Hall of Famer O’Meara Chooses Pebble Beach to Retire

Mark O’Meara

Mark O’Meara is ready to retire and he’s picked the perfect spot to do so: Pebble Beach.

O’Meara won the California State Amateur in 1979, the first of six titles in three decades at Pebble Beach. Five of them were the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the last in 1997, when, at age 40, he held off Tiger Woods and David Duval.

O’Meara, 67, ends his career this week at the Pure Insurance Championship, held at Pebble Beach, and Spyglass, a unique PGA Tour Champions event that pairs professionals with children from The First Tee, a youth development program.

O’Meara, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame at a ceremony at St Andrews in 2015, ends his career with 16 victories on the PGA Tour, three on the European Tour, two on the Japan Golf Tour, one on the PGA Tour of Australasia and the 1994 Argentina Open.

He has won on every continent where golf is played, except Africa. He did, however, win the Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf, one of his three PGA Tour Champions titles, along with Zimbabwe’s Nick Price.

Pebble Beach was the logical choice when they decided to end their career, which they started there with that 8-7 victory over Lennie Clements in 1979.

O’Meara also won the US Amateur that year and his two biggest victories were the Masters and the British Open in 1998, making him the oldest player to win two majors in the same year.

His favorite Pebble Beach moment was when he won with his father in 1990.

“I let him and my mom fly and then I won the tournament playing with my dad,” O’Meara said. “I put that at the top of the list of great things, winning at Augusta with a putt on the last hole, winning the U.S. Amateur. But to play with my dad and get to the last hole, the 18th hole at Pebble, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Scheffler tops the cash prize list

Scottie Scheffler had such a great year that he even surpassed the highest-earning player at the Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

Jon Rahm cashed in with two late wins and the season points title worth an $18 million bonus, bringing his total to $34,754,821 in just 13 starts.

Scheffler earned $25 million in bonuses for winning the FedEx Cup and $8 million in bonuses from the Comcast Business Top 10, and has earned $62,228,357 in 19 starts while winning seven times on the PGA Tour (this does not include his Olympic gold medal and a $37,500 award from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee).

Of course, Scheffler didn’t get a signing bonus either.

The LIV Golf League closed the individual portion of the season with five players earning at least $10 million. Joaquin Niemann came in second with just under $24.4 million, followed by Sergio Garcia ($17 million), Tyrrell Hatton ($11.6 million) and Brooks Koepka in fifth with just under $11.6 million.

Talor Gooch tops the LIV Golf career money list with $51,856,381 through three seasons, narrowly ahead of Dustin Johnson with $51,502,981.

Missing the big picture

Shane Lowry has finally returned to Royal Portrush for the first time since his 2019 British Open triumph. But he left without seeing the huge mural depicting him with the claret jug painted on the side of a large building.

The mural was unveiled in July to mark one year since the Open returns to Royal Portrush next year.

It’s hard to miss unless someone is in a hurry.

“I’ll be honest, we left Portrush and we were in such a hurry to leave, we completely forgot to go and see it,” Lowry said last week at the Irish Open. “We were 10 miles away and we forgot to take a picture. I got a bunch of pictures. It’s pretty cool what they did there.”

Ryder Cup Tickets

The Ryder Cup has opened for early registration, allowing any entrant to purchase tickets for the September 2025 matches at Bethpage Black.

Tickets for the Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds, including food and non-alcoholic beverages, cost $255.

For Thursday, prices have risen to $424, which includes a Junior Ryder Cup exhibition, celebrity matches and the opening ceremony.

Tickets for the three days of competition cost approximately $750.

So far, only weekly tickets are available for next year’s US Open tournament in Oakmont.

These weekly passes (valid for Monday through Sunday) cost $882, including taxes and fees.

Last year, a four-day tournament ticket at the Masters cost $450, a one-day tournament ticket cost $140 and a practice ticket cost $100.