PREVIEW-Golf-Pebble Beach Pro-Am seeks to lure the professionals (Reuters)
February 9, 2010
PEBBLE BEACH, California, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Any golferexpecting to win the U.S. Open this year at Pebble Beach GolfLinks should probably have committed himself to play in thisweek’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
The four champions in the U.S. Open held at Pebble Beach,Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Kite (1992) andTiger Woods (2000), have all won the February event. Nicklausand Woods, who is still in self-imposed exile after admitting tocheating on his wife, won both tournaments in the same year.
But even with that statistic, and the improvements made tothe course, it has still been difficult to get get professionalsto play.
The weather is the main deterrent for many players. Thewinter often proves merciless on the Monterey Peninsula, whererain is as regular a visitor to the tournament as actor BillMurray.
“Yeah, you know, it could be totally, it could be soft andwet this week,” said Steve Stricker, who last played the eventin 2006 and tied for 14th. “It could be soft and wet when we goback there for the Open, too, who knows?
“But I’ve played there enough so I don’t feel like I need togo there for that reason alone. I just don’t care to go up thereand fight with that weather too much.”
The weather, along with sometime agonisingly long roundsthat are played with amateurs and celebrities, keeps manygolfers away.
Pro-am tournaments comprise anywhere from three to fivecompetitive rounds and many golfers do not want to play withamateurs when it counts.
FIELD CUT
The tournament committee at Pebble Beach has tried to luremore prominent players.
They took Poppy Hills out of the rotation and replaced itwith Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s (MPCC) Shore Course. Theprofessionals were not impressed with Poppy Hills and with theShore Course they get a stronger layout and a link with history,like Pebble and Spyglass Hill, the other course used in therotation.
This is not the first time the MPCC has been in the event.When crooner Bing Crosby first began the pro-am in 1947, theDunes Course was used for 18 years, then the Shore Course forthe next two. The Shore Course was also in the rotation in 1977.
But the decision that has really enticed players to come tothe event was cutting the field from 180 golfers to 156 in aneffort to speed up play.
“The format of the tournament is a little more forgivingnow,” said Australian Stuart Appleby, who is playing thetournament for the first time since 1999.
Appleby said he had not been influenced by the location ofthe U.S. Open.
“It’s not a course you have to play a dozen times to get toknow,” Appleby said. “If you played a practice round before theOpen it might be a better strategy. It’s a brushover, you get alook at the course, a quick how do you do, shake hands but thecourse will be very different.
“If you were very unfamiliar with the course and the greensthen it would be a good idea. But from the way it will play itwould be very different.”
Arnold Palmer was brought in to renovate some of the courseand Pebble Beach can now play longer at 7,040 yards, though itwill not be that long for this event.
“You could get more in a practice round than you couldduring the tournament,” said Ben Curtis, who won the 2003 OpenChampionship, the first time he played in a major.
“You might see guys show up a couple of weeks before andplay and get a feel for the course. Every tournament I have wonit was the first time I have seen it. It’s a matter of whetheryou have your game on or not.”
(Writing by John Reger; Editing by John Mehaffey; To queryor comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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