Tournament Guide: PURE Insurance Championship

The PURE Insurance Championship starts today, lasting through Sunday, September 29. Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament, including how Ken Tanigawa won last year and insights about the course.

The PURE Insurance Championship

Location

Pebble Beach Golf Links and Poppy Hills Golf Course,
Pebble Beach, Calif.

Yardage

Pebble Beach: 6,864; par 72
Poppy Hills: 6,898; par 72

Tournament Record

198, Bernhard Langer, 2017

Tournament 18-hole Record

63, Craig Stadler, 2004; Scott McCarron, Kenny Perry, 2017

Media Coverage

Golf Channel

Course Insight

Famed Pebble Beach Golf Links has been the site of major championships and a regular PGA TOUR event as well as host site of the PURE Insurance Championship. The course was designed by California Amateur champion Jack Neville in 1919 and has undergone numerous tweaks through the years but remains true to its original concept. Poppy Hills, formerly in the rotation of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, is a tree-lined layout that Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed in 1986 and underwent an extensive renovation in 2013-14.

How Ken Tanigawa Won in 2018

Ken Tanigawa holed a 35-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole to take a one-stroke victory at Pebble Beach. “Just wow! I’m a little speechless right now,” Tanigawa said after the fantastic finish. “It was a hard round for me, but I fought back, and to eagle the last hole, just unreal.” Tanigawa also eagled the 18th hole of his second round, at Poppy Hills, to take a two-stroke lead after rounds of 67-66. The 50-year-old former UCLA golfer, a reinstated amateur until turning pro again after qualifying for PGA TOUR Champions, shot a 2-over 38 on the front nine Sunday and made all pars on the back nine until his eagle finish for a 72 and 11-under 205 total. Kirk Triplett (70), a two-time winner of the event, and Marco Dawson (71) finished one stroke back at 206 and Duffy Waldorf (71) was next at 207.

Charity Benefit

Monterey Peninsula Foundation, which also hosts the AT&T Pro-Am, stages the PURE Insurance Championship to benefit The First Tee. A special aspect of the tournament is that First Tee participants from around the country are selected to partner with professionals.

More information can be found on the tournament’s website.

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