As the AT&T Pro-Am wraps up, forget about golf—it’s about people and their hopes and dreams.

Dave Faries here, unstuck in time.

Our Sunday newsletter Intros are a way to share something more about the week’s Monterey County Weekly cover story, which you can read here. Typically we write these in advance, on Thursdays. But I pieced this together on Wednesday of last week because I spent a good portion of Thursday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

So a lot has transpired that we are aware of now that I couldn’t anticipate then. Were the skies as blustery and dripping as expected? Was the tournament delayed at any point? I have no idea. But Wednesday, in advance of the event, is a time when golfers speculate, reminisce and even share moments of introspection with journalists.

Justin Thomas, for instance, recalled traveling as a child with his father, a golf instructor in Goshen, Kentucky. The trips were occasional and—for his father—related to work more than relaxation. “He was busy,” Thomas told reporters. “Anything we did was probably not necessarily a golf vacation.” However, their travels included club pro meetings in Florida during the dead of winter—a bonus for the young Thomas.

“I would play quite a bit of hooky from school at the beginning of January and have a lot of homework with me,” he explained.

Collin Morikawa, who turned pro just five years ago, took the opportunity to reflect on his early days on tour. He even let slip that “back then” things were simpler. Then he played the game; now he overthinks and nitpicks his stance, his swing, his performance. When a reporter reminded the Bay Area golfer that one generally improves with experience, Morikawa bared himself.

“There’s something simple about coming out on tour and, just everything’s new to you,” he said. “These weeks, they become so repetitive that sometimes you get stuck in this kind of trap—here’s a Monday, this is what I do on Monday, this is what I do on Tuesday.” He lamented the transition from rookie to experienced professional. “I woke up this morning, I was like, ‘What am I doing?’”

Morikawa finished his thoughts, determined to recover his past golf spirit: “I’m going to change things up, starting now.”

For Nick Dunlap, it’s all new. The 20-year-old was a college student and member of the University of Alabama golf team until earlier in the week. Two weeks ago he won The American Express tournament in La Quinta, becoming the first amateur in 33 years to top a PGA Tour leaderboard. He quickly determined to turn pro—an easy but involved decision.

He spoke with his teammates first, and to his college coach, as well as his parents. Playing on the tour has been his dream since childhood. Suddenly the opportunity was right in front of him, but he wanted their thoughts. One gets the sense that he was also hesitant to abandon his teammates or his coach or his education. Dunlap told reporters that each of them was supportive of his decision, whichever way it went. And so he made his professional debut on a famed course, one he’s never played before.

“I remember playing this place on [the] PGA Tour PlayStation game,” Dunlap said. “So to be out here and to see it for the first time is pretty cool.”

These bits rarely make it to the mainstream readership. Yes, there are discussions of the sport’s finances, the rift between the PGA and the Saudi-backed league—there are golf writers covering these aspects, as you can read here. But on a Wednesday, with the realities of the tournament still a day away, simple humanity is part of the conversation.

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