Marianne Towersey, Millennium Hall of Fame

In what will always be remembered as one of the great golf feats of

our time, Marianne Towersey of Santa Ana Country Club gaveo7

competitivef7 play a new definition this summer.

A longtime club champion and former top-ranked junior in the nation,

Towersey pulled off an amazing doubleheader in a scheduled 54-hole bout

Aug. 13, beginning with the 36-hole match-play final in the Women’s

Southern California Golf Association event at Mission Viejo Country Club,

then concluding with the Tea Cup Classic -- an 18-hole, made-for-Daily

Pilot exhibition at Mesa Verde Country Club.

Even with a foreign putter and 35 holes of competitive golf already in

her bag, Towersey captured the third annual Tea Cup Classic by o7

sevenf7 strokes in an unheard-of effort that will forever live in local

golf lore.

The reigning queen of the links in the Newport-Mesa community,

Towersey won her second straight Tea Cup Classic title in 1999, but

solidified her place as a Hall of Famer long ago, having won 15 of the

last 18 women’s club championships at Santa Ana Country Club -- an

ongoing club record for the oldest club in Orange County.

A Corona del Mar High graