Golf’s Nasa is trying to head to the stars

PEBBLE BEACH — Yes, she’s Japanese, perhaps not a surprise in women’s golf. But her first name is, well not quite American, but something out of the U.S. space program. 

Nasa Hataoka’s mother, according to the story, wanted her to aim for the stars. A location seemingly not too far from Pebble Beach, where Saturday  Hataoka (sorry) rocketed into first place at the third round of the U.S. Women’s Open.

You talk about your near-perfect situations, first after days of fog and low clouds (yes the classic marine layer) the sun came out, then Hataoka went around one of the world’s most famous courses without a bogey — shooting a 6-under par 66.  

“It was a bit windier,” was Hataoka’s opening observation. To which anyone who’s ever spent more than a moment at Pebble would have said, “Of course.”
For the clouds to roll by as the lyrics go in an old song, you’ve got to have something to push them, like a breeze.

Not that the 24-year-old Hataoka had any truly harsh words about California’s traditional summer conditions or much else.

“The temperatures were higher today, thank goodness,” she said. “So I think my body participated with the higher temperatures.”

 No, Sam Snead might not have phrased it so delicately, but who cares.

Hataoka was at 7-under par 16 for 54 holes, one shot ahead of Allison Corpuz, the Hawaii resident who, as the words on her golf bag advise, represents a Saudi firm.

Tied for third at 212 are Hyo Joo Kim and Bailey Tardy, the Georgian who was ahead after two rounds but Saturday shot a 1-over 73.  This coming after telling us how Pebble was a golfing version of heaven on earth.

But everyone, female or male, understands how quickly things can go wrong in golf. One errant swing, one irregular bounce or one unexpended gust of wind can change dreams and fortunes.

Especially at Pebble, with those small greens, big bunkers and memories of past agonies.

It isn’t so much what you deserve in golf, it’s what you can achieve. Annika Sorenstam should have had better luck in her first — and only — opportunity to play an Open at Pebble.

When after the dreariness of the early rounds at last the sky was blue on Saturday morning you thought how sad it was that Sörenstam, after missing the Friday cut, would be no more than a spectator.

 Still, all class, she was delightful.

 “I just want to thank everybody,” she said, “it was a great week.”

 Nasa Hataoka, the space lady, very well could have a better one.

At Women’s Open, Bailey Tardy has a Tiger day

PEBBLE BEACH — So again there’s an unrequested but not unneeded reference to Tiger Woods during the U.S. Women’s Open. What else should you expect about a spectacular shot on the 6th hole at Pebble Beach? 

Only the other day Shannon Rouillard, the U.S. Golf Association executive, in telling us how thrilled she was to have the ladies match their games against Pebble, alluded to that Woods gem in 2000.

He drove wildly into the right rough but then, as he could do in those wonderful rounds when he — and we — were younger, Woods powered it out the long grass against long odds, landed onto the green in the next shot from the long grass and made birdie four as he was marching into victory.  

This is not to equate Bailey Tardy with Woods, but Friday, in the second round of the U.S. Women’s Open, on the same sixth hole where Tiger made jaws drop in the process of making history, Tardy hit a Woodsian type of ball.

It came on the second of that sixth hole, listed at 490 yards, led to an eagle 3 for a second straight day, and when play finally concluded, for the lead for the first day.

Tardy was called “The Bomber” when she played at the school in her home state, Georgia, and since graduation several years ago, she’s lost none of her distance — or confidence.

“I’ve always believed in myself to win any tournament that I enter,” said Bailey, and yes another Woods comparison.

Remember Tiger repeatedly telling us he didn’t enter any tournament, major or minor, unless he thought he would win? And, of course, he has won 82, second all-time to Sam Snead.

Tardy, 26, doesn’t have victories on the LPGA Tour, and going into Saturday’s third round of an Open for which she qualified when another competitor three-putted the last hole, is only one shot ahead. 

Still, Tardy says she’s playing relaxed on a Pebble Beach course which elicited these comments, which had emotional meaning.

“I love this place,” she said. “It’s heaven on earth. I think every hole is incredible. The views are incredible.”

Hard to disagree with that last observation. Pebble is a gift of nature, with the surf and the hills. Yet a missed putt or two can alter an opinion. Bogeys under pressure have a way of distorting what we see.

Tardy, however, is young enough and seems as strong mentally as any golfer nicknamed “The Bomber” might hope to be.

"It feels great. I haven't performed great in the previous majors this year,” said Tardy. "So it's finally coming together and meshing well, and it just happens at the right time."

It usually does when you play well enough to win.

Women finally get an Open Test at Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH — The women finally get their shots at Pebble Beach, yet the first name mentioned in a discussion was that of a man, Jack Nicklaus — understandably. And maybe realistically. And probably sadly.

In many ways, women were second-class citizens in golf (and did you say so much else?) In Great Britain, women are restricted in some places to their own 18. Other locations allow them only on “ladies day.”

Now at a course of fame, the ladies have the opportunity to be noticed. 

The 78th U.S. Women’s Open, which began Thursday, may be the game changer if only because of the location and what through the years has happened there

Shannon Rouillard is the senior director of women’s open championships for the U.S. Golf Association and is well aware of Pebble’s crashing surf and inspiring history. 

 “What do we think about when we think about Pebble Beach?,” asked Rouillard. “I know I think about Jack Nicklaus and the 1-iron he hit on 17; Tom Watson's chip on 17, as well; Tiger Woods' second shot on 6 and winning by 15 shots; and Gary Woodland's long birdie putt on 18. While he didn't need it to win the championship, boy, did the crowd go wild.”

The ladies don’t yet have any Tigers or Nicklaus’s, although, maybe Rose Zhang, the Stanford grad, someday may win the role. For certain if the timing were better, Juli Simpson Inkster would have done it.  

Juli had it all, if in an era before women’s golf had it all. She was born and raised in Santa Cruz, literally across Monterey Bay from Pebble; was a star at San Jose State, won a couple of Opens herself (and lost another in a playoff), and was as adept at using a microphone as she was with a 5-iron. Her dad pitched in the minors, and one of her great joys was throwing out the first ball before a Giants game as a reward for her success.

