Lights, camera, action: it’s Hollywood golf

The movie industry figured long ago what golf has always recognized: there’s more to being famous than just being talented, although that certainly is an advantage. You need some flash, or a background that puts you in the neighborhood at least.

When club pros from the chill and snow of the East Coast came to California as their courses closed down for the winter, they began playing in the West.

This week’s Tour event, the Genesis, began in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open, and with victories by Ben Hogan — whose statue is alongside the practice putting green — and Sam Snead, it was both an anchor and a prime draw for competitive golf.

In what will be the best field of any tournament this winter are Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and the hottest guy the last 15 months and world No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, who as you know won again last Sunday in Phoenix.

There was a movie about Hogan, “Follow the Sun,” but the main role was portrayed by Glenn Ford. To the contrary, the Netflix series “Full Swing” uses the actual players and their families.

Yes, reality TV with a 3-putt. You might say the pros, sometimes wary of what the media will say, are fascinated and fearless. Tony Finau’s tale is a bit of a fairy tale. Son of a baggage handler at San Francisco International, Finau, a prep basketball star after the family resettled in Salt Lake City, quickly became great at golf.

Asked if he were excited fans would learn his beginnings, Finau said, “Yeah, just going back to the storytelling, my upbringing I think is quite different than most, and I take you back to Salt Lake City a little bit, to where it started. I think with the humble beginnings that I have, that was really a cool part of the story.

“I wanted to be a part of it. I think early, I was one of the first guys to commit to doing this, and I was really just honored that Netflix wanted to do a show on golf. I thought that that was an avenue that needed to be shown and I thought that there were going to be a lot of great stories and I was just happy that they looked at me and said that I could be a part of it.

“Honestly, early on I was just honored that I could be one of the guys, so I committed early. Again, I didn't really know what to expect, but I was more than happy to kind of open my doors to Netflix to just allow them some access to off-course stuff. the storytelling. I think they've done a great job. Time will tell if everyone agrees.”

Everyone does agree that in individual sports, golf and tennis, it’s the names that keep us involved. Max Homa, who grew up in L.A., graduated from Cal and has won six tournaments including the Fortinet at Silverado, pointed out that the names on top change weekly.

He then was asked, “Are you more of a (Rory) McIlroy or more of a (Jon) Rahm guy?”

“You can't pick on me for that,” said Homa. “There's too many good players. I don't know, I just played with Rahm last week and he's pretty fun to watch.”

Which we may find out on Netflix, if not in the galleries. Around here, everyone’s ready for lights, camera and action.

Tiger talks about winning and LeBron

PACIFIC PALISADES — He said he is grateful to be here, surrounded by memories, facing possibilities a sporting hero recalling his own heroes and reminding us that his only reason in playing the game is to win.

That so many of us doubt it’s still possible doesn’t deter Tiger Woods. It’s the way he was raised. It’s the way he always will believe.

The way so many people, especially those captivated by his fist-pumping success at the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st, believe nobody else in the sport is quite his equal.

Or draws the same attention.

Woods, beginning Thursday will be in the Genesis Open, at Riviera Country Club, where in 1992, an amateur, he first was accepted to play at PGA Tour events.

He was 16, loaded with talent. He would be awed by the number of unstriped balls available on the practice range. We were awed by potential to be realized in 82 Tour wins, record stretches as world No. 1 and in becoming along with Ben Hogan the only man to win three majors in a calendar year.

You are familiar with the subsequent details, the headline grabbing affairs, the back surgery and most significantly the accident two years ago when the car Woods was driving probably too fast, overturned on a hillside road maybe 15 miles from Riviera.

An LA County Sheriff said Tiger was lucky to be alive. A severed foot was reattached. Months of rehab — still ongoing — have enabled him to play. Walking is difficult, however, and to play in a tournament, a golfer must walk.

Still, at age 47, while being asked about LeBron James and Tom Brady, one man who at 37 remains a force in the NBA having just overtaken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time points leader, the other at 45 hanging up the cleats after hanging up the all-time mark of quarterbacking seven Super Bowl victories.

They kept going. Tiger keeps going.

“As far as the LeBron record,” said Woods, “what he accomplished is absolutely incredible of just the durability, the consistency and the longevity.

“I never thought — I grew up watching Kareem here, never saw him play in Milwaukee, but he was the Cat, that's all I remember, the Showtime Lakers and watching Cat run down there with goggles and hit the sky hook That record we never thought it would be surpassed. But what LeBron is doing — but also the amount of minutes he's playing, no one's ever done that at that age, to be able to play all five positions, that's never been done before at this level for this long. As far as our equivalent to that, I don't know, maybe you look at maybe me and Sam (Snead) at 82? It takes a career to get to those numbers. That's how I think probably best how you look at it.”

To look at Tiger Woods, one must put aside any thoughts of being a ceremonial golfer, content to be in the field when he’s no longer in contention.

“I have not come around to the idea of being — if I'm playing, I play to win. I know that players have played and they are ambassadors of the game and try to grow the game. I can't wrap my mind around that as a competitor. If I'm playing in the event I'm going to try and beat you. I'm there to get a W, OK?

OK. Who are we to disagree with Tiger Woods?

Super Bowl gave us what we needed — an escape from the real world

America needed that, a sporting event dramatic and exciting enough for a few minutes — OK, for four quarters — that we might be taken away from the real world.

A few years ago, when critics whined the Super Bowl had become too overwhelming in our lives with the halftime show and commercials, the late NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle insisted, “All we are is entertainment.”

For proof, you are offered the happenings Sunday in the Arizona desert of Super Bowl LVII, which fulfilled Rozelle’s argument and in the process showed the Kansas City Chiefs to be a franchise of destiny, if not history.

Trailing virtually from the opening minutes against the favored Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs first rallied from 10 points down and then, after gaining and losing leads, won 38-35 on a field goal with eight seconds remaining.

The tale of this game was supposed to be the Eagles’ offense, but just as it was three years ago when he rallied a K.C. comeback over the 49ers, the story instead was Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Earlier in the week Mahomes, so agile and so reliable, had been voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. In theory, it was a guarantee his team would not win the championship game. Young Mahomes is not burdened by theories.

