First Tee-Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation making a difference in children's lives
10 Min Read
When Pauline Nocon was growing up in the Philippines, most of what she knew about the United States came from television shows.
First, it was “Blue’s Clues,” the animated educational show aimed at preschoolers on Nickelodeon. Later, she got caught up in movies like “Mission Impossible” and “Die Hard” that her parents liked to watch.
“And I was like, wow, that's what America's like,” Nocon says, laughing at her naivete. “And I do remember thinking like it snowed everywhere year-round.”
But the America of the silver screen was hardly the reality Nocon found in 2006 when she and her mother came to the United States to join her father, who had immigrated eight years earlier in search of a better job and a path to higher education for his only child.
Nocon’s family settled in Salinas, an agricultural hotbed of California known as the “salad bowl of the world.” Her father, who had recently become a U.S. citizen, had a job as a forklift operator for Fresh Express and her mother soon found work at the elementary school her daughter, who was 9 when they left the Philippines, attended.
Today, just over 15 years after coming to America, Nocon is a college graduate with a degree from San Jose State in environmental science that includes double minors in sustainability and climate change strategies. She works at Tesla as an environmental health and safety technician.
Nocon credits First Tee – Monterey County and her internships at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with helping her acclimate to the United States and grow into a confident, poised 25-year-old with a John Daly-esque backswing and dreams of going to law school.
Both organizations are among the many supported by the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which begins Thursday and will be played on three of the most iconic courses on the Monterey Peninsula. And today the tournament’s charitable arm, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, announced it will top $200 million in all-time donations – a first for any event on the PGA TOUR.
At the same time, the TOUR is reporting that it garnered more than $173 million in charitable donations for 2021, bringing the organization’s all-time total to a remarkable $3.37 billion.
The significance is not lost on Nocon – even if wrapping arms around those numbers is difficult.
“It's certainly an incredible thing to hear,” she says. “But when you really think about what that money translates to it does bring me a lot of joy because maybe there's another little girl who has a weird overswing living in Salinas, experiencing culture shock who can benefit it from that.”
Steve John, who is the tournament director of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, was heartened by the possibilities that are inherent in Nocon’s story.
“It really puts a smile on your face, and you feel great about giving and providing for these organizations that do so much for the future leaders of the world,” he says. “And she's obviously one of them.
“And it's great to share that story because there might be someone else out there that's thinking, you know, that could be me.”
Nocon first was introduced to First Tee – which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year – when she was in fourth grade, during recess one day. There was an area set up outside the gym with plastic clubs and balls and a Velcro backstop, and one of the coaches was there to help.
“I had the time of my life,” she recalls. “… I had seen it in cartoons before in TV shows and read about it, but I'd certainly never seen a golf club in real life. I was like, that sounds really fun.”
Soon Nocon was enrolled in the First Tee’s summer program. And she kept coming back – turns out, the First Tee facility was just seven minutes from her house – day after day. She worked on her game, eventually volunteering as a junior coach and later getting her first paying job as an assistant.
But it was more than just the game that set the hook, so to speak. Nocon learned to set goals and take responsibility through First Tee’s nine core values and correlating life skills programs. She even remembers filling out college admission applications there.
“I mean, where do you want me to start?” Nocon says when asked what the program meant to her. “I don't know. I feel like it was certainly a transitionary period in my life. Not just, you know, kind of growing from child to preteen to teenager -- they saw all of the awkward stages.
“But it was a lot of setting me up for success. … They taught me how to use the wonderful, wonderful game of golf, because that's how they get you. They’re like, look at this fun game; we're going to learn some life skills with it. So, it's certainly something that I still think about -- those nine core values and life skills -- every decision I come to, every teachable moment that I have for my nephews, for my young cousins, for whoever it is I'm mentoring … everything is still applicable.
“There's not a day that passes that I make a decision for myself that I don't think about those things that I've learned from that program.”
Nocon’s involvement with the aquarium was equally impactful. As an eighth grader, she joined the Young Women in Science program that introduces teenage girls to marine biology. She went kayaking and scuba diving and later volunteered with the sea otter rescue program.
