The rounds are long, but the relationships last a lifetime
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Your round will last six hours - guaranteed. Your amateur partner may discover new areas of the course that you never knew existed. The weather will be unpredictable, you'll have to play three different courses, and the galleries will squeal with delight to see the celebrity who can't break 90 but just opened his latest movie at $25 million on the first weekend.
The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is not your average PGA TOUR stop. Things are different here. The days are longer, patience is tested. It's not for every pro. But for the ones who are here, who do accept the fact that 180 pros and 180 amateurs will spend at least three rounds together, it can be a blast.
After all, it's still Pebble Beach, a national golf treasure. You just have to accept the rest. All of it.
"If you're going to come to this event, you must know what it's about," said defending champion Steve Lowery. "You've got to embrace that before you get here. You've got to understand that it's a fun event, it's a unique event, it's not like every other event we play.
"You've got to be prepared mentally before you get here."
The pros here this week have serious business to attend to. Money -- livelihoods, in other words -- is at stake. FedExCup points are on the line. A win here has the same benefits as a win anywhere else on TOUR.
But they have to be able to laugh while wearing their game faces. You have to grin and bear it, not be grim and fight it. For younger players, it can require a learning curve. Lose the death-stare approach and just enjoy the moment, the sheer beauty of this place and the potential frivolity of the set-up. After all, that might be Bill Murray wearing a satin-blue kimono and cracking one-liners in your group on the back nine Sunday.
Lowery fought it when he first started playing Pebble before eventually accepting it. And now he's the champ. Others hope to apply the same approach starting today in the first round.
"The first couple of years here are always tough," said Ryan Palmer, who is making his fifth start at the AT&T Pebble Beach. His best finish was a tie for 23rd in 2006. "Now I know how it works. I know what to expect. I know you're going to have some long rounds. I know you're going to have some amateurs who aren't quite as good. You just kind of deal with it and enjoy the relationships that you can build here.
"You can't take it too serious at this particular tournament. It's once a year. You have to have fun with it."
For some pros, it's the length of the rounds that can prove most unnerving. As PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem mentioned earlier this week, "Pace is always an issue here." That's why a new net-bogey rule is in place to hopefully prevent the amateurs from reducing play to a crawl.
Still, the pros expect six-hour rounds. That means managing your focus as much as managing the course.
"It requires not thinking about golf when you're out there for six hours," said Charley Hoffman, who's making his fourth start at Pebble. "If you think about golf for six hours, you're going to drive yourself nuts."
Other pros may not be all that pumped about spending 54 holes -- or longer if your team makes the cut to 25 and plays together on Sunday -- with an amateur. But then, those pros probably aren't here this week. Those who are realize that a lot of movers and shakers can be found in the amateur field, big cigar types who might be worth developing a relationship with over a few rounds of golf.
As Hunter Mahan told Finchem this week: "There's no place better to meet people that are good to meet."
Mahan's playing partner is Randall Stephenson, the Chairman, CEO and President of AT&T -- and the one who asked the Commissioner to play this week. Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, is playing with Charles Schwab. In these economic times, is there any better person to talk to than Chuck?
Padraig Harrington is playing with billionaire Irish businessman J.P. McManus, who also happens to be a good friend. In fact, Harrington is treating the competition this week like it's more of a Ryder Cup than an individual stroke-play event. "I'll try harder to win the team event than I will the individual event this week," said Harrington, who has won a couple of overseas events with McManus as his partner.
Len Mattiace is playing with Michael McCallister. Not the one writing this column (and who spells his name without that extra C), but the one who is the CEO of Humana. A personal sidebar: While I'm generally excellent company and quite capable of snapping off a one-liner on occasion, even I wouldn't choose me over the CEO of Humana as a playing partner.
"There's a ton of people here that make a lot of decisions that relate to investment in the game of golf, investment in players through companies they represent, and that's an important part of what players do," Finchem said. "I think it's a good point that the young guys need to look at the whole landscape., and probably if you're not going to play here every year, it's someplace you'd want to play on a reasonably frequent basis."
(Note to the young players on TOUR -- you might want to re-read that last statement by the Commissioner. It's called a hint.)
For others, being in the celebrity rotation has its unique attractions and peculiarities. There's the idol-worshiping in the galleries, the larger-than-life personalities of the celebs. TOUR rookie Webb Simpson is partnered with NFL star QB Peyton Manning this week. Manning has never played this event. But then, neither has Simpson. Who do you think was more nervous today?
But while the celebrities don't mind picking the brains of the pros in terms of golf help, at least some pros feel more comfortable with a high-voltage amateur as opposed to someone who's not a household name.
"I like playing with celebrities because they're out here more to have fun and enjoy the crowds and stuff like that," Hoffman said. "Sometimes you get with amateurs who are pretty intense playing out here and taking it real serious. The celebs out here are a little more easy going."
In fact, that's what the pros have to be this week if they want to succeed. They have to be easy going. Compete hard, but have fun. Try to smile. After all, you're out there for six hours. Why not make the most of it?
Mike McAllister is the Managing Editor of PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.
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