PGA Tour may name Pro-Am a designated event, bringing possible changes.

Change may be coming to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

According to a report by Golfweek, the annual gathering of professionals, along with celebrities and other amateurs, is likely to become a designated event on the PGA Tour next year. The status would boost the purse from $9 million to $20 million and bring the tour’s biggest names back to the Pro-Am.

In February, only three of golf’s top 20 took part in the tournament.

It was Jack Nicklaus who broke the news, although the announcement may have been inadvertent. During last week’s Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the golf legend sat in with the NBC broadcast team on Sunday, lamenting the loss of that event’s title sponsor for next year. He then noted that schedule changes were in the works, including the likelihood of Pebble Beach replacing the WM Phoenix Open as one of 16 designated events on the 2024 tour schedule.

Designated events, with elevated purses, are one of the ways the PGA Tour is battling the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. A memo from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monaghan relayed plans for some designated events to feature smaller fields with no cut.

“These smaller, Designated event fields will not only deliver substantial, can’t miss tournaments to our fans at important intervals throughout the season, but they will also enhance the quality of Full-Field events,” the memo reads in part.

If the Pro-Am does become a designated event, Golfweek reports that changes will be most noticeable on the amateur side and possibly the courses involved. According to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, amateur play may be reduced to 36 holes with rounds on Thursday and Friday, leaving a professionals-only field on the weekend.

“I would understand,” says Ron Rivera, head coach of NFL’s Washington Commanders, who played in this year’s Pro-Am. He adds that celebrity involvement is not as important as the quality of the field.

Celebrities have been a part of the Pro-Am since its beginning as a little golf and a clambake hosted by Bing Crosby in 1937.

Yet there is a maybe hanging over this. No plans have been announced as final. Monterey Peninsula Foundation CEO Steve John reserved comment until any possible changes have been made official.