Pebble Beach Event to March On

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. —  The longest tournament in PGA Tour history? Looks as though it’s going to be the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which began last week and won’t end until March 2.

Because there has been much more rain than golf on the Monterey Peninsula, Monday’s rained-out third and final round, which was carried over from Sunday’s rained-out third and final round, now is scheduled the day after the Nissan Open.

The latest plan to salvage the rain-soaked tournament sounds like some sort of barnstorming tour. It features the novel idea of chartering an airplane from Los Angeles to get the players here, having them play 18 holes, then putting them back on board and flying them to Miami for the Doral-Ryder Open.

There is no precedent for delaying the last round of a tournament for a month. The 1991 Houston Open was washed out in April without a round completed, rescheduled for October and finished then.

There are a few problems:

* Player defections.

What if those in the Pebble Beach field aren’t playing the Nissan Open at Valencia?

Only eight of the top 21 at Pebble Beach are committed to play at Valencia, but not Tom Watson, Tim Herron, Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman or Davis Love III.

Why would anyone who isn’t within, say, six or seven shots of the lead come back?

Tiger Woods, for instance, is 14 shots behind.

“You’ll see a lot of no-shows,” Watson said. “It’s not fair to everybody, but the great thing about it is that it gives us an opportunity to finish the tournament.”

Of course, Watson is tied for the lead with Herron, so it’s no wonder he believes finishing the $2.5-million tournament is such a great idea.

Jerry Pate said he expects the field to shrink when it’s time to return.

“I’d say 40% smaller, maybe 30%,” he said.

* Weather.

There’s hardly a guarantee that it isn’t going to be raining March 2.

Worst case scenario? Half of the players in the field complete their round March 2, then it rains out the rest of the day. The PGA Tour is then committed to complete the round, however long it takes, even though Doral begins the Florida swing that same week.

* Scheduling.

Consider the case of Lehman. He’s tied for second at Pebble Beach with Mickelson and Jay Haas, one shot off the lead.

It’s a nice position to be in, right? But Lehman is playing a tournament in Dubai that ends March 1, and he’s receiving a reported $200,000 appearance fee.

Now, could Lehman fly from Dubai to Monterey in time to play his last round at Spyglass?

Players make their schedules months in advance and commit to foreign tournaments, corporate outings, commercial shoots, charity tournaments and other outings.

On the other hand, there are inducements for the players, namely money. The winner receives $450,000 and the two-year exemption that goes with it.

The tour is waiving its withdrawal rule for Pebble Beach, which means any player who decides against playing March 2 won’t be penalized in the Vardon Trophy competition for scoring average.

Other than that, it’s up to the players to show up and finish this most unusual tournament.

“This is the best scenario we could come up with,” said Arvin Ginn, PGA Tour tournament director for competition and rules.

Is everybody happy?

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said.

Watson couldn’t say that either.

“I think it’s a creative decision to come back here,” he said. “Probably not everybody agrees with it, but whatever date you pick, there will be some conflict.”

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Elements of the Game

Weather-related facts about the PGA Tour:

* Last time a tournament was rescheduled: 1991 Independence Insurance Agent Open (rescheduled from April until October because of rain). Tournament is now known as the Houston Open.

* Last time it snowed during a tournament: 1987 Greater Greensboro Open.

* Last time a tournament was canceled and not rescheduled: 1996 AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

* Last tournament to finish on a Monday: 1997 Memorial.

* Last tournament to finish on a Tuesday: 1980 Tucson Open.