“When I was growing up in the Philippines, I never really realized like, wow, I was really lucky to have that kind of biodiversity in the ocean that was near me,” she says. “I never realized the kind of pollution that was affecting us. I mean, I did, but I didn't. It was something that we just knew was there and dealt with it, but I never really considered, like, how do we fix this?
“So, when I was Young Women in Science, I kind of got an introduction to the aquarium, the work that they do. … And it was just all of this exposure with the most incredible group of passionate people who will just get you to fall in love with this stuff.”
Nocon also went through a two-week training program to become a Teen Conservation Leader that was so intense she says it “felt a lot like drinking out of a fire hose.” The TCL candidates learned about the various habitats in the aquarium, and they even had sleepovers at the aquarium. When the training was over, she began working as a guide and mentor.
“You walk out of that two-week training, like I'm going to change the world,” she says. “It's the most amazing, amazing experience.”
Nocon is quick to point out that she was able to get her start in the Young Women in Science program – and ultimately her involvement with the aquarium -- thanks to a scholarship that very well might have come from money donated by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.
“And knowing that more of those students are going to benefit from this money that we're generating from this (tournament) I can't even say how grateful I am for that,” she says.
Nocon has attended the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am several times and once even handled social media duties for First Tee – Monterey County. The kids would get in the van in Salinas and head down the coast to Pebble Beach, which is about 30 minutes away.
“You get out of the van, and you’ve got this, like. the iconic Monterey fog, like you see the ocean there and just the energy that comes with tournaments, like that is always so palpable,” she says. “I don't even know how to describe it. It feels electric in the air.”
Interestingly, while she does have favorite players – Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson, to name a few – Nocon’s most vivid memories are of the beauty of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Or maybe, given her interest in the environment, that’s not such a surprise, after all.
“I remember the first time I was at No. 18,” she says. “Man, it's beautiful. … I remember standing there and being like, wow, this is the most amazing like hole in golf. And I'm just here at the fairway, watching someone tee off. … It was very, very much a standout moment for me. I think it was because it was such a beautiful day. The sun was out, and you could hear the waves just to the left of the tee box.”
John has seen that same beauty from inside the ropes. He played in the unique event that features the PGA TOUR’s best playing with businessmen and celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment nine times before becoming the tournament director and MPF CEO.
John notes it took 65 years to raise the first $100 million but only a decade to reach the second. He credits that growth to the support of the tournament’s title sponsor, as well as its secondary partners and the amateurs and celebrities who believe in the mission.
“It's such a wonderful collaborative effort on everybody's part,” John says.
A year ago, restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced the tournament to make some dramatic changes. For the first time, no amateurs played, and there were no spectators. Still, the tournament was able to give over $10 million back to the community and John and his staff soon realized a milestone no other TOUR event had reached loomed large on the horizon.
Over the years, the charitable dollars have gone to support food security, which was particularly important during the pandemic, education, equity and health and human services, as well as to conquer the digital divide. The tournament even bought body cameras for the Salinas Police Department and helped with relief efforts after natural disasters like the area’s fierce wildfires, too.
PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan says the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is an example of the good works made possible by the support and partnership between the TOUR’s best players and its tournaments and sponsors.
“The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am has for decades combined the best in sports and entertainment for our fans along with a charitable impact that positively affects thousands of lives in Monterey and the surrounding communities,” Monahan explains.
John has lots of great memories of the years he’s been involved with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am but setting this week’s TOUR charitable-giving standard is special. And hearing the impact the tournament has had on people like Nocon brings the hard work full circle.
“Well, this obviously is at the top of the heap,” John says. “I mean, when you hit something, when you're part of something that is eclipsing the first-ever milestone, 200 million, I would say that's definitely on the top of the highlight reel.
“But there's so many. I think just knowing everybody's efforts of our team -- we have small team, 11, 12 people -- and to know that we're able to be part of something that's so successful and just continuing to grow. We're always trying to raise the bar and the experience for the players here, which in turn raises, much, much needed funds for the community -- life changing funds for the community.
“So, I think that's kind of what, if you sleep well at night, that's makes me sleep really good to know that what we're doing really makes a difference in lives, changing lives.”