PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - Love golf and money is no object? Have we got a deal for you.

For $25,000, you can purchase "The Championship Experience," a trip to the U.S. Open, June 14-20 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Here's a partial list of what you get:

-- Luxury guest room at The Lodge at Pebble Beach or the Inn at Spanish Bay for two people for seven nights.

-- Two Premier tickets for the week with access to The Lodge.

-- Access to exclusive on-course hospitality, including breakfast, lunch, snacks and beverages.

-- Tee times for seven days for two players at Spyglass Hill, The Links at Spanish Bay or Del Monte Golf Course.

-- Transportation for two to and from San Francisco Airport, San Jose Airport or Monterey Peninsula Airport.

-- A $500 U.S. Open merchandise gift card.

-- Mark Soltau

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Ever since he watched Tiger Woods win the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on television from his home in Japan, Ryo Ishikawa has dreamed of playing the course. Monday, he got his wish.

Playing in this week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on a sponsor exemption, the 18-year-old played a morning practice round by himself and was still smiling afterward. Pebble Beach lived up to his expectations and then some.

"More beautiful than I thought," he said through an interpreter.

His biggest surprise?

"How up and down the sixth hole was," he said of the ocean-lined par-5.

Ishikawa was also shocked how challenging the short par-3 seventh hole played.

"It's the most difficult hole," he said. "It's just 100 yards, but you can't tell where the wind is coming from."

Ishikawa tied for 32nd last week in the Northern Trust Open, his best finish in a PGA Tour event.

-- Mark Soltau

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- Steve Stricker is the star of his own show in these parts, his five-stroke lead with 22 holes left in the Northern Trust Open flirting with insurmountable. But in the greater Los Angeles scene, he's a face in the crowd.

Stricker attended the Lakers' game at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night.

"You end up people watching at these Lakers' games more than anything," he said. "It's quite the scene, quite the event. We were pulling into the place where we were parking and Denzel Washington was in the car ahead of us. (Jack) Nicholson obviously is right there, and we saw George Lopez acrss the court. One of the Kardashian girls was about."

Which one?

"Khloé. I had to google here," he said.

Anyone recognize you?

"No," he said without missing a beat.

-- John Strege

Former Masters champion Trevor Immelman is the new brand ambassador for Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey, the company announced on Friday.

Immelman's cocktail of choice: "The perfect Manhattan made with Gentleman Jack," he said in a news release.

-- John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- Professional golf is supposed to follow the sun, but it has gone off script here in California.

The Bob Hope Classic lost an entire day to rain, resulting in a Monday finish. It has rained here all morning on Friday, though second-round play in the Northern Trust Open has not be interrupted. But there is an 80 percent chance of rain in the afternoon and an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

The PGA Tour moves north next week, for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The forecast is not favorable there, either. It is raining today and rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Occasional showers are forecast for Tuesday with showers predicted for Friday and a chance of showers for Saturday.

UPDATE: Play in the second round was suspended at 5:02 p.m. because of darkness, not because of rain, though it never stopped raining all day. The second round will resume Saturday morning at 7:30.

Steve Stricker, who completed his second round, and Dustin Johnson, who has four holes left, are tied for the lead at 10-under par.

-- John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- It is yet to be determined how well Ryo Ishikawa's talent will travel, his success virtually exclusive to Asia through this juncture of his young career.

On Thursday, he might have provided the best hint yet of his potential to compete on the international level (notwithstanding his tie for 17th in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Singapore late last year). In his second appearance at the Northern Trust Open (he missed the cut last year), Ishikawa shot a three-under par 68 at the Riviera Country Club to turn up on the leaderboard.

Still only 18, Ishikawa has built upon his experiences on the PGA Tour and as a member of the International team in the Presidents Cup in 2009 and declared himself considerably more relaxed here than he was a year ago.

"I'm on the Presidents Cup last year," he said. "I played with Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. I was supported by Y.E. Yang, so it was a great experience for me."

Ishikawa, the player of the year on the Japan Golf Tour in '09, actually got to five-under par through 14 holes on Thursday and was in second place at one point.

In the event he's still loitering on the leaderboard, those back home with no doubt hear and read all about it. The Japanese media is here en masse; the PGA Tour issued 56 credentials to Japanese media personnel.

-- John Strege

The Champions Tour has added Canada to its growing list of international destinations, announcing on Thursday a new tournament, the Montreal Championship, scheduled for July 2-4 at Fontainebleau Golf Club.

The tour already travels to the Dominican Republic (the Cap Cana Championship) and will play in Korea for the first time this year (the New Songdo City Championship).

