Mark O'Meara - "What is it about MO and Pebble Beach?" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to So let's move on to 1985, and I've got to ask you the obvious question. What is it about the Bing Crosby National Pro Am in Marco Merritt?

Mark O'Meara 0:24

Well, uh, you know, one time somebody told me, hey, that you know, there's a the trivia, there's a game called Trivia Pursuit. I'm like, oh yeah, I've heard of it. And they said, well, we just pulled up a question, and it was, who was the last player to win the Bing Crosby National Pro Am? And so my sister, obviously she knew, and they somebody called her and said, Hey, you know that Mark is on the trivia pursuit um question. And so that was kind of fun. And and the fact that, you know, Bruce has been around there, has played Pebble so many times, like I had. And I I truly believe that when you play a golf course and you've had past success and went in the state amateur there in 79 as a senior in in college, um, there's no place prettier than the Monterey Peninsula. And Pebble Beach, uh, you know, obviously it's my favorite course just because it would have been my favorite course if I hadn't really won many times there. But uh you're you're right. Like I don't I don't know what the reason is. Everybody always asked me that. Um I remember one year playing there and I was playing with Ben Crinshaw on the Pro Am, and the fact that you get to play alongside your amateur is tremendous. And we were on the uh uh fourth T one time, and somebody in the spectator yelled out, Omera, you own this place, and I looked up at the guy and I said I backed away. Crenshaw was standing there, and I'm like, no, no, no, I'll tell you what, if I did own this place, I certainly wouldn't be playing the golf as a professional golfer anymore.

Bruce Devlin 1:54

So yeah, you your love was so great that in 85, 89, 90, 92, and 97 you uh championed at Pebble Beach. That's quite a record, Mark.

Mark O'Meara 2:11

Yeah, thanks, Bruce. I mean, you know, you always dream as a a pro golfer winning on these classic golf courses, and certainly Pebble Beach is known around the world as one of the best golf courses in the world. So to to just win there one time would have been a dream come true, let alone you know the five times. I I won the Crosby Pro Am in '84 with my amateur partner, you know, winning the California State Amateur in 79. So a lot of people say, Oh, you know, you won there five times. I'm like, no, not really. I kind of won like seven times there.

Mike Gonzalez 2:45

We hope you've enjoyed this short track of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 3:06

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. When it started just like just spit off line. Headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My head, as long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Head went straight down the middle, five away.