Weekly PGA Recap: Rory Rolls at Pebble

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

At the beginning of every golf season going back more than a decade, there has been one storyline, and only one storyline, that has been part of the preseason discussion year after year after year:

Can Rory McIlroy win No. 5?

No topic in golf has had the enduring legs ever since McIlroy won his fourth career major at the 2014 PGA Championship.

It will be at least 2 ½ more months before that question could potentially be answered in the affirmative. But McIlroy made an early-season declaration by charging out of the gate in his 2025 PGA Tour debut, closing with a sterling 66 to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am by two strokes over Shane Lowry.

Never before had McIlroy won a PGA Tour event this early in the year, a mere 33 days in. While it's true he has never been the busiest before winter turned to spring, he had never won on Tour in January or February and only three times in March -- and not since the 2019 PLAYERS. 

McIlroy has tried different strategies to try to win that elusive-to-say-the-least fifth major. He's played more, he's played less, he's altered his schedule, he's switched equipment, this year starting out with a new golf ball, discarding the TaylorMade TP5x for the softer TP5. But why now?

"I thought, you know, I've got four rounds this week, no cut, you know, may as well give it a go and see how it goes."

Four days later, it seemed like a pretty good plan.

In winning for the 27th time on Tour, McIlroy led the field not only in driving distance but in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, gaining more than six strokes on the field. He ranked seventh in the field in SG: Putting. At two short tracks in Pebble Beach and Spyglass with tiny greens where driving isn't usually considered a key, McIlroy showed that great driving is always en vogue. 

On Thursday, six holes into his new ball's tryout at No. 15 at Spyglass, he didn't need driver or putter, recording his second career PGA Tour hole-in-one. 

We'll next see McIlroy in two weeks at Torrey Pines for the relocated Genesis Invitational, where he will take the next step in a 2025 season that really is all about winning a major -- or two. Especially after last year's heartache at the U.S. Open.

"I mean, look, the one that I'll come back to is the U.S. Open because it's the one that hurt the most. Again, thinking of strategy and maybe those impulses that I talked about, hitting the right shot at the right time or being in a different place mentally, calming yourself down, using breathing exercises, whatever it is, I think the one thing that I did today really well is I didn't get too flustered and it may -- it certainly feels a little more boring to me. It might look a little bit more boring on the golf course, but it's definitely more effective. That's something that I'm consciously trying to do a little bit better of a job at. Today was a good test and I was able to come through it pretty well."

It's true, McIlroy did look great on this Sunday in early February. But it's four Sundays in April, May, June and July that will define his 2025 season -- and maybe put an end to that perpetual preseason storyline.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Shane Lowry
Lowry quietly had a spectacular finish to 2024, in large part because most of it happened in Europe. Beginning with the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship before heading overseas, he finished top-15 of his last eight starts of the year, including a T3 at the DP World Tour Championship. After a missed cut at the Farmers, Lowry was back at it with a runner-up to McIlroy. At 37, he's now ranked 18th in the world, just two spots off his career best. 

Justin Rose
Every time Rose seemingly begins to fade into oblivion, he somehow yanks himself back. At age 44, he tied for third at Pebble, where he has played fantastically through the years and winning two years ago. The T3 lifted him from 55th in the world to 33rd, and suddenly in good position to play in all four majors in 2025 (he's already in three of them, but not the U.S. Open). Rose had only two top-10s all of last year, though they were T6 at the PGA Championship and T2 at the Open Championship.

Lucas Glover
At age 45 and having missed out on the playoffs last year, Glover talked about dedicating his offseason to conditioning and eating better, the better to compete with the young guns on Tour. He may not be able to keep up on the longer tracks, but at precision-based Pebble Beach, Glover tied for third to move inside the top-50 OWGR at No. 39. He also tied for 21st at the Sony, so he should be a strong DFS consideration at shorter, narrow tracks. There aren't many, but there are some. Let's see whether Glover plays PGA National later this month.

Russell Henley
If there's a player more quietly residing in the top-15 in the world than Henley, please let us know. He tied for fifth, following a T10 at the Sony, and is now ranked 14th OWGR.

Cam Davis
One month into the season, Davis has a top-5 (T5) to add to two other top-20s. He's back inside the top-50 in the world at No. 44.

Tom Kim
Kim did not have a great Sunday. He shot 70 and everyone who finished ahead of him on the leaderboard was in the 60s. He wound up in a tie for seventh. Still, after all the weirdness that plagued him at the end of last season and then in the Presidents Cup, this was a strong step in the right direction.

Sepp Straka
Bidding to go back-to-back on the PGA Tour, Straka did not have a good final round in shooting a 72 to tumble into a tie for seventh. But two weeks ago, if you would've told Straka he'd have a win and a T7, he couldn't have signed up for it fast enough. He's now at a career-best No. 16 OWGR. Straka now heads to Phoenix this week.

Scottie Scheffler
In his first start since a Christmas dinner ravioli-making incident, Scheffler looked a lot like his old self. He led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach. And he wasn't half bad on the greens, ranking 22nd in SG: Putting. But his driving accuracy was way off and he was terrible around the greens, relegating him to a tie ninth. Scheffler will get right back on the horse this week at Phoenix, where he's a two-time winner.

Andrew Novak
Novak continues to show he belongs in the bigger events alongside the best players. While not in the class of those players, he's better than a lot of others. Novak tied for 13th at Pebble Beach a week after his solo third at Torrey Pines.

Sam Stevens
Stevens is another up-and-comer. A week after his runner-up at the Farmers, he tied for 17th.

Gary Woodland
Woodland continues to make remarkable progress following brain surgery more than a year ago. At the site of his 2019 U.S. Open win, the 40-year-old Woodland tied for 22nd. That follows a T16 in his first start of 2025 at the Sony and two others in the fall of 2024.

Justin Thomas
After an opening 66, Thomas played some of his worst golf in months. In the 78-man field after two players withdrew, Thomas ranked 70th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 42nd in Approach and 63rd in Putting. He tied for 48th. Thomas now heads to the WM Phoenix Open.

Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris showed signs of returning to his former self with a T26 at the Sentry and a T12 at the Amex. But this was an off-week. Zalatoris ranked 57th in SG: Off-the-Tee and wound up tied for 48th.

Max Homa
The downward spiral that Homa is caught in has now carried him out of the top 50 in the world. He tied for 53rd -- after ranking almost last in the field on SG: Approach at 76th.

Jordan Spieth
In his first start after recovering from left wrist surgery, Spieth closed with an impressive 67. Unfortunately for him, it followed a Saturday 79 and he ended up in a tie for 69th. Spieth did not rank inside the top-50 in any strokes-gained category, so he clearly needs to shake off the rust. He'll tee it up this week in Phoenix.

Wyndham Clark
The defending champion finished pretty close to the other end of the leaderboard in tying for 73rd. Clark lost more than five shots to the field on approach and almost that much on the greens. Clark will play Phoenix this week.

Ludvig Aberg
Aberg withdrew on Friday after shooting a 77 on Thursday, slowed by flu-like symptoms.

Max Greyserman
Greyserman withdrew before the final round, citing a hand injury. That followed a Saturday 79.