Juli (if you prefer, Mrs. Inkster) was one of the former U.S. Open winners who appeared Wednesday and she was as full of opinions as always, also remembering her time had slipped before a Women’s Open came to a course she relishes.

“I think this is what's great about Pebble, is from the first tee to the 18th tee you can get a lot of different weather changes,” said Juli, a — get out in the ocean and the wind is blowing and then you come in and it's not blowing.

“I think it challenges you, all aspects of your game, chipping, putting driving. You use all the clubs in your bag, which I think is a great representation of a championship. You're going to have a lot of 3- and 4- and 5-footers on these poa greens that can grow rapidly. I think a good iron player — and I do think, once again, you've got to play the par-5s — you've got to get to No. 2 and No. 6. Those are birdie holes.”

“You've got to be ready to play when you start on 1, because 1 through 4 you need to make some birdies because you've got to just hang on that backside.”

There you are ladies, a great course for a great tournament.

For Dustin, Open 2nd hole troubles a 2nd time

LOS ANGELES — Another U.S. Open in California. Another second-hole meltdown for Dustin Johnson. Please refrain from any references to a golden state.

Thirteen years ago, in 2010, the Open was at Pebble Beach, and going into the final round Johnson was in first. Then he was in a funk, taking a seven on hole No. 2, normally a par-5 but played as a par-4 for the Open. 

You could say his game figuratively went south. He ended up with an 82 and tied for eighth.

Now the Open literally has gone south, to Los Angeles Country Club. In the intervening years, Johnson won a U.S. Open and a Masters. He’s a major champion--and still tormented by a second hole at a U.S. Open.

This time it was Friday in the June gloom of a southern Cal summer. This time he took an 8, a snowman, and a dreaded quadruple bogey on a 497-yard par-4.

This time, despite instantly dropping from a cumulative 6-under to 2-under, he didn’t blow a U.S. Open. Not with 36 holes to play and the course toughened after those record-low 62s Thursday. Not with potential disasters awaiting in the fiendishly prepared rough or the barranca that is the course landmark.

“To battle back,” said Johnson, whose birdie at the 18th enabled him to shoot an even-par 70. “I’m proud of that.”

Open courses are supposed to be difficult. The USGA probably had a few apoplectic officials after round one of the tournament, when not just one person broke the single-round scoring record, but two.

Usually, even the winner has one round of his four that requires a fortunate putt or a holed bunker shot. The idea at the majors is to play as well as you are able to for as long as you are able to. 

There’s an off-handed comment that growing old is not for sissies. Well, even though the issue certainly is different, neither are major golf championships.

The reluctant need not try. The conditions are testing, and the results are frequently frustrating, if not downright disappointing. It’s a work of persistence. You’re up against players as good as you. Rickie Fowler might do it at last. Or might never do it.

We used to say the same about Dustin Johnson. Now he’s one of the very best. And yet once again in California there he was at a U.S. Open making a mess of things.

“I was just trying to make a five,” said Johnson. “Didn’t hit that bad of a drive. I just hit it a little on the top so it didn’t quite cut enough. Caught the corner of the bunker and then chunked my bunker shot. Everything that you could do wrong I did wrong.”

Not really. He had a rotten hole, but at the halfway point he was only four shots behind.

“It could have gone the other way after the second hole,” said Johnson.

But it went the right way. Unlike after the second hole in the other Open in California.

Johnny Miller: No fear holding a 5 Iron or a microphone

LOS ANGELES — He never was afraid to go for the flagstick or the jugular.  When Johnny Miller was holding a 5 iron you knew he would be on target. As he could be holding a microphone.

It’s mid-June, the start of another U.S. Open, the tournament that meant everything to Miller.   

The tournament he thought he could win as an amateur. The tournament he did win as a young pro.

How quickly the years pass. How slowly the memories fade.

How wonderful Miller’s contributions have been to the sport where he gained fame as a hell-bent champion and later recognition as a forthright TV commentator has given him a prestigious honor.  

Miller on Tuesday night, in a ceremony that caused him to tear up, was presented the Bobby Jones Award for sportsmanship, character and integrity.

Miller is 76, many years and shots distant from that 1966 Open on his home course, the Olympic Club in San Francisco.  

It’s the US. Open that was best known for Arnold Palmer squandering a 7-shot lead with nine holes to play and then losing an 18-hole playoff to Billy Casper.  

It’s also the Open a novice golf writer for the San Francisco Chronicle was assigned to cover Miller, a hometown kid, 19 and attending (and playing for) BYU.   

Miller had learned the game by hitting balls into a canvas backstop his father, Larry, hung in the garage of their home in the Sunset District.

Seems old-fashioned decades later. Seems brilliant. 

Johnny won the U.S. Junior. Johnny won on Tour. Johnny won the 1974 U.S. Open at Oakmont, closing with a 63 that for so long was the single-round low in an Open.

What I recall about that final round was how John’s wife, Linda, figuring he had no chance after three rounds, stayed with their young children at the motel. It was Birdies in his first four holes that brought her to the course.

Miller never was one for excuses. One year being locked-in competition at the Crosby with Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach, Miller whacked his approach into the bushes on 16.

“A perfect shank,” he affirmed later in the press room. 

Nor was he one for false modesty.

Consider his words about that ’73 Open, the one Sports Illustrated headlined as “Miller’s Miracle.”

“It sort of made…,” he began, then halted. “It was one of those finishes that you just almost don't forget. Every guy that was any good at all from Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Trevino, all the guys who were in front of me. It wasn't like it was a bunch of guys you didn't know who they were. It was just all the who's who in golf were vying for that U.S. Open at Oakmont. I had to go through all those guys to win it outright.”

“I knew after four holes — I was six strokes back and I birdied the first four holes and I knew that I was in the running. The hair on the back of my neck sort of stood up when I said that to myself: You've got a chance to win. That made the adrenaline just start pumping.” 

He had been preparing to win a U.S. Open virtually from the first time he banged a shot against that canvas in the garage. His time had come.

