Carmel Pinnacles State Marine Reserve

The Lone Cypress is a Monterey cypress tree located in Pebble Beach, California. Standing atop a granite headland overlooking Carmel Bay, the tree has become a Western icon and has been called one of the most photographed trees in North America.

Ghost Tree is a famed big wave surfing location off the 18th hole of Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. The wave breaks off the rock-strewn shoreline known as Pescadero Point. On rare winter days with the proper westerly angle, waves are focused by the deep Carmel Canyon to rear up as much as 60 ft (18 m) in height. Formerly known as Pesky's, Ghost Tree is considered one of the most dangerous waves in the world due to its slab shape, massive boils, strong current, bull kelp, and the underwater labyrinth of natural rock pillars in the impact zone. It is also frequented by white sharks.

Carmel Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California in Monterey County. The bay is 4 mi (6.4 km) long and 2 mi (3.2 km) wide with its mouth about 3 mi (4.8 km) across, between Point Carmel to the south and Point Cypress to the north; Monterey Bay is about four coastline miles north, with Point Pinos intervening.The bay's coastline includes Carmel City Beach and Carmel River State Beach, with wildlife largely protected by the 'Carmel Bay Ecological Reserve'. The City of Carmel, formally "Carmel-by-the-Sea", adjoins Carmel Bay, with the cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove, California, and Santa Cruz about 5 mi (8.0 km), 4 mi (6.4 km), and 45 mi (72 km) north, respectively.

The PURE Insurance Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. It is sponsored by the PURE Insurance company and normally held in August/September in Monterey, California at the Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course, but has also been played in July. In 2014 it was played at Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills Golf Course.It is an official PGA Tour Champions event that pairs one junior with one senior, PGA Tour Champions player and two amateurs. Seventy-eight junior spots are awarded, seventy chosen from two selection processes and eight exemptions are selected through The First Tee of Monterey County and Monterey Peninsula Foundation, the host organization. The purse for the 2012 tournament was US$1,800,000, with $255,000 going to the winner. The tournament was founded in 2004 as The First Tee Open at Pebble Beach presented by Wal-Mart. The First Tee of Monterey County is one of the direct receivers of the proceeds made from this tournament. Walmart was the title sponsor of this event from 2004 to 2009. National Association for Home Care & Hospice was the title sponsor for 2010. Nature Valley was the title sponsor for the 2011 tournament.

Pebble Beach Golf Links is a public golf course on the west coast of the United States, located in Pebble Beach, California. Regarded by Travel and Leisure blog as one of the most beautiful courses in the world, it hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of Carmel Bay, opening to the Pacific Ocean on the south side of the Monterey Peninsula. In 2001, it became the first public course to be selected as the No. 1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest. Greens fees are among the highest in the world, at $525 (plus a $40 cart fee or a $92.50 caddie fee for non-resort guests) per round in 2018. Four of the courses in the coastal community of Pebble Beach, including Pebble Beach Golf Links, belong to the Pebble Beach Company, which also operates three hotels and a spa at the resort. The other courses are The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, and Del Monte Golf Course. The PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions play annual events at Pebble Beach, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the First Tee Open. It has hosted seven men's major championships: six U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship. It also hosted the 1988 Nabisco Championship, now known as the Tour Championship, the season-ending event on the PGA Tour. It is hosting the first women's major championship, the 2023 U.S. Women's Open on July 6, 2023. World-renowned, the course is included in many golf video games, such as the Links series and the PGA Tour series.

The 2023 U.S. Women's Open was the 78th U.S. Women's Open, held July 6 to 9 at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.Allisen Corpuz won by three strokes over Charley Hull and Jiyai Shin. It was her first LPGA Tour win.

The 2000 United States Open Championship was the 100th U.S. Open Championship, held June 15–18 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. Tiger Woods won his first U.S. Open by a record-setting fifteen strokes over runners-up Ernie Els and Miguel Ángel Jiménez – it remains the most dominating performance and victory in any major championship. As the United States Golf Association wanted to begin the millennium with a memorable tournament, Pebble Beach was moved up two years in the rotation. Notable golfers going into the tournament at large included Jack Nicklaus, playing in his final U.S. Open; Vijay Singh, the year's Masters winner; Ernie Els; and David Duval. Defending champion Payne Stewart had died in an aviation accident on October 25 the previous year at the age of 42. His death was commemorated many times throughout the week, starting with a ceremony on the eve of the tournament at the 18th hole. Speakers included Stewart's widow Tracey and his good friend Paul Azinger, while attendees included Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, David Duval, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen, Sergio García and Stewart's caddy Mike Hicks, and it concluded with shots being hit into Stillwater Cove in a golf version of a 21-gun salute. García also wore Stewart's trademark navy plus fours in Stewart's honor in the first round. Nicklaus was asked to take Stewart's spot in the traditional opening grouping of the prior year's Open Championship (British Open) winner (Paul Lawrie), U.S. Amateur winner (David Gossett), and U.S. Open winner, and he asked for a moment of silence in Stewart's memory before his opening tee shot.Aside from being the last U.S. Open appearance for Nicklaus, playing in his 44th consecutive U.S. Open, it was also the last appearance for two-time winner Curtis Strange.

The 1982 U.S. Open was the 82nd U.S. Open, held June 17–20 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. Tom Watson won his only U.S. Open, two strokes ahead of runner-up Jack Nicklaus, for the sixth of his eight major titles.Watson also won the British Open a month later, to become the fifth player to win both Opens in the same year, joining Bobby Jones (1926, 1930), Gene Sarazen (1932), Ben Hogan (1953), and Lee Trevino (1971). It was later accomplished by Tiger Woods in 2000, the first half of his Tiger Slam; all six are Americans. This was third major played at the Pebble Beach Golf Links; Nicklaus won the U.S. Open in 1972 and Lanny Wadkins won the PGA Championship in 1977. The total purse was $375,000, with a winner's share of $60,000.

