One of two famed cypress trees in the 18th fairway on the Pebble Beach Golf Links was toppled by strong winds during the powerful storm that swept California and much of the West Coast this week.
Winds clocked at more than 40 mph downed the tree (seen in the upper left of the picture) in the driving area on the right side of the fairway off the tee.
“I was standing on the 18th tee and conservatively the wind was blowing at least 40 miles an hour,” said Ron Read, a long-time USGA official who lives on the Monterey Peninsula.
“ … I was just talking to Robert Trent Jones (Jr.) and said this reminds of 1967. I was a marshal on the sixth green at Pebble Beach (for what was then the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am). This was very similar to that. I remember Jack Nicklaus said he hit a 3-iron on the (109-yard) seventh hole. That’s what it reminded me of.”
Read said he took a picture looking down the fairway and did not notice the downed tree until examining the photo later.
The two cypress trees were planted in 2004 as replacements for two diseased pines.
