The 2027 U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach Golf Links, June 17-20. It's the seventh U.S. Open on the Monterey Peninsula, and the six before it produced a short, clear list of champions. If you're drafting a fantasy team for the week, the course should move some players up your board and others down. Here's what's on record about Pebble and what we think it means for your pool.
Pebble Beach by the numbers
- Opened: 1919, designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant.
- Par: 72 for resort play, 71 for the U.S. Open (the 2nd hole plays as a par 4).
- Yardage: 7,075 yards for the 2019 U.S. Open. The USGA hasn't published the 2027 setup yet, but expect something close. That's short by modern major standards.
- Greens: Poa annua, averaging about 3,500 square feet. Pebble's own numbers put that at roughly half the PGA Tour average, and they're the smallest greens players see all season.
- Setting: Much of the course runs along the cliffs above Carmel Bay, so wind off the Pacific is part of the test.
Every U.S. Open winner at Pebble Beach
- 1972: Jack Nicklaus, 290 (+2), won by 3.
- 1982: Tom Watson, 282 (-6), won by 2. The one with the chip-in at 17 that kept Nicklaus from a fifth U.S. Open.
- 1992: Tom Kite, 285 (-3), won by 2 in a windy final round.
- 2000: Tiger Woods, 272 (-12), won by 15. Still the largest winning margin in major championship history.
- 2010: Graeme McDowell, 284 (even), won by 1.
- 2019: Gary Woodland, 271 (-13), won by 3 over Brooks Koepka. Woodland made only four bogeys all week, which tied a U.S. Open record.
Look at the spread: winning scores from +2 to -13. When the wind blows and the greens firm up, even par wins. When it's calm and soft, the best ball strikers go low. That range is the first thing to plan for.
What Pebble rewards (our read)
Everything below is our opinion, built on the numbers above. Use it to adjust your rankings, not replace them.
Iron play first
Greens averaging 3,500 square feet are tiny targets. Players who gain strokes on approach will hit more of them, and that's where we'd put the most weight. Woodland's 2019 week (four bogeys in 72 holes) is what elite ball striking looks like here.
Distance matters less than usual
At roughly 7,075 yards, Pebble doesn't demand bombing. Long hitters still get shorter clubs into small greens, which helps, but a shorter accurate player isn't shut out the way he might be at a 7,500-yard course. Don't drop a precise mid-length driver just because he ranks 60th in distance.
Scrambling and poa putting
Small greens mean more missed greens, even for great iron players. Short game and scrambling numbers matter. Poa annua greens get bumpy late in the day, so we'd give a small bump to players with a track record of putting well on the West Coast swing.
Course history, with a caveat
The PGA Tour plays Pebble every February at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, so there's more course data here than at most major venues. Use it, but discount it a little. February conditions and a pro-am setup aren't a June U.S. Open setup, and the 2010 and 2019 U.S. Open results tell you more about how a player handles the real test.
The cut and the Friday auction
The 2019 cut fell at +2. A Foursome pool opens a live auction on every undrafted player who made the weekend, so a tight cut matters to you: favorites miss, and players you ignored on Wednesday become live targets. Because Pebble is on Pacific time, Foursome's U.S. Open defaults shift too: the auction opens Friday at 9pm Pacific (midnight Eastern), or about an hour after Round 2 wraps if that's earlier, and closes Saturday at 5am Pacific (8am Eastern), before Round 3. East Coast groups can bid Saturday morning over coffee.
Our advice: rank players 40 through 80 in the field before the draft. That's the pool you'll be bidding on.
FAQ
What par is Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open?
Par 71. Resort par is 72, but the 2nd hole plays as a par 4 in the U.S. Open. The 2019 U.S. Open played at 7,075 yards.
Who won the last U.S. Open at Pebble Beach?
Gary Woodland in 2019, at 13 under (271), three shots ahead of Brooks Koepka.
What type of player wins at Pebble?
In our view, precise iron players with good short games. The greens are the smallest on tour and the course is short for a major, so accuracy into greens matters more than raw distance.
Run your 2027 major pools on Foursome. Free for friend groups.
Set up your U.S. Open pool →To turn this into rankings, use our U.S. Open cheat sheet method. For pick-position tactics, see the draft strategy guide. To set up your league, start with the U.S. Open pool guide.
A month later, the Open goes to the Old Course, a very different test. See the St Andrews course preview and how U.S. Open and Open strategy differ.