The 2019 United States Open Championship was the 119th U.S. Open, played from June 13–16 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. It was the seventh major and sixth U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which last hosted U.S. Opens in 2000 and 2010, won by Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell, respectively.Gary Woodland won his first major title by three strokes over world number one Brooks Koepka. Ranked 25th coming into the tournament, and having never finished in the top 20 in the U.S. Open previously, he was generally seen as a surprise victor. Koepka had won four of the last nine majors, and was attempting to become the first player to win three straight U.S. Opens since 1905.Woodland shot 68 in the first round, and 65 in the second, to lead by two strokes after 36 holes. He shot 69 in the third round, to have a single-stroke lead over Justin Rose going into the final day. After shooting a 69 in the final round, he converted a 54-hole lead into a victory for the first time in eight attempts in stroke-play events. His 72-hole winning score, a 13-under-par 271, was the lowest relative to par since 2011 and included a stretch of 34 holes without a bogey. Woodland led the field in scrambling, having begun the week ranked 169th in that category.The previous winner of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Graeme McDowell, finished tied for 16th with a 3-under-par 281. Tiger Woods was tied 58th after the first round, and began his final round by bogeying four of his first six holes, but rallied on the back nine to finish tied for 21st with a 2-under-par 282. Justin Rose entered the final round one shot back of Woodland but made three bogeys on his final seven holes to finish tied for 3rd. On his 49th birthday, six-time U.S. Open runner-up, Phil Mickelson finished with a 4-over-par 288, having won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier in the year at Pebble Beach.79 players made the cut, including four amateurs. The leading amateur was Norwegian Viktor Hovland, who had qualified by winning the 2018 U.S. Amateur, which was also held at Pebble Beach. He finished tied for 12th at 4-under-par, to become first low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open in the same season since Matt Kuchar in 1998.The U.S. Open traditionally has a winning score around par, but a joint record 31 players finished under par for the tournament. This was partly attributed by the media to the soft conditions resulting from a marine layer, and relatively low wind speeds for a links-style course.

The 1972 U.S. Open was the 72nd U.S. Open, held June 15–18 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. Jack Nicklaus, age 32, captured his third U.S. Open title, three strokes ahead of runner-up Bruce Crampton. This was the first of six major championships held to date at Pebble Beach: five U.S. Opens and the PGA Championship in 1977. Scoring conditions during the final round were extremely difficult; the average was 78.8, the highest in post-war U.S. Open history. Nicklaus' 290 (+2) was the second-highest winning score during that span. It was Nicklaus' eleventh career major championship as a professional, tying the record of Walter Hagen. When combined with his two U.S. Amateur wins, it was his thirteenth major, equaling Bobby Jones for most all-time. Defending champion Lee Trevino had been hospitalized in Texas for several days for bronchitis and pneumonia; he was released on Tuesday, two days before the first round, and tied for fourth.It was the second consecutive major title for Nicklaus, who won the Masters in April. Previous winners of the first two majors of the year were Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1951, 1953), and Arnold Palmer (1960); later champions of both were Tiger Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015). In addition, Nicklaus held the PGA Championship title from February 1971; four weeks later, he was the runner-up by a single stroke at the Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland. Nicklaus won seven additional majors, the last at the Masters fourteen years later in 1986 at age 46.

The 1992 U.S. Open was the 92nd U.S. Open, held June 18–21 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. Tom Kite, long considered one of the best players to never win a major, finally broke through with a U.S. Open title, two strokes ahead of runner-up Jeff Sluman. Gil Morgan was the story of the opening two rounds. He took the first-round lead with a 66, then recorded a second-round 69 for the 36-hole lead. After a birdie at the 3rd hole of the third round, Morgan was at 10-under, becoming the first in U.S. Open history to reach double-digits under-par. He got as low as 12-under after a birdie at the 7th, but then collapsed. He made three double-bogeys the rest of the round, but still held the lead by one over Kite, Ian Woosnam, and Mark Brooks. Morgan finally fell out of the lead after a double-bogey at the 6th in the final round. He eventually finished in 13th place, playing his final 29 holes in 17-over par. As Morgan was falling, Kite played steady golf, recording two birdies at 12 and 14 to offset bogeys at 16 and 17. He finished with an even-par 72 and a 3-under total of 285 for a two-stroke win over Jeff Sluman.Windy conditions combined with lightning-fast greens made scoring conditions in the final round extremely difficult. Morgan shot an 81, Woosnam, one back at the start of the round, shot 79, Brooks, also one back, shot 84, and Nick Faldo, two back at the start, carded a 77. Colin Montgomerie shot 70 for the joint lowest score of the round and jumped over 25 players to finish in 3rd place. The final-round scoring average was 77.3, the third-highest in post-World War II U.S. Open history.Greg Norman, who was ranked #7 in the world, did not qualify.

The 2010 United States Open Championship was the 110th U.S. Open, held June 17–20 in Pebble Beach, California. Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland won his first major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up Grégory Havret of France. McDowell was the first European to win the U.S. Open in forty years, since Tony Jacklin of England won in 1970. McDowell's win started a period in which four out of five U.S. Open champions between 2010–2014 were European. This was the fifth U.S. Open to be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links (it also hosted in 2000, 1992, 1982, and 1972).