“In my career, I didn't let pressure affect me tee to green. Tee to green I was sort of bulletproof. But it affected my putting, and I left a couple of short putts short of the hole.”

No matter. He wasn’t short of his goal. He was a U.S. Open champion.

From giving lessons to getting a hug from Rory

Not too long ago Michael Block was giving lessons. On Sunday afternoon, Rory McIlroy was giving Block hugs. Only in golf?  Probably.

Block is a golf professional, as opposed to being a professional golfer.

One makes club members and public course players do what’s possible, to enjoy the sport. The other may make millions, as did Brooks Koepka,  Sunday at Oak Hill Country Club in upstate New York.

Sometimes the twain do meet.

Sometimes we end up with a story that seems more fantasy than is imaginable. That’s what happened for Block. And for golf.

Those guys and ladies who give lessons, whether at some fancy club or resort or a “stop-and-sock” driving range at the muni, very much can play the game.

Perhaps not as well as Arnie, Jack, or Tiger — or Brooks Koepka, who with the victory at Oak Hill now has five major titles — but better than millions of others. 

Some, such as Block, have tried to qualify for one of the pro tours. Others, maybe an ex-caddy, were content to remain teachers.

Block has been around. He’s 46, has a family, grew up in St. Louis, and played college golf at Mississippi State and Missouri. Later on, he came west and had work as an assistant at Palm Desert for a couple of years, then became head pro at Trabuco Golf Club in Orange County, where he took care of the normal responsibilities, including lessons at $150 each.

Yet, he never gave up the dream, and he entered the PGA Tour qualifying school. He reached the second stage, which is good although not quite good enough. Still, there were tournaments to enter and succeed. He’s the reigning PGA of America Professional Player of the Year.

Every year players such as Block get into the PGA Championship. Usually, they miss the cut. Not only did Block make the cut, but he also made a splash. More than that he made himself weep when introduced on TV and made America cheer.

Down the stretch Block not only made a hole-in-one, but he made par-saving putts, long ones, the final two holes which enabled him to tie for 5 and earn an automatic place in next year’s PGA Championship in Louisville.

And not exactly incidental, Block, with a final-round even-par 70 and a four-day total of one-over 281, won $288,000.

Yes, the world and finances and inflation and everything are different now, but in his entire career, Ben Hogan won just $230,000.

As they say, timing is everything.

Block came along at the right time, helping create the right tale, the underdog who catches fire and because it’s on ESPN and CBS on a weekend, it keeps us tuned in and emotionally involved.

That Block, by luck of the draw, had the wonderfully popular McIlroy paired as his playing partner for the final round and it was almost surrealistic. After the last putts at 18, Rory wrapped his arms around Block.

He seemed as thrilled as everyone. And why wouldn’t he be?

Lights, camera, action: it’s Hollywood golf

The movie industry figured long ago what golf has always recognized: there’s more to being famous than just being talented, although that certainly is an advantage. You need some flash, or a background that puts you in the neighborhood at least.

When club pros from the chill and snow of the East Coast came to California as their courses closed down for the winter, they began playing in the West.

This week’s Tour event, the Genesis, began in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open, and with victories by Ben Hogan — whose statue is alongside the practice putting green — and Sam Snead, it was both an anchor and a prime draw for competitive golf.

In what will be the best field of any tournament this winter are Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and the hottest guy the last 15 months and world No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, who as you know won again last Sunday in Phoenix.

There was a movie about Hogan, “Follow the Sun,” but the main role was portrayed by Glenn Ford. To the contrary, the Netflix series “Full Swing” uses the actual players and their families.

Yes, reality TV with a 3-putt. You might say the pros, sometimes wary of what the media will say, are fascinated and fearless. Tony Finau’s tale is a bit of a fairy tale. Son of a baggage handler at San Francisco International, Finau, a prep basketball star after the family resettled in Salt Lake City, quickly became great at golf.

Asked if he were excited fans would learn his beginnings, Finau said, “Yeah, just going back to the storytelling, my upbringing I think is quite different than most, and I take you back to Salt Lake City a little bit, to where it started. I think with the humble beginnings that I have, that was really a cool part of the story.

“I wanted to be a part of it. I think early, I was one of the first guys to commit to doing this, and I was really just honored that Netflix wanted to do a show on golf. I thought that that was an avenue that needed to be shown and I thought that there were going to be a lot of great stories and I was just happy that they looked at me and said that I could be a part of it.

“Honestly, early on I was just honored that I could be one of the guys, so I committed early. Again, I didn't really know what to expect, but I was more than happy to kind of open my doors to Netflix to just allow them some access to off-course stuff. the storytelling. I think they've done a great job. Time will tell if everyone agrees.”

Everyone does agree that in individual sports, golf and tennis, it’s the names that keep us involved. Max Homa, who grew up in L.A., graduated from Cal and has won six tournaments including the Fortinet at Silverado, pointed out that the names on top change weekly.

He then was asked, “Are you more of a (Rory) McIlroy or more of a (Jon) Rahm guy?”

“You can't pick on me for that,” said Homa. “There's too many good players. I don't know, I just played with Rahm last week and he's pretty fun to watch.”

Which we may find out on Netflix, if not in the galleries. Around here, everyone’s ready for lights, camera and action.

Tiger talks about winning and LeBron

PACIFIC PALISADES — He said he is grateful to be here, surrounded by memories, facing possibilities a sporting hero recalling his own heroes and reminding us that his only reason in playing the game is to win.

That so many of us doubt it’s still possible doesn’t deter Tiger Woods. It’s the way he was raised. It’s the way he always will believe.

The way so many people, especially those captivated by his fist-pumping success at the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st, believe nobody else in the sport is quite his equal.

Or draws the same attention.

Woods, beginning Thursday will be in the Genesis Open, at Riviera Country Club, where in 1992, an amateur, he first was accepted to play at PGA Tour events.

He was 16, loaded with talent. He would be awed by the number of unstriped balls available on the practice range. We were awed by potential to be realized in 82 Tour wins, record stretches as world No. 1 and in becoming along with Ben Hogan the only man to win three majors in a calendar year.

