Rough weather forecast for AT&T National Pro-Am
As an amateur in Ireland, Padraig Harrington remembers playing a tournament every March at a seaside course, Rosses Point. He always knew to dress warm.
“It’s on the cliff edge and you could see the weather fronts,” said Harrington. “When the real bad winds came in, you used to have to huddle into little ravines to protect yourself from hailstorms. You would be wearing a vest, a polo neck, a T-shirt, two jumpers and a rain jacket, and you could feel the hailstorms through that.”
The weather won’t be that severe for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this weekend on the Monterey Peninsula. But with rain in the forecast and temperatures in the 50s, Harrington will be uniquely prepared.
“Bad conditions have become natural for me,” said Harrington, the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year. “I have played when it snowed. I’ve played in all sorts of conditions. But I can’t ever remember arranging to play golf and not actually going to play.”
For that reason, Harrington, the world’s third-ranked player, might be the best bet in a field that includes No. 4 Vijay Singh, a winner at Pebble in 2004, No. 5 Phil Mickelson, who won his third AT&T title in 2007, and No. 10 Kenny Perry, the early money leader in 2009.
The players will share the spotlight with the usual crew of entertainers and business types who annually converge on the “Clambake,” created by Bing Crosby in 1937.
The highjinks of entertainers such as Bill Murray and George Lopez, can lead to six-round rounds that rankle some pros. For Harrington, it’s like the weather. He endures it.
“As much as I don’t like the conditions of the cold and rain that are forecast this week, I have a much better chance of winning the tournament if it’s like that,” said Harrington. “My old coach, Howard Bennett used to say you get a bad day, 50 percent of the field aren’t prepared to play, and 50 percent [of the rest] can’t play in the conditions, so you’re only playing 25 percent of the field. Whereas on a nice, sunny day, you have to beat everybody.”
