Before it gets real—Wednesday at the 119th U.S. Open

After record high temps, “June Gloom” returns to Pebble Beach

After several days of scorching temperatures in the Bay Area, including record high temperatures recorded at nearby Monterey, Wednesday at the 119th U.S Open, at Pebble Beach Golf Links, brought the cooling “June Gloom” fog.

An interesting difference between spectator routing at Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open vs the AT&T Pro-Am: access to both sides of the first and second holes. Wednesday practice rounds drew spectators despite the onset of “June gloom” weather.

As the golf media swarmed into town, and the more ardent golf fans braved distant parking and long bus rides to see their favorite players getting in some last practice holes before the flag drops on Thursday, the fog produced a diffuse, lambent glow to illuminate the Del Monte Forest. With the sun obscured by the marine-layer fog, the shadowless yet oddly glary light was accompanied by a chill breeze; both sunglasses and 1/4-zip sweatshirts were the order of the day.

Like the AT&T Pro-Am, but “more”

If you are familiar with getting around Pebble Beach during the AT&T Pro-Am, you will have to re-learn some things when you come to the Open here. There are more, and different, walking routes—for example, you get to see the left side of the first and second holes, which is no-man’s land during the AT&T; and the walk past #3 tee to #16 and the holes beyond is simplified by the lack of vehicular traffic on the entrance road.

In fact, everything about the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach is “more”. More fans, more merchandise, more things to do besides watching golf. There were more fans on the grounds—on a Wednesday—than I have seen on some tournament days during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and more media folks in the massive media center tent that occupies the site of the former driving range, just above the Peter Hay Par-Three Course .

There are more concession stands; more grandstands; more marshalls, security, and infrastructure.

More over-tanned guys in the latest golf apparel opining to their buddies about the quality of the golf holes here at Pebble Beach.

More unwilling (and less-willing) girlfriends/wives being dragged around the course by their golfing boyfriends/husbands, wearing more inappropriate footwear (those chunky wedges are going to be a problem, ma’am…) and complaining that there are no celebrities to watch, just golfers.

More families of footsore-but-happy children and frazzled moms taking dad out for a Father’s Day treat.

More event merch being worn by fans on the course (especially when the weather turns from sunny and 85 to cloudy and 61 from Tuesday to Wednesday.)

Tomorrow it gets real

For all the pre-event chatter in the golf media about Brooks and Tiger and Dustin and Jordan and their chances of winning, or whether or not the USGA course setup folks will “lose” the course if the weather stays or turns hot, if the Wednesday practice-day crowds are any indication, this Open will be a huge success—at least from a fan’s point of view.

People were taking the day off of work, in the middle of the week, to come to what is arguably the most beautiful, and undoubtedly the best-known, golf course in the United States to watch the best players in the game play practice rounds. That’s some golf love.

Today was a tuneup—tomorrow it gets real.

Bay Area golf fans face a decision next September

2019 holds the promise of being a very good year for Bay Area golf fans. The 119th U.S. Open will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links, in the storied seaside course’s centennial year; a new PGA Tour event sponsored by the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry will appear on the schedule, played at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City†; and the LPGA will return with the second year of the reboot of their Bay Area tournament of recent years, also at Lake Merced.

However, a week before the Steph Curry event, in the last week of September, Bay Area golf fans will have a decision to make. In late September, as the 2019-2020 PGA Tour season is starting up, and the 2019 PGA Champions season is winding down, both tours will be playing in Northern California, at the same time, 160 miles apart. The PGA Tour will be kicking things off with the Safeway Open, at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, and the PGA Champions will be bringing along the next generation of golfers in the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting the First Tee, at Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills in the Del Monte Forest.

How did this happen? Aren’t the PGA Tour and the PGA Champions part of the same organization? Do their scheduling people talk to each other? Do they own a calendar—and a map?

Call it a first-world problem for Bay Area golf fans: Which world-class destination do we head to that week to watch golf—the Silverado Resort & Spa in America’s most venerated wine region, the Napa Valley; or Pebble Beach, the ne plus ultra of American public golf, on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula? Do we want to see the young guns of the PGA Tour (but probably few, if any, big stars), or the old-pro PGA Champions, playing alongside youngsters the same age as their grandkids?

What’s a golf fan to do?

Actually, there’s no wrong answer here—either choice results in a great time at a beautiful venue. Late September is prime time for visiting either the California coast or the Napa Valley; the weather is ideal: neither too hot nor too cold, generally sunny and clear, and there’s rarely any fog at the coast. It’s a shame that this scheduling conflict prevents local golf fans from possibly enjoying two weeks of great golf, but we’re still lucky that we have the choice of these two great events at beautiful destination venues.

† (Correction: In early January it was announced that talks with the potential title sponsor of the Steph Curry-sponsored event, Workday, had fallen through, and that the event would not be held in 2019. There is hope that the event will appear in the schedule in 2020, potentially at TPC Harding Park, in San Francisco.)