Mikhail Baryshnikov has played here.
Donald Trump has been a regular attraction. Justin Timberlake, one of the entertainment industry’s reigning hot commodities, has been a major attraction all week. While it thrills spectators when comedian George Lopez hurls himself into the Club 15 rowdies and surfs the crowd at the No. 15 tee box, it puts the tournament’s security force on high alert. Anything can happen in a situation like that. The reality is that anything can happen, period, in a situation where extremely rich, famous and powerful people are separated from the hoards by nothing more than a nylon rope. Perhaps magnifying that concern is that the AT&T is spread out on three golf courses in a dense forest that, theoretically, is accessible by land, air and water. In the post-Sept. 11 age … well, most people choose not to finish that thought. That kind of stuff is all Bobby Phillips thinks about during AT&T week. The 28-year law enforcement veteran, who is retired from the Salinas Police Department, is the man in charge of coordinating an army of security personnel whose task, simply put, is to keep everybody safe from everything. “Is it a stressful week Yes, because you worry. You knock on wood. We’re responsible for all of those
How serious is the security Patrolling Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills — and their surrounding areas — are agents from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. You won’t see them, but there are dogs on the venue to sniff out specific threats. The California Highway Patrol, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard and a private security force are there.