Pebble Beach >> The rain managed to stay away long enough Wednesday for the usual antics to ensue during the 3M Celebrity Challenge, which for the first time had a woman among its two teams of famous personalities playing for charity.
The event, which serves as a warm-up act for Thursday’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, features celebrities playing an abbreviated round of golf at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
“It’s exciting — it’s an honor,” actress and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kelly Rohrbach said. “I feel happy to show a woman’s face out there finally.”
Rohrbach, a seasoned golfer who played during her college years at Georgetown, couldn’t make it last year due to a scheduling conflict. But on Wednesday she seemed at home on Pebble Beach’s famous “Whiskey Run,” holes 1, 2, 3, 17 and 18, ultimately bringing home $10,000 for her charity, the Robin Hood Foundation.
That was despite some muddy fairways, team captain Clint Eastwood calling in sick and the chilly winds that kicked up toward the event’s end.
Rohrbach was among the lineup of celebrity players that included country music singer Clay Walker, actor Josh Duhamel and Pro-Am mainstay Bill Murray. Team Murray earned the largest purse of $60,000 for its slew of charities.
Regardless of winnings, all the celebrity participants seemed to loosen up more as the alternate shot play continued.
That was certainly the case for Daniel Lawrence Whitney, otherwise known as Larry the Cable Guy, who made the winning putt on the third hole. His victory was a departure from last year, when the stand-up comic and actor was called out by tournament announcer Tom Gross as “at home in the bunker.”
Instead, this year Gross sang Whitney’s praises
“Larry is the man that refuses to fade away. He will not give up,” said Gross, noting earlier while the two were pondering their golf games over breakfast burritos, Whitney had said he was looking for “freedom of expression” in his game.
After winning $20,000 for his charity Warrior Dog Foundation, Whitney had only happiness to express.
“You know, anytime you’re trying to make a putt in front of thousands of people you’re gonna be nervous,” Whitney later said in between some celebratory puffs on his cigar. “But I’ve been here two years now and I feel more relaxed and a little more used to it.”
That wasn’t necessarily the case for Huey Lewis, who was pinch-hitting for Eastwood as team captain. Lewis said he was providing Eastwood with status updates through a text message every hole.
Prior to teeing off, he had told a group of sideline spectators that living in Montana wasn’t conducive to getting a lot of practice on the course.
“I’m playing so bad right now, Tiger Woods could beat me,” quipped Lewis.
From there the ceremonial barbs began to flow with Gross as announcer setting the tongue-in-cheek tone.
“You do that one more time, you’re gonna have the Fish and Game after us,” he announced, after country musician Gary Mule Deer teed off.
That’s while fellow musician Clay Walker noted his dismay with fellow teammate Lewis.
“Huey Lewis is heckling me. The only problem is, he’s on my team,” said Walker.
For his part, Alfonso Ribeiro had a complaint for Kenny G., who he said wasn’t rooting for him like he should have been.
“We need to work on your internal struggle,” said Ribeiro, in between one of the usual Carlton dance moves he displayed for the crowd.
For Walker, it was a family affair. He had the support of his wife and daughter walking the greens with him, which helped when Gross focused his heckling on him.
“For those who take the road less traveled and tend to navigate toward unknown athletes, Clay Walker is the golfer for you,” he quipped.
That was after Gross described the day’s overall style of play.
“We’re playing ‘clean and place’ due to the tropical turbulence we’ve had this week,” he said, noting “the atmospheric river” that had settled in.
But after a fairly well executed shot, Murray seemed to not even notice the gray skies as he fraternized with the crowd like he’s known to do every year.
“Ya know, I’m back, Tom,” he said, noting the prior day’s blustery wet weather. “I dried out overnight.”
After all, as the out-of-practice Lewis told the crowd earlier, braving the weather and playing the game was all for something worthwhile.
“Pick a cause, any cause and support it,” he told some spectators before his fellow teammates told him to tee up his ball.
