Toppled tree won't be replaced until after the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Pebble Beach Golf Links will not replace the cypress tree in the 18th fairway toppled by a storm there on Thursday until after the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February, RJ Harper, executive vice president golf and retail for the Pebble Beach Company, said Thursday night.

One of the most severe storms in Northern California in at least five years uprooted one of two cypress trees that had been planted there in the landing zone in 2004 to replace diseased pine trees. The felled tree was a less-mature tree than that that remained standing. The ground was too soft to get equipment in to remove the tree on Thursday.

Expected storms in the next two months precludes the replacing of the tree before the tournament, Harper said. A few trees at Spyglass Hill also were toppled.

Power was out in Pebble Beach and was not expected to be restored until Friday, according to the Monterey Herald. The Pebble Beach area was closed to visitors and other non-essential vehicles.

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