Some of you remember when the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Tournament was known as the Bing Crosby Pro-Am. The crooner started the event as an informal get-together with his Hollywood friends and some pro golfers in 1937. Sam Snead won first prize of $500 at the first tournament at Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. - and probably never spent a dime of it.
After World War II, a deal was struck to bring the tourney to the Monterey Pensinsula, and it was Crosby’s brilliant idea to play it at three golf courses. Bing died in 1977 and a foundation took over the leadership until AT&T got involved in the mid-1980s. Bing’s widow Kathryn, who I knew briefly, fearful that the once-friendly clambake would become a corporate sideshow, withdrew the Crosby name.
The AT&T remains a telegenic golf tournament; the Monterey Peninsula’s natural scenery looks so gorgeous on the tube. And those three fabulous golf courses - Pebble Beach, Spyglass and Poppy Hills - who can complain? But Kathryn Crosby’s fears were well-founded, it turns out.
Except for a few all-too-familiar golfing celebs - Bill Murray, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Bolton and Rush Limbaugh - most of the amateurs are overfed corporate CEOs whose six- and eight-handicaps look extremely dubious. There’s just no escaping the fact that the AT&T is the PGA Tour’s wet smooch on corporate America’s rear end. Okay, it’s inescapable. Sponsors must be serviced. But let’s not delude ourselves by calling this tournament a “pro-am.”
Meanwhile, this week’s Johnnie Walker Classic at the Vines Resort and Country Club in Perth, Australia is another corporate-sponsored event, but it isn’t so in-your-face. Like many of the PGA European Tour events, the Johnnie Walker is a low-key affair that’s great fun to watch. The AT&T has the Pacific Ocean crashing against the rocks, but Johnnie Walker has kangaroos making whoopee in the rough.
I receive both tournaments on satellite TV here in Thailand. The Johnnie Walker airs in the afternoon; the AT&T comes on live at 3 a.m. I think the Johnnie Walker field led by K.J. Choi, Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera and Adam Scott is about equal to the field at the AT&T. (Colin Montgomerie, probably having second thoughts about his $14 million divorce settlement to a woman suspected of having an extramarital affair with Hugh Grant, missed the cut, his second in a row.)
I wish more Americans would come to Asia and see first-hand how people live here. They’d also get a look at the European Tour, which is held on this continent during Europe’s cold weather months, November through April. It’s got a laid-back charm all its own.
TravelGolf.com’s Bangkok Al blogs about golf in Asia, Michelle Wie’s fashion sense and the tipping habits of Phil Mickelson and Bill Gates. He also sounds off on the shortage of showmanship on the PGA Tour, plus Rush Limbaugh.
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