PEBBLE BEACH - No, Tiger Woods is not here. Next question.

How about something dealing with Tom Brady's wedge game? Or Tony Romo's tee shots? Or Bill Murray's putting?

This is the other side of golf, not exactly the Twilight Zone but then again not too far away.

This is the successor to the event Bing Crosby created as much for a few laughs as a few dollars.

This is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

For three days, emphasis on Am, as in amateur, as in people such as Brady, Romo, Murray, George Lopez and surfer Kelly Slater, the guys - and with soccer star Brandi Chastain, ladies - who play the game for a reason other than to earn a living.

The people going back to Crosby, Bob Hope, Phil Harris, Joe DiMaggio and others existing now only in memory, who made the tournament what it was and at times, such as Thursday on a chill, blue-sky afternoon along Monterey Bay, what it tries to be.

No, Tiger. But a Phil, as in Mickelson. And a Sergio, as in Garcia. And a John as in Daly, who in what is one of the more imaginative, not to mention entertaining, pairings, is teamed with Romo, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback.

The pros will get their just due. They always do, whether the champion is a Nicklaus, Palmer or Mickelson, all winners here over time, or as last year Dustin Johnson, who happens to be leading again this time.

They're playing what some might label the real tournament. Except at the AT&T, the former Crosby Pro-Am, the real tournament very much is the one involving the celebs.

The one featuring Brady or Bill Murray. At least for three rounds.

"You can't ignore it,'' said Charley Hoffman of the role of the amateurs. "They're out there.''

He's a pro. He was tied for fourth after the first round, even while playing with the A-list group at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. It isn't Augusta National, the Masters. It's sport merged with circus. It's entertainment.

At the AT&T there are women spectators who don't know a sand wedge from a sandwich, women who have come to see the actor Josh Duhamal, one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in '04. Women not particularly interested in, say Charley Hoffman, even if he shot 64.

But that's understood. That's why the crowds turn out. That's why Saturday, the third day, when the name amateurs are at the Pebble Beach course, after playing in order Monterey Peninsula and Spyglass Hill, is the biggest day.

Sunday, when virtually all the stars of stage, screen and gridiron, have missed the cut, is just an ordinary golf tournament, if one played where the author Robert Louis Stevenson called "the greatest meeting of land and water in the world.''

On Thursday, however, there was Brady, the Patriots quarterback, skulling a wedge over the 10th green at Monterey Peninsula and then in the luckiest break since the Tuck Rule, having the ball ricochet off a slope and trickle four feet from the pin.

Big stuff for Brady, who was raised in San Mateo, maybe 100 miles up the coast, who used to attend the Crosby when he was a boy. Big stuff. Except he missed the putt, after which he took off his cap and pointed to the gasping fans.

Confronted as he headed to the next tee, Brady was only too willing to talk football. "I don't know why everybody was so surprised about what happened in the Super Bowl,'' he said. "The Saints had a very good team.''

Brady and pro Steve Marino weren't a bad team Thursday. Marino had a 68, 2-under par at that course, and the best-ball was cut two shots to a 66, Brady playing to an 8 handicap.

Murray carries a 12 handicap. But he also carries the tournament. His role as Carl Spackler, the bumbling greenskeeper in "Caddyshack,'' has linked him with the game forever.

"When it comes to golf movies,'' said Mickelson, "there's only one, ‘Caddyshack.' You stop there.' ‘'

Nothing stops Murray, although his act has been toned down. One time, years ago, he grabbed a not-too-young woman from the gallery, spun her around and deposited her in the bunker next to the 18th green at Pebble.

On Thursday, all he did was shout warnings to fans as Marino climbed to a tee behind a group of rocks. Murray's attire was nothing like the urban guerilla clothing he has worn. But his personality was as prevalent as always.

Craig Johnson, a scratch player, zero handicap, from northern California, was the other amateur in the grouping, paired with Rocco Mediate.

"Playing with Bill Murray,'' said Johnson, "is a blast. I've never had as much fun.''

Isn't that the whole idea?