PGA Tour Is Awash in Interest Over Long-Awaited Day at Beach

About 6 p.m. Sunday, there will be a mass exodus of players heading for Pebble Beach on a charter jet to play Monday morning and finish a tournament that began, oh, a mere 6 1/2 months ago.

That would be the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, a rain-smeared, washed-out total logistics disaster of a PGA Tour event that might actually wind up being completed Monday afternoon in spite of itself.

Only 36 holes were completed by the end of the first day in February when the tournament was overtaken by rain and mud. The tournament already had been cut to 54 holes, and then the PGA Tour took the unusual step of rescheduling the final 18 the day after the PGA Championship.

Exactly 134 of the 168 players who started the tournament Thursday, Jan. 29, will finish it Monday, but Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara, David Duval and Jack Nicklaus won’t be there because they’re all too far behind. Woods, for instance, is 14 shots off the pace.

Tom Watson and Tim Herron are tied for the lead. Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman and Jay Haas are two shots behind and there are 25 players within five shots of the leaders.

Yes, with players going off the first and 10th tees at three courses, playing lift, clean and place, hitting off the front tees as they did in bad winter weather, playing courses that are nothing like they were in February, with only a few scoreboards on the courses to let anybody know what’s going on, well, it’s going to be pretty unusual, to say the least.

What’s the logical outcome?

“You never know,” Herron said.

Of course, he’s right. At first glance, it would seem as though the big advantage would go to those playing Poppy Hills, which has five reachable par-five holes. That’s where Watson is playing, as is Davis Love III, who is only two shots behind.

Herron, who is playing at Spyglass Hill, knows what Poppy can give up.

“You can really score on those [par-five] holes,” he said. “But weird things can happen.”

In this tournament, it’s a virtual certainty. Two years ago, the entire event was scrubbed after 36 holes because of bad weather and the PGA Tour vowed not to let that happen again. Hence, the birth of the first six-month tournament.

It’s going to attract a lot of attention. More than 200 media credentials have been issued.

Then there’s the money. Even though it’s going to be only a 54-hole event, the total $2.5-million purse will be distributed, $450,000 to the winner. Every player who shows up will make at least $2,000.

Also at stake is a $100,000 bonus for the player who makes the most money in the eight events on the so-called West Coast swing. Duval and Woods were the leaders but neither will be playing.

Herron, Lehman and Love are the top players within five shots of the lead who could overtake Duval with the combined winnings of $550,000.

NUMEROLOGY 101

Here are two of the most important numbers this week at the PGA Championship at Sahalee: 11 1/2 and 4 1/2.

That’s 11 1/2 feet on the Stimpmeter, which measures the speed of the greens, and 4 1/2 inches of rough.

GOLDEN BEAR

For what it’s worth, Nicklaus made close to $9.5 million from his endorsements in 1997. He made $324,000 playing golf.

But, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Nicklaus’ public company has had a rough go of it lately. The company, Golden Bear Golf Inc., which has a golf course construction business as a subsidiary, has sold off a separate business of practice centers.

The Journal reported that since the company went public, less than two years ago, its stock has sunk to less than a third of its initial public offering price.

FINANCE 101

Paul Runyan, who received the PGA’s distinguished-service award and won the PGA in 1934 and 1938, was the leading money winner in 1934, with $6,767.

IT’S AN AGE THING

O’Meara isn’t sure it’s a factor that he had to wait until he was 41 to win majors.

“That golf ball doesn’t know how old you are,” he said. “It doesn’t know whether you are 60 or 40 or 10. It just sits there on the ground waiting for somebody to hit it.”

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

The 11th Five Acres Invitational will be played Sept. 21 at Glendora Country Club. The event benefits Five Acres, a center for abused, neglected and abandoned children. Details: (626) 798-6793, ext.244.

Love, Justin Leonard, Jesper Parnevik, Gil Morgan, Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam are among those scheduled to play in the Sun Microsystems Par 3 Challenge on Aug. 31 at Aviara in Carlsbad. Eight players will compete for a first prize of $120,000 with a $1-million bonus for a hole in one. Half of the proceeds to go the winner’s favorite charity.