The last time there was this much buzz at Pebble Beach was when
the best player in the world arrived at the spectacular seaside
course for a major championship.
The year was 1929. The results were shocking.
Bobby Jones was unceremoniously bounced from the first round of
the U.S. Amateur by Johnny Goodman, and hotel rooms emptied across
the Monterey Peninsula.
That won't be the case when the 100th U.S. Open gets under way,
and not just because Woods has proved close to infallible over the
last year.
Never before has so much history converged on a major
championship.
The centennial U.S. Open in a millennium year.
The void left by defending champion Payne Stewart, killed in a
plane crash last October. He was remembered Wednesday with a
21-shot salute by his peers, who hit balls from the edge of the
18th fairway into the Pacific Ocean.
The farewell appearance of Jack Nicklaus, a four-time U.S. Open
champion and the only player to win an Open and a U.S. Amateur at
Pebble Beach.
The legend of Pebble Beach, which has produced great champions
and unforgettable shots whenever it plays host to a U.S. Open -
Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite.
``This might be the most intriguing event in a long time,'' said
Paul Azinger, who offered another heartfelt eulogy of his good
friend and promised to play with the kind of focus that brought
Stewart so much success in the toughest test of golf.
It all unfolds Thursday, over a course that was designed by two
amateur golfers and has become America's beloved cathedral of golf
along the rugged California coastline.
``The golf course has always had a special place in my heart,''
Woods said. ``One, for its pristine beauty, and another for the
mystique behind Pebble Beach.''
For Jones, it was his first trip to a place described as the
``greatest meeting of land and water in the world,'' and there were
some who predicted he might have problems with the tiny greens and
10 of the 18 holes exposed by the Pacific wind.
That's not the case for Woods.
He returns to a course where only four months ago he put on a
performance that showed why he is always a threat to win. Trailing
by seven shots with seven holes to play, he made three birdies and
an eagle from the fairway to win by two strokes.
It was his sixth straight PGA Tour victory, the longest streak
in over 50 years, and continued a stretch he carries into the U.S.
Open - in his last 25 tournaments around the world, Woods has
finished out of the top 10 only twice.
``We're all looking for one score all the time,'' Colin
Montgomerie said. ``And it's his.''
While Woods goes after his first U.S. Open title and continues a
slow climb toward Nicklaus' benchmark of 18 professional majors,
Montgomerie and so many other have come to Pebble Beach with their
own nuggets of history.
Montgomerie thought he won at Pebble Beach in 1992, his first
U.S. Open, by getting out of the wicked wind and into the clubhouse
at even-par 288. He wound up third, and has suffered through two
other close calls in the Open since then.
``I have to be honest - it's not a normal tournament,'' the
Scotsman said Wednesday. ``There's slightly more pressure on the
situation.''
Phil Mickelson played his first professional round at Pebble
Beach in the '92 Open, a 4-under 68. He followed with an 81 and
missed the cut. With 16 victories, including three this year,
Mickelson figured he would have won a major by now.
``I think it's very important that it take place fairly soon,
because I've had so many opportunities to really break through and
win, and for whatever reason I just haven't come through and done
it,'' Mickelson said.
Driving him on is memories of Pinehurst, where Stewart beat him
by one stroke with a 15-foot par putt on the 72nd hole.
Disappointment turned to joy the next day when he watched the birth
of his daughter, followed by a sense of shock four months later
when Stewart perished in a plane crash.
Tom Lehman, who played in the final pairing of the U.S. Open
four years in a row without winning, considers Pebble Beach a
special setting, particularly since he met his wife here. David
Duval gets another crack at his first major and has a history of
playing Pebble well - he holds the course record, a 10-under 62,
along with Kite.
And while no European has won the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin
in 1970, that could change. Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood have
both overcome Woods to win this year, while Sweden's Jesper
Parnevik is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Still, it all goes back to Woods, the No. 1 player in the world
trying to survive the most demanding test of golf in the world.
``You always want to see how far in front or how far behind you
are from him,'' Sergio Garcia said. ``You know that beating him,
you're going to be probably winning the tournament, or getting very
close to it.''
Such pressure is not unknown to Woods, who has been regarded a
favorite ever since he won the Masters by 12 strokes in 1997.
That victory, in a roundabout way, also is linked to Jones'
first trip to Pebble Beach.
After losing in the first round, Jones went a couple of miles up
the coast to a new course called Cypress Point. There, he found
inspiration to collaborate with Alister McKenzie on a course they
designed in Georgia that became Augusta National.