“Patrick Mahomes and our offensive line,” was the answer that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid gave when asked how his team took control and took the victory.

That Kansas City defense wasn’t bad either, limiting Philly to only a touchdown in the second half.

This was a game that on the surface didn’t seem that enticing. No 49ers, no Cowboys, no Tom Brady. Who cared other than the people from KC and Philly — and the segment of the population that had bet millions on the outcome?

Let’s amend that last sentence. The game turned out to be a thriller. And a warning that the Chiefs very well could become the replacement for the New England Patriots as the league’s most dominant team.

So many things can get in the way, injuries, fumbles — you’ve heard the litany, but who or what is going to stop the Chiefs, especially after the Eagles, who from game one of the regular season were anointed the No. 1 team?

And early in the Super Bowl it appeared to be the better team, though Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts maybe runs better than he throws — he set a Super Bowl record for quarterbacks by rushing for two touchdowns.

There’s no doubting the NFL can be a harrowing place to earn a living, as the frightening collapse of Damar Hamlin reminded us in early January. But a game like Super Bowl LVII will not allow us to step away.

At the beginning of the week, when there’s more nonsense than sense for the Super Bowl, Andy Reid, who is 64 and whose musical tastes run in a different direction, was asked to name the five greatest rappers ever.

He named two. Big deal.

We’d rather he choose his team for the excitement it gave us in the Super Bowl.

A pebble from Pebble was the key for Rose

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — He had arrived too late for a practice round, so to get the feel for the course, Justin Rose climbed down the bluff to the sand, reached down and picked up — what else could it be at Pebble Beach — a pebble, a gift for his son.

That was a week ago Monday, and then after the nasty weather and his great golf, eight days later on the most recent Monday, Justin Rose grabbed the first-place trophy for the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The man has a sense of theater. And as we know, of financial promotion.

For a while, there he was, the spokesman for Morgan Stanley, appearing in commercials while he was struggling to reappear in the winner’s circle.

But the struggle has ended, in a tournament that because of weather delays -- rain hail and high wind, if not all at once -- the sun shined brightly over the final 18 holes.

Pebble looked spectacular. Rose played effectively.

A last round that began Sunday, for him and the others who went the full 72 holes — and you’d be amazed that some who made the 54-hole cut decided to skip out and head to Phoenix — concluded with Rose shooting a 66 for a total of 269, and three shots ahead of Brendan Todd and Brandon Wu 

Rose, 42, has had a career that’s lacked very little. Born in South Africa and moving to England at age 5, Rose was not quite 18 when, still an amateur, he holed out a shot on the 18th at Royal Birkdale and finished fourth in the 1998 British Open, two shots a playoff.

In a land seeking heroes, he became one instantly. It was the best thing to happen, and also the worst. Rose immediately turned pro — and missed 21 straight cuts. But the talent was there. As was the persistence.

“It was something that I felt like I was going to be remembered for, forever more,” Rose said once. “That one shot that I hit there, that’s the one shot that I have had to try to live up to. For a long time that shot became a little bit of a burden to me, because I did have a tough start to my professional career, and you never quite know where things are going to go from there.”

After a time, from a learning period on the British Tour, they went quite well. Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, a gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics and was the leading money winner. Still no matter what’s been accomplished, a golfer in his 40s has his doubts.

Especially the way things were going, or really not going, whether he would be back at the Masters, where in 2017 he lost a playoff to Sergio Garcia.

“I've been one of the players that's very fortunate to have done very well at the game of golf,” Rose said, reflecting. “Hope to win. Hope to put myself in the situation. My game hasn't produced many of those opportunities of late. But I still have had that belief that it's possible”

A pebble for his thoughts.

Aaron Rodgers grabs the “Am” in Pro-Am

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — It is called a Pro-Am, isn’t it? The people who pay to play, the amateurs, have been as important as the ones who play to get paid.

Maybe considering the tournament grew on the backs of Bing Crosby’s pals from the entertainment industry, at the end of the Great Depression before there was a PGA Tour, made it more important.

So there was something positive about a guy who is famous for what he has accomplished in another endeavor — if pro football could be so listed — as a partner on the successful team.

That would be the quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who grew up about 250 miles north, went to Cal, won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers and once was overlooked by the 49ers, who now wouldn’t dare sign him. Or would they?

Because of weather that, seemingly as tradition dictates, gave us (and the tournament) hail for a few minutes Sunday morning, rain for a few hours Saturday night and strong wind all day Saturday, the pro part is uncompleted, leading to yet another Monday finish. 

Through 63 holes of the scheduled 72, Justin Rose was in front, 15 under par and two ahead of Peter Malnati, who also had played 63; Brandon Todd and Denny McCarthy were also tied for second. Kurt Kitiyama, who is also from Chico as is Rodgers, had a bad front nine and fell out of contention.

Perhaps it is fitting, if unfortunate, that for a few hours at least the biggest name in the tournament is Rodgers. After he watched the AT&T before in his acquired celebrity status, he was invited to play.

Now a 10-handicap, Rodgers was partnered with Ben Silverman, who until a couple weeks ago was as little known as Rodgers is well known. A 35-year-old from Canada, Silverman missed the pro cut by a shot, but that almost was secondary.

“Well, Silverman just happened to land one of the headliners as a playing partner — Green Bay Packers (for now, at least) quarterback Aaron Rodgers,” reported a story on SportsNet Canada. “Not bad for a guy who lost his PGA Tour card in 2020 and then relinquished full status on the Korn Ferry Tour over the last year.”

No matter what happens this week, Silverman is in great shape to retain his PGA Tour card next year as the top 30 Korn Ferry players at the end of the season graduate.

Rodgers, who has said winning the AT&T was on his bucket list, offered appreciation to Silverman.

“I felt good about the partnership this week,” said Rodgers. “Ben's such a great guy. I knew we were going to have fun. Playing with Darius Rucker, I've known (Ben) for over a decade. He's a fantastic guy. You know it's going to be a great week.

