Bad weather forces Pro-Am shoot-out indoors

Thanks to a storm system that pounded the Central Coast Tuesday, organizers for the AT&T Pro-Am Chevron Shoot-out were forced to cancel the outdoor event turning it into an indoor putting competition.

“Being a professional athletic, sometimes the sun is out, sometimes it’s not,” said veteran wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. “You got to deal with it.”

The contest is a long standing event at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and features two-person teams. One player: a Pro-Am past champion like Dustin Johnson, Jimmy Walker, Vaughn Taylor and D.A. Points.

“It’s fun to interact with these great champions from other sports,” said Points.

The other, a champion from the world of sports like Aaron Rodgers, Wayne Gretzky, surfer Kelly Slater and Giants star pitcher Matt Cain, who was glad the contest was moved inside.

“We tried playing this morning and it was pretty crazy,” said Cain. “You know, 30 mile-an-hour winds going across so it’s nice to be inside and dry.”

Instead of driving the long ball outside on the world class greens, players were working on their short game and playing putt-putt.

“We got an interesting obstacle course, but we are going to give it a go,” said Fitzgerald as he eyed the course.

Regardless of the weather, the fans didn’t seem to mind too much. Even Debbie Stiefel was OK with it and she traveled all the way from the Garden State.

“This is how it is in New Jersey and it’s been raining for a whole month so I thought get away from it,” said Stiefel.

The event is different this year, but it’s all for fun and charity. In total, $100,000 was donated to various charities with a big chunk going to winner Wayne Gretzky’s. Another portion, $20,000, went to D.A. Point’s charity of choice, the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando.

“Mr. Palmer was my hero and to give back to something he created is an honor,” said Points.