You are familiar with the subsequent details, the headline grabbing affairs, the back surgery and most significantly the accident two years ago when the car Woods was driving probably too fast, overturned on a hillside road maybe 15 miles from Riviera.

An LA County Sheriff said Tiger was lucky to be alive. A severed foot was reattached. Months of rehab — still ongoing — have enabled him to play. Walking is difficult, however, and to play in a tournament, a golfer must walk.

Still, at age 47, while being asked about LeBron James and Tom Brady, one man who at 37 remains a force in the NBA having just overtaken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time points leader, the other at 45 hanging up the cleats after hanging up the all-time mark of quarterbacking seven Super Bowl victories.

They kept going. Tiger keeps going.

“As far as the LeBron record,” said Woods, “what he accomplished is absolutely incredible of just the durability, the consistency and the longevity.

“I never thought — I grew up watching Kareem here, never saw him play in Milwaukee, but he was the Cat, that's all I remember, the Showtime Lakers and watching Cat run down there with goggles and hit the sky hook That record we never thought it would be surpassed. But what LeBron is doing — but also the amount of minutes he's playing, no one's ever done that at that age, to be able to play all five positions, that's never been done before at this level for this long. As far as our equivalent to that, I don't know, maybe you look at maybe me and Sam (Snead) at 82? It takes a career to get to those numbers. That's how I think probably best how you look at it.”

To look at Tiger Woods, one must put aside any thoughts of being a ceremonial golfer, content to be in the field when he’s no longer in contention.

“I have not come around to the idea of being — if I'm playing, I play to win. I know that players have played and they are ambassadors of the game and try to grow the game. I can't wrap my mind around that as a competitor. If I'm playing in the event I'm going to try and beat you. I'm there to get a W, OK?

OK. Who are we to disagree with Tiger Woods?

A pebble from Pebble was the key for Rose

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — He had arrived too late for a practice round, so to get the feel for the course, Justin Rose climbed down the bluff to the sand, reached down and picked up — what else could it be at Pebble Beach — a pebble, a gift for his son.

That was a week ago Monday, and then after the nasty weather and his great golf, eight days later on the most recent Monday, Justin Rose grabbed the first-place trophy for the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The man has a sense of theater. And as we know, of financial promotion.

For a while, there he was, the spokesman for Morgan Stanley, appearing in commercials while he was struggling to reappear in the winner’s circle.

But the struggle has ended, in a tournament that because of weather delays -- rain hail and high wind, if not all at once -- the sun shined brightly over the final 18 holes.

Pebble looked spectacular. Rose played effectively.

A last round that began Sunday, for him and the others who went the full 72 holes — and you’d be amazed that some who made the 54-hole cut decided to skip out and head to Phoenix — concluded with Rose shooting a 66 for a total of 269, and three shots ahead of Brendan Todd and Brandon Wu 

Rose, 42, has had a career that’s lacked very little. Born in South Africa and moving to England at age 5, Rose was not quite 18 when, still an amateur, he holed out a shot on the 18th at Royal Birkdale and finished fourth in the 1998 British Open, two shots a playoff.

In a land seeking heroes, he became one instantly. It was the best thing to happen, and also the worst. Rose immediately turned pro — and missed 21 straight cuts. But the talent was there. As was the persistence.

“It was something that I felt like I was going to be remembered for, forever more,” Rose said once. “That one shot that I hit there, that’s the one shot that I have had to try to live up to. For a long time that shot became a little bit of a burden to me, because I did have a tough start to my professional career, and you never quite know where things are going to go from there.”

After a time, from a learning period on the British Tour, they went quite well. Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, a gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics and was the leading money winner. Still no matter what’s been accomplished, a golfer in his 40s has his doubts.

Especially the way things were going, or really not going, whether he would be back at the Masters, where in 2017 he lost a playoff to Sergio Garcia.

“I've been one of the players that's very fortunate to have done very well at the game of golf,” Rose said, reflecting. “Hope to win. Hope to put myself in the situation. My game hasn't produced many of those opportunities of late. But I still have had that belief that it's possible”

A pebble for his thoughts.

Aaron Rodgers grabs the “Am” in Pro-Am

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — It is called a Pro-Am, isn’t it? The people who pay to play, the amateurs, have been as important as the ones who play to get paid.

Maybe considering the tournament grew on the backs of Bing Crosby’s pals from the entertainment industry, at the end of the Great Depression before there was a PGA Tour, made it more important.

So there was something positive about a guy who is famous for what he has accomplished in another endeavor — if pro football could be so listed — as a partner on the successful team.

That would be the quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who grew up about 250 miles north, went to Cal, won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers and once was overlooked by the 49ers, who now wouldn’t dare sign him. Or would they?

Because of weather that, seemingly as tradition dictates, gave us (and the tournament) hail for a few minutes Sunday morning, rain for a few hours Saturday night and strong wind all day Saturday, the pro part is uncompleted, leading to yet another Monday finish. 

Through 63 holes of the scheduled 72, Justin Rose was in front, 15 under par and two ahead of Peter Malnati, who also had played 63; Brandon Todd and Denny McCarthy were also tied for second. Kurt Kitiyama, who is also from Chico as is Rodgers, had a bad front nine and fell out of contention.

Perhaps it is fitting, if unfortunate, that for a few hours at least the biggest name in the tournament is Rodgers. After he watched the AT&T before in his acquired celebrity status, he was invited to play.

Now a 10-handicap, Rodgers was partnered with Ben Silverman, who until a couple weeks ago was as little known as Rodgers is well known. A 35-year-old from Canada, Silverman missed the pro cut by a shot, but that almost was secondary.

“Well, Silverman just happened to land one of the headliners as a playing partner — Green Bay Packers (for now, at least) quarterback Aaron Rodgers,” reported a story on SportsNet Canada. “Not bad for a guy who lost his PGA Tour card in 2020 and then relinquished full status on the Korn Ferry Tour over the last year.”

