Duval plans on skipping Pebble Beach

David Duval has played the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am every year since he joined the PGA Tour, and was runner-up in 1997. He loves the course, the amateur format and doesn't even mind the 6-hour rounds.

The greens are another story, which is why he probably will take a rain check this year.

``I'm just tired of hitting it a foot from the hole and not knowing if I'm going to make it,'' Duval said. ``You could hit it 6 feet 72 times and shoot 12 over. That's the problem.''

Pebble isn't always in the best shape during the first week of February.

The Monterey Peninsula usually gets socked with rain, and the poa annua grass on the greens can get bumpy and inconsistent. Add to that 360 players -- 180 pros and 180 amateurs -- over the three courses, and it can get unpredictable.

``Everybody has their spikeless shoes on. They get filled with mud, so you get a quarter-sized indentation, seven or eight of them on each green,'' Duval said. ``You get tired of that. I've gotten tired of that.''

Pebble Beach isn't for everyone. It's one of the most tradition-rich events on tour, started by the late Bing Crosby with an atmosphere that screams entertainment.

Duval promises to be back if he skips this year.

``I love it too much,'' he said. ``I love the whole idea of it. I like it there so much I'm thinking I still might play. It's just frustrating.''

Pebble will hardly be lacking in stars if he doesn't play.

Tiger Woods, who won the National Pro-Am and the U.S. Open at Pebble in 2000, says he'll continue to go as long as his partner -- childhood pal Jerry Chang -- wants to play.

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