Steve Stricker is right: What sense does it make hosting the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February?

It looks like once again, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is going to be a big mess, with rain and soggy conditions expected, and why shouldn’t we have expected this? Steve Stricker, who won this past week at Riviera Country Club and vaulted into the No. 2 position in the world, is sitting out, citing weather as a big reason why he’s not in the field.

Stricker isn’t being a baby, he’s being practical. Monterey isn’t in California’s desert, nor is it in temperate SoCal. It’s well north, where the weather in the winter time is probably more unpleasant than the Madison shack he bangs balls out. Last year, Dustin Johnson won the AT&T after the final round was canceled after a week of heavy rain and wind gusts.

It was bizarre that the Bob Hope Classic was practically rained out in sunny Palm Springs, but it’s no coincidence Pebble Beach faces this kind of threat so often, which can only dampen the prospects of the strongest possible field. February is Monterey’s second wettest month behind January with an average of over 3.8 inches per year. March isn’t much better, but April is just over 1 inch average, while less than half an inch is measured between May and September.

It also doesn’t make sense that the PGA Tour’s Pro-Am events are so close to each other. If the AT&T Pro-Am was to be hosted sometime between April and September, the chances of sunny weather isn’t only dramatically improved, but it might even help the Bob Hope find a sponsor since it’s somewhat the ugly duckling Pro-Am for the time being.

Anything would seemingly beat hosting a PGA Tour event on a golf course during its off-season. What course other than Pebble would the tour even dare consider doing so?

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