No matter what happens this week, Silverman is in great shape to retain his PGA Tour card next year as the top 30 Korn Ferry players at the end of the season graduate.

Rodgers, who has said winning the AT&T was on his bucket list, offered appreciation to Silverman.

“I felt good about the partnership this week,” said Rodgers. “Ben's such a great guy. I knew we were going to have fun. Playing with Darius Rucker, I've known (Ben) for over a decade. He's a fantastic guy. You know it's going to be a great week.

“Then we put together a couple good rounds. The first two (Sunday), especially the last 10 holes, I was in my pocket and my partner picked me up.”

So he could pick up the victory.

At the AT&T, Mother Nature laughs away

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — That howling down by the ninth hole? You think it was the wind? Nah, it was that feisty lady, Mother Nature, cackling away.

“Think you’re going to hold a golf tournament here in February? Won’t you ever learn?”

It’s dog-bites-man stuff. Ancient history. Yes, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am went, shall we say, head to head against the best (or worst) of climatological conditions

And as so often happens, the tournament was the loser on Saturday. So, in a way, was CBS, which in this dead-of-winter situation, a week before the Super Bowl, gets a ratings boost from celebrities such as Bill Murray and other amateurs who remind us the game still is fun, even if not played well.

It was difficult. That was the Goodyear blimp up there, however, not the Chinese weather satellite. Play was suspended around midday until finally, after a three-hour plus delay, it was stopped.

Peter Malnati, at 12 under par, was two shots ahead of Joseph Bramlett and Keith Mitchell, with Kurt Kitiyama, the one-time basketball star from Chico, both at 9 under.

There’s nothing certain about what should have been the 54-hole mark except the AT&T will not finish until Monday, something that has taken place many times when storms and darkness combine to take a toll.

The amateurs who choose will be allowed Sunday to finish their completed rounds, so whether they make the cut or not they’ll be done. That may not be fair, but who said golf is fair?

What Bramlett said was, “It was just one of those days. You take it as it comes. We got to play Pebble Beach, so it was a blessing in that regard. But the weather was wild. It was fairly calm for maybe our first seven, eight holes. Then when we got to 9 it started blowing and then it's survival mode.”

You have to like a golfer with a movie director’s perspective.
“It's just trying to predict what the ball's going to do. I had 136 yards to the pin on No. 9 and I hit a full 8-iron short of the green. I had 210 yards up the hill on 14 and I airmailed the green with an 8-iron. So it's a guessing game. We're just doing our best.”

Mitchell likes challenges, and he and the others here definitely have one.

“Definitely pleased with how I played,” he said. “We definitely — first couple holes were very benign. Then right when we got on the 6th green is when the wind started picking up. Playing 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, pretty much straight into the wind, 8 was a little off the right, but everything else was straight into the wind.

“We knew going into (Saturday) that those were going to be the tough holes. That was going to be the hardest stretch potentially all week. If I could make it through that stretch in a relatively good score, I would be set up for the weekend.”

And he was. Take that, Mother Nature.

A windy reminder it’s Pebble Beach, not Palm Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — So the wind was up and the temperature down, but that was just a friendly reminder it’s February and we’re in Pebble Beach, not Palm Beach.

Yes, there are golf courses and mansions at both locations, but for this week at least, this is the only one that matters on the PGA Tour.

Where else would you be getting the speed of the wind as well as the speed of the greens, which as tales of poa annua grass remind us are both bumpy and quick? Just joking; the beach out here along Carmel Bay is famed for little rocks. What the golf property is famed for is being a place that produces champions.

Maybe one of those will emerge from a field filled with people other than major winners. Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Danny Willett still are trying to break through. The day’s low Monterey’s round was by Seamus Power, a 64. Naturally it was at MPCC, where par is 71, a stroke lower than the other two courses. 

“I grew up in Northern California,” said Kurt Kitiyama, “so I got to play Spyglass quite a bit. Not so much here and Monterey. But I’ve seen it before and definitely feeling a lot more comfortable this time around.´

“It's always nice playing here. It's nice being here. The plan is take what the course and conditions allow.

“I know it's playing a lot tougher there than the other two courses. So I think just kind of staying patient all around and get what is possible.”

The third round, the Saturday round, often is the biggest for TV, and for the fans in attendance when most of celebrities get their chance before missing the cut. They come up with songs and acts and stunts for the non-golfing public, the last remnants of the old Bing Crosby event.

Sport is supposed to be enjoyable, and the Saturday round at the AT&T inevitably is, no matter what the weather is. One year Bill Murray, who’s become the main non-pro attraction, reached into an ice cream cooler near the 18th tee and pulled out a frozen fish.

Maybe the pros attempting to get a victory won’t appreciate something like that, but most everyone else certainly will.

So who's really leading the Pebble Beach AT&T?

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The game is the same, hitting a little white ball as few times as possible, but the courses are different. Which makes the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am perhaps as much mystery as history.

Day one of this event — where thanks to Bill Murray there may be as many laughs as putts — gave us a leaderboard with a man named Hank Lebioda ahead of everybody else.

As they say, we will find out in a matter of days, or at least by Sunday evening when every one of the 156, or at least those who have made the cut after three rounds, finish their cycles.

So you are not familiar with any of the names. Well, be patient and persistent. Somewhere a few clicks down are a U.S. Open winner (Justin Rose, 69 at Pebble Beach), a Masters winner (Danny Willett, 71 at Spyglass Hill) and a winner of the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open (Jordan Spieth, 71 at Spyglass Hill).

The weather, often the deciding factor in wintertime on the Monterey Peninsula, wasn’t bad most of Thursday. Then it got semi-brutal, the wind so strong you’re surprised they didn’t post small golfer warnings.

Monterey Peninsula’s Shore Course is mostly tucked in among the pine trees until it swings out toward Monterey Bay.

Coming down the last two hole, said Harry Hall, another of the newer names who shot 64 at MPCC (par is 71), “It started to blow 45 miles an hour. It was crazy. Happy to get in a 7-under.”

