Saturday, February 20, 2010

LA to Pebble Beach

From Hawaii, it's home for a week or so then back out to CA for the west coast swing.
I usually cover the Northern Trust Open at Riviera CC.
It's a great old course and usually gets a strong field.
Phil signs some autographs after his round.
The weather turned ugly on Friday and we got lots of rain.
There were still some die-hard fans hanging in there!The weather cleared up for the weekend and the crowds grew.The 10th hole at Riviera is never short on drama!Ernie Els on the 11th tee.My buddy Jason H.watches his player Tim Wilkinson warm up at dawn.Steve Stricker was the man to beat on Sunday.And no one caught him!
From LA, I decided to avoid the airlines and dive up to Monterey via the PCH.
What a great stretch of road. I just wish I was on a motorcycle instead of in a Dodge!
Seal beach at San Simeon.Cute couple.Diggin' it.I had to pull over about 10 times for photos.
OK, back to work!
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am is a special event that can be fun and exhausting at the same time. Everyone plays in foursomes made up of 2-man teams. Each team has one TOUR pro and one amateur or celebrity. The golf can sometimes take a back seat to the celebrities and the fans don't mind at all. With rounds that can last upwards of 5+ hours on three different golf courses, hopefully something entertaining is going on!

The celebrity shootout is the first big event of the week. Here we see pro surfing legend
Kelly Slater show his touch around the greens.Huey Lewis and Andy Garcia watch as Tom Brady tees off.
Round one took me to the new course in the rotation, Monterey Peninsula Golf Club.
Its a great track and the players all seemed to like it.
Corey Pavin and Pat Perez wait to tee off.
John Daly has to hit over some deer which were not too concerned.
Apparently I didn't scare them either!
Actor Chris O'Donnel waiting to hit. Nice pose!
Ryo Ishikawa, the hot new star from Japan stands out in his green on the green.
U.S. soccer star Brandi Chastain celebrates a big putt on #18.
She kept her shirt on this time.
Always good to see David Duval in the field.
I got a chance to do an early flight on the MetLife airship "Snoopy II" on Saturday.
If you've never seen it up close, the gondola is pretty tight.
Just me and the pilot and an awesome day for flying!
You can see the rack of television gear that takes up most of the space.Obligatory self-portrait with the Peanuts gang.We flew over downtown Monterey on the way to the course.There were a few clouds, but overall the view was spectacular.
Looking down on #7
#6 green, #7 and #8 tee.
Looking south.
Pushing the blimp off the mooring post.
I jumped out and the TV camera operator hopped in.
Off they went to cover the round from above.

Back to the course, and a couple of young-guns. Rickie Fowler and Ryo Ishikawa.
Tom Brady tosses a football to his caddie on #18
George Lopez works the crowd.
Looking over to the 7th hole from #17.
There was a huge swell in the area and big waves were crashing
behind the players on the 7th green.A big crowd at the 18th green.
When the dust settled, it was Dustin Johnson holding the trophy
with Clint Eastwood on Sunday