Saturday at the “new look” Pebble Beach Pro-Am is just not the same

Saturday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (and its previous incarnation, the Crosby) used to be special at the namesake course, Pebble Beach Golf Links. Since it’s the weekend, there are more fans, of course, and in the original format Saturday was the day that the three-course rota brought the biggest names among the celebrity amateur players to the home course.

On Saturdays Pebble Beach Golf Links would be teeming with fans who didn’t know a driver from a wedge; they came to see the beautiful views and to spot famous faces playing golf amongst those views. The golfers among the spectators reveled in the fact that many of those stars, even with their staff bags and top-of-the-line equipment, and their memberships at high-rent private clubs like Riviera, Bel Air, and L.A. Country Club, had golf games that they could relate to. They were thrilled to see the stars, and also happy to see them display their human side on a golf course.

All of that has gone by the wayside with the transformation of this unique classic event into one of the PGA Tour’s “Signature” events. In order to create a schedule of events that concentrate more players from the upper echelons of the Tour’s membership, the eight Signature tournaments on the 2024 schedule will have bigger purses (Pebble’s went from $9 million to $20 million), with a larger percentage to the winner; smaller fields (70 – 80) drawn from the top tier of the Tour’s members; and except for three player-hosted Signature Events – the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, and Memorial Tournament – no cut.

The Tour’s leadership seem to be of the opinion that a larger number of “big names” playing for four days straight will draw more fans to the course and the TV coverage, but to my mind these events represent a watered-down product with little of the drama inherent in the make-the-cut or-go-home tournament format that we have known for years.

Not everyone is unhappy about the new format, of course (see below.) There have always been the curmudgeonly grumps (usually folks from outside the area) who complained about slow play, amateur antics (see Bill Murray…), etc., but the original format is a tradition that stretches back to 1947 – and there are plenty of us who are sorry to see it go.

Still lots to talk about…

New format aside, there was still some good-to-great golf on display today. Reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark put on a show, carding two eagles, nine birdies, and a bogey on the way to a course record* 60 and the lead in the clubhouse at 17-under. Friday co-leader Ludvig Åberg, playing five holes behind Clark, was sitting at 15-under when Clark tapped in for his 60, and was in good position to challenge for the lead, as was last week’s winner of the Farmers Insurance Open, Matthieu Pavon, at 14-under through fourteen holes.

A clutch of players at 13-under – Jason Day, Mark Hubbard, Sam Burns, and another Friday co-leader, Thomas Detry; and a couple of big names at 12-under, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler – could all have been said to be in the hunt for the tournament title as Clark’s ball dropped for the historic 60.

As it turned out, the third round finished with a pack on Wyndham Clark’s tail. Ludvig Åberg made only his second birdie of the back nine on #18 to close to within a stroke at 16-under; Matthieu Pavon closed out a string of six pars with a birdie on #18 for a 15-under; former San Jose State golfer Mark Hubbard birdied 18 and joined Thomas Detry at 14-under, and Scottie Scheffler birdied #18 to join Jason Day, 2023 AT&T Pro-Am champ Tom Hoge, and Justin Thomas at 13-under, T6, four strokes back. Sam Burns rounds out the top 10 alone at 12-under – and five strokes back is the most a reasonable assessor would give any chance of being able to come from behind to steal a win.

The weather, though…

High winds and significant rainfall amounts are predicted overnight into Sunday morning, and as play wound down Chief referee Gary Young came into the media center and laid out the possibilities for the tournament’s finish: Weather conditions will be evaluated overnight, and a decision on Sunday play made at 5:00 a.m. Players will be messaged at 5:15 a.m. as to whether play will proceed; wind and rain conditions will determine whether play will take place. Due to the anticipated conditions, no spectators will be allowed on the course on Sunday.

If play starts on Sunday, but the round cannot be finished, a Monday finish is in play, but ONLY if play can be concluded on Monday. Current green speeds can sustain play in winds up to ≈40 mph, but a combination of the wind and the effects of additional rain on an already soggy golf course will determine how, and when, the event is wrapped up. Sunday conditions are expected to be the most severe, so fans will be allowed on the course on Monday.

Stay tuned, folks.

* Preferred lies were in play, so…

2024 AT&T Pro-Am, Day 2: Almost boring…

There is a distinct lack of drama during the Friday round of a no-cut golf tournament. With the exception of the original-format Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which featured a Saturday cut because of the three-course rota, Friday is traditionally go-big-or-go-home day, when players at or near the top of the leaderboard are trying to continue their good play and hang on to their spots, and back-markers are looking to find another gear, up their games and get, or stay, above the cut line in order to make a paycheck.

Five of eight of the PGA Tour’s new limited-field Signature events, of which the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is now one, have no cut (the exceptions are the three player-hosted invitationals: the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the Memorial Tournament), so that Friday drama (or desperation, in some cases) that made it my favorite tournament day, after Sunday, is gone.

