The AT&T Pro Am Golf Tournament was started by Bing Crosby as the “Crosby Clambake” in Rancho Santa Fe in 1937. Later it was moved to Pebble Beach and has become a huge event and never fails to bring thousands of visitors to the Monterey Peninsula in early February. Since many of our property sales are to second home buyers, this event is looked forward to with great anticipation by the realtor community. All one has to do is check out the Pine Cone (our local Carmel newspaper) and view the pages and pages of “real estate eye candy” to know that the sellers of luxury homes are hoping for a sale to one of these golf enthusiasts here for the tournament.
As realtors we started planning for the AT&T Pro Am Golf Tournament over a month ago by creating innovative advertising for the print media that would beguile and bewitch prospective buyers and invite them to purchase property while visiting the area. During the tournament while the golf crowd heads for the courses, we man our posts at the “Floor duty” desk at Alain Pinel Realtors or host numerous Open Houses at our listings hoping some of our visitors stray from the event. We hope to lure our golf enthusiasts to find the coveted prize – a home on the Monterey Peninsula.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday( Feb 12-14th) from 10:00-1:30pm I’ll be holding Open House at 3044 Cormorant Road, Pebble Beach. This home looks directly out onto the MPCC Shore Course, one of the courses that the tournament is played on. I’ll be watching the tournament golfers go by all morning. Come on by and see this fabulous Mark Mills mid-century design on a premium front line Pebble Beach location and join me in waving at the golfers!
Also, in the afternoons on those same dates February 12-14th 2:00-4:30pm I’ll be holding open this extensively remodeled single level 3BR/2BA home at 1117 Sawmill Gulch in the Country Club area of Pebble Beach offered at $1,295,000.
The weather is in rare form this year with bright cloudless skies, warm temperatures, and a great cast of celebrities. I remember many previous years with pouring rain and fierce winter storms. I have an indelible picture in my mind of Bill Murray on a TV news broadcast standing out on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf links with waves literally crashing over the fairway soaking him to the skin.
Many of the tournament goers come to see the celebrities up close and personal. Everyone is glad that Bill Murray is going to play after all, because he not only can play golf well, he has a knack for engaging the gallery with funny antics and high jinks. He wears “funny clothes” and somehow manages to play the clown and also play serious golf at the same time!
One year he was goofing around with a lady spectator and she ended up falling in a sand trap! Some of the other celebrities that will be playing this year are Kenny G, Andy Garcia, Huey Lewis, Chris O’Donnell, Justin Timberlake, Clay Walker, and Ray Romano.
A couple of years ago I had an amusing encounter with Ray Romano which I will tell you about in an upcoming entry.
The tournament takes place on three courses in Pebble Beach (Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and the Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course) with players rotating to different courses each day. On Saturday most of the celebrities will play on Pebble Beach Golf Links which will be televised showing the world the unparalleled beauty of this course where greens meet the sea.
Brandt Snedecker, who won last year in 2015, will be defending his title and will be joined by other pro golfers such as Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, David Duval, Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh, and Jordan Spieth, who is ranked as #1 golfer in the world. Who will take the trophy this year? We’ll all know on Sunday – for anyone who plays golf, you know that anything can happen.
For the tournament goers that will spend most of their time watching the play or playing golf themselves – we hope they will at least pick up the newspapers and magazines touting our gorgeous homes for sale and return at a later time.
There is nothing more beautiful than Pebble Beach on a clear sunny day and that’s what we are blessed with this week. If nothing else our visitors will take home delightful memories of blue skies, sunlit courses and crashing waves, after bearing witness to some great golf!
For more information about Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula properties call Susan Clark at 831-320-6801
