Playing with the pros at the Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills golf courses was part of the three-day First Tee event seniors Pierson McAtee and Drew Casper took part in in September.

Eighty-one juniors [high school golfers] were chosen out of over the 150 who applied from all over the country.

“Drew and I both filled out a long application process that had to deal with showing off what we’ve done in the past for the community, what we’ve done in the first tee, as well as our golf accomplishments,” McAtee said.

The tournament was a Pro-Am so they were paired with a pro to take on the courses. Casper was paired with Bob Gilder to play the tournament.

“It was really cool,” Casper said. “He was a really nice guy and he is real good at golf. He taught me quite a few things just while we were playing and it was a lot of fun to learn from him and play with him.”

McAtee was paired with Davis Love III.

“It was awesome, him playing and captaining seven Ryder Cups, just having that being a mentor for me was awesome,” McAtee said. “He was so nice and just a good contact. Hopefully I can stay in contact with him, maybe play with a pro-am sometime. It’d be awesome, but it was a great experience.”

The tournament began Sept. 26 at Poppy Hills and went through Sept. 28, with the next two rounds played at Pebble Beach.

“It was very exciting, the thought of playing Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills,” McAtee said. “We had been waiting all summer for it and just to have it finally figured out that we were accepted was awesome.”

McAtee and Love III shot seven under par over the three day tournament, while Casper and Gilder shot nine under par.

“It was a lot of fun to play in a tournament after we haven’t played in a while and it’ll be exciting to share what we got to do with other people and keep playing tournaments,” Casper said. “We are really thankful that the First Tee and Nature Valley put that on for us and they invited us to do everything at no cost to us.”

McAtee and Casper both plan to continue on the golf team in the spring.

“If we can walk up 18 at Pebble Sunday, then I think we can overcome some nerves at the state tournament,” McAtee said.