Charity Shootout and Poppy Prepares for the AT&T
The GoGirlGo.com charity shootout was held Tuesday at Pebble Beach.
On the homepage, NCGA Foundation Managing Director Adam Heieck (right) and board member Brooke Phayer look on as tour pro Jonathan Byrd goes for the green. Byrd and Tommy Gainey represented the Foundation. The shootout pitted eight pairs of professionals competing for four designated charities in an alternate shot skins game. The charities qualified via a closest-to-the-hole contest held in January at the Peter Hay Course.
Beginning Thursday, Phil Mickelson will try to defend his AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title.
NCGA staff members Martin Fuentes, Ben Coronado and
Helen Nicolayev clean up Poppy Hills’ 8th hole.
Mickelson and the usual cadre of celebrities will visit Poppy Hills Thursday and Friday.
Poppy Hills and its staff are now busy completing course changes and clean-up after January storms in preparation for the annual event. Nearly 100 yards were added to the course bringing the total yardage to 6,942 including a new back teeing ground on the par-five 4th hole. By adding 50 yards to the hole (to total 603), players will have to be more decisive on club selection when approaching the green.
Changes on the course also include replacing the tee and removing a fairway bunker on the 14th hole. “We hope to put driver back in the professionals’ hands,” commented General Manager Tyler Jones. The hole had a 90 degree dogleg left, with trees lining the fairway. To allow the professionals a chance at using driver, Jones and a small committee decided to move the teeing ground to the right and open up the left side of the fairway. A small change can also be seen to the par-three 15th hole where the back tee was extended 20 yards.
With the course changes in place, the maintenance crew at Poppy Hills is focusing their attention on clean up after severe storms plowed through Pebble Beach in January. Typically locked down to a desk and phone, 20 staff members from the Northern California Golf Association spent a Friday afternoon helping with the clean-up efforts. “The NCGA staff was great. They spent four hours picking up large branches and pine cones in areas of play,” added Sousa.
With only days until the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Poppy Hills and the NCGA are fully confident the course is ready to provide an exciting week of golf.
View photos from last year’s AT&T action at Poppy Hills
PGA Tour professionals entered in the AT&T
Celebrities scheduled to appear in the AT&T
Ticket information is available by visiting the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am website.
