AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am teeing off Monday, final preparations Sunday

The tees are set for the Pebble Beach Pro Am this week. A year of preparations and planning all coming to life on Monday.

Director of the tournament Steve John says “We’re putting some finishing touches on all of the structures to make sure when we go live tomorrow our best foot is forward. We start planning for next year’s event, last week, so it’s a year long project we put forward.”

Those attending tell KION the golf is just a portion of what they look froward to. “Just seeing pebble beach just walking the course, hopefully catching bill Murray yelling something during the back swing of one of his playing partners puts,” says Bill Kiernan. He’s been coming to the Pro Am for 19 years.

Kelly Nelson, visiting from Utah says, “beyond the weather and the great resort I’m a big Jordan Spieth fan so I’m here to watch Jordan defend that title and win it again.”

While Jordan Spieth will be back trying to defend his title, Rory McIlroy will be at the event for the first time.

John says ticket sales have increased significantly from last year. They are expecting 200,000 people to come through Pebble Beach this week. The crowds have The Lodge at Pebble Beach booked and are filling up near by hotels quickly.

The event has several new additions this year including spectator seating at the 8th hole and more food options. Both something organizers added after reading spectator surveys.

“We look at our player spectator survey very seriously so this year for instance we reacted for the need for more spectator seating, we put that in place at number 8 at pebble beach. They wanted more food offerings, at Monterey peninsula country club there’s now three food trucks on site and there’s a trolley that will run around the golf course so spectators can get on the trolley run around the golf course, stop at different food trucks and enjoy that,” says John.

John says while it’s exciting to have all of the players, celebrities and athletes, one of the best things is knowing where the money raised is going, “I’m looking forward to the massive crowds and at the end of the day we can give more money away than we did last year, which was 12.8 millions dollars, so that’s our goal is to raise that bar so everybody benefits.”

Some things to look out for while you are there is the Triangle Plaza. The Plaza has a new Patron Bar along with an interactive Fan Dome. In the Dome there are 12 TV’s and Virtual Reality sets where fans can experience being on the 1st and 18th holes.

Tickets will be available at the gates and are also available online. For a full schedule and ticket information visit http://www.attpbgolf.com/.