Golf fans can watch PGA pros for free at this weekend’s Straight Down Fall Classic in SLO
When San Luis Obispo native Loren Roberts was a young golfer in his first year as a pro in 1980, he kickstarted his career by reaching out to members of the San Luis Obispo Country Club, where he had worked and taught golf lessons.
Roberts raised $30,000 by getting 10 sponsorships of $3,000 apiece to cover his first year of expenses.
The 64-year-old, Roberts, an eight-time PGA Tour winner and a 13-time senior golf tour winner, is back in SLO this weekend to play the 23rd annual Straight Down Fall Classic, which also features prominent golf professionals including 14-time PGA winner Kenny Perry and six-time PGA winner Steve Pate.
“I feel very close to this club,” Roberts said. “They sponsored me right here out of this club, and they got me going on the tour. I feel very emotional about that because this club put me on the Tour.”
The event, which is free for fans on Saturday and Sunday, includes 60 teams and 120 golfers. A Friday pro-am benefiting ALS research was held at the course as well.
The weekend action will give fans a close-up look at pro golfers, who are known to chat occasionally with fans in a low-key environment, unlike big pro tournaments where access is more restricted.
Roberts, a Cal Poly alum who has played in multiple past Straight Down events, said he enjoys coming back to SLO to see old friends and club members, and simply “being back in my hometown.”
Perry said he recently signed a sponsorship deal with Straight Down, a local clothing company, and it will be his first SLO event.
“When (Straight Down President Mike Rowley) invited me, I thought it would be a good way to come and say thank you to Mike, and I knew he raised the money for ALS,” Perry said. “I’ve had some good friends who lost their lives to ALS, so I love helping with things that touch my heart.”
Notable golfers compete in SLO
Straight Down is the only tournament each year that PGA Tour players attend on the California coast between Monterey and Los Angeles counties.
It doesn’t have gallery ropes, meaning fans have unusually clear access to view players throughout the course.
Each of the professional golfers is paired with an amateur to form a two-member, best-ball team. Both play each hole with the best of the two scores recorded for the competition.
The overall tournament purse is $120,000 with the winning team taking home $20,000.
PGA Tour winners playing in the SLO event this year include: Ricky Barnes, Jason Gore, Paul Stankowski and Rod Pampling.
Pampling will play alongside the Chicago Cubs second baseman Ian Happ, who’s entering for a second-consecutive year. San Luis Obispo native Arron Oberholser is another notable returner.
Nipomo High School grad Jeff McNeil, the all-star second baseman for the New York Mets, also will join the tournament as a caddy for a friend.
McNeil was an accomplished junior golfer before focusing on baseball in his senior year at Nipomo High. But he qualified for the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur, won by Jordan Spieth.
McNeil is currently resting an injured wrist, coming off a season in which he hit .318 with 23 home runs.
Edward Loar, who once beat Ernie Els to win the Korean Open, and Chico State alum Brandon Harkins, who played on the PGA Tour in 2019, are other pros competing this weekend.
Two PGA champions share thoughts about game
Roberts and Perry spoke with The Tribune about playing professional golf over the past four decades, describing the thrill of winning a PGA tournament event as a feeling like no other. Both also have suffered devastating defeats.
Roberts missed a four-and-a-half foot putt that could have won him a 1994 U.S. Open championship, which would be his only major victory.
“You can grow from it and use it as a motivator, or you can sit there and weep about it and not get over it,” Roberts said.
Average golfers should treat pressure shots like any other, though, Roberts said.
“That’s why we play to get into that position,” Roberts said. “You have to treat it like any other shot. There’s a lot more riding on it, of course. But you just have to trust yourself and do the best you can. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
Perry said that a tough loss stings, though, and “always stays with you.”
Both players said they have seen a lot of change in the sport, from the traditional use of wooden clubs and more tightly wound balls, when they first started. The equipment routinely caused hooks and curves.
They’ve also seen a heightened level of fortune and fame for PGA players.
“Tiger Woods has all the money in the world, but he can’t go anywhere without getting mobbed. The same with Jordan and Rickie Fowler,” Perry said. “We walk down the street and nobody notices us.”
Players travel all over the world now, more so than when Perry and Roberts were young and mostly playing American tournaments.
Roberts recalls putting his golf gear in his car and driving around the country with his wife to play tournaments as a young pro. But those days are long gone as players routinely jetset to Asia and Europe, among other regions outside of the U.S.
Perry said he’d love to win but realizes his “better days are behind us” and simply plays for the enjoyment as much as anything.
“I say I’m like the mayor now,” Perry said. “I do a lot of handshaking and kiss the babies.”
How to attend the event
Saturday’s tee times will begin at 8 a.m., while the final round will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, at the San Luis Obispo Country Club.
To see who’s teeing off when, visit www.straightdown.com/live-scoring-tee-times/.
For more information on the tournament, go to straightdown.com.
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 1:59 PM.
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