AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am wins inaugural PGA TOUR Sustainability Award
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At the 2023 PGA TOUR Tournament Meetings hosted in December in Palm Springs, California, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am quietly and unassumingly won the inaugural Sustainability Award presented by the WM Phoenix Open. In a banquet room full of their peers, even the humble tournament team appeared to be surprised.
“We knew we were nominated, but weren’t quite sure what to expect as this was the first year of the PGA TOUR Sustainability Award,” said Steve John, CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and tournament director of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “We were really excited and proud when we heard our name called.”
The award, which will be presented annually, is designed to recognize engagement in sustainability and commitment to reducing the tournament’s environmental impact. The criteria include but are not limited to tracking and managing greenhouse gas emissions, diverting waste from the landfill, engaging fans and vendors around sustainability and applying for third-party certifications.
The 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am diverted 168 tons of waste from the landfill through recycling, composting, donation and reuse. To reduce carbon emissions, the tournament also implemented a local sourcing and purchasing plan that netted 41% of vendors being local to Monterey and 22% that were women or minority-owned businesses. In addition, the event engaged the local area through a Community Green Team of environmentally minded volunteers who assisted with on-site sustainability efforts.
Although the award was presented for 2023, the tournament has implemented sustainability efforts as early as 2013.
“The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has a long commitment to sustainability and protecting this unbelievable resource we have here in our backyard,” said John. “The beauty of the environment is on full display at Pebble Beach, and we want to ensure the tournament is playing a positive role in conserving that.”
In 2019, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am became the third North American golf tournament to receive the Golf Environment Organization (GEO) certification. They were recertified again in 2020 and 2022 and expect to be recognized again for 2023.
Through their work on and off the golf course, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will continue to inspire the Monterey community and other PGA TOUR tournaments to be more environmentally friendly for years to come.