Of course, even in a guaranteed-payday tournament like this there is an incentive to play well. After all, with a total purse of $20 million, 1st-place money is a life-changing (at least for mere mortals) $3.6 million, and 10th-place still nets the player something north of half a million dollars. Even DFL* money is a mere $32,000, but that will at least cover your expenses for the week with a nice chunk of change left over – and you got to play Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill.

When you add to that picture a near-total lack of wind, and rain-softened greens that held every shot that hit them, the drama factor on the second day of the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was, well – low.

That being said, in some ways the new-look Pro-Am stayed true to its roots, because from early in the day Friday, despite the Signature Events’ promise of “more big names” and therefore “more excitement”, two less-than-familiar names – Thomas Detry and Ludvig Åberg, a Belgian and a Swede, respectively, held sway at the top of the leaderboard throughout the day.

Playing at Pebble, Detry laid a 2-under 70 (which included bogeys at holes 4 and 5) on top of the 9-under he carded Thursday at Spyglass Hill to hang on to a share of first place, while Åberg took serious advantage of the benign conditions at the tournament’s namesake course to rack up an impressive 7-under 65, second-lowest score on the day to join Detry at the top of the leaderboard.

Also crowding onto the top step, at this point, was Scottie Scheffler, who has come a long way since his 2013 USGA Jr. Amateur Championship victory at Martis Camp in Truckee. Scheffler took low-round-of-the-day honors, helped to a tidy 8-under 64 by a 35-foot birdie putt on 17. He rose thirteen spots up the leaderboard today to muscle in on a share of first place.

Where were the rest of the big names?

Rory McIlroy, current world #2 who was touted as the event’s biggest draw, couldn’t buy a putt all day (SG-Putting: 2.6), and seems to have lost the ability to hit any kind of a draw; he doubled down on his previous day’s troublesome 1-under round at Spyglass with a weak-sauce 2-over 74 at Pebble, dropping to T65 at 1-over. Of some consolation, perhaps, is the fact that McIlroy and his amateur partner, Jeff Rhodes, a managing partner at TPG Capital, won the pro-am competition with a 17-under total.

Patrick Cantlay, who sat one stroke behind Detry at the end of the first round, clung on with a 2-under 70 today, also at Pebble Beach; he is currently alone in 4th place.

Justin Thomas, who hasn’t stepped foot on this course in a decade, added a 3-under round on Pebble today to yesterday’s 6-under at Spyglass for a comfortable 9-under T5, two strokes back of the leading trio. Thomas shares the T5 spot with Argentinian Emiliano Grillo, and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, who was last week’s winner on Tour in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am 2023 champion Justin Rose managed just one more birdie than bogeys today, netting a 1-under 71 that dropped him fifteen spots down the leaderboard to T23, while AT&T spokesperson Jordan Spieth managed a 3-under 69, climbing six spots to T44.

The NorCal-associated golfers in the field finished the day as follows:

• Collin Morikawa and Mark Hubbard – 7-under, T10
• Maverick McNealy – 3-under, T44
• Kurt Kitayama, Chico native and UNV grad – 1-under, T55
• Max Homa, 2013 Cal grad – 2-under, T53
• Patrick Rodgers – 6-over, T78

*  (Dead f--king last)

Book review: “The Prodigy”, by John Feinstein ⭐⭐⭐-1/2

I have been aware of John Feinstein’s writing, especially his golf writing, for many years; in fact, his 1996 chronicle of a season on the PGA Tour, A Good Walk Spoiled, was my introduction to non-fiction reading about professional golf. Though I have concentrated on his golf writing, Feinstein has written several well-regarded books on basketball, baseball, and football—and I have only recently learned that he has also authored a series of sports-related YA (young adult) novels, including the recent release, The Prodigy, the first of his books for younger readers on the subject of golf.

The Prodigy is the new YA sports novel from John Feinstein—his first that is set in the world of golf.

The Prodigy is the somewhat fanciful tale of a 17-year-old golf phenom named Frank Baker, a nice kid from a small town in Connecticut who has amazing golf skills. The book is set in the recent past—2017 and early 2018, to be exact—and we pick up the story when Frank is preparing to play in the 2017 U.S. Amateur at Riviera Country Club, in the upscale Los Angeles-area city of Pacific Palisades.

Frank is being raised by his father, Tom, a divorced single parent who is a freelance stock trader—and a full-time golf dad. Frank is looking forward to playing college golf, and given his record, which includes making it to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur the previous year at the age of 16, he is assured of a multitude of offers, from the best programs in the country. His father, on the other hand, has his eyes on a different prize.

Frank’s prowess on the golf course has attracted attention from more than just college coaches; agents and equipment company reps have shown interest, and the book’s story arc is built around the conflict that arises when Frank’s dad gets too cozy with an agent from a big sports-representation firm. Frank is under pressure from his dad and the agent to forgo a college career and turn pro. The pressure gets more intense when the youngster earns a spot in the field at the 2018 Masters, heating up even more when Frank shows that he can keep up with the big boys on one of the biggest stages in the game of golf.

