PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — More than a golf tournament will be taking place at Pebble Beach this week.
The week will surely be dominated by the interest in Tiger Woods and his pursuit of normalcy — which for him, means winning. Woods has looked and sounded relaxed here this week, saying he is at “peace’’ with himself, despite not winning on the PGA Tour since October of 2009.
The week, too, will be about the carnival swirling around the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, making it the most unique of the PGA Tour events every year, with celebrities soaking in as much of the spotlight as the Tour pros — with Woods and Phil Mickelson the only exceptions.
When the event begins today on three courses — Spyglass, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Pebble — it will feature celebrities including actor Bill Murray, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Patriots coach Bill Belichick fresh off his Super Bowl loss, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, actor Ray Romano and former Jets coach Herman Edwards.
Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be paired with Woods.
“He’s been calling me quite a bit, sending me video of his golf swing, ‘what can I do? Blah, blah, blah,’ ’’ Woods said of Romo. “He’s into the game because post-football he wants to tour the Senior Tour eventually. He wants to do it. He loves it.’’
All you need to know about the importance that star power holds with this event is if you asked 20 people in the gallery who won last year’s event, somewhere between 18 and 19 of them couldn’t tell you. The tickets, banners, posters and programs promoting the tournament feature Woods and Murray as the stars of the show.
“It was funny, I got here and got the program and I looked at the tickets and I thought, ‘Wait a minute, didn’t I win?’ ’’ D.A. Points, the defending champion, who plays with Murray every year, said. “There were pictures of Bill everywhere. I’m driving down the highway and I see a billboard and there is Bill, there is Tiger and I’m like, ‘Where am I?’
“Honestly, it’s a little disheartening because it was my first win [on the PGA Tour] and I’ve been around a while. But the celebrities obviously make this a larger-than-life event. [But] yeah, I’m a little bummed I didn’t get a picture somewhere.’’
The celebrity factor is a draw for the fans and some of the players, but it’s a drawback for others. Despite having won at Pebble in a major (the 2000 U.S. Open) and in this event, Woods hasn’t played the Pro-Am since 2002.
“It’s different,’’ Woods said diplomatically. “There are some distractions. Some guys have the gallery clapping when they’re putting.’’
The reason for Woods’ presence here at an event he has usually avoided is two-fold — his ties to AT&T, which supports his foundation and is the title sponsor of the Tour event he hosts in July, and needing it on his schedule after opting for Abu Dhabi and a $1.5 million appearance fee two weeks ago rather than sticking to his usual Torrey Pines PGA Tour season start.
Woods’ pairing — with Arjun Atwal, his best friend on Tour, and Romo, with whom he’s friends — should ease the pain of the distractions.
Asked if he’ll rib Romo about the Giants winning the Super Bowl, Woods smiled and said, “What do you think? Yeah.’’
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com