By Art Spander
Special to NewsdayPEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- It's the signature hole of Pebble Beach, a par-3 that pokes into Carmel Bay beguiles golfers with its beauty and sometimes baffles them its demands. You can putt onto the green from the tee, as did Sam Snead once, or you can be forced to use a 3-iron if the wind is in your face.
"How on Earth," mused Ian Poulter out loud as he walked to the 109-yard seventh Saturday, "are you supposed to play to that?''
Very carefully. Very tactically. As virtually every hole at Pebble, site of a U.S. Open for the fifth time. Especially the holes, such as the seventh, which are on the bluffs above the central California coast.
There's nothing quite like Pebble. Poulter managed a bogey 4 on the seventh Saturday. The biggest problem is the view. The player stands on the tee, looking at the surf crashing or maybe the Santa Lucia Mountains and sometimes loses concentration, not to mention an occasionally errant golf ball.
Pebble is like that. There's beauty everywhere. There's trouble everywhere. David Duval, who did so well in last year's Open at Bethpage, shot 31 on the front nine Saturday. He was a contender. Then he had a 7-over-par 43 on the back.
And how about Mike Weir? The opening round, he was among the leaders with a 1-under 70. After Saturday, he was among the bottom-dwellers, having shot a 12-over 83, despite an eagle 2 on the short fourth. Of course, he also had three double-bogeys.
Someone nicknamed Pebble "Double-Bogey-by-the-Sea," and the description is not inaccurate. Tons of those, and on the par-5 14th hole, numerous triple-bogeys. Friday on 14, which doesn't come close to the water, Zach Johnson destroyed his round with a quadruple-bogey 9.
"It's a beautiful, great course," insisted Poulter, the Englishman.
How do you do play it? As well as you can.
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