Pebble Beach Golf Links may be an icon among American golf courses, but playing in the Northern California weather in February makes things a bit of a toss-up.

Justin Rose can attest as he prepares for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he won in 2023.

The 45-year-old Englishman said Tuesday that the weather at Pebble Beach can change in an instant and alter how the annual tournament plays.

“The weather can play a huge factor,” Rose said. “I think if you were to play the perfect golf at Pebble, you would like it to be 75 degrees, you would like the course to be somewhat firm and you would like about a 12- to 15-mile-an-hour wind. To me, then you’ve got a great challenge on your hands.

“If you get Pebble in soft conditions without much wind, (it’s) a little bit target golf. And the small greens don’t play small and you can kind of end up sort of — the course can feel a little softer or easier than it should be for a major championship test. But as soon as you get those conditions just right, yeah, this course can play unbelievable.”

Rose thought back to his three-stroke win in 2023 and said he was assisted by the wind and the climate that week, which required a Monday finish.

“In 2023 there was a break in play and I was playing a very tough stretch of golf into the wind at Monterey Peninsula when we were playing over there,” Rose said, referencing a sister course no longer in the Pro-Am’s rotation. “There was a break in play, got called off, came back the next day. The wind had shifted to downwind and I finished, I don’t know what it was, four or five birdies in my last eight or nine holes and that gave me a great run into Sunday and I won the tournament.”

In 2024, the fourth round was completely abandoned due to inclement weather, including wind gusts of more than 60 mph, and third-round leader Wyndham Clark was declared the winner. It was the seventh time since 1974 that the 72-hole tournament was shortened to 54 holes.

On Tuesday, Rose went out to practice with just his wedges and putter. He was glad not to have brought his full bag, as the bright and temperate conditions Tuesday morning quickly flipped to chilly and windy.

“Today was such a curious day out there,” Rose said. “It was actually a lovely morning and you’re sort of thinking to yourself, ‘Oh, they’ve got the weather forecast completely wrong,’ blue sky, it was calm. Then literally it was like a switch, like 30-mile-an-hour winds, the ocean started looking angry, the clouds start rolling in and it’s going to be a pretty rough afternoon I think. Yeah, that’s coastal golf.”

Rose is now No. 3 in the world rankings thanks to his win at the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks ago.

“(I’m) obviously playing at a high level, which is my goal,” he said. “That’s kind of what I want to be. I want to continue to be playing elite golf. That’s the only reason I want to play golf is to continue to play at an elite level.

“I don’t really just want to be out here for out here’s sake. I’ve got better things to do in my life. I’ve got a busy life, I’ve got people who need me at home as well. So like if I’m out here, I’ve got to be making it count.”

–Field Level Media

Bailey Maupin scored 12 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and lifted No. 16 Texas Tech to a 70-65 victory over Kansas on Tuesday in Lubbock, Texas.

Snudda Collins added 17 points and Sidney Love chipped in nine points and four assists for the Lady Raiders (23-3, 10-3 Big 12), who won their third game in a row after dropping three of four. They rebounded from a slow start and dug out of a 10-point first-quarter deficit.

Texas Tech couldn’t maintain a six-point lead in the fourth quarter, and S’Mya Nichols evened the game at 59 with a three-point play at the 1:34 mark. However, the Lady Raiders made 11 of 12 free-throws attempts the rest of the way to escape.

Nichols paced Kansas (15-11, 5-9) with 15 points, Jaliya Davis scored 14, Elle Evans had 11 and Regan Williams added 10. Kansas lost despite outshooting Texas Tech 45.5% to 35% from the field, as the hosts turned 11 offensive boards into 10 second-chance points and also benefited from the Jayhawks’ 20 turnovers.

–Field Level Media

Boston College will have to deal with one of the top scorers in the country when it faces visiting Stanford in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup on Wednesday night in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Stanford’s Ebuka Okorie enters averaging 22.4 points, seventh in the nation as of Tuesday night. The freshman guard tossed in 40 points when Stanford (15-9, 4-7 ACC) ended a five-game losing streak by beating Georgia Tech 95-72 at home on Saturday.

“Good win for our program,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “We needed to have some success. (Okorie) was forcing it in the right way. Putting pressure on the defense, making plays.”

Okorie has scored at least 30 points in five games this season. His 40-point performance was the first by a Stanford player since Casey Jacobsen scored 41 against Oregon in 2002.

“The shots were falling and my teammates were finding me,” Okorie said. “It’s cool to see my hard work paying off.”

Boston College (9-14, 2-8) will be looking to end a four-game losing streak. Eight of the team’s nine victories have come at home.

“We haven’t been victorious in as many close games as we want to be, but got another game coming up so you got to keep practicing, keep chopping,” Boston College coach Earl Grant said. “Gotta keep believing and find a way to run through the finish line at the highest level you can with the hopes of putting yourself in position to still be playing in March. So that’s where we are and that’s what we’re gonna continue to do.”

The Eagles are averaging 67.3 points per game, which ranks last in the 18-team conference. Fred Payne (15.0) and Donald Hand Jr. (14.3) are the team’s leading scorers. Hand has scored 20 points or more in five games this season.

Stanford has made at least 10 3-point field goals in three of its last four games.

–Field Level Media