100th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach

By JOHN WOOLFOLK

June 15, 2000 Web posted at: 10:16 AM EDT (1416 GMT)

PEBBLE BEACH, California (San Jose Mercury News) -- With all the pomp of a royal wedding, golf's greatest contest returns Thursday to its most celebrated course, making the centennial U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach perhaps the most momentous in the tournament's history.

``In terms of the sheer size and scope of expectation here, the game of golf is just bursting at the seams,'' said R.J. Harper, vice president of golf at Pebble Beach Co.

It was auspicious enough that the U.S. Golf Association six years ago chose pro favorite Pebble Beach for its 100th Open championship, one that just happens to arrive in the year 2000, the cusp of a new millennium.

Added to that is a recent confluence of fortune and tragedy that have given this year's Open an almost mystical aura.

Last summer, Pebble Beach Co. returned to domestic hands for the first time in a decade when Japanese owners sold it to a celebrity investor group that includes actor Clint Eastwood and golf legend Arnold Palmer.

21 golfers hit a 21-tee-shot salute into the Pacific Ocean in memory of defending champion Payne Stewart

But haunting this year's Open will be the memory of Payne Stewart, the colorful 1999 champion killed in a freaky October crash after his Learjet flew for hours with everyone aboard apparently already dead. In Stewart's name, Pebble Beach has erected ``Payne's Place,'' a vending villa at the event gateway.

Pebble Beach honchos won't say how much they're spending to spiff up their already spectacular links for the U.S. Open. But they suggest it's more than the reported $10 million or so spent eight years ago. Among the decor is a new 15-foot commemorative bronze sculpture depicting a golfer teeing off.

``Let's just say we've gone to great lengths to make this a showcase event for the world of golf,'' Harper said. ``Arnold Palmer expressed to us his desire to make this the best U.S. Open ever. To do that and to meet the expectations of the USGA, you've got to raise the bar and have a standard of excellence that's not been seen before.''

USGA officials said they chose Pebble because of its inimitable beauty, instantly recognizable to audiences worldwide. It is one of few courses to host the Open that isn't private.

``We wanted to get a real special course for year 2000,'' said USGA spokesman Mike Davis. ``The players just love it. For a lot of people, Pebble Beach might just be the best place we go to.''

Pebble Beach hosted the U.S. Open in 1972, 1982 and 1992. The last Open drew 25,000 spectators, about as many as attend the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a celebrity-fired charity fundraiser.

The piney oceanfront course is abuzz with anticipation. Many expect a thrilling spectacle like Jack Nicklaus' 1972 Open win at Pebble that will be talked about for generations.

``I just have this gut feeling we're going to see something like that again,'' Davis said. ``I'll be very, very surprised 25 years from now if you're not bringing up this U.S. Open.''

Such is the excitement about this year's Open that golf fans snatched up the 32,500 tickets the day they went on sale last year. With a face value of $275, they're now fetching $800 or so in the classifieds.

Clearly, fans are willing to pay a premium to see golf's best showmen battle it out on Pebble Beach's picturesque fairways. Spectators and corporate sponsors long ago booked most of the rooms around Monterey Bay -- at prices rivaling the poshest resorts of Carmel and Big Sur.

At least 200 private homes have been rented out for the week, for $3,500 to as much as $95,000 for a mansion overlooking the fairways at Pebble Beach.

Monterey Peninsula Airport officials are scrambling to find room for some 200 to 300 private and corporate jets that will be flying in for the event. Car rental agencies have doubled their inventory of autos in anticipation.

The Open promises a high-octane boost for Monterey County's $1.7 billion-a-year tourism industry, with $30 million expected to be injected into the local economy, said Mark Thush, Pebble's director of merchandise.

Outside Pebble Beach, the Open is expected to bring nearly $14 million in additional tourism revenue in what is already a peak month, said Burke Pease, executive director of the Monterey County Travel and Tourism Alliance. About half the revenue will be from hotel room taxes, he said.

``The sponsors are spending incredible amounts of money, and not necessarily in Pebble Beach,'' Pease said. ``They spend a lot of money in the community. On average, it will be a very upscale gallery, with lots of corporate entertaining going on.''

While the AT&T Pro-Am attains a party-like atmosphere as day trippers giggle at Bill Murray and swoon over Kevin Costner, the Open is serious sport.

A record 8,457 golfers applied for the 156 slots in the tournament. With a first prize of $800,000 and a total purse of $4.5 million, the Open will draw the biggest names in golf.

Seasoned veterans like four-time U.S. Open champ Nicklaus, 60, will be challenged by such young firebrands as Tiger Woods, 24, who's won just about everything but the U.S. Open. Five-time AT&T winner Mark O'Meara will be there. So will Tom Kite and David Duval, who each hold Pebble Beach's course record -- a 10-under-par 62.

The U.S. Open, first played in 1895 and suspended only for the two world wars, is rivaled in prestige only by the Masters Tournament, and perhaps if you're European, the British Open Championship. Yet among players, the U.S. Open is regarded as the most challenging, and Pebble Beach can be among its toughest venues.

In Pebble's last Open, stiff sea breezes conspired with a tough USGA course setup of thick rough, narrow fairways and fast greens to frustrate the game's elite. Scores and tempers soared.

``When the wind picks up, it can make it unbelievably difficult,'' Harper said. ``But if there's no wind, I'd guess there will be some records broken.''

Smoother edges

This year, the USGA has agreed to lower the rough a bit.

``One thing I can say about the set-up is that it's fair,'' Harper said. ``Players who are hitting sideways, they're certainly going to be bellyaching about the conditions. But players that play well, you won't hear a peep out of them.''

Local tourism officials say the Open crowds shouldn't get in the way of those who would like to visit Monterey just for the scenery. Unlike the AT&T, the Open's spectators are mostly overnight guests who will be taking shuttles to the tournament rather than driving in for the day, Pease said.

Last-minute cancellations have left a number of reasonably priced rooms around Monterey, room brokers said. And all the attention on the tournament might thin the crowds along Cannery Row.

``It's probably a great time to go to the aquarium,'' Pease said.

AZ, Phoenix, KPHO AZ, Phoenix, KTVK AZ, Phoenix, KUTP AZ, Tuscon, KOLD AZ, Tucson, KVOA CA, Eureka, KIEM CA, Fresno, KJEO CA, Fresno, KSEE CA, Los Angeles, KCAL CA, Los Angeles, KCBS   CA, Los Angeles, KCOP CA, Los Angeles, KTLA CA, Monterey, KSBW CA, Oakland, KTVU CA, San Diego, KSWB CA, San Francisco, KBHK CA, San Francisco, KBWB CA, San Francisco, KPIX CA, San Jose, KICU CA, San Jose, KNTV HI, Honolulu, KHON   NV, Las Vegas, KVVU NV, Reno, KOLO OR, Eugene, KVAL OR, Medford, KTVL UT, Salt Lake City, KSL WA, Seattle, KIRO WA, Seattle, NWCN WA, Seattle-Tacoma, KCPQ WA, Spokane, KXLY ID, Twin Falls, KMVT NV, Las Vegas, KTNV