2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Top 10 Power Rankings

Maverick McNealy grew up in Portola Valley, California, and played his college golf at Stanford in Palo Alto. Both are about 90 miles up the road from Monterey, so this is as close to a home game as it’ll get.

He missed the cut in his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am debut in 2018. Since then, this event has been pretty prosperous for McNealy.

He finished T-5th in 2020, solo second in 2021, and T-33rd last year.

McNealy was at even par after two rounds in ‘20 at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill and was closer to missing the cut than contending. He righted the ship with a 5-under 66 at Monterey Peninsula and kept climbing with a 6-under 66 back at Pebble.

He finished 10 shots back that year, but it paved the way to truly be a factor in ‘21.

McNealy dug himself less of a hole in 2021 en route to his career-best PGA Tour finish. He carded 69 in round two at Spyglass and 68, 69, and 66 at Pebble. The Sunday 66 saw him birdie 11, 12, 13, 15, and 18 to nearly catch Daniel Berger, who won by three. Due to the pandemic, Monterey was not in play and no amateurs were in the field.

He made no double bogeys or worse through all four rounds. At Pebble, he was fourth in the field in strokes gained off the tee (3.192) and second in SG around the green (4.472).

Last year, McNealy posted par or better all four rounds but didn’t take it low enough to contend. A 69 at Monterey, 72 at Spyglass, and 68-71 at Pebble produced T-33rd.

The 27-year-old is in good form entering the week. His two starts of 2023 netted T-7th at the Sony Open in Hawaii and T-31st last week at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Last season on the PGA Tour, McNealy ranked 19th in strokes gained putting per round (.454). The occasionally unpredictable poa annua greens shouldn’t faze him growing up on the West Coast.

He was 14th in par-5 scoring average (4.53) and third in holes per eagle (88.0). A couple big birds are likely necessary at some point this week to contend.