“Then we put together a couple good rounds. The first two (Sunday), especially the last 10 holes, I was in my pocket and my partner picked me up.”

So he could pick up the victory.

At the AT&T, Mother Nature laughs away

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — That howling down by the ninth hole? You think it was the wind? Nah, it was that feisty lady, Mother Nature, cackling away.

“Think you’re going to hold a golf tournament here in February? Won’t you ever learn?”

It’s dog-bites-man stuff. Ancient history. Yes, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am went, shall we say, head to head against the best (or worst) of climatological conditions

And as so often happens, the tournament was the loser on Saturday. So, in a way, was CBS, which in this dead-of-winter situation, a week before the Super Bowl, gets a ratings boost from celebrities such as Bill Murray and other amateurs who remind us the game still is fun, even if not played well.

It was difficult. That was the Goodyear blimp up there, however, not the Chinese weather satellite. Play was suspended around midday until finally, after a three-hour plus delay, it was stopped.

Peter Malnati, at 12 under par, was two shots ahead of Joseph Bramlett and Keith Mitchell, with Kurt Kitiyama, the one-time basketball star from Chico, both at 9 under.

There’s nothing certain about what should have been the 54-hole mark except the AT&T will not finish until Monday, something that has taken place many times when storms and darkness combine to take a toll.

The amateurs who choose will be allowed Sunday to finish their completed rounds, so whether they make the cut or not they’ll be done. That may not be fair, but who said golf is fair?

What Bramlett said was, “It was just one of those days. You take it as it comes. We got to play Pebble Beach, so it was a blessing in that regard. But the weather was wild. It was fairly calm for maybe our first seven, eight holes. Then when we got to 9 it started blowing and then it's survival mode.”

You have to like a golfer with a movie director’s perspective.
“It's just trying to predict what the ball's going to do. I had 136 yards to the pin on No. 9 and I hit a full 8-iron short of the green. I had 210 yards up the hill on 14 and I airmailed the green with an 8-iron. So it's a guessing game. We're just doing our best.”

Mitchell likes challenges, and he and the others here definitely have one.

“Definitely pleased with how I played,” he said. “We definitely — first couple holes were very benign. Then right when we got on the 6th green is when the wind started picking up. Playing 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, pretty much straight into the wind, 8 was a little off the right, but everything else was straight into the wind.

“We knew going into (Saturday) that those were going to be the tough holes. That was going to be the hardest stretch potentially all week. If I could make it through that stretch in a relatively good score, I would be set up for the weekend.”

And he was. Take that, Mother Nature.

A windy reminder it’s Pebble Beach, not Palm Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — So the wind was up and the temperature down, but that was just a friendly reminder it’s February and we’re in Pebble Beach, not Palm Beach.

Yes, there are golf courses and mansions at both locations, but for this week at least, this is the only one that matters on the PGA Tour.

Where else would you be getting the speed of the wind as well as the speed of the greens, which as tales of poa annua grass remind us are both bumpy and quick? Just joking; the beach out here along Carmel Bay is famed for little rocks. What the golf property is famed for is being a place that produces champions.

Maybe one of those will emerge from a field filled with people other than major winners. Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Danny Willett still are trying to break through. The day’s low Monterey’s round was by Seamus Power, a 64. Naturally it was at MPCC, where par is 71, a stroke lower than the other two courses. 

“I grew up in Northern California,” said Kurt Kitiyama, “so I got to play Spyglass quite a bit. Not so much here and Monterey. But I’ve seen it before and definitely feeling a lot more comfortable this time around.´

“It's always nice playing here. It's nice being here. The plan is take what the course and conditions allow.

“I know it's playing a lot tougher there than the other two courses. So I think just kind of staying patient all around and get what is possible.”

The third round, the Saturday round, often is the biggest for TV, and for the fans in attendance when most of celebrities get their chance before missing the cut. They come up with songs and acts and stunts for the non-golfing public, the last remnants of the old Bing Crosby event.

Sport is supposed to be enjoyable, and the Saturday round at the AT&T inevitably is, no matter what the weather is. One year Bill Murray, who’s become the main non-pro attraction, reached into an ice cream cooler near the 18th tee and pulled out a frozen fish.

Maybe the pros attempting to get a victory won’t appreciate something like that, but most everyone else certainly will.

So who's really leading the Pebble Beach AT&T?

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The game is the same, hitting a little white ball as few times as possible, but the courses are different. Which makes the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am perhaps as much mystery as history.

Day one of this event — where thanks to Bill Murray there may be as many laughs as putts — gave us a leaderboard with a man named Hank Lebioda ahead of everybody else.

As they say, we will find out in a matter of days, or at least by Sunday evening when every one of the 156, or at least those who have made the cut after three rounds, finish their cycles.

So you are not familiar with any of the names. Well, be patient and persistent. Somewhere a few clicks down are a U.S. Open winner (Justin Rose, 69 at Pebble Beach), a Masters winner (Danny Willett, 71 at Spyglass Hill) and a winner of the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open (Jordan Spieth, 71 at Spyglass Hill).

The weather, often the deciding factor in wintertime on the Monterey Peninsula, wasn’t bad most of Thursday. Then it got semi-brutal, the wind so strong you’re surprised they didn’t post small golfer warnings.

Monterey Peninsula’s Shore Course is mostly tucked in among the pine trees until it swings out toward Monterey Bay.

Coming down the last two hole, said Harry Hall, another of the newer names who shot 64 at MPCC (par is 71), “It started to blow 45 miles an hour. It was crazy. Happy to get in a 7-under.”

Spieth has won this tournament, and last year he missed by a shot. He knows the courses and the conditions, which doesn’t necessarily mean he loves them. Golf is a test of making the best of the worst,

“Spyglass is hard,” said Spieth. “It’s a tough test. Would have liked to have done better on my front nine. That was really forgettable.

“Then I thought I played the back nine really well. It was really bizarre the last four holes or so with the wind. It went from nothing to flipping and then blowing about 25 out of nowhere the other direction than the forecast. That throws us through a big loop when you're prepping for something and you got to make the adjustment.

