The Pure Insurance Championship format really consists of two golf tournaments going on at the same time for the 78 professionals in the field.
The 78 pros are each paired with a junior participant in The First Tee program and two amateur players, forming 78 four-player teams. Those teams are grouped into 78 foursomes over the first three days, with groups playing each day on one of two courses -- Pebble Beach Golf Links and Poppy Hills Golf Course.
Pure Insurance Championship format
For the professionals, the tournament format is simple: the usual 54-hole, stroke-play tournament you see most weeks on the PGA Tour Champions. Lowest score wins. However, this event has the unique nature of a cut on PGA Tour Champions, made to the top 50 and ties after two rounds.
There are two pro-am events: a pro-junior team competition for junior boys and junior girls, as well a pro-am competition.
For the pro-am competitions, the format is net best ball of partners. That means the professional and the amateur(s) each play each hole. The score counts for the player that has the better score once two-thirds of each amateur's handicap is factored. Each amateur's handicap is different, ranging from 0 (meaning they get no strokes to help them) to 18 (they get one stroke on every hole) for the men or 24 for the women (they get a stroke on every hole and two on the six hardest holes).
Pure Insurance Championship pro and pro-am cut rules
After the first three rounds are completed, the cut rule kicks in, dropping the field to the top 50 pros and ties, the top 23 pro-junior teams and the top 10 pro-amateur teams which advance to Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Any ties that spill over beyond the 20-team limit leads to a tiebreaker.
