He Enjoys It While He Can
PEBBLE BEACH — Jeff Julian is playing his second AT&T; Pebble Beach Pro-Am, beginning today. He played it last year, and with any luck, he would like to play again next year. The odds don’t look too good, though.
Julian doesn’t want to miss it and it’s easy to know why. The scene at Pebble Beach is always refreshing, with the views of the ocean and its salty spray, the sea lions flopping around in the shallow water, cypress trees framing a near-perfect panorama.
Julian is going to take it all in. He wants to remember all of it. He would like to tell the story for years to come, if he has that long.
Julian has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The 40-year-old former touring pro has a sponsor’s exemption to play this week. And he feels fortunate to be able to tee it up.
“I am lucky I can still play, that’s the way I look at it,” Julian said. “I thought that if I could touch someone out there who sees me, it might start a chain reaction that leads to a cure.”
There is no cure for ALS and the survival statistics are not favorable. Fifty percent of ALS victims die within 18 months of being diagnosed. Only 20% survive five years.
Julian noticed a sharp pain in his shoulder in April and had trouble swallowing. Not long after, doctors at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore gave Julian the news he had no reason to expect. Now, Julian is making the most of his golf.
It’s not at all like 1996, his first and only year on the PGA Tour when he didn’t know his way around. Julian lost his card and played the next three years on the Buy.com Tour, but last year, he won only $55,132 and lost his playing privileges on that tour too.
On this level, there are far worse things than losing a tour card. And at least for this week, Julian has a place to play.
Open Up
Is the U.S. Open coming to Riviera in 2008?
Michael Yamaki of Riviera and representatives from Torrey Pines will pitch their cases at the USGA meeting this weekend in Colorado Springs and it is considered likely that the 2008 Open is going to be held at one of the two courses in Southern California.
The only other time the Open was held at Riviera was 1948 when Ben Hogan won. Torrey Pines has not staged an Open.
Both Riviera and Torrey Pines have undergone extensive course renovations in the past year with the idea of attracting an Open.
Representatives of the USGA toured last month and told Riviera officials that the notion of an Open being held at the Pacific Palisades layout is a matter of “when, not if.” No decision is expected before June.
Casey Update
Casey Martin says he hopes to play again in March in two Buy.com events in Australia, if all goes well. If he doesn’t play in Australia, Martin is looking at playing the Buy.com Tour in Louisiana in April.
“I’m feeling so much better,” Martin said. “I’m getting around by myself.”
Martin is resting at home in Eugene, Ore., three weeks after he had emergency surgery because of a potentially fatal bacterial infection. Martin developed the infection after the second of two operations to improve blood flow in his right leg, affected by a degenerative circulatory disease.
“I’ve had three weeks of torture,” Martin said. “But it could have been worse. I’m glad they got it when they did. It was touch and go for a while. It could have gone either way.”
Martin, 29, won a Supreme Court decision last year that allowed him to use a cart while playing.
He lost his Buy.com Tour card when he made only nine of 21 cuts and won $17,197. He can play with sponsor’s exemptions this year.
Tiger Update
Everything Tiger Woods does is news and that includes when he stays in bed, which is what he did Wednesday.
Woods, who usually takes the first tee time in the morning for a practice round, instead waited until the afternoon to play the back nine at Poppy Hills. Woods had been resting to try to shake off the effects of flu-like symptoms.
Woods, who hasn’t played a PGA Tour event since he tied for 10th at the Mercedes Championship the first week of January, might not be at full strength. He said he broke his fever on his second hole.
“I’m a little bit under the weather,” said Woods, who then coughed. “I’ll be all right. I’m not on my deathbed or anything.”
Woods said he had only small goals in his nine-hole practice round.
“Just slapped the ball around, tried to get a feel for playing again, tried to get a feel for the course,” said Woods, who expects bumpy greens and cold weather. “Just like always,” he said.
Woods and his amateur partner, former Stanford teammate Jerry Chang, have a 9:10 a.m. tee time today at Poppy Hills.
Programming Note
Dumb move of the week: The last half-hour of CBS’ telecast of Sunday’s final round at Pebble Beach goes head-to-head with the Super Bowl and its 3:15 p.m. PST kickoff on Fox.
Justin Time
Good move of the week: Justin Leonard is getting married Saturday, thus guaranteeing he will never forget the date of his anniversary--02/02/02.
Ty One On
Bad rumor of the week: Ty Tryon was supposedly offered $1 million to play at Dubai. Not true.
And he’s not going to Dubai, either. Tryon is going to play the Honda Classic instead.
Daly News
News item: John Daly, who joins the European PGA Tour, make his debut at the Heineken Classic in Melbourne.
Reaction: Perfect.
Youngsters
For what it’s worth, Charles Howell is a combined 186 under par since the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills, where he missed the cut.
Howell, 22, David Gossett, 22, and Matt Kuchar, 23, have entered the Nissan Open in two weeks at Riviera.
Nickname
Howell has picked one up. Last week at Phoenix, he answered to “Thurston,” for Thurston Howell, the character played by Jim Backus on “Gilligan’s Island.” Davis Love III says he and Howell would make a good best-ball team.
Said Love: “Think of it ... Thurston and Lovey.”
Of course, Lovey was the name of Backus’ wife on the show.
Remembering Payne
Peter Jacobsen is using Payne Stewart’s former caddie, Mike Hicks, this week.
Jacobsen has two bag tags--one celebrating the late Jack Lemmon, Jacobsen’s longtime partner, and the other from the 2000 AT&T;, when Stewart was honored.
Numbers Game
The number of Crosbys still associated with the AT&T; tournament is down to one. Nathaniel Crosby resigned recently from the Monterey Peninsula Golf Foundation, which governs the tournament, because he couldn’t attend enough meetings. Nathaniel Crosby’s older brother, Harry, remains on the board.
