Golf Blog

PURE Insurance Championship 2026

For 6 years I have been saying that my favorite week of the year on the golf calendar is PURE Insurance Championship week at Pebble Beach. Since 2020, I have been making the annual 7 hour drive from Laguna Beach to the Monterey Peninsula. Every time I make the trip, I feel lucky that I get to do this consistently as a part of my career.

Over the years, the people have become the most exciting part of this job. As a golf course photographer, I rarely have projects that I get to come back to every year. It makes me happy to see familiar and friendly faces and learn how people’s lives have changed over the past 12 months. It feels great to be a part of a larger group and after 6 years, PURE has made me feel like a part of their family. I can honestly say that when it comes to Insurance companies, PURE is built different.

Please enjoy my 6 favorite things about my 6th year as the social media host for the 2026 Pure Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee.

#6 - Pebble Beach

It would be a crime to leave Pebble Beach off of a list about a golf tournament at Pebble Beach. While Monterey is a frequently foggy place, Pebble Beach managed to show off several times during my visit. I was there with “Drone-ald Ross” to capture the results.

Ahead of the US Open in 2027, Gil Hanse has made some slight changes to the golf course. Holes 4, 6, 13, 15 and 18 have all been slightly tweaked by Gil and his team. Small touches to the bunkers, tee boxes, greens and the cypress trees on 18 are all very well done.

If you are considering a visit to Pebble Beach, I would strongly urge you to visit the full guide to golf on The Monterey Peninsula. It is the definitive guide to golf in the area.

#5 - Spyglass Hill

A lot of golf nerds will tell you that Spyglass Hill is a better golf course than Pebble Beach. While I do not fall into that category, I do believe that Spyglass Hill is largely underrated. If it weren’t for the weak finish, the course would have a chance to truly rival its neighbors. Either way that you look at it, Spyglass is one of the best and most challenging public golf courses in America.

The highlight of the round comes early on the 4th hole when Spyglass delivers the second best par 4 in America. People like to get pissed off about it, but the reasoning behind my assertion is solid. Feel free to join in on the Twitter discussion on my post from 2023.

During The PURE Insurance Championship, each golfer plays a round on Pebble and Spyglass before a cut is made with the final round of golf occurring on Pebble Beach. Making the cut for that final round is a big deal.

The model / golfer in the photograph above is two time Mid Am Champion Ina Kim-Schaad on the 2nd green. Ina not only looks awesome in here Malbon attire, but she also backs up her style with top notch play.

#4 - Ernie Els and Fred Couples

Whenever the bad shots start to pile up, there is one mental thought that I always rely on. That thought is tempo. A deliberate attempt to slow things down almost always prevents the train from running off of the rails. If I need a visual to accompany my thought, there are two professional golfers that I like to visualize. Fortunately, during Saturday of The PURE Insurance Championship, both Ernie Els and Fred Couples were playing in consecutive groups. I took the opportunity to capture the feeling of a visit to Tempo Town. I continued to chill out and relax (chillax) while watching a few birdies find the bottom of the cup.

#3 - Mark O’Meara

Mark O’Meara retired from professional golf 2 years ago. However, Mark still maintains his insurance policy with PURE and has made the trip to Pebble Beach during both years of his retirement. A Hall of Famer like Mark doesn’t need to do this, but he does it because he values the relationships and friendships that golf has given him.

During his 2026 visit, Mark hosted a chipping clinic for PURE’s guests. There were about 20 golfers and they were all beginners. Most Masters Champions would not have the patience and genuine interest that Mark O’Meara had teaching beginners the basics of chipping. It was a joy to watch and photograph. If you have had the pleasure to interact with Mark O’Meara, you will know that there is nobody better in the game of golf.

One of my favorite interactions during the tournament was watching Mark offer his support to the future stars of our game. Katie Lu has joined the PURE Insurance team and Mark was quick to offer his support in any way possible. I get the sense that Mark feels compelled to pass on his gifts to the next generation.

Katie is a recent graduate of Michigan State and has status on The Epson Tour. Most importantly, she is headed to Q School this fall. If a few putts fall her way, you can expect to see Katie on the LPGA Tour and TV screens everywhere.

#2 - The Match

The night before the tournament begins, PURE puts on a special event at the par 3 Hay course. VIP guests compete in a match play event captained by golf hall-of-famers. This year it was Team O’Meara va Team Haas. In a record setting Match performance, Team Haas delivered a truly historic beating to Team O’Meara with a score of 13 to 3. Despite the lopsided victory, both sides had the exact same amount of fun.

The most important part of the evening at The Match is when PURE Insurance awards a scholarship to one very deserving junior golfer. After recognizing several other juniors, PURE CEO, Martin Leitch, named Nyah Roccamonte-Clark this year’s PURE Insurance Scholar. She was selected for her exceptional leadership, commitment to her community and role as a mentor to younger participants at her local First Tee chapter.

It isn’t all golf for Nyah. She completed 225 hours of community service last year and maintains a 4.0 GPA. Nyah is truly impressive. Personally, the only thing that I can relate to is the 225 hours of community service. The major difference is that my community service was issued by a judge as punishment for being drunk in public. Fortunately, I am now 21 years sober and able to properly appreciate Nyah’s efforts at such a young age.

#1 - The Kids of The First Tee

Even though a professional golfer is officially crowned the PURE Insurance champion, the junior golfers win the tournament every single year. From across the country, First Tee’s finest golfers are hand selected to participate in the tournament and they are rewarded with a once in a lifetime experience. As a junior golfer myself, I could only dream of having the opportunity to play Pebble Beach, much less play along side Vijay Singh or Zach Johnson. Almost all of the professionals go out of there way to give the juniors tips, tell some stories and help them read putts. It is a golf tournament like no other.

Full transparency: Not all of the juniors pictured in this series played in the tournament. One of the juniors pictured may be my 1 year old daughter, Holliday. She is not playing but studying on how to become a future Pebble Beach golfer.

If there is one story that embodies the PURE Insurance Championship it belongs to the tournament winner Zach Johnson. When Zach arrived on the 18th tee, he held a one shot lead and needed a par to win the golf tournament. The wrinkle in this situation comes from the team portion of the event. Zach needed to make an eagle on 18 to help his junior win. In this situation, many professionals would ignore the team competition and do what is necessary to win the event as an individual.

Instead of laying up and making an easy par, Zach played the hole aggressively and reached the par 5 in 2 shots. Zach risked putting the individual victory in jeopardy just to give his junior a chance to win. Zach’s eagle putt did not drop, but his 2 putt was still enough to give him the victory. It was a selfless move and earned Zach the well deserved title of The 2026 PURE Insurance Champion.