Probelms of a different
nature at Phoenix & Pebble Beach
Before Tiger Woods and his
foursome could hit their approach shots on the 18th at Poppy Hills, they had
to wait for comedian Tommy Smothers to finish his yo-yo tricks and get off the
green.
U.S. Ryder Cup star Hal
Sutton had to wait for the jeers to subside before he could hit his tee shot
on the par-3 16th in the Phoenix Open.
A chorus of boos resounded even louder when he hit into a bunker.
Why? Because of his assessment
a day earlier that the "fans" didn't like.
"I think there's a pretty
damn good party going on here, and there's a golf tournament lost somewhere in
the middle of it," Sutton said.
That's true on both accounts.
From Phoenix to Pebble, the last two weeks have been one big party on the PGA
Tour, only not everyone was pleased to be there.
Unmerciful heckling nearly
caused David Duval to withdraw from Phoenix after the third round. Another rain
delay in the first round at Pebble Beach made Lee Janzen wonder why he came back
for the first time since 1996.
For those who have a problem
with Phoenix, Rocco Mediate offered a piece of advice.
"If you don't like it,
don't come," he sniffed.
For those who are weary
of the weather, the amateur distractions and the marathon rounds at Pebble Beach,
Duval had a similar answer.
"The people that don't
come, don't come," said Duval, who hasn't missed Pebble in seven years. "The
players who enjoy being here keeping coming."
So why is Pebble Beach
so celebrated, and Phoenix such an embarrassment?
One tournament has Hollywood
stars, All-Star athletes, and Fortune 500 CEOs. The other has refugees from the
WWF. Pebble represents an important chapter in tour history. Phoenix represents
everything golf is not.
The Phoenix Open is notorious
for its mammoth galleries on the TPC at Scottsdale, along with its mammoth beer
sales at the 24,000-square-foot Bird's Nest tent across the street. It's almost
as though fans have a reputation to live up to when they walk through the gates.
Remember, this is the same
crew that cheered Justin Leonard's poor shots when he lost in a playoff to hometown
hero Phil Mickelson four years ago. And this is the same tournament where a drunk
following Tiger Woods last year was found with a gun in his fanny pack.
Woods didn't return this
time. Duval won't next year.
Care to guess why?
"That's the kind of thing
that's over the top," said Phoenix winner Tom Lehman, who tried to hush the crowd
when it booed Sutton. "It's only a small percentage, but it's enough to hurt
what is otherwise a great event."
That small percentage had
just enough common sense to razz Duval for choosing to play it safe off the tee
on the short par-4 17th, and to boo him a day later when he three-putted. Casey
Martin caught the most ruthless barb of all after an errant shot on the 16th.
"Walk it off," some genius
shouted.
Suddenly, watching (Everybody
Loves) Raymond Romano try to hit a ball off the beach doesn't seem so bad.
That doesn't make Pebble
Beach perfect. Bill Murray took the year off, meaning old ladies could stand
next to bunkers without fear, but Smothers' routine wore thin. And what has happened
to all the celebrities? Instead of Jack Lemmon and James Garner, we now get the
CEOs from IBM and AT&T.
As for the weather, no
one ever said golf had to be played in sunshine. Keep in mind that the '62 Crosby
Clambake had one round postponed because of snow. Jimmy Demaret rolled out of
his bed in the Lodge, looked at the 18th green and said, "I know I had a lot
to drink last night ... but how did I end up in Sun Valley?"
Pebble helped made golf
popular before Arnold Palmer took over, and has long been an integral part of
tour history.
There are distractions.
There are delays. But somehow, that "small percentage" from Phoenix has never
found its way to the Monterey Peninsula.
Why bother going to Pebble?
"This combines all the
elements we're looking for when it comes to the PGA Tour -- corporate involvement,
amateur involvement, celebrity involvement and fan interaction," Peter Jacobsen
said. "It's a combination of good fun and good golf, but the respect of the fans
and the players is still there.