There are two people in Frank’s corner in all of the drama surrounding his college / pro dilemma: his swing coach, Slugger Johnson—the head pro at Frank’s home course; and Slugger’s longtime friend and college golf teammate, Keith Forman, a former low-level pro golfer turned golf writer. Forman’s involvement raises journalistic dilemmas for him as he finds himself becoming part of Frank’s story—even coming into conflict with Frank’s father and the ever-present agent—and not just a dispassionate observer who is reporting the story.

Feinstein creates an air of conflict that the Keith Forman character has to work through, describing a number of rather hostile encounters between Forman and tournament volunteers and security personnel, even citing a USGA training session for marshals in which media-badge holders are singled out as untrustworthy (based on a real experience of Feinstein’s—I guess I had better watch my P’s and Q’s the next time I’m at a USGA event on a media credential!)

The conflict between Frank (with Slugger and Keith in his corner), and his dad and the agent, along with his extraordinary play at one of the most high-profile golf tournaments in the world, are the main factors that combine to bring the action to a dramatic conclusion at the 2018 Masters.

One thing you can be sure of in a John Feinstein book is the insider’s touch. Feinstein knows everybody in the game, from players to agents, equipment reps, media folks, and officials and functionaries from the USGA and the PGA Tour. This knowledge is on full display in The Prodigy, to the extent that it starts to feel like rather gratuitous name-dropping. Players, including big names like Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas, not only have cameos, they play significant roles in the story, interacting with Frank and the other characters.

And it’s not just players, though they are the most recognizable names. Some of the other real-life names that are dropped include golf media personalities from TV, print journalists, and behind-the-scenes folks from the USGA and the technical side of broadcasting. As for the agents and equipment reps, they get the same short shrift that Florida real-estate developers get in a Carl Hiaasen novel—and I wonder how many of them are still going to be speaking to Feinstein after reading this book.

For the golf-knowledgeable teen audience at which this book is aimed, the big-name golfers who are mentioned will be well-known figures, and those readers might get a kick out of reading a story in which these stars of the PGA Tour interact with a teenaged golfer, even if the conversations and situations feel awkward and contrived—which they do.

The inclusion of real people from golf broadcasting, such as Joe Buck, Paul Azinger, Brandel Chamblee, and Holly Sonders, will pique the interest of young readers who watch golf on TV, but the use of the real names of people from the behind-the-scenes operations, and from the print-media world, will go right over the heads of the young reading audience (and many older readers, too…). On the other hand, readers and reviewers who actually know these people (and I know, or at least have met, a few of them) will find it odd to see in print a fictionalized version of a known person. This aspect of the book rings false with me, and seems rather pointless, all things considered.

Other aspects of the story are also rather uneven. While the overall “voice” of the book has a decided YA tenor, it wanders back and forth between over-explaining simple aspects of the game, as if catering to non-golfers, and using shorthand references that only a reader who is well-versed in the game will understand.

There are curious (and admittedly, mostly minor) lapses that will bother the knowledgeable golfer (or maybe just golf writers who are also editors…). For instance, when setting the scene for the section of the book in which Frank is playing in the 2017 U.S. Amateur, at Riviera Country Club, Feinstein describes the club’s location as being “…a few miles east of the Pacific Ocean…”, but Riviera’s westernmost border lies a scant mile or so from the beach. (Yeah, it’s a nit, but it caught my eye because I specifically checked it for a column I did a few years ago about Ben Hogan’s history at Riviera.) 

Another little faux pas that caught my attention was a misquote of the tagline from the USGA’s pace-of-play campaign of a couple of years back (a line borrowed from a scene in Caddyshack), which is cited as “While we’re still young”, rather than the correct line, which is just “While we’re young.” There are a few other instances like that scattered throughout the book—small things, but noticeable to the knowledgeable, and attentive, reader.

One thread that runs through the latter part of the story, and one which I relished, is a series of subtle, and not-so-subtle, digs at Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters—and their fussy rules and regulations, which are capriciously enacted and vigorously enforced, such as their insistence on referring to spectators on the grounds of the club as “patrons”, a ban on cellphones on the grounds (which Frank is gently but firmly admonished for joking about in an interview), and the use of the terms “first nine” and “second nine” instead of “front nine” and “back nine”. The Keith Forman character is characterized as “…(knowing) he was privileged to cover the Masters and (that) he was in a place any golf fan would kill to be, but the atmosphere of the place—the entitlement of it all—made him feel a bit squeamish.” I’m with Keith on that one.

All in all, while The Prodigy is an engaging read, especially for young golf fans, the overall scenario—which I cannot fully describe without introducing spoilers—is a little over-the-top, and the scenes which involve real-life people from the golf world feel forced and unrealistic. These things might not matter to, or be noticed by, the intended teenage audience, but adult readers, especially those with a bit of familiarity with the personalities involved, will squirm a little over some of those passages.