The first extended rains of the season hit Lake County last weekend. Sunday was an especially tough day for the active sports fan as not only was the weather outside on the nasty side, but the San Francisco 49ers’ early game and the Oakland Raiders’ late game were tough to stomach as well. Although I am a big fan of golf, I would much rather watch the NFL on a dreary Sunday, but the two Bay Area teams were quite a bit removed from top-notch football last week. So regardless of the rain and wind, I found myself watching quite a bit of the start of the PGA Tour’s new wraparound 2016-17 season from the North Course at Silverado in Napa.
I especially enjoy watching professional golf at a site that I have previously been able to play. While it’s been a decade or so since I last played at Silverado, I have always found both of its courses to be not only outstanding tests of golf, but also beautifully manicured. Silverado makes the effort to appeal to its resort and spa guests, but especially during the winter months when management makes tee times available at very reasonable rates in the $70-$90 range.
A number of Lake County golf fans went to Silverado during the four days of the tournament and their spectator stories were remarkably similar. Phil Mickelson had the largest of galleries, especially on Sunday afternoon when the weather was far from pleasant. Fans of the game could get within an arm’s length of those atop the leader board such as eventual winner Brendan Steele, Patton Kizzire, Paul Casey and the rest. From the comfort of my living room, it seemed as if the galleries at the Safeway Open were about as sparse as the ones we normally see during the early morning weekend hours when the European Tour is playing as some remote locale such as the Czech Republic or Portugal.
Some of the golf fans I’ve spoken with during the past few days don’t have a lot of familiarity with PGA Tour events. Whenever I run into someone who goes to a professional tournament, whether it’s the men, the women or the seniors, I always ask them to recount their impressions regarding the sound of the ball when it comes off the clubface. I almost always get the same reaction. While they have played golf with local single-digit handicappers and while some of them are very familiar with the skills of talented local linksters such as professional Jonathan Carlson and soon-to-be professional Brad Pendleton, they almost always respond that the sound they hear when the golf club connects with the ball approximates an explosion. The pros hit the ball more often than not on the center of the clubface, they always have equipment that perfectly fits their game, and their swing speeds are much more profound than your local amateur club champion. It all makes for an up-close-and-personal experience with a field of gifted and talented performers.
In some ways, the inclement weather this past weekend gave Silverado galleryites the opportunity to get up close and personal with those atop the leader board. Had it been a typically pleasant Northern California weekend in October, comparable to the one we’re experiencing this weekend, galleries throughout the golf course would have included hundreds of spectators surrounding tees and greens, eight or nine rows deep. If you were to compare the up-close-and-personal experience to other sports, it would be similar to standing behind the catcher at Fenway Park or perching oneself in the backfield at Levi Stadium. True, everyone I talked to made good use of their rain gear, but the general impression was that the small-sized galleries at Silverado last weekend enhanced the experience of watching a PGA Tour event.
Of course, no one would ever compare the Safeway Open at Silverado to one of golf’s major championships let alone a World Golf Championships tourney or a prestigious big-money event such as the Memorial or the Arnold Palmer. Yet the perks for the newly crowned champion, Brendan Steele, are very comparable to the more prestigious tournaments played during the heart of the summer months.
Steele’s bank account is $1.08 million richer than it was one week ago. For a journeyman, a seven-figure check is a very good thing. Last year he played in 25 tournaments on tour, finished 63rd on the money list and pocketed $1.58 million for his efforts. On top of that, he’ll be an automatic invite into the field at next spring’s Masters Tournament. He also will have exempt status on the PGA Tour for two additional seasons through September of 2019. He gets into the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua in January where he is guaranteed a four-day, no-cut event with last place paying out just less than $100,000. The other nice additional perk is that he’ll spend the next 51 weeks announced as the reigning Safeway Open champion every time he tees it up at a PGA Tour event.
Steele wasn’t the only winner last week at Silverado. For instance, Cody Gribble is a good case in point. Gribble ended up with a top-10 finish and was able to earn $162,000. Gribble is a tour rookie, playing in his very first event on the big tour, and to most fans of the game he is a total unknown. However, his golfing background makes him very familiar to all of us when we look back upon his very short career on the links. Gribble attended the University of Texas and he was his team’s No. 2 man when they won the NCAA championship in 2012. The No. 1 player on that Texas team was two-time major winner Jordan Spieth.
Last year Gribble was on the Web.com Tour and played in 24 tournaments. He made just less than $90,000 for his efforts and he came in 24th place on the Web.com Tour money list. The top 25 on the mini-tour money list get promoted to the PGA Tour, so Gribble’s eighth-place tie was a great boost to the career of this just-turned 26-year-old.
Patton Kizzire was probably disappointed that he finished second at Silverado, but for a second-year pro who finished 82nd on last year’s money list, a $648,000 addition to his bank account is a good way to start the new season. Most local spectators mentioned how big Kizzire seemed to be. He is listed at 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds in the PGA Tour media guide.
While the seniors, the women and even local Lake County amateurs are nearing the end of their 2016 season, the PGA Tour has already begun its 2016-17 calendar year with the playing of the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa in nearby Napa. It’s already a season to remember for Brendan Steele and it seems to be the start of something big for others too.
