas, I grew up watching the Crosby Clambake on TV despite the fact that I didn’t play golf, and didn’t even know anyone who did until I was 13 or 14 years old. I was privileged to cover the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in person eleven years in a row, as well as the Champions Tour event that has been held at Pebble under different names, with different title sponsors; and I had a seat in the media center there for the 2019 U.S. Open.

My first thought on the Open returning to Pebble Beach after its turn at Shinnecock is relief; relief that we will once again be seeing the best in the world playing for the prize at a course that doesn’t look like a desolate moonscape, especially after four days of tournament galleries flattening dead-straw pathways between the fairways; that we will be seeing the U.S. Open played at a course with trees; a course with scenery.

The California coast from the Monterey Peninsula southward to Morro Bay is a majestic sweep of crashing waves washing rocky beaches that lie at the feet of the rugged slopes of the Coast Range mountains, and Carmel Bay – where the Pebble Beach property hugs the coastline – is arguably the jewel of the region.

Of course scenery isn’t the only story – despite the jibes of naysayers who say the inland holes are pedestrian and uninteresting, and that only the ocean holes have anything to offer (1), Pebble Beach is so revered by the USGA that in 2022 it was selected as the third “anchor site” for the U.S. Open, joining Pine Valley and Oakmont in that honor.

Pebble Beach has the distinction of being the first public course to host the U.S. Open (in 1972), when it further cemented its place in U.S. Open history with Jack Nicklaus’ famous off-the-flagstick 1-iron at the par-3 17th hole. Ten years later Tom Watson produced another memorable moment at the 17th hole when, lying 4-under after a bogey at 16, and with Jack Nicklaus already in the clubhouse at 4-under, he chipped in from deep rough left of the green at 17 and followed it up with another birdie at 18 to nip the Golden Bear for the win.

Perhaps most notable of all U.S Opens at Pebble Beach was the 2000 tournament, the fourth of Pebble’s eventual six (to date), when 24-year-old Tiger Woods, at the height of his powers, dominated the field, winning by an unheard of fifteen strokes.

With its pedigree of six U.S. Opens (with four more to come in the next twenty years), five U.S. Amateurs, and other championships (PGA Championship – 1977; U.S. Women’s Amateur – 1948; and U.S. Women’s Open – 2023, with three more to come), Pebble Beach Golf Links is deserving of its place as a star in the firmament of championship golf, and golf fans the world over should be excited for every opportunity to see the best and brightest contend across this storied landscape.

1 (Most of then have never played the course, or in some cases, I’ll wager, even set foot on the property.)