Spieth has won this tournament, and last year he missed by a shot. He knows the courses and the conditions, which doesn’t necessarily mean he loves them. Golf is a test of making the best of the worst,

“Spyglass is hard,” said Spieth. “It’s a tough test. Would have liked to have done better on my front nine. That was really forgettable.

“Then I thought I played the back nine really well. It was really bizarre the last four holes or so with the wind. It went from nothing to flipping and then blowing about 25 out of nowhere the other direction than the forecast. That throws us through a big loop when you're prepping for something and you got to make the adjustment.

“But I had a good last three holes and that always kind of puts a smile on your face. I wish I would have shot a few under today. Just a couple early iron shots I hung right.”

Bill Murray has been hanging in at the AT&T seemingly forever. Thursday was the 20th anniversary of the movie “Groundhog Day,” which helped make him the tournament’s primary attraction. Others may come and go, but almost always he’s in the field.

We know his name and his game.

AT&T golf fights for attention

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The sports headlines dealt with Tom Brady. Of course. And LeBron James, naturally. Virtually nothing about the golf tournament at Pebble Beach.

Although, as a matter of interest, both Brady and his father, Tom Sr., have been entrants as well as longtime fans.

The Super Bowl is only a week and a half away, and isn’t that the biggest event in America? So how does any golf tournament, even one as historic as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, escape the shadows?

And since we’re in a question mode, if you were starting a golf tournament and needed someone famous to get the attention, who might you choose?

You know this, but the world, including the world of sports, isn’t what it used to be and, glancing around, you suspect isn’t going to be again. All this was brought into focus of late.

It’s not an issue of quality or skill. Every one of those guys or ladies on the tours, golf or tennis, is so excessively talented it’s almost frightening. Even the people who can’t make it are brilliant.

It’s an issue of getting the rest of us to watch them. And ask for autographs. And purchase the products they endorse.

Do you remember when Donald Trump — yes, that Donald Trump — played in the AT&T in 1993, and even made a hole-in-one? Never mind what you think of his politics. He would have people lining the ropes.

Jordan Spieth is in the AT&T, having won it once and also having associated with the sponsor. He’s a great guy as well as a great golfer. He understands the difficulties inherent in building a tournament.

Asked if the tournament would lose too much if the amateurs were dropped (Spieth plays with singer Jake Owen), he answered in the affirmative. “I think it would — I think the ‘Am’ portion of this tournament is obvious. How old is this tournament? 75 years old or something. Back to the Bing Crosby. I mean, that’s what this tournament is.”

Elevated to attract the big boys, the AT&T requires golfers who make the tournament required viewing, on the course or on the tube.

This is not unique. Back in the time where the top players were Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, or Arnie and Jack, the papers frequently reminded us who wasn’t there.

Tournament sponsors would scream, but hey, news is news, negative or positive. Reputations are not invented, they develop. Nothing is promised, but plenty is available.

You have to believe there will be more winners and more celebs, enough to make the Pebble Beach Pro-Am what it used to be. Even without Donald Trump.

Lonely golf at the AT&T

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — There wasn’t a rain cloud in sight. Or any spectators either. Nature is responsible for the first. The people who run the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am get credit or blame — you decide — for the other. 

Yes, time once more for Northern California’s favorite golfing event — maybe America’s, if you go by the TV ratings — when show business and big business hook up with players who really mean business.

It was created in the 1930s by Bing Crosby (go ahead, Google his name or his game), and as much because of the format and the spectacular landfall on which it long has been held — not to mention the conditions — it has persisted for eight decades.

Not that everyone who plays the PGA tour is enthralled. They don’t like rotating among three courses, Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula and Spyglass Hill. They don’t like being slowed by amateurs, rounds usually lasting six hours. They don’t like the climate, although everything was gorgeous on Tuesday.

The AT&T — for nostalgia’s sake, we’ll call it the Crosby — is remembered and heralded for storms and cold. The bad weather might not have produced wonderful golf, but it has given us at least one memorable comment.

“I can’t wait,” said the singer Phil Harris, “to get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.”

I can’t wait to see fans swarming over the courses. For no good reason, tickets are no longer sold for practice rounds on Tuesday. It was lonely out there, other than a few locals.

It’s a different world. We understand that. But when you can walk six blocks from Flaherty’s restaurant in Carmel, only a few yards from Pebble Beach, and not encounter another human soul, it’s a strange world.

That doesn’t particularly bother or affect Viktor Hovland, who seems content any place on any course. He grew up in Norway — no sardine jokes, please — went to Oklahoma State and won the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble.

Those amateurs are not to be confused with the ones in the AT&T, who are more recognized — Bills quarterback Josh Allen, retired Giants catcher Buster Posey, 49ers Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, soccer star Gareth Bale and as always Bill Murray — but don’t carry handicaps.

That doesn’t mean they might not carry their pro.

“Obviously you want to have fun and play well,” said Hovland about teaming up. “I like to play fast. But I do enjoy the format. It’s very unique to be able to play a PGA Tour event with an amateur, and I don't mind it. But I'd prefer to play fast, and I'm here to obviously try to win the golf tournament, so it depends on the partner, as well. I think you get to kind of have a little bit of a different feel to it. It feels more relaxed.”

The lack of fans? AT&T officials decided after shifting the celebrity shoot-out from Tuesday to Wednesday that marshals and security types appreciate time off before tournament play begins Thursday.

What? Didn’t we have too much lonely golf when Covid closed things down three years ago?

“That is a different dynamic,” said Hovland. “It felt lonely.”

As it did Tuesday.

These shots from Tiger are vocal

Interesting what’s happened to golf. It used to be known as the gentleman’s game, one in which you may have missed a critical putt but rarely missed a chance for an appreciative handshake. Now? Certain people are at such odds it’s remarkable they aren’t at each other’s throats.

There’s a tournament this weekend in the Bahamas, the Hero World Challenge, a limited-field event that might not mean much except for Tiger Woods. He has plantar fasciitis and withdrew because he can’t walk. However, he can talk, particularly about Greg Norman.

