A big night (yes night) for Wyndham at Pebble Beach

So the PGA Tour moves on to Arizona where presumably the golfers won’t  have to worry about soggy socks and storm warnings, and play will go the full 72 holes and conclude before dark.

Unlike the past weekend’s AT&T Pebble “Why didn’t we stick to a game that can be held indoors” Pro-Am?

True, the weather has been a major factor in the event  that began in the 1930s as the Crosby, but this year it was extreme to a point well, or well, is terror an exaggeration? Yes, but if you were getting pummeled, things were dicey. 

The situation at that good, old, seaside Pebble was no worse off than the rest of California, where (man the lifeboats) lowlands were flooded, hillsides washed away and trees were hoisted aloft onto roads by winds gusting into the 40s. Considering all that, it may be remarkable the tournament event was held.

Wyndham Clark was the winner. Or if you choose, the survivor.

Clark won the U.S. Open in June at Los  Angeles Country Club,  which, apropos of nothing but pertinent to many things, shows the man can play.  He certainly played Saturday, shooting a course-record 12-under par 60 at historic Pebble.

That gave him a 199 for 54 holes, 17-under par and a one-stroke advantage. The chance the fourth round might have to be pushed from Sunday to Monday placed Clark in a good position. The decision not to hold it, left him in a great position.    

They’ve played abbreviated AT&T's numerous times in the past. Dustin Johnson won at three rounds, but the decisions to reduce the number of holes came just before tee off or maybe late afternoon following round three.

This one, Sunday, came just before 6 pm, cocktail hour if you will. Some of the journalists were eating, not drinking, at a restaurant pub when one looked up from his iPhone and shouted, “It’s over. They called it off.”

Meaning all the 30-year old Clark had to do was sign his card and happily respond to questions after a Tour staff member notified him.

“Everyone was celebrating and congratulating me,” Clark said. “I even said to myself, ‘This feels like I just won the tournament,’ and yet we had another round to play. Today, waking up and they cancel the day, you’re trying not to go too far in the future. I get a call that we’re going to cancel and you’re the winner. It’s pretty surreal right now.”

Surreal or not, Wyndham Clark has the trophy and will have his 1st place check of $3.6 million.

You can buy a lot of umbrellas for that.