Golf column

Times are good for Newport Beach Country Club.

First, the club’s president, Jerry Anderson, is named the 1999

Southern California PGA Golf Professional of the Year for the second time

in his distinguished career.

Then, during a time when high-end daily fee public golf courses in

Orange County are looking for players to fill the fairways, the private

club in Newport Beach celebrates a sold-out membership base of 750.

Today, there are 20 potential members on a waiting list.

Finally, as if the club isn’t living large enough, Anderson said

Tuesday the 2000 Toshiba Senior Classic, the Senior PGA Tour stop at

Newport Beach, has sold out in terms of hospitality tents and corporate

boxes.

While the aforementioned tournament (the only PGA event in Orange

County) is operated by the Hoag Hospital Foundation and tournament

director Jeff Purser, Newport Beach Country Club is credited for hosting

the venue in a first-class manner.

In 1998, the first year with Hoag as tournament operator, the Toshiba

Senior Classic raised $701,000 for the hospital and won the Senior PGA

Tour’s Charity of the Year Award. In ‘99, the event raised $828,500 for

charity, bolstering its status as one of the most philanthropic stops on

the Senior Tour.

The tournament set Senior Tour records for the largest first-year

donation, the largest second-year donation and the largest donation for

the first two years combined. The Toshiba Classic started in 1995 at Mesa

Verde Country Club and moved to Newport Beach the following year.

International Sports & Event Marketing managed the tournament for the

first three years.

The Y2K edition of the Toshiba Classic is scheduled for a week earlier

than in past years (Feb. 28 through March 5).

Newport Beach Country Club, which reconstructed the far corner of the

golf course before the ’99 Toshiba event, is planning four more

renovation projects, including a major change at the 18th green.

“There has certainly been a lot of history on that 18th green the past

two years in the Toshiba Senior Classic, but the remodeling will make it

a more challenging finishing hole,” said Anderson, referring to the large

mound that will be built in back of the green.

Following the Toshiba event in March 2000, construction is expected to

begin and the 18th fairway will slope down toward the throat, while the

green is elevated, giving golfers an uphill approach and taking the “easy

birdie” out of play for the Senior Tour guys starting in 2001.

Rebuilt tee boxes are also in the planning stage for Newport Beach,

which has committed to improving the golf course every year as long as it

hosts the Senior Tour stop.

Earlier this year, the club completed a $300,000 project encompassing

holes three, four and five in the outermost portion of the layout. The

highlights included a 42-inch rock retaining wall in front of the fourth

green, a cascading waterfall at the par-three fourth and an updated

irrigation system, in addition to a remodeled lake.

In March, the 18th green served as a stage for Toshiba champion Gary

McCord and runner-up John Jacobs, who chipped in for eagle on the first

playoff hole from 90 feet away. As the greenside gallery erupted, Jacobs

danced a jig, did his best imitation of Chi Chi Rodriguez’s famous “sabre

dance” and then did a backward somersault. McCord, however, won a

five-hole playoff.

The Southern California PGA will hold its annual Section Championship

Sept. 13-15 at the Old Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho

Mirage.

Kelly Manos, now the head professional at Big Canyon Country Club, won

the Section title in 1996. Winners earn exemptions into three PGA Tour

events in Southern California.

The Southern California PGA received a $20,000 grant for junior golf

from the United States Golf Association, the first section to receive a

grant from the USGA in 41 years.

Jack Nicklaus, whose golf course architectural company designed the

new Aliso Viejo Golf Club, will make an appearance at the club, put on a

clinic and play an exhibition round Saturday at the high-end, daily fee

public course. Toshiba officials are hoping Nicklaus will come to Orange

County again in February. He has never played in the Toshiba event.

The PGA of America’s Southern California Section will host the 83rd

PGA Annual Meeting Nov. 18-29 at the Anaheim Hilton in Anaheim. Anderson

is a candidate for PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year. Tom

Sargent (Mesa Verde) won the prestigious honor in 1997.

The Inaugural Tee Off for Technology Classic, which will benefit the

Newport Harbor Educational Foundation and raise funds for much-needed

technology for the high school, is planned for Nov. 1 at Santa Ana

Country Club, tournament co-chairman Mitch Barker confirmed Wednesday.

The goal of the event is to raise $50,000 for the foundation. Optimism

is running high for an early sellout. Details: (949) 723-1212.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.