“But I had a good last three holes and that always kind of puts a smile on your face. I wish I would have shot a few under today. Just a couple early iron shots I hung right.”

Bill Murray has been hanging in at the AT&T seemingly forever. Thursday was the 20th anniversary of the movie “Groundhog Day,” which helped make him the tournament’s primary attraction. Others may come and go, but almost always he’s in the field.

We know his name and his game.

AT&T golf fights for attention

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The sports headlines dealt with Tom Brady. Of course. And LeBron James, naturally. Virtually nothing about the golf tournament at Pebble Beach.

Although, as a matter of interest, both Brady and his father, Tom Sr., have been entrants as well as longtime fans.

The Super Bowl is only a week and a half away, and isn’t that the biggest event in America? So how does any golf tournament, even one as historic as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, escape the shadows?

And since we’re in a question mode, if you were starting a golf tournament and needed someone famous to get the attention, who might you choose?

You know this, but the world, including the world of sports, isn’t what it used to be and, glancing around, you suspect isn’t going to be again. All this was brought into focus of late.

It’s not an issue of quality or skill. Every one of those guys or ladies on the tours, golf or tennis, is so excessively talented it’s almost frightening. Even the people who can’t make it are brilliant.

It’s an issue of getting the rest of us to watch them. And ask for autographs. And purchase the products they endorse.

Do you remember when Donald Trump — yes, that Donald Trump — played in the AT&T in 1993, and even made a hole-in-one? Never mind what you think of his politics. He would have people lining the ropes.

Jordan Spieth is in the AT&T, having won it once and also having associated with the sponsor. He’s a great guy as well as a great golfer. He understands the difficulties inherent in building a tournament.

Asked if the tournament would lose too much if the amateurs were dropped (Spieth plays with singer Jake Owen), he answered in the affirmative. “I think it would — I think the ‘Am’ portion of this tournament is obvious. How old is this tournament? 75 years old or something. Back to the Bing Crosby. I mean, that’s what this tournament is.”

Elevated to attract the big boys, the AT&T requires golfers who make the tournament required viewing, on the course or on the tube.

This is not unique. Back in the time where the top players were Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, or Arnie and Jack, the papers frequently reminded us who wasn’t there.

Tournament sponsors would scream, but hey, news is news, negative or positive. Reputations are not invented, they develop. Nothing is promised, but plenty is available.

You have to believe there will be more winners and more celebs, enough to make the Pebble Beach Pro-Am what it used to be. Even without Donald Trump.

Lonely golf at the AT&T

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — There wasn’t a rain cloud in sight. Or any spectators either. Nature is responsible for the first. The people who run the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am get credit or blame — you decide — for the other. 

Yes, time once more for Northern California’s favorite golfing event — maybe America’s, if you go by the TV ratings — when show business and big business hook up with players who really mean business.

It was created in the 1930s by Bing Crosby (go ahead, Google his name or his game), and as much because of the format and the spectacular landfall on which it long has been held — not to mention the conditions — it has persisted for eight decades.

Not that everyone who plays the PGA tour is enthralled. They don’t like rotating among three courses, Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula and Spyglass Hill. They don’t like being slowed by amateurs, rounds usually lasting six hours. They don’t like the climate, although everything was gorgeous on Tuesday.

The AT&T — for nostalgia’s sake, we’ll call it the Crosby — is remembered and heralded for storms and cold. The bad weather might not have produced wonderful golf, but it has given us at least one memorable comment.

“I can’t wait,” said the singer Phil Harris, “to get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.”

I can’t wait to see fans swarming over the courses. For no good reason, tickets are no longer sold for practice rounds on Tuesday. It was lonely out there, other than a few locals.

It’s a different world. We understand that. But when you can walk six blocks from Flaherty’s restaurant in Carmel, only a few yards from Pebble Beach, and not encounter another human soul, it’s a strange world.

That doesn’t particularly bother or affect Viktor Hovland, who seems content any place on any course. He grew up in Norway — no sardine jokes, please — went to Oklahoma State and won the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble.

Those amateurs are not to be confused with the ones in the AT&T, who are more recognized — Bills quarterback Josh Allen, retired Giants catcher Buster Posey, 49ers Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, soccer star Gareth Bale and as always Bill Murray — but don’t carry handicaps.

That doesn’t mean they might not carry their pro.

“Obviously you want to have fun and play well,” said Hovland about teaming up. “I like to play fast. But I do enjoy the format. It’s very unique to be able to play a PGA Tour event with an amateur, and I don't mind it. But I'd prefer to play fast, and I'm here to obviously try to win the golf tournament, so it depends on the partner, as well. I think you get to kind of have a little bit of a different feel to it. It feels more relaxed.”

The lack of fans? AT&T officials decided after shifting the celebrity shoot-out from Tuesday to Wednesday that marshals and security types appreciate time off before tournament play begins Thursday.

What? Didn’t we have too much lonely golf when Covid closed things down three years ago?

“That is a different dynamic,” said Hovland. “It felt lonely.”

As it did Tuesday.

Niners' magical season ends in hopelessness

What happens when there isn’t any more? When the season that was so magical becomes so prosaic and sad? When the dream so unexpectedly becomes, if not a nightmare, than a feeling of hopelessness?

What happens when everything that was going so right goes so very wrong? When you lose your quarterback, your cool and most significantly the game that was going to put you into the Super Bowl?

Everybody knew the Philadelphia Eagles were a great team. Didn’t they have the best record in the NFC? Weren’t they playing at home Sunday? Maybe if the 49ers aren’t forced to use a quarterback who in effect was fourth string, Philly still dominates as it did, crushing the 49ers, 31-7.

Or maybe not.

You’ve heard the phrase — part reality, part agony — that one plays the cards he or she is dealt. Your starting quarterback gets pummeled minutes into the game? Your usually disciplined defense starts making one penalty after another? The officials seem biased? (Which they are not).

Kismet, baby. Fate. You do the best you can.

Unfortunately for the Niners, down to a quarterback who virtually had been found in the wilderness, 36-year-old Josh Johnson, getting called for penalties after what might have been a game-deciding sequence, the best wasn’t good enough.

