PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Tiger Woods is going to be nowhere near the place, so it was quite intriguing to hear the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament director, Steve John, tell Golf Digest that the event this year will feature “the very best pro and celebrity field we’ve had in the history of the tournament.”

He just might be right.

Phil Mickelson will be here after missing last year’s tournament for the first time in 20 years. He’s still on the marquee, as he should be after winning the tournament four times, but at age 45 and ranked just 29th in the world, his name appears slightly smaller considering this year’s field.

Six players in the world’s top 10, headlined by 22-year-old No. 1 Jordan Spieth, make up a glittering field that’s the most impressive in recent memory – topping even 2012, when Woods played in the AT&T for the first time in 10 years and was matched with Mickelson in a final-round showdown Mickelson won handily with a 64. In retrospect, that might be the last best Woods-Mickelson confrontation.

Tiger hasn’t been back and may never be back considering his health issues and disappearance from the elite list – he’s 440th in the world rankings, largely the result of inactivity.

His future is uncertain and golf is trying to move on. The AT&T itself has had a facelift with a new logo and a shorter name, dropping the word “National.”

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Organizers would never pull back an open invitation to Woods, but at the same time there’s no reason to worry he’s not here when you have Spieth, No. 3 Jason Day, No. 6 Bubba Watson, No. 7 Justin Rose, No. 8 Dustin Johnson and No. 9 Patrick Reed. And don’t forget Brandt Snedeker, the defending champion and two-time winner who set the tourney scoring record a year ago – a 22-under 265.

The professional side of the tournament may enjoy great health for years to come considering Spieth signed an endorsement deal with AT&T in 2014, which will likely lock his participation for the foreseeable future. The 2015 Masters and U.S. Open champion sports an AT&T logo on his golf bag and even belongs to the same Dallas golf club as the company chief executive, Randall Stephenson.

But the celebrity amateur side has had a makeover as well. Yes, there are regular favorites such as Bill Murray and Ray Romano, but there are some new heavyweight names in Mark Wahlberg and Justin Timberlake.

Wahlberg agreed to play if his buddy Watson would join him as his pro partner, and similar hookups were made between Timberlake and Rose, as well as veteran Steve Stricker and country singer Toby Keith.

On the sports side of the celebrity field, Josh Donaldson will make his first appearance, as will Larry Fitzgerald.

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and San Francisco Hall of Famer Steve Young are also in the pro-am.


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