TEEING OFF

1 Bad weather and Pebble Beach used to be interchangeable, but it has been better than good since 2000, when rain pushed the last round to Monday. Rain showers are expected every day this week, which is no surprise to Paul Goydos, who grew accustomed to Pebble Beach weather during the rainout in 1996 and the rain in 1998 that pushed the third and last round from Feb. 2 to Aug. 17.

The entire Pebble Beach experience was not just wet, but bewildering, said Goydos: “It was like the Twilight Zone of the PGA Tour.”

2 Padraig Harrington of Ireland, one of the stars for Europe on last year’s Ryder Cup team, is making his 2007 PGA Tour debut this week at Pebble Beach. Harrington, ranked ninth in the world, led the Order of Merit -- the European Tour’s money list -- in 2006. Harrington won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and tied for second at the season-ending Volvo Masters to move past Paul Casey on the money list.

3 You might not catch it because there’s no guarantee that CBS will show it, but the fifth hole at Poppy Hills is probably going to be one huge headache again. The 426-yard par four was the toughest hole on the PGA Tour in 2006. It played to an average of 4.492.

4 He’s not exactly off to a hot start -- he missed the cut last week at Phoenix -- but Phil Mickelson may find there is strength in numbers. Mickelson tops a list of six left-handers tackling Pebble Beach. The others are Mike Weir, Eric Axley, Steve Flesch, Bubba Watson and B.J. Staten. The last lefty to win at Pebble Beach was Mickelson in 2005 with a 19-under-par 269, four shots ahead of Weir.

5 If you’re looking for a Crosby in the field this week, don’t strain your eyes. For only the third time since the tournament emerged as a 54-hole event in 1948, no Crosby is playing in the tournament that was once the Bing Crosby Pro-Am when it landed in the Monterey Peninsula. Nathaniel Crosby, Bing’s son, decided against playing this year.

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-- THOMAS BONK