And so it is done, this 2022 season, when a kid who was known as Mr. Irrelevant, quarterback Brock Purdy, had helped win a dozen games in succession, and in the process won plaudits and fame.

It was being billed as a fairy tale, the guy taken at the bottom of the draft, along with a defense that was on top of the league stats, bringing a title to the City by the Bay. But as we learned as kids, not all fairy tales have a happy ending.

And yet, this topsy-turvy Niner season has just concluded — the 3-4 start, the injury to the QB who was the starter; the injury to the steadfast loyal kid who replaced him, Jimmy Garoppolo; then on Sunday the injury to the kid who replaced Jimmy G, the surprisingly skilled Purdy.

If you’re a Niners fan, even a fan of pro football, do you cling only to the results of the final game, the end, or are you able to find at least a small measure of satisfaction in that big picture, a long winning streak and, after yet another victory over the Dallas Cowboys, a place in the conference title game?

Donte Whitner, a onetime defensive back, said in so many words that the only way to judge success is whether a team wins the Super Bowl. Or doesn’t win the Super Bowl.

That’s a bit shortsighted. The Niners didn’t even advance to the Super Bowl, but look at what was accomplished. The man at the most important position, the quarterback, gets knocked out of the game so quickly. It is not Brock Purdy’s fault or coach Kyle Shanahan’s fault.

“I wish we had a little better opportunity,” said Shanahan, understandably emotional.

If wishes were horses … you know the saying. The only place this Niners team will be riding is off into the sunset.

Niners: After win over America’s Team comes Philly

You know the lyric, The road gets tougher, it’s lonelier and rougher. Not about the NFL playoffs, but it should have been.

Just about the time everything’s going splendidly, a divisional playoff win over the erstwhile America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys, the 49ers get the team currently acknowledged to be best in America.

Or least the best in the NFC, which may be one and the same, the Philadelphia Eagles.

They also get one game away from another Super Bowl.

But because that game is against the Eagles, Sunday in the chill at Philly, one mustn’t make future plans.

As Niners coach Kyle Shanahan stood on the field at Levi’s Stadium, where after the 19-12 victory over Dallas he agreed to appear for Bay Area television — people get magnanimous following big wins — the subject of the Eagles was brought up.

Philly may not quite have the magic and the history of Dallas, which always has had the attention of, and occasionally the edge over, the Niners.

They offer no Jerry Jones in egotistical splendor making promises, no memories of Montana to Clark — The Catch — fulfilling promises. They are just a franchise that started the schedule with a victory and a lead over everybody.

Also with a roster that so crushed the New York Giants Saturday night in the other divisional playoff, going in front 28-7 in the first half before winning 38-7, the New York writers were shocked — which seemingly is impossible.

“They’re very good,” or words to that effect, conceded Shanahan about the Eagles, whose quarterback, Jalen Hurts, missed a considerable part of the season with an injury, but were dominant because of, yes, defense.

The same thing that won for the 49ers and the Cowboys, teams that in the long-ago era were known for offense, Montana and Steve Young, Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. Now their reputation is constructed on defense, as a halftime score of 9-6 would verify.

The Niners scored the game’s only touchdown, a two-yard run by Christian McCaffrey, in the fourth quarter.

Defense and turnovers are the difference in the postseason. San Francisco limited the Cowboys to 282 net yards while gaining 312. Niner quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t throw an interception; Dallas’ revered and reviled Dak Prescott threw two.

Purdy is 7-0 since replacing Jimmy Garoppolo (who of course replaced Trey Lance, who was forced by injuries to sit out). The question is what San Francisco will do with all three quarterbacks next season.

First comes the question of whether this season, Purdy, famous as Mr. Irrelevant, last pick in the draft, can be the first rookie to be a Super Bowl quarterback.

He’s already the third rookie to win two playoff games.

Tight end George Kittle, whose catch of a slapped ball was worthy of the many replays it got on Fox, said of Purdy, “Brock is a good quarterback. He keeps his eyes up when the play is falling apart and gives us a shot at the ball.” 

He certainly has given them a shot at the championship.

A wild win for Niners in wild card

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Or then, perusing history, maybe it was. After all, the words “wild card” can be interpreted any way you decide.

And the prevailing wisdom about the 49ers was that their game against Seattle wouldn’t be as wild as it turned out to be.

The Niners had defeated the Seahawks in both regular-season games this fall and winter, but as has been pointed out quite accurately, it’s difficult to beat another team three in a row in the NFL.

Unless they are mismatched. Which, in a second half that began with the heavily favored Niners trailing by a point, ultimately turned out to be the situation.

San Francisco, with its top-ranked defense taking control as it has so often, scored 25 points before the Seahawks got a touchdown, with three minutes remaining, that didn’t matter.

So the 49ers won 41-23 on Saturday and are into the next round of the playoffs, for a game that will be played, as was this wildest of cards, at Levi’s Stadium against a yet undetermined opponent.

And most likely, not in the rain that has been punishing the Bay Area and returned in the third quarter, as seemingly did the Niners.

Yes, for those of a certain age, it brings back memories of 1981, when the weather was inclement and the results were inspiring, San Francisco beating the New York Giants on a Candlestick Park field barely playable — remember the sod squad? — and then on the Montana-to-Clark pass taking down the Cowboys and going to the Super Bowl.

Where this journey concludes is unpredictable, but at least the Niners are still a presence, and head coach Kyle Shanahan is still a happy individual — after being less happy at two quarters into the Seattle game.

The Niners were doing virtually everything they needed to do in the first half, other than getting people into the end zone, a rather significant problem.

“You’ve got to score points,” said Shanahan, and then someone reminded him the Niners gained more yards in this game, 505, than in any this season.

“We only had 13 points until late in the first half,” said the coach.

Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy threw four touchdown passes. Not quite a rookie after playing six games — and winning every one — he was under pressure early. Sure, he was unbeaten and had performed remarkably for a man taken last in the draft (actually for anyone taken anywhere in the draft). But this was his first postseason game. Ever.