Norman once was known as the most sympathetic figure in golf. He blew a six-shot lead, lost the 1996 Masters to Nick Faldo and responded like — well, he did win many other tournaments including two British Opens, so champ would be a fine word.

For the PGA Tour, the best word might be pest. As you know, Norman, with Saudi Arabian money, is involved with the rival LIV Tour, which with shorter (54-hole) events and higher payments is stealing players from the PGA Tour. The hope is to force the PGA Tour to accept the LIV, creating one very wealthy if unhappy family

Apparently for this to take place, Norman will have to take off.

“Greg’s got to leave,” said Tiger when asked at the media conference about the possibility of a merger — which was what the Saudis, in the process of trying to upgrade their image through “sport washing,” want anyway.

In other words, Norman will be forced to make the ultimate links-connected sacrifice, his dream buried in a shallow bunker — but, this being golf, not without a large-sized financial gain.

“Right now,” said Tiger, “is not right, not with their leadership, not with Greg there and his animosity toward the Tour itself.

“As Rory (McIlroy) said and I said as well, Greg’s got to leave and then we can — eventually, hopefully — have a stay between the two lawsuits (one by each side) and figure out something. But why would you change anything if you have a lawsuit against you? They sued us first.”

Did someone out there add “Nah, nah”?

What Pat Perez added two weeks ago after Woods previously knocked the LIV was, “That’s the stupidest spit I’ve ever heard in my life.” Only he didn’t say spit. The question is, whether with 54-hole events and guaranteed money, golfers still would have incentive.

Perez, who played the PGA Tour for more than 20 years, is 46 — a few months younger than Woods, who will be 47 at the end of December. He grew up in San Diego and faced Tiger in junior tournaments. There’s respect but no idolizing.

Claude Harmon III is Perez’s swing coach (and son of Butch Harmon, who used to be Tiger’s coach). Harmon III pointed out that Woods still had “incentive” to compete despite getting money up front.

“He’s made so much money off the course, he found incentive to go,” Perez added. “But again, he only played how many tournaments? He didn’t go — I never saw him at John Deere, never saw him supporting all these events.

“He played in the majors, he played in the WGCs and that was it. But he’s worth every dime. In fact, like I said, he’s two billion short of where he should be, I think.”

Fore!

Willett couldn’t lose Fortinet, but he lost

NAPA, Calif. — It was the start of a new season in golf. It was the same old story in sport.

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Which, in this game, means not until the final shot is hit. Or missed.

No way Danny Willett was not going to win the Fortinet Championship on this damp Sunday afternoon. He had a one-shot lead over Max Homa and was on the 18th green with a very makeable 3-foot 7-inch putt for a birdie 4 and the victory.

Meanwhile, Homa was in the wet semi-rough, 33 feet from a birdie that, if somehow he could make with a miracle chip, would just put him in a tie and force a playoff.

You know what happened. Golf happened. Not only did Willett knock his putt about 4 feet past the hole, he followed it by also knocking the comebacker some 3 feet past the hole.

His birdie was transformed, yikes, into a bogey. And when Homa chipped in (do you believe in miracles or merely the nature of golf?), Willett, a former Masters champ, was a stunned runner-up. And for a second straight year Homa, the Cal grad, was first in the Fortinet.

“Yeah, obviously going to remember that last (putt),” said Willett.

The question is whether he’ll be able to forget it. Agony in golf seems to persist, even when you’ve won a major and mostly playing the European (now DT) Tour seven tournaments in all.

Homa, who trailed by as many as three shots during a day when the forecast rains came on early and then again late, had a final-round 68, 4-under-par on Silverado Country Club’s North Course, for a 72-hole total of 16-under 272. Willett was a shot worse in both categories, 69 for 273.

“Nice to be in contention,” was the philosophical comment from Willett, an Englishman who spends most of his time playing on the east side of the Atlantic. Willett only decided to enter the Fortinet because he had been elevated to exempt status on the PGA Tour when several other players defected to the rebel LIV Tour.

Might as well get a jump on the other guys. Sure, he needed a 5,000-mile flight to California, but hey, if you don’t like to travel, try a more sedentary occupation.  

“Hit a little firm,” was his description of the first putt. “But all in all, a great week.”

Not as good a week as Homa’s, admittedly.

Now, Max goes to the Presidents’ Cup, thrilled to represent the United States in team play for the first time. At 31, he knows well the non-secret to success on the links: patience. Let the game come to you. You’ll make your birdies — and eagles — so plug away.

”You know,” said Homa, “my coach said just hang around. And I don’t know, but these minutes are kind of a blur. Danny played great, but I just tried to play my game and see where it got me.

“I don’t know. It was a wild finish.”

A finish with all the elements that make the placid game of golf wonderfully enthralling. Or very difficult to accept, when you make a mess of things.

A lonely but great round by Harrison Endycott

NAPA, Calif. — They call golf the loneliest game. You’re on your own, other than a caddy. But usually there’s another golfer nearby. A playing partner, who keeps score while he keeps at his own game. Usually.

Not for Harrison Endycott in the third round of the Fortinet Championship on Saturday. He was in a one-some, if you will. Very alone, and it turned out very successful.

Seventy-three pros made the Friday cut at Silverado Country Club, and Harrison, playing in his first event as a PGA Tour member after qualifying from the Korn Ferry Tour, was No. 73.

Which, because the Tour doesn’t use markers, stand-ins to turn an odd number of players into an even number, as do the majors, meant that Harrison was by his lonesome.

He loved it, starting at 7:40 a.m. before the breeze kicked up, before the greens got tracked, and shot a 7-under-par 65 to move from that all-alone-just-made-it-to-the-weekend 73rd position to well within the top 10.

In a way, Endycott, born and raised in Australia, knows well what it’s like to be on his own. He was in his teens when his mother, Dianne, died from ovarian cancer.

According to Adam Pengilly of the Sydney Morning Herald, the young man, shaken, became a rebel — delinquent is too strong a term — and, already a golfer, devoted time to the game.

Now 26, Endycott is prepared to join the group of other Aussie golfers, including British Open champion Cameron Smith, on the world leader board.

