The Sale of the Century : How the deal was done: After a decade of Japanese ownership, Pebble Beach is back in American hands-this time for good

Golf Digest, June, 2000 by Mark Seal

Today, not only do Morse's spiritual descendants-local environmentalists and a blinding array of environmental protection agencies-rise up in complaints and petitions once the line is crossed between sensible development and exploitation, but the forest also faces threats from nature: a pitch canker fungus has recently invaded the Monterey pine trees. Experts predict the fungus could infect and kill 85 percent of the trees in the forest in the next 15 to 20 years. Pebble Beach Company has been proactive in creating a Monterey pine cloning program to reseed the forest and to comply with regulations to replant every tree removed by development, along with instituting forestry, ecology and wildlife initiatives, including the "adopt-a-wolf" program and erecting hand-painted fences to allow sea lions to give birth without the crowds disturbing them-all while aggressively developing and marketing its most precious asset: golf.

The village of Pebble Beach, adjacent to the Lodge whose front lawn is a putting green, seems locked in a Morse-era, Mayberry time warp. Residents receive both mail and gossip at the Post Office-where Bing Crosby stares down benevolently from a photograph. They're guarded by one frequently bored traffic cop. And they're kept informed of local happenings via The Scoreboard, a newsletter published by The Pebble Beach Company. "It's so placid around here," says local teacher and chaplain Paul Woudenberg. "Nothing ever happens."

Nothing but sensational golf and, until recently, the incessant transfer of the Pebble Beach title. The cycles of buying and selling began in 1978, when Pebble Beach was sold for $72 million to 20th Century Fox. Sam Morse had been dead for almost a decade, and his managers extracted assurances that Fox would honor Morse's management philosophies and environmental traditions. But corporations are comprised of many voices, many minds, and three years after buying Pebble, Fox was gobbled up for $722 million. The deal included the movie studio and its various assets, including the Aspen Ski Company and Pebble Beach.

From the smog of Los Angeles, a new owner emerged, a man whose appetite for deals was matched only by his appetite for golf.

"I'm a golfer," says Marvin Davis. "And Pebble Beach was it."

Sitting behind a massive cockpit of a desk, in a peach-carpeted, crystal chandelier-strewn office in the Fox Plaza he built, sold at a profit and recently repurchased for $250 million on the edge of Beverly Hills, Marvin Davis, 74, looks every inch the dealmaker. A veritable mountain of a man, gargantuan both in weight and wallet, once known as "Mr. Wildcatter" for the fortune he made in Rocky Mountain oil, he's now an undisputed master at buying low, selling high. Whether it's 20th Century Fox, The Beverly Hills Hotel, Web TV, radio and TV stations across America or even a recent attempted takeover of Carter-Wallace Inc.-maker of Trojan condoms-assets are Davis' canvas, and he paints only in the color of green. One hand fielding phone calls, one eye scanning twin "Personal Market Watch" screens, he has granted a rare interview with one stipulation.