Under pressure from a pass rush carefully crafted by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Purdy, a righthander, kept running to his left before throwing an incompletion.

Asked if he thought Purdy was nervous, Shanahan said, “No, the deficit made me nervous. I appreciate what he’s doing. I was wishing he could have had a couple of touchdowns.”

They got one quickly after Niners defensive lineman Charles Omenihu knocked the football loose from Seattle QB Geno Smith. The 49ers recovered at their own 19 with some three minutes left in the third quarter. That did it for the Seahawks.

“The ball hit the ground,” said Shanahan. “I saw it bouncing and kept thinking, ‘Grab it.’ He scooped it up.”

And San Francisco was about to scoop up a win that shouldn’t have been as difficult as it became.

Will third time against Seattle be a problem for Niners?

The thinking in the NFL is that you don’t beat another team three times in a season. Which means the 49ers might have a problem. Or that whatever people say doesn’t mean as much as how people play.    

The first round of the playoffs, a wild card game on Saturday at Levi’s Stadium, will be the third between the Niners and Seahawks. San Francisco won the other two, one at home, one up north.

Sure, the Seahawks may have figured out by now what they must do to beat the Niners, but so what? The personnel hasn’t changed — although the Niners have used two different quarterbacks, so why should the results?

San Francisco has the longest current winning streak in the sport, 10 in a row, topped off Sunday by a 38-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

But a rather mortifying 3-4 start to a record that at 13-4 is their best in a long while, left the 49ers a game behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC standings.

Philly earned the bye, the week off, which can be a refresher for any athlete who’s been pounding and pounded on since training camp in July. But what matters is qualifying for the tournament, the postseason, and that’s what San Francisco has accomplished.

What any team needs is to be playing its best football in January. The current longest win streak in pro football is an indication that the Niners are doing just that.

Somehow, by planning or fate, the guys who run the league have the ability — or the fortune — to keep us fascinated until the final moments of the final regular season game. That happened Sunday night

Detroit at Green Bay, former Cal quarterback Jared Goff, a No. 1 overall pick, against former Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who should have been a No. 1 overall pick. The game was in the chill at Lambeau Field. The Packers were ahead.

But Goff and the Lions won. The Packers, the probable Niners opponent in the wild card, were done. So perhaps is Rodgers, age 39.

The Niners are far from done. They’ve got the best defense in the NFL — as you’ve been instructed, defense wins. They’ve got a rookie quarterback, Brock Purdy, who barely was drafted and has never lost a game; they once again have their full roster, with Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell back from injuries and running wild.

And they have old mo, momentum.

The knock on the Niners is they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and beat a lot of lesser teams like the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. We’ll see if it matters.

“I don’t know if I’ve had this feeling that I have right now about our team and the opportunity we have to win this thing,” said Niners linebacker Fred Warner. “We have everything we need on this team to do what we need to do.”

He was on the 2019 team that was 13-3 (the sked has since been altered to 17 games) and lost to KC in Super Bowl LIV. Comparisons are difficult, especially after a gap of three years. 

Coaches believe in their system and their players but understand their plans can fail with a freak bounce or a bad throw. “It’s a relief,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of getting to the postseason. “It was a stressful week knowing you needed a win, but you’re thinking about the (playoffs) also. So being able to pull off the win — and being able to rest some guys at the end — was great.”

Giants decide to play (and pay) with the big boys

Here are two truisms. One: If you want to play with the big boys, you have to play like the big boys. Two: in wine, cars and baseball players, you get what you pay for — with exceptions.

Yes, the salaries of sport are growing more exorbitant by the hour, as are prices of virtually everything, including necessities, which may include baseball, depending on your viewpoint. No, it’s not to be equated with, say, gasoline, but those summer evenings would be empty without the game.

For the San Francisco Giants, the deal was awarded to the free agent shortstop Carlos Correa, a contract reportedly worth $350 million, which isn’t bad for not being Aaron Judge.

Who, with his Northern California background and Ruthian glamour, supposedly was the guy the Giants would have preferred but couldn’t pry away from the dreaded New York Yankees.

“Chicks dig the long ball” was the message in a commercial ages ago. As do most in baseball, a game in which everyone now swings for the fences and the hit-and-run is on the verge of extinction.

Correa is a home run hitter, and one of those in the middle of the infield as well as the middle of the lineup is a particular blessing.

Shortstops once were thought of as lean, lithe individuals who could start a rally or keep one going. The infield power came from the guys at the corners, first and third basemen. But as demonstrated by Brandon Crawford, both the image and responsibility have changed.

What happens now to Crawford, a longtime member of the Giants, who through his play — MVP votes attest to the fullness of his career — and engaging personality and intelligence have made him a fan favorite? He may go to third or the outfield. For sure, he won’t be at shortstop. The Giants aren’t giving Correa a king’s ransom to be a backup.

The Giants were overdue for a move after the slippage last season, when they fell to an even and (looking around at the always inescapable Dodgers and recently bombastic Padres) mediocre finish in 2022.

Perhaps they weren’t tumbling into irrelevancy (that word belongs to the draft placement of a surprising 49er rookie quarterback), but they had lost some of their appeal as well as far too many games.

Attendance at Oracle Park had declined, if not precipitously then at least notably. Empty seats were common if not prevalent. It’s embarrassing when there are more spectators in the right field stands wearing blue and cheering for that franchise from L.A.

Will Correa fix that problem? He’s a beginning, along with the acquisition of outfielder Mitch Haniger and pitcher Ross Stripling and maybe the former Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Manaea.

The other day on the ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption,” co-host Tony Kornheiser suggested that signing Correa might end up better for the Giants than signing Judge.

Just talk, of course, but the kind of talk needed by a team desperate to get back into the limelight.

Niners: Wrong audible, right quarterback

One play into the game and Brock Purdy was down, sacked. Not quite the way saviors are supposed to begin.

“Wrong audible,” was the brief, unemotional explanation from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

But in time, the right quarterback.

No, Purdy, the acclaimed Mr. Irrelevant, did not by himself beat the Bucs and Tom Brady, called the GOAT or greatest of all time. Football is a team sport.

