This past February, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem experienced first-hand how long a round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am can be.

In the second round, Finchem’s foursome, which included two-time Pro-Am winner Davis Love III, was clocked at six hours, 20 minutes.

Come the 2010 AT&T Pro-Am, that scenario will be less likely.

On Monday, the PGA Tour and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, the group which runs the tournament, announced that the Tour’s Policy Board approved the reduction of the professional field for the 2010 AT&T Pro-Am from 180 to 156 players. The amateur field will consequently be reduced by the same number.

The goal of the change is to help speed up the pace of tournament play. In the past, rounds in the event have generally taken around six hours to be completed.

“This is a positive step in our continual quest to improve the event,” said Ollie Nutt, president and CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. “We always look every year for ways to improve things. This was joint work between (tournament sponsor) AT&T and the Tour. I think the players will respond positively to it.”

“The change in field size will enhance the competition and the amateurs’ experience, and help to ensure the continued growth and success of the event for years to come,” Finchem said.

In recent years, tee times during the first three rounds—with players going off No.1 and No.10 on the three Pro-Am venues–have run from 8:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.. As a result, players have at times ended up stacking up on tee boxes.

Under the change, which equates to 12 fewer foursomes and four fewer starting times on each course,

tee times are expected to now run from 8:00 a.m. to 10 a.m.

“We may alternate 10 to 11 minute periods between tee times to spread them out even more,” Nutt said.

There will be 52 Pro-Am teams on each of three tournament venues—Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill GC and the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club—the first three days of play (Thursday through Saturday). The 54-hole cut that is made after Saturday’s third round will remain at 60 professionals and 25 Pro-Am teams, with those players advancing to Sunday’s final round at Pebble Beach.

Slated for the week of February 8-14, the 2010 Pro-Am is expected to draw a star-studded international field due to the U.S. Open being held at Pebble Beach in June. The 2010 tournament will also mark the return of the Shore Course into the rotation and will mark the 25^th anniversary of AT&T’s title sponsorship.