Match Play Event Brings 3 Tours Together at Pelican Hill

It has been awhile since the defending champions of the Diners Club Matches won their titles, so please forgive them if they don’t feel like defending champions.

Steve Elkington and Jeff Maggert of the PGA Tour, Gil Morgan and Jay Sigel of the Senior PGA Tour and Dottie Pepper and Juli Inkster of the LPGA Tour all won in 1997.

Yes, there are three sets of champions defending titles today and Sunday at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast.

Organizers canceled the event last year to accommodate the Presidents Cup, which took place the same weekend the Diners Club Matches were scheduled.

So while winners of most tournaments get to keep trophies for only a year, the above six got them for two.

“I didn’t really practice to get my game into shape for this,” Elkington said. “I’d be surprised if anyone did.”

Since it has been so long, perhaps a little refresher course is in order.

Four teams from the LPGA Tour, four from the Senior PGA and four from the PGA Tour are competing separately for a $1.2-million purse, which is really three $400,000 purses.

The matches today are not only first-round matches but semifinals. The winners meet Sunday for the championships.

The format is better-ball match play, which also needs some explaining.

Each team member plays his or her own ball. The teammates compare notes to see who had the better score. They then match scores with their opponents to see who won the hole.

“One of the things I like is that we get to see Karrie [Webb] and Jack [Nicklaus] and other players,” Elkington said. “We don’t get that often so it’s a lot of fun.”

It’s got to be fun, according to some, because the golf skills might be lacking a bit.

“Maybe my partner will play well,” Morgan said. “I don’t know if my game is too sharp. I haven’t been playing much lately.”

Maggert, however, is using this as a launching pad into 2000.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s not too stressful, you have a partner you can count on to help pick up the slack and it helps those of us who haven’t been playing get our games sharp for next year.”

With Nicklaus and Tom Watson the main drawing cards and Fred Couples also in the field, it’s easy to overlook the strength of the LPGA field, easily the best of the three.

Webb, Inskter, Annika Sorenstam and Lorie Kane finished Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5, respectively, on the 1999 money list.

Long-hitting Laura Davies and rising star Kelli Kuehne also are playing together and when it comes to match play, there’s no fiercer competitor than the feisty Pepper.

“[Juli and I] have been looking forward to this,” Pepper said. “We’re pretty excited about it. It’s kind of a chance to be aggressive and laugh real hard at our husbands who will both be on the bag again. Because now they are faced with a golf course that they don’t have a yardage book for and we will greatly enjoy watching them walk around in circles for the first couple of days.”