The Pebble Beach Invitational Returns to Del Monte This November, and Last Year's Spanish Bay Record Stays Frozen

On a Friday last November, Mina Harigae shot 64 at The Links at Spanish Bay. That set a new women's course record, and two days later she won the TaylorMade Pebble Beach Invitational. Monterey County Now reported that she grew up in Monterey, turned pro in 2009, and that her parents owned the former Takara Sushi in Pacific Grove. Nobody will get a real chance at that 64. The course she shot it on is being rebuilt hole by hole, and the course taking Spanish Bay's place in this year's rotation is the one golf on the Peninsula started with.

The 2026 Invitational runs November 17 through 22. Pebble Beach Company says Del Monte Golf Course will be back in the host rotation for the first time since 2014. For people who live here, that puts the resort's most local tournament on its most local course.

A Record Set on a Layout That Is Gone

Harigae won by playing all three of last year's courses well. She finished at 14-under 274, three strokes ahead of PGA Tour pro Cameron Sisk and former PGA Tour regular John Mallinger. The Monterey Herald reported the same total.

She is only the second woman to win in the event's 54 years. Juli Inkster was the first, in 1990. Johnny Miller and Mark Calcavecchia are also among the past champions.

Four months after her record round, Spanish Bay closed. The last round on the old layout was March 17, 2026, according to Pebble Beach Company's renovation announcement. Monterey County Now reported that crews started the next day. The plans call for a more forgiving, more playable course that makes better use of its views. New drainage and irrigation will also cut the watered area by 12 percent and add three acres of natural habitat. Gil Hanse is leading the work. The redesigned course is scheduled to open April 17, 2027. Sticks, the course restaurant, is expected back in March 2027 as a gastropub, with a 4,000-square-foot golf simulator lounge upstairs.

When Spanish Bay reopens, it will have different holes, different lines and less turf. Harigae's 64 will stay in the record book, tied to a course that no longer exists in that form.

Del Monte Had to Earn Back the Open Slot

Losing Spanish Bay opened a slot in the rotation, and Del Monte almost wasn't in shape to fill it. Pebble Beach Company hired Charles Maud to build the course in 1897. It is the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi still played on its original site, and the California Amateur got its start there. The course the company built next, in 1919, was first called "the second course at Del Monte Golf and Country Club." That course became Pebble Beach Golf Links.

By the company's own account, the long run took its toll. Play dropped after the 2008 recession, and drought-era limits on irrigation made conditions worse. Del Monte kept going while some other courses in the region closed. Things changed after golf's boom during and after the pandemic, when Pebble Beach Company drilled and tested two wells on the property. Those wells now water nearly 40 percent of the course's turf and save about 12 million gallons of utility water a year.

Once the water problem was solved, the company turned to everything else. Over the past two years, according to the company's account of Del Monte's revival, the work included:

• Every sand bunker on the property renovated
• Nearly half of the teeing areas renovated
• New walking paths, irrigation and drainage across the course
• Heavy pruning of the course's large trees, for healthier turf and better looks
• A new fleet of carts with GPS yardage, cleared to drive straight to the ball
• Longer hours and a bigger menu at Del Monte Grill

The Northern California Section of the PGA of America named Del Monte superintendent Michael Knoll its 2025 Superintendent of the Year. Pebble Beach Company calls the Invitational the "capstone" of Del Monte's comeback year.

Why This Tournament Suits This Course

The Invitational was founded in 1972. Pebble Beach Company calls it the world's only tournament that puts players from the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Korn Ferry tours in one field. Each tour plays from its own tees, and the tees are set so that players from every tour hit about the same clubs into each green. Everyone plays for the same $300,000 purse. A 2019 Pebble Beach explainer laid out the math behind the tees, using average drives of about 295 yards on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours, 275 on the Champions Tour and 255 on the LPGA Tour.

The amateurs are what set this event apart from a tour stop. Each pro plays with a team of four amateurs and switches teams every day. After three rounds, the cut keeps the top 40 pros and ties and the top 10 amateur teams and ties. On Sunday, those amateur teams play with pros who missed the cut. The tournament's charitable beneficiaries are the Kiwanis Club of Monterey and the AT&T Pebble Beach Junior Golf Association.

That mix of pros, amateurs and local charities is a lot like a normal week at Del Monte. The course is home to the Monterey Open and the Monterey City Amateur, and Pebble Beach Company says it has thousands of Duke's Club members. Hundreds of junior golfers practice there in events run by U.S. Kids, Pebble Beach Junior Golf, PGA Junior League and Youth on Course. A tournament that pairs tour pros with four-person amateur teams and raises money for junior golf will be playing on the course where many local juniors learned the game.

When Del Monte last hosted, in 2014, the Monterey Herald described the 72 holes as split among Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and "Old Del Monte." Twelve years later, Del Monte comes back with renovated bunkers, well water and an award-winning superintendent.

Watching It, November 17 Through 22

The official event page lists the dates and a tournament office phone number, but not which course hosts which day. Here is what past years looked like, and how to get this year's plan:

1. Call ahead. The tournament office is at (831) 625-8575, and it is the place to confirm the daily course schedule and spectator access for 2026.
2. Expect access similar to past years, but confirm it. Pebble Beach Company's 2015 tournament release said spectators were welcome free of charge on all days. A 2019 Pebble Beach spectator guide described free admission, free entry to 17-Mile Drive, no ropes, and close access to players.
3. Ask about parking. The same 2015 release put free spectator parking above Peter Hay Golf Course. Check whether that still applies this year.
4. Plan a Del Monte day around the grill. Pebble Beach currently lists Del Monte Bar & Grill hours as 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the bar open 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Del Monte is in the City of Monterey, outside the Del Monte Forest gates. If its round follows the pattern of past years, getting there means a short drive from the Forest and no gate at all. Last year's Spanish Bay record will stand until a new record is set on the rebuilt course, and Spanish Bay is scheduled to open to play again on April 17, 2027.

If you own a home along the fairways at Pebble Beach or near Del Monte, its location next to courses like these is part of what a buyer is paying for. Mike Meza can show you how a launch campaign puts that story in front of the right buyer. Start Your Home's Bespoke Launch.