2009 Recap
The harsh storm that was expected all week kindly took the daylight hours off, allowing the first three rounds to be completed. But then rain and high winds pounded the Monterey Peninsula, forcing the final round to be rescheduled for Monday. That gave Dustin Johnson one long day to wait around and two nights to sleep on his 54-hole lead, while tournament officials and grounds crews wished for one more playable day.
But Johnson, a 24-year-old from South Carolina, who had only one PGA Tour victory under his belt when he came to Pebble Beach, never did have his nerves tested under final-round pressure on the famous links. More rain pelted the area Sunday night and Monday morning, forcing cancellation of the fourth round before anyone got a chance to tee it up.
So, the 67 that Johnson posted on Saturday at Poppy Hills, which included four birdies on the back nine, not only gave him a four-stroke lead, but resulted in a 201 total that stood up for a somewhat anticlimactic victory.
It was the first cancellation of a round since 2000 (fourth round postponed to Monday). Johnson became the first 54-hole winner since Payne Stewart in 1999, marking the sixth time the tournament declared a 54-hole winner since it expanded to four rounds in 1958. Nightly showers, heavy at times, softened the golf courses enough to dictate the event be played under “lift, clean and place” rules.
Johnson placed enough shots in the right places to shoot 65 at Pebble Beach on Thursday, 69 at Spyglass Hill on Friday and light up the back side at Poppy Hills with a closing 32 for a 67. Alone in second place, four shots back at 205, was Canada’s Mike Weir, with South Africa’s Retief Goosen third at 206.
“I was fortunate enough to play really well the first three days, and then unfortunately we did get rained out,” said Johnson, who opened the tournament holing out his second shot for an eagle on the first hole at Pebble Beach. “I definitely prepared myself that we were going to play (Monday). I did everything normal, like we were going to play.”
But, before he could finish breakfast, Johnson’s cell phone rang. It was a Tour colleague calling to congratulate him on winning. “What are you talking about?” Johnson asked.
He may not have been the last to know, but obviously Johnson wasn’t the first to hear that the final round was canceled. Although the high winds and rain subsided overnight, another storm began pouring on the Peninsula about 5 a.m. Monday. Much of the course was unplayable at daybreak, with tee times scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. Shortly after 7 a.m., Tour officials made the decision to end the tournament.
“It probably would be a lot of ugly golf out there,” Weir said of how things might have gone Monday. “But it would be kind of fun to see who could handle it.”
No player would have been to withstand Sunday’s 60 mile-per-hour gusts, which knocked down a 40-foot pine tree along the third fairway at Pebble Beach, toppled a television tower and blew the sides off several hospitality tents around the site. “It was too dangerous for the players and spectators to go out there,” said Tour rules chief Mark Russell. “You could hardly stand up, let alone get to the point of playing golf.”
Johnson said that the rounds he did get to play were fun, despite the wet weather. “We had a great time,” he said of being paired with Joe Rice, an attorney with a 17-handicap from Charleston, S.C. “We were out there laughing all day. It played very slow, so we did a lot of talking. We just had a great time.”
Goosen, in his first appearance at the AT&T Pro-Am, was enjoying himself for two days en route to a two-shot lead. But his 74 on Saturday at Spyglass Hill saw him finish with a 38 on the front side, while Johnson was blistering Poppy Hills’ back side for a six-shot swing that launched Johnson into the lead – for good, as it turned out.
Johnson and Rice also won a piece of the pro-am team title, with a 23-under-par total of 193. In the first tie since 2006, they shared the victory with pro Chris Stroud and Ron Christman, an 18 handicap from Kingwood, Texas.
The celebrity field included many new faces, including NFL star Peyton Manning; actors Greg Kinnear and Dennis Haysbert; U.S. soccer great Brandi Chastain; country singer Pat Green, whose first day included a hole-in-one on the 15th hole at Spyglass Hill; and motorcycle racing legend Kenny Roberts Sr., who was the only one of the “rookies” to make the cut. William and Cindi Bone also became the tournament’s first husband-wife tandem.
Brian Tyler, president of McKesson Medical Group, who helped pro partner Aron Price with 18 shots, won the annual Jack Lemmon Award, which goes to the amateur who most helped his team.
LEADERS: First Round – 65 Robert Garrigus (SH), Dustin Johnson (PB), 66 Rich Beem (PB), Vaughn Taylor (PB), 67 seven tied. Second Round – 132 Retief Goosen (64 PB), 134 Johnson (69 SH), 136 Garrigus (71 PH), Charlie Hoffman (70 PH), Mike Weir 69 PB), Mark Calcavecchia (69 PB). Third Round – 201 Johnson (67 PH), 205 Weir (69 SH), 206 Goosen (74 SH), 207 Bob Estes (67 SH), Calcavecchia (71 SH).
CUT: 68 pros made the cut at 214, 2-under-par. The pro-am team cut was 199, with the limit of 25 teams advancing. Five teams at 199 were eliminated through the tiebreaker.
WEATHER: Thursday – Light showers in the morning, patchy clouds in the afternoon; temperature in the mid-50s, light wind. Friday – Scattered showers, heavy at times, giving way to patchy clouds and sunshine in the afternoon, temperature in the mid-50s, light wind. Saturday – Light showers in the morning gave way to sunny skies and temperatures in the 40s, with moderate wind. Sunday – Heavy rain and wind with gusts up to 60 mph. Monday – Rain in the morning.
