Playing That Same Old Song About Rainy Days and Mondays

Here’s a real bulletin: Rain washed out the day’s round of golf at Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Poppy Hills.

The way things are going here in Waterworld, the only surprising news would be if they actually got to play a complete round in the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Annual Soak-Off.

Of course, Sunday’s washed-out round was supposed to be the concluding one, but a heavy downpour forced suspension of play just before 10 a.m., and 3 1/2 hours later play was postponed. Several tree tops snapped off at Spyglass, which didn’t help, either.

It was time to come up with a new plan. The idea now is for the final 18 holes of the truncated 54-hole event to be played today, which may be so much wishful thinking.

Players are supposed to be in place at 8 a.m. to resume play. When that announcement was made to a group of players Sunday afternoon, they burst out laughing. The 8 a.m. start time was repeated, which prompted another round of laughter.

PGA Tour rules dictate that if more than half of the 168-player field complete their round today, the round must be completed, and that could mean play on Tuesday--except Tuesday’s weather forecast is for more rain.

There were 10 players who completed as many as seven holes Sunday, but 56 hadn’t even begun, including Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman, Paul Azinger and Jim Furyk.

Tom Watson, who played three holes, just wants the tournament to be completed today.

“I’m just hoping we can get it in,” he said. “That’s the bottom line . . . that’s the only line. But it doesn’t look very good.”

Watson, tied with Tim Herron at 10 under par after 36 holes, may be correct because the forecast for today is for even worse weather than Sunday’s. But the tour is committed to give it a try, basically because of what happened in 1996 when tour officials called off the tournament on Sunday with only 36 holes in the books.

The tour was widely criticized for canceling the event early that Sunday morning. By mid-morning, the sun was shining and Pebble Beach was dry enough Monday to stage a media tournament.

Second-guessing about this year’s schedule of play for Thursday and Friday began as soon as it was announced. Only nine holes were played each day, even though Friday was clear and dry all day.

Players wondered why they weren’t allowed to play as many rounds as they could both days. One of those was Jeff Maggert, the 36-hole leader in the canceled 1996 event.

“It does kind of stink,” Maggert said. “I thought we could have played more golf the first two days. That was the biggest bogey of the week. We could have had three rounds down by this afternoon. We could have played 27 holes on Friday.”

Only nine were even scheduled, and not until 11 a.m., to satisfy television by showing the celebrity golfers. (There will be no television coverage if the final round is played today.)

“The pros are an afterthought,” Maggert said. “It’s gotten to be where the TV is so important they kind of forget there’s 168 pros here tying to make a living.”

Tournament director Lou Russo said there was no way any more golf could have been played Thursday and Friday.

As usual, when rain disrupts this tournament, there is no shortage of suggestions on how to avoid such problems. The date of the tournament can’t easily be changed because of the scheduling of the other PGA Tour events.

Besides, the late-January, early February date is important to the Monterey-Carmel community because it is a boon to the hotel industry during a relatively slow period and does not interfere with its high-occupancy season in the summer and early fall.

Golf Notes

Golf carts and PGA Tour rules collide in an Oregon courtroom today when disabled golfer Casey Martin’s lawsuit challenging tour rules against the use of carts begins in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

Martin, 25, is a former Stanford All-American who was born with Klippel Trenaunay Weber Syndrome, a circulatory disorder, in his lower right leg that makes it painful for him to walk and could lead to amputation below the knee.

Citing the Americans with Disabilities Act, Martin sued the PGA Tour in December over its rules that forbid the use of carts in PGA and Nike tour events. The PGA Tour failed in its bid last week to have the case dismissed on the grounds the ADA did not apply.