Lowe is high on golf, love

Mitch Lowe departed today for the Monterey Peninsula for one of the greatest experiences of his life.

Yes, and the golf should be pretty good, too.

Lowe, 42, the director of the Del Rio Country Club Golf Academy, has qualified for his fourth AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. As thrills go, that would have filled a full week's agenda.

But there's more. Much more.

Only a few hours after the tournament's final putt is holed on Feb. 14, Lowe and Donna Weinman -- the general manager at Lake Merced CC in Daly City -- will be married before a small gathering of family and friends at The Inn at Spanish Bay.

For the record, we didn't ask Lowe what would give him the biggest adrenalin rush -- making the AT&T for the first time, or combining birdies with wedding vows.

"It's going to be great. I can't wait," he said. "Donna is so wonderful and she's so great at event planning. She's got everything handled so I can focus on golf."

They met through a mutual friend, Lake Merced head professional Danny Burke, and their respective golf careers brought them together. Without question, Lowe will be encouraged by one super-fan walking behind the gallery ropes at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula CC's Shore course.

Lowe thinks his experience last August at the PGA Championship, during which he shot 84 and 80 and missed the cut at Hazeltine National (Minnesota), will serve him well next week.

"The experience at Hazeltine helped," he said. "I know I won't be playing anything that tough again."

That said, Lowe looks forward to testing himself against the PGA Tour regulars in the unique format that pairs pros with amateurs. Getting too anxious in this event has hurt him in the past.

"What I've been guilty of in the past is trying to be perfect on every shot," he said. "We'll see if we can have a more relaxed approach and to just let my game go a little bit."

Lowe says he's not bothered by the tournament's inevitable long rounds, some in excess of six hours. He's played in enough Tour events to know the pros aren't exactly speed merchants.

"They can be long days and it's not all the amateurs' fault. Everyone is looking at every putt three times and checking yardages and everyone is doing the same thing," he said. "The PGA and the Reno-Tahoe Open took that long. Thursday and Friday were just guaranteed to be long rounds."

The AT&T asks all the pro-am teams to play all three courses, followed by the cut for the final 18 holes at Pebble. Lowe aims for making it the final day, of course, but won't stress about it.

"If you end up trying to make the cut, you'll end up being right around the cut," he said. "I'll try to give myself some cushion."

Then again, the three-time Northern California PGA points champion (2000, '05 and '09) will walk the fairways with more than just birdies and bogeys on his mind.

THE SHAG BAG -- Beyer High graduate Matt Bettencourt and part-time Modestan John Merrick, both in the field at Riviera for the Northern Trust Open starting Thursday, also will tee it up next week at the AT&T. So will Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia and valley products Nick Watney and Ricky Barnes. Celebrities include Michael Bolton, George Lopez, Bill Murray, Clay Walker, John O'Hurley, Tony Romo, Tom Brady and others.

Their impression of MPCC's Shore course, which relaces Poppy Hills, will be one of the week's talking points. For tickets, call 800-541-9091 or visit www.attpbgolf.com.

Bee staff writer Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.