Spieth braces for ‘crazy’ weather as he mixes with celebs
Doug Ferguson
Jordan Spieth, still only 23, was amazed that this is the fifth time he has played the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He’s been watching it even longer. Spieth said yesterday that Pebble Beach was one of the golf tournaments he watched as a kid.
He was intrigued, and at times amused, to see PGA Tour players alongside celebrities, entertainers and corporate titans.
“These guys who are just so good at what they do, whatever it is, but they for whatever reason can’t figure out how to golf,” Spieth said with a laugh. “And then they come out here and they’re hitting shots in front of you, and you see how nervous they are.”
And he recalled the weather — usually the nasty stuff.
“Bad days isn’t the way to say it, but just these crazy weather days that just make the Monterey Peninsula kind of meaner on this golf course,” Spieth said.
Pebble has been blessed with mostly glorious weather in the five years that Spieth has been playing, except for cold, windy conditions in 2014 and an occasional day of light drizzle, fog or an overcast sky.
The three courses on the Monterey Peninsula — Pebble, Spyglass Hill and the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club — have been soaked by recent rain, and more was expected for the opening round today and lingering into tomorrow.
“I’ve seen it before,” defending champion Vaughn Taylor said of rain and wind. “It’s not that enjoyable, but when you get around Pebble and you still look around . . . I think someone said last night even when it’s at its gloomiest, it’s still beautiful.”
The field features Jason Day, twotime Pebble winner Dustin Johnson, Spieth and Patrick Reed from the top 10 in the world, with Phil Mickelson, the runner-up to Taylor last year, in his quest for a fifth title at Pebble.
Spieth has started the year solidly, though without a realistic chance of winning.
He was third at the two Hawaii events, though a combined 14 shots behind Justin Thomas, who won both. Spieth tied for ninth in Phoenix.
And already he has dropped one spot in the rankings to No 6. Johnson has a mathematical chance of going to No 1 if he were to win Pebble Beach for a third time, and if Day were to finish at the bottom of the pack. — AP