Let It Blow, Let It Blow, Let It Blow . . . : Wind Fails to Whip Wood or Arai, Who Share Pro-Am Lead at 68

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. â€”  Bing would have loved the weather.

The first round of the tournament that had Crosby’s name on it for 45 years and is now known as the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was delayed for an hour Thursday by rain.

Then, after a warm sun had made a cameo appearance, the wind blew fiercely enough to kick up waves in Stillwater Cove at Pebble Beach and send historians looking at weather records. Then it rained again. And once it had started blowing, the wind never stopped.

In other words, it was a typical day for golf on the Monterey Peninsula.

Jack Nicklaus, who shot a one-over-par 73 at Cypress Point, said it was the worst weather he has played in here since the third round was canceled by rain and high wind in 1967.

Peter Jacobsen, who shot a 69, said the wind at Cypress Point was the worst he had ever played in.

Worse than conditions in the British Open?

“Yes, you can’t slug the ball at Cypress Point the way you can on British courses,� he said.

The lucky ones played early--or skipped the tournament, as Calvin Peete did.

It was no consolation to the 180 professionals and their amateur partners that there have been worse days in the tournament that Bing Crosby moved here from Rancho Santa Fe in 1947. After all, nobody was blown off his feet Thursday, although Jacobsen said he could barely stand up on the 17th hole at Cypress Point.

There were even a couple of decent scores, Willie Wood and Japan’s Kikuo Arai each shooting four-under-par 68s at Pebble Beach to tie for the lead. The wind started kicking up and affecting their games on the back nine, but they finished their rounds before it could do too much damage to their scores. Wood started about 9:15 a.m., and Arai followed him off the tee.

“I’m glad I’m in here now,� Wood said as he walked into the press room. “It was a bad day.�

“The wind was very strong,� Arai said. “Against the wind, it was three clubs’ difference.�

In fact, he said, when the wind suddenly came up on the back nine, “All I tried to do was make par.�

There were not many subpar rounds shot on the three courses--Spyglass Hill was the third. But there were some rounds in the 80s, including an 83 by Phil Blackmar, who finished third in the Tournament of Champions earlier in the month, and there were a bundle in the high 70s.

There was even a hole-in-one. Rex Caldwell got that on No. 7 at Pebble Beach, using a pitching wedge.

Nick Faldo, who is accustomed to such weather since he plays most of his golf in England, had a 79 at Cypress Point. Lee Trevino shot a 77 and George Burns a 78 at Spyglass Hill. Gary Hallberg had an 80 at Cypress Point, and Donnie Hammond, who won the Bob Hope tournament two weeks ago, had an 81 at Pebble Beach. Bernhard Langer shot a 42 on the back nine and finished with a 78 at Cypress Point. You get the idea.

Jacobsen was tied with Fuzzy Zoeller and John McComish at 69, but Zoeller, who shot his score at Spyglass Hill, is probably the real leader of the tournament in which the players shoot each of the first three rounds on a different course. He has the hardest course out of the way.

McComish, who was born in Lynwood, lives in Santa Maria and went to Cal State Northridge, once won the national long-driving contest as an amateur. He shot his round at Cypress Point.

Wood, only 5-7 and about 130 pounds, withdrew from the Hope tournament because of illness. “I lost weight,� he said, “and I don’t need to lose weight.�

Wood sailed through the front nine in 31, making five birdies on the first seven holes. “The weather then was really nice,� he said. “It was warm, and I had my rain gear off.

As he played the 10th hole, though, the wind began blowing, and he staggered home in 37 strokes, one over par. “The early start was to my advantage,� he said in the understatement of the day.

Arai, interviewed--sort of--through an interpreter, tied for second in this tournament last year, one of seven he played in the United States. He is 42 and from Saitama, Japan. He has won 14 tournaments in Japan and has played the U.S. PGA Tour, off and on, for seven years. He finished in the top 125 last year.

Jacobsen quipped that he and his amateur partner, Jack Lemmon, wanted to quit after the 15th hole but said: “They wouldn’t let us. We felt as if we had already played 30 holes.