-- John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- It is apparent that Jerry West, 71 now, still hasn't exhausted his allotment of enthusiasm for life.

The new executive director of the Northern Trust Open was downright giddy over the opportunity that presented itself on Tuesday, a round of golf with Phil Mickelson and President George W. Bush on the South Course at Los Angeles Country Club.

"I hate to call him Mr. President, because he almost seems like your next door neighbor," West said here on Wednesday. "There was a lot of laughing going on out there. I like to kid and I like to spar and a lot of sparring was going on. The President was exceptionally fun. A lot of needling going on out there. I'm fun to be around, okay. I'm fun to be around. I like to kid, okay? I really do. But I also love to needle people, too."

He declined to provide details other than to not, "There was one person that picked the ball up two or three times. I'm not going to repeat who it is."

Asked whether he aimed the needle at Mickelson over his Ping Eye2 wedge. "I refuse to comment on that," he said laughing. "We had a discussion, but it was pretty private."

-- John Strege

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- A 70-minute meeting in which PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem spoke and took questions from 40 to 50 players on the Ping Eye 2 groove issue included a face-to-face meeting between Phil Mickelson and Scott McCarron.

McCarron apologized to Mickelson for his comments last week to the San Francisco Chronicle in which he referred to Mickelson's use of the Ping Eye 2. "It's cheating, and I'm appalled Phil put it in play," said McCarron at the time.

Today, McCarron was sounding a much more conciliatory note. "It¹s been a big distraction for me and Phil," McCarron said. " We spoke. Phil's a great guy and he understands that sometimes things get blown out of proportion and this certainly did and took on a life of its own. I certainly never meant to do that to Phil and we're fine. It is written that they have the right to use it -- it is legal."

"My issue wasn't with Mickelson, but that Ping Eye 2s are not readily available," said McCarron. "I'm under contract to TaylorMade. I can't play [the Eye 2}. Other players who are under contract can't play that wedge. They don¹t have that option."

During the meeting, McCarron acknowledged that Finchem said the rule may change between 90 and 120 days. "There are a few options and commissioner Finchem will address those tomorrow," McCarron said.

Those options almost certainly involve engaging Ping in a discussion. Finchem, in fact, already contacted Ping chairman and CEO John A. Solheim, who yesterday issued a statement that included that he was open to finding "a workable solution" to the situation.

"It appears the vast majority of players want to play with 2010 grooves," said Stewart Cink. "The meeting was really about the course of action we can take and why can't the commissioner just say no more Ping Eye 2 1990 wedges. There are rules against that because of this lawsuit. It doesn't just say we have to allow Ping Eye 2 clubs. It's very complicated and has a lot of aspects to it and that's what we have to go through.

"The process already exists because of the ruling in the 1990s. It won't be instantaneous. It's laid out in the documents. It's something where we have to get a committee involved. The committee is already in place and has been since 1994. It appears that may be the way it goes. Ping could also step up tomorrow and we could see an agreement between Ping and the [game of] golf. We don't know right now. One thing for sure is that there is a course of action that we can take that is in the documents."

McCarron, for one, didn't feel it should have ever reached this point. Rather, he felt something more proactive should have been done. "This thing should have been solved by Jan. 1 and we wouldn't have a problem," he said. "The tour has known about this issue for two years. But they didn't think players would use a 20-year-old club. They didn't think it would be that big a deal."

Of course, now it's a very big deal.

"Last week Phil took a beating. Scott McCarron took a beating," said Cink. "They kind of knocked each other out in a way. None of it looks good for the PGA Tour or golf. We don't want the public thinking we're out here breaking rules. We're not breaking rules. It's the rule that's the problem, not the players using those clubs."

According to Cink, the Ping Eye 2s provide a higher spin rate than this year's grooves, but less spin than the 2009 clubs. Earlier in the day, Padraig Harrington said that he was getting as much as 2,000 rpms more on some shots out of the rough -- a significant difference. In a game where minute differences can make all the difference, it was no surprise that the general tenor of the meeting was one of getting everyone back on the same page and playing the same clubs.

Including McCarron, who found an interesting club in his bag during a casual round Sunday afternoon with Brad Faxon and Lee Trevino. Upon arriving at his bag, McCarron found a Ping Eye 2 wedge sitting in it. "That was pretty funny," McCarron said.

The joke could have made for interesting dinner conversation fodder. As McCarron left Riviera he was on his way to a dinner that he labeled, "Top Secret." Indeed. One of the people he would be dining with was former President George W. Bush.

-- E. Michael Johnson