Golf, nature coalesce in magnificent form
PEBBLE BEACH — Driving to Pebble Beach from the Bay Area is a transformative process, for better and worse.
One leaves behind traffic and congestion, and trades it for the pastoral farmlands of Watsonville and Gilroy. Then it’s on to the Monterey Peninsula and its namesake bay stretched out to your right in glistening glory. That’s all for the better.
To get to the famed golf course, however, you must enter the foreboding Del Monte Forest, a gated, wealthy woods where you actually have to pay to drive its famed 17 miles. The houses you see along the way would make venture capitalists blush. (And then pull out their checkbooks.) After a few miles of bonecrushing envy and soul searching, you finally pull into Pebble Beach, itself a monument to exclusivity, scenery and golf. To say I feel out of place upon arrival would be an understatement. I usually feel out of sorts. Or maybe out of bounds.
That’s the worse part. But I usually manage to get over it fairly quickly ... and look around.
When the weather’s right — and it’s famously temperamental — you’re transformed by the beauty of the place. It’s stunning. Crashing waves and glistening greens. A coastal wonderland with white sand borders. Seals, whales and cypress trees round out the effect.
This is a pilgrimage worth taking for any fan of golf or nature. Preferably both. Pebble Beach is the perfect pairing of those two elements, and that should be on abundant display this week for the 70th playing of the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament. It’s expected to be sunny and 75 all week.
Bring your sunblock and your camera. Hard to say which you’ll need more.
Of course, it’s not always like that here. Last year, the place was soaked — as has been the case in plenty of other years.
It’s part of the tournament’s history. Most people know that Bing Crosby brought the ProAm to Pebble Beach, looking for a bigger venue for his growing celebrity Southern California tournament back in 1947. But maybe he didn’t bet on the weather. They called it the “clambake,” and over the years, a steady string of February storms inspired the term “Crosby weather.”
Tournament officials gathered some great anecdotes from those wet and windy days and shared them with the media. Among my favorites:
John Weissmuller, of Tarzan fame and a former world-class swimmer, said in 1960: “I’ve never been so wet in my life.”
In 1962, golfer Jimmy Demaret is said to have awakened in his room at the Pebble Beach Lodge and seen snow on the ground outside. “I knew I got loaded last night,” he reportedly said, “but how did I wind up at Squaw Valley?”
I guess you can call that “Crosby humor.”
In many ways, it’s a unique tournament. For one thing, a good chunk of it isn’t played at Pebble Beach. The action during the first three rounds is played on three courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Spyglass Hill Golf Course. All three are world-class tracks, but it sure beats your feet up if you try to walk them all.
The field — 156 pros and 156 amateurs — pairs some of the world’s best golfers with a cast of A- and B-list celebrities, current and former pro athletes from different sports and dozens of low-handicap, anonymous business titans.
This year’s field is especially strong, with five of the world’s top 10 pros teeing it up, including world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, last year’s winner Jordan Spieth (No. 3), Rory McIlroy (No. 8) and Jason Day (No. 10). Other big names include Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Bubba Watson. No Tiger Woods, though. He never liked playing this tournament, which is a damn shame (or maybe just shameful).
The celebrity side is not quite as exciting as it was when Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason and Crosby would ham it up on the links, but there’s still Bill Murray, along with his understudy, Ray Romano. Among jocks, former Dallas quarterback Tony Romo is here, along with former 49ers and brand-new Washington quarterback Alex Smith. Wayne Gretzky is probably the most famous athlete in the field, paired with Johnson, his son-inlaw. Toby Keith is here, if you like country music. And if you don’t, there’s Huey Lewis.
Mix in some knowledgeable Northern California galleries with that sweet weather and some competitive golf, and it could be the perfect recipe for a clambake.
The festivities began Tuesday with a putting contest to raise money for a variety of charities. Johnson was there, along with Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers, Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and former 49ers offensive lineman Harris Barton.
Pitcher Justin Verlander got the biggest applause of the day, no doubt in recognition of his having helped the Astros defeat the Dodgers in the World Series. He also got off the best line of the day: “Last time I was here, we lost to the Giants in the World Series, so everyone was kinda happy about that,” he said, referring to his visit in February 2013, four months after he and the Tigers were swept by the Giants. “And now we beat the Dodgers, so everyone’s happy again . ... It’s a winwin.”
One of the most famous shots in this tournament’s history came in 1984, when Hale Irwin — playing his 72nd hole and needing a birdie to force a playoff — hit a wayward drive that bounced off a rock on the beach lining No. 18 and back into play. Irwin birdied the hole and won the playoff.
Sure enough, I’m standing on the 18th tee box, and one of the golfers playing a practice round hit a shot that landed on the beach, bounced off a rock and landed in the fairway. On cue, his partner said, “You just hit a Hale Irwin shot!”
Good knowledge.
I’ll close with another dose of Pebble Beach envy. There are five houses located along the 18th fairway. These are crazy beautiful residences, built in a variety of styles, all remarkable in their own way. As I walked past, once again kicking myself for not starting a tech firm in 1994, I saw a “For Sale” sign in the hedges of one of the mansions. Can you imagine that? Somebody wants to sell this place. And for a mere $22.75 million.
Maybe we can all pitch in and throw one hell of a party?