But on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the rookie Purdy, utilizing his talents and a game plan brilliantly created by Shanahan and his staff, was better.

Because, as has been the situation since the loss to Kansas City, the 49ers’ defense is better.

Sure, much of the pre-game material was about the two QBs — the Niners’ rookie, who took over from the injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Bucs’ star, who grew up in San Mateo, some 25 miles from Levi’s.

Yet as we have been instructed over the years, it’s the other people, the linesmen, the defenders, who make the difference. Brady only had thrown two interceptions all season. He threw two alone against San Francisco. Two more than Purdy.

“I was really happy for him,” said Shanahan. “He’s tough. It looked like he would be our No. 2. Then Jimmy signed. He works hard.”

After the game, Purdy was as humble as a man taken last in the draft figured to be.

“He’s very poised, but he plays with energy at the same time,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “And I think those are two great traits to have as a quarterback.”

If Purdy had game-opening, first-NFL-start jitters, they were probably knocked out of him by safety Keanu Neal on that first play — a sack that was negated by an unnecessary roughness penalty.

Said Purdy, “Honestly it just felt good to get hit and just feel like I was in the game.”

He knows the system and his teammates after weeks of practice. What he didn’t know was that the two men ahead of him would get hurt.

What we don’t know is how he’ll respond in a road game where the crowd is hooting and jeering, but we will learn quickly enough. The Niners play at Seattle on Thursday night.

“We got turnovers in this game,” said Shanahan, about the offense. They also had 404 yards rushing and passing, And the Niners, once 1-2, are 9-4 after a sixth straight win.

Deebo Samuel is injured, a high ankle sprain, which could be a big loss in this run-oriented system. Then again, that’s why the 49ers signed McCaffrey. He is not Deebo, but he is very close.

The theory in the NFL is “next man up.” If the next man is Brock Purdy, the idea would seem to have some merit.

As Niners learned, nobody’s irrelevant in the NFL

The definition of irrelevant is “not connected with or relevant to something.” Unless, of course, it involves the NFL, where everything and everyone is connected. As we learned once more on a Sunday in San Francisco, where a foot was broken but a team’s hopes were not.

We refer to Jimmy Garoppolo, Mr. Hard Luck, and to Brock Purdy, perhaps Mr. Good Luck. And to the screaming unpredictability of sports. Do not try to outguess fate. Or rewrite fables.

Nobody would have believed the Niners’ quarterback progression this season, or the accidents incurred.

But here they are, using a quarterback who in generic terms was little more than third string, but because he was in the right place — or wrong place — at the right time is forever to be labeled Mr. Irrelevant, famous for being infamous. 

Paul Salata, who grew up in L.A., was a receiver for USC and played in the 1945 Rose Bowl. He also was on the Trojan baseball team. Drafted by the 49ers, he played a smattering of NFL games and became enamored by the players, who like himself, were pros but never stars.

“Everyone who is drafted works hard,” Salata once told the New York Times, but some don’t get any recognition. “I wanted to celebrate who gets picked last. The player at the end of the line rarely gets noticed. And their hard work should be noticed.”

Thanks to Salata, who died in October 2021, one day before his 95th birthday, the player at the bottom gets plenty of notice, and so does Salata. He and his friends from Orange County came up with the idea of Mr. Irrelevant and Irrelevant Week, where the man chosen last gets almost the same attention as the man taken first. Almost.

There’s a dinner and TV appearances, a tradition that started when Kelvin Kirk of Dayton was drafted by the Steelers in 1976. Kirk took umbrage, believing he was the punchline of a joke, but later on those designated Mr. Irrelevant have been appreciative. Some end up on rosters. Kicker Ryan Succop (South Carolina, 2009) made it to the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, winning a ring.

Purdy and the Niners would be thrilled by that possibility, although admittedly there’s a big difference between a player who gets a team into the end zone and someone who gets the ball over the crossbar.

Purdy was projected as not even being drafted, but the Niners made him the 262nd player taken.

In movies, people like Purdy are tossed into a game and toss the winning touchdown pass. But this is real life, and the dreamers are warned not to believe in miracles.

Still, Purdy did throw for a touchdown last weekend. Whatever happens from here, is a tribute of sorts to Paul Salata — and a reminder that nobody who’s good enough to be an NFL draft pick is irrelevant.

These shots from Tiger are vocal

Interesting what’s happened to golf. It used to be known as the gentleman’s game, one in which you may have missed a critical putt but rarely missed a chance for an appreciative handshake. Now? Certain people are at such odds it’s remarkable they aren’t at each other’s throats.

There’s a tournament this weekend in the Bahamas, the Hero World Challenge, a limited-field event that might not mean much except for Tiger Woods. He has plantar fasciitis and withdrew because he can’t walk. However, he can talk, particularly about Greg Norman.

Norman once was known as the most sympathetic figure in golf. He blew a six-shot lead, lost the 1996 Masters to Nick Faldo and responded like — well, he did win many other tournaments including two British Opens, so champ would be a fine word.

For the PGA Tour, the best word might be pest. As you know, Norman, with Saudi Arabian money, is involved with the rival LIV Tour, which with shorter (54-hole) events and higher payments is stealing players from the PGA Tour. The hope is to force the PGA Tour to accept the LIV, creating one very wealthy if unhappy family

Apparently for this to take place, Norman will have to take off.

“Greg’s got to leave,” said Tiger when asked at the media conference about the possibility of a merger — which was what the Saudis, in the process of trying to upgrade their image through “sport washing,” want anyway.

In other words, Norman will be forced to make the ultimate links-connected sacrifice, his dream buried in a shallow bunker — but, this being golf, not without a large-sized financial gain.

“Right now,” said Tiger, “is not right, not with their leadership, not with Greg there and his animosity toward the Tour itself.

“As Rory (McIlroy) said and I said as well, Greg’s got to leave and then we can — eventually, hopefully — have a stay between the two lawsuits (one by each side) and figure out something. But why would you change anything if you have a lawsuit against you? They sued us first.”

