Why the PGA Tour is playing preferred lies at Pebble Beach even though it’s not raining

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The sun is out today on the lovely Monterey Peninsula, making for a beautiful first day of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It’s a tad chilly, sure, but compared to the frigid temperatures in America’s north-east and other places, it’s hard to complain about a high temperature in the mid-teens in early February. Seriously, we don’t want to hear any complaining.

But despite the nice weather and ideal scoring conditions for those PGA Tour pros and celebs teeing it up, the tour announced everyone will be playing preferred lies – a.k.a. lift, clean and place – during the opening round. Huh?

In fact, the PGA Tour announced this practice usually reserved for soggy days for the first three rounds of the tournament despite the fact a drop of rain has yet to fall there this week. Why? Because there’s rain in tomorrow’s forecast. See for yourself:

Still confused? We don’t blame you. But here’s where the tournament’s unique format comes into play. Because golfers play three different courses (Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and Monterey Peninsula) over the first three rounds and on different days, the tour is trying to ensure that everyone plays each course under the same set of rules.

It’s a small thing, but some of the golf purists, who generally don’t like lift, clean and place – or as they call it, “lift, clean and cheat” – weren’t pleased. Here’s a sampling:

https://twitter.com/retnuh76/status/1621176337666048000

Anyway, the PGA Tour is just trying to protect the field and not give anyone an unfair advantage. And we’re guessing they’d rather hear a few angry complaints on Golf Twitter than from its players – or the likes of Bill Murray.

RELATED: Jordan Spieth says his Pebble Beach cliff shot could have been worse