“I mean it’s still very new,” he said, bringing a big attempt of reality to his making the Tour. “You know you’ve got a little more atmosphere, more people, bigger grandstands, TV everywhere I look. It’s funny. Like I feel very comfortable there when I’m within my own element, but when you kind of smell the roses in between shots you’re like, this is a different atmosphere. It might take a little time getting used to. But right now I’m enjoying it.”

When you shoot 65 in your third round on Tour, what’s not to enjoy?

The only mini-disappointment to Endycott’s round was that his girlfriend, Brandy, missed it. She didn’t awaken in time to attend.

At least his father was there, after being unable to travel from Australia because of the nation’s very restrictive Covid laws (see Novak Djokovic).

“It was very challenging not to see family and friends,” said Endycott. “But it’s going to be awesome to have them here on Sunday when I’m in contention.”

Endycott turned pro in 2017 and joined the Latin American Tour, where the language was a bigger worry than the golf. Then it was on to what now is the minor leagues, the Korn Ferry. Quickly enough, he advanced.

“I think my goals will come,” he said when asked his plans. “I expect the other guys will be shooting low numbers.”

As he must attempt to duplicate.

The Englishman who won a Masters shares Fortinet lead

NAPA, Calif. — He won a Masters. His schoolteacher brother in England called American golf fans “baying imbeciles.” You remember Danny Willett. Or do you?

There he was Friday, sharing second place in the first Tour tournament of the season, trying to bring back the magic while perhaps bringing back a few memories.

Willett shot an 8-under-par 64 Friday at Silverado Country Club and was tied with defending champ Max Homa at 12-under-par 136 in the Fortinet Championship.

A surprise? Not compared to what happened in 2016 at Augusta. That’s when Jordan Spieth started knocking balls into Rae’s Creek and giving Willett, the Englishman, the Masters triumph.

Which gave those baying imbecile golf fans in the USA a chance to ask “Who?” almost as if to verify the supposedly tongue-in-cheek commentary by Peter Willett.

A writer with the opportunity to chide the opposition in the U.S.-Ryder Cup matches, Peter wasn’t concerned about what the golfers thought, probably, only about laughs, Yes, there were apologies.

Since then, the golfer, Danny, almost disappeared. His body was a mess. This hurt, that hurt. Splitting time between the PGA and European tours (now DT), he found trouble on both.

Then at the end of 2021, Willett had an appendectomy, at which time surgeons also fixed a hernia. The pain was gone. So far in two rounds of the Fortinet, over-par golf also is gone.

“Yeah, bogey free,” Willett said elatedly. ”Probably most impressive. We’ve hit it really good, and this place kind of jumps up. The rough is kind of hit and miss, and the greens being firm, to go bogey-free really is good.”

That’s an understatement, certainly. You stay away from bogies, you stay in contention.

Silverado, in the wine country about an hour north of San Francisco, isn’t the toughest test in golf — hey, 12-under atop the leader board is an indication — but there are dry creeks and trees.

“Ón 16 we probably got a little bit screwed there with the second shot,” Willett said of a par-five. “I was a little bit right of the target but hit the end tree branch and came 40 yards backwards, and I messed around a little bit and was able to pitch in to six feet straight down the hill and made a really good save for par — which then let me be able to finish birdie birdie and get myself in a really great position.”

His position in this Fortinet is as good as it can be. You wouldn’t have expected him to be in first, or at least have a part of it, but you wouldn’t have expected him to win a Masters either.

Rickie Fowler tries to find the golfer he used to be

NAPA, Calif. — The game forced him to be here.

Rickie Fowler normally wouldn’t be in the season’s opening golf event, the Fortinet, where the kids, the rookies, get their shot at making shots.

But it was a matter of … is desperation too strong a word?

Fowler was no Tiger Woods, but in a way he was the next best thing. In a short stretch of years, Rickie finished second in the Masters, second in the U.S. Open, second in the British Open.

It was only a matter of time and patience until he became a major champion. Or so we were told. Or so he believed.

Fowler, now 33, still doesn’t have that major. And although he does have five victories as a pro, including the 2015 Players Championship, the recent years have been a struggle.

It’s as if he’s had to relearn the game. Or himself.

Once fourth in the Official World Golf Rankings, Fowler tumbled to 178th. He changed teaching pros — returning to Butch Harmon, who once worked with Tiger — and changed caddies.

And changed his routine, forgoing any bit of relaxation to return to the Tour as early as possible, in the hope the situation can be corrected.

“Not going through the playoffs,” conceded Fowler, “and not being in the Presidents Cup, that’s been really the only reason I haven’t been to Napa yet.”

The words verbatim mean the opposite, but it’s just a figure of speech. We understand what Rickie was driving at: “Until now, my golf was so good I didn’t need to be at this event two weeks after the Tour Championship. Now I do.”

You’re alone in golf: you and your caddy and the clubs, which used to be your friends but now are enemies. No relief pitchers. No backup quarterbacks. Just you flailing (or so you imagine) and groping. And those putts that used to find the bottom of the cup.

No wonder even the very accomplished pros use instructors. And psychologists.

Thursday’s opening round was delayed an hour and a half at the start, so many of the entrants didn’t finish. Fowler did, shooting a 5-under-par 67. He was not displeased.

“Bogey free,” he pointed out. “For the most part, that wasn’t necessarily an issue other than one hole. I had to make a 15-footer for par after I hit it in a bunker. Other than that, it was a fairly simple day.”

Two days earlier, Fowler told Cameron Morfit of PGA Tour publications, “I feel like I’m in a really good spot. I’m arguably as healthy and strong as I’ve ever been. The home life couldn’t be better. Our little one is great.”

Sounds excellent, but so did all the comments a few years back forecasting brilliance for Fowler.

“A good step in the right direction,” Fowler said of his first round of the new season. ”Not that we haven’t been doing that in the past. But just trying to get back to being more consistent.

“I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t be just those weeks. There needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing, just getting back to playing consistent golf and having chances to win.”

As he had, not all that long ago.