Did someone out there add “Nah, nah”?

What Pat Perez added two weeks ago after Woods previously knocked the LIV was, “That’s the stupidest spit I’ve ever heard in my life.” Only he didn’t say spit. The question is, whether with 54-hole events and guaranteed money, golfers still would have incentive.

Perez, who played the PGA Tour for more than 20 years, is 46 — a few months younger than Woods, who will be 47 at the end of December. He grew up in San Diego and faced Tiger in junior tournaments. There’s respect but no idolizing.

Claude Harmon III is Perez’s swing coach (and son of Butch Harmon, who used to be Tiger’s coach). Harmon III pointed out that Woods still had “incentive” to compete despite getting money up front.

“He’s made so much money off the course, he found incentive to go,” Perez added. “But again, he only played how many tournaments? He didn’t go — I never saw him at John Deere, never saw him supporting all these events.

“He played in the majors, he played in the WGCs and that was it. But he’s worth every dime. In fact, like I said, he’s two billion short of where he should be, I think.”

Fore!

Niners: Not much offense, but oh that defense

That’s true, the offense was held to a single touchdown and two field goals. Which usually isn’t enough to win an NFL game, unless the other team gets fewer points. Like zero.

And so we harken back to that old — very old — reminder from John McKay, who won games at USC and then, after becoming coach of an expansion team, lost them with the Tampa Bay Bucs: You win on defense; if the other team doesn’t score, you’ll never get worse than a 0-0 tie.

But since the 49ers managed to put a few piddling points on the scoreboard at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday, they got a win, not a tie, their fourth win in succession, a 13-0 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

The Niners now are in first place in the NFC West, ahead of the Seahawks, who somehow lost to the former Oakland Raiders, ahead of the former St. Louis Rams and ahead of the onetime St. Louis Cardinals.

Indeed a lot of movement in the NFL, even some on the gridiron. Those Carole King lyrics, “Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore,” seem appropriate here.

Also appropriate is the comment by head coach Kyle Shanahan from a few days ago, to the effect that this is 49ers football.

You’ve been advised that San Francisco, with good old Jimmy Garoppolo, doesn’t have the quarterback a team needs to win a Super Bowl, that he manages a game instead of taking control and ramming it down your gullet.

But Jimmy G, who completed 26 of 37 for 222 yards, including a five-yarder to Jauan Jennings for the game’s only touchdown, showed exactly what a QB needs, the ability to get up after being smacked around and then act like the leader he’s proven to be.

“He’s tough,” Shanahan said of Garoppolo.

The Niners know what they have, and no less importantly what they don’t. If Jimmy G doesn’t make you think of Tom Brady, whom Garoppolo was drafted by the Patriots to replace, well, he’s the major factor in the offensive system designed and administered by Shanahan.

Week after week, the TV commentators use at least part of a phrase to describe the Niners’ attack, “so many weapons.” The arsenal was interesting with Garoppolo, Jennings, Deebo Samuel, Elijah Mitchell, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and others; it became fascinating with the acquisition of Christian McCaffrey.

Alternatives? If that running back doesn’t have the ball, this receiver does. There are 60 minutes to an NFL game. On Sunday, the Niners had the ball only 10 seconds short of 35 minutes.

Inherent in sporting success is the belief you have the capability and determination to succeed. Winners act like winners, talk like winners.

“We’re on our way, for sure,” said Nick Bosa. He’s the Pro Bowl pass rusher who late in the game had yet one more sack. “I think we have the guys to do it, definitely. And everybody who is still here (from when the Niners went to the Super Bowl three seasons ago) could be better.”

The 49ers haven’t allowed a point in 94 minutes, 19 seconds of game action, since the second quarter of the win last Monday night in Mexico City.

That will get the job done anytime, anywhere.

Warriors ‘missing collective grit’

That was a poignant observation from Steve Kerr. For Warrior fans, it also was a painful one.

He used different phrases, but basically Kerr told us — reminded us — that sporting dynasties do not last forever. Even one as exciting and gloriously enjoyable as that of the Golden State Warriors.

Earlier Wednesday, Kerr was interviewed by Ramona Shelburne on ESPN, which along with NBC Bay Area a few hours later would televise the Warriors’ game against the Suns in Phoenix. And the subject was success, of course, but in a twist the inevitability of that success comes to an end.

Players change, results change.

The Warriors, not knowing what their coach would forecast, went out and remained winless on the road, dropping their eighth straight game, this one to the Suns, 130-119. Steph Curry would score 50 points for the Warriors, but basketball is not a one-man game.

As the past few seasons, the Warriors, with their winning streaks and four NBA championships, made quite clear. As Kerr, a member of the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls — certainly a dynasty in the 1980s — was clear about what lay ahead: change.

“History would suggest teams have runs,” said Kerr. The Warriors most likely have two or three years remaining in a run, that with Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green began with the magical season of 2015. “Maybe five years,” he conceded.

But players get old — we all do — and despite wise management, fortunate trades and perceptive drafting, the new pieces don’t fit together like the previous ones. That’s why championships are so rare. And so treasured.

During the game, a television sideline reporter, noting Curry’s outburst — he was well on his way to an 11th game of 50 points or more — mentioned to Kerr the Warriors needed offense from others besides Steph. “We don’t need offense,” said the coach, “we need defense.”

It was only one game, but truth tell it was more than one game. It was a verification of what the Warriors once had and what so far in this struggle of a season they lack, the ability to stop the other team. The Suns shot right around 50 percent and hit 3-pointer after 3-pointer.

“We have to get everybody on board,” said Kerr. “But with the new kids learning the system and each other, will they? It takes talent to build a winner. It takes time.

“We had a lot of joy beating people over the years. The other teams don’t forget. That feeling of joy is lacking now. We’re missing collective grit.” 

Kendrick Perkins, a longtime NBA player and now an ESPN analyst, said that Draymond Green punching teammate Jordan Poole in practice just before the season began is having an effect.

“People say it’s over,” Perkins remarked about the incident, “but those things linger.”

For the Warriors, basketball may become less a game than it is a grind.