One of the two cypress trees in the landing area of the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach Golf Links was toppled Thursday by strong winds that were a part of what the National Weather Service predicted would be one of Northern California’s strongest storms in years.The photo below, a screenshot taken during the storm from Pebble Beach’s Live Cam looking down the 18th fairway, shows the downed tree in the upper left-hand corner.
“I was standing on the 18th tee and conservatively the wind was blowing at least 40 miles an hour,” Ron Read, a long-time USGA official who lives in the area, said Thursday. Read said he returned to the tee later in the morning and took a picture looking down the fairway and did not notice the downed tree until examining the photo later.
“I was just talking to Robert Trent Jones [Jr.] and said this reminds of 1967,” Read said. “I was a marshal on the sixth green at Pebble Beach [for the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am]. This was very similar to that. I remember Jack Nicklaus said he hit a 3-iron on the seventh hole. That’s what it reminded me of.”
The cypress trees were planted there in 2004 to replace two diseased pine trees.
h/t Golf Digest