It’s time to get their feet wet

PEBBLE BEACH —  What would Pebble Beach golf be without rain? It has been unseasonably dry, up to now, but because the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am begins today, it must be the cue to hit the rain button once again.

The forecast this weekend is for umbrella weather, which should surprise few here on the Monterey Peninsula, especially the 180 pros who have shown up to play with their amateur partners in this $5.5-million tournament at Pebble Beach, Poppy Hills and Spyglass Hill.

“If you come here without your rain gear and your umbrella, you are not really thinking very well,” Paul Goydos said.

There is a bright side.

“It’s not snowing, at least,” Goydos said.

No, but it’s wet, and chances for improvement are about as good as Tiger Woods showing up to play this week. There were nine withdrawals from the field, a large number for any tournament, 10 if you count Greg Kraft, and he was one of the alternates.

Five of the top 10 ranked players are on hand, led by second-ranked Jim Furyk. The others are Phil Mickelson (No. 6), Vijay Singh (No. 7), Luke Donald (No. 8) and Padraig Harrington (No. 9).

Like everyone else, they are probably in for a wet weekend, a prospect that doesn’t bother Aaron Baddeley, last weekend’s winner.

Baddeley climbed 46 places to No. 44 in the rankings after his victory at the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. He believes a sunny disposition is an advantage when the weather frowns.

“A lot of people complain we are playing in this weather. ‘I can’t believe it, we should be in the clubhouse,’ blah, blah, blah,” Baddeley said. “If you really embrace it, it’s going to be a good challenge. If I can keep a good attitude and try and play hard, I can get an advantage.”

Bad weather is not unusual for this tournament, which has had more than its share, though not recently. Not since 2000 has anything serious happened, when persistent rain and fog delayed the final round until Monday, and Woods came from seven shots back with seven holes to go and ran down Matt Gogel.

So-called ‘Crosby weather’ is legendary. Rain, wind and fog are par for the course, just about every year, but some of the weather-related circumstances here reach historic levels.

For instance, in 1952, the tournament was shortened to 36 holes because of 45-mph winds on Friday (they played anyway), and the second round was canceled because three holes at Monterey Peninsula Country Club were under water.

In 1962, the final round was canceled Sunday and was played Monday because rain, hail, sleet and snow made the course unplayable.

Jimmy Demaret couldn’t believe his eyes. “I know I got loaded last night,” he said, “but how did I wake up at Squaw Valley?”

Bob Hope once said everybody knew that wind and rain were part of the tournament experience. “But one day there were clams in the rain,” he said.

Luke Donald is from England, but he has lived in the U.S. for 10 years and believes that weather will find you no matter where you are, so there’s no advantage regardless of your background.

Wet weather affects the greens more than anything, Donald said.

“The way the courses are, you know, it’s not pristine conditions,” he said. “You can never get those greens perfect. You are just not going to have 25 putts every day . . . so it does take a little bit of extra mental strength just to realize that you are not going to make everything.

“A wet week will obviously make it tougher. The wetter it is here the tougher it gets, especially on the greens. You have to really control the spin, plus with all the amount of players playing, you get some footprints out there if it’s soft.”

There is probably not going to be anything soft about the player who winds up winning this thing. Only the strong survive around here, mostly because of the weather. When it rains, it pours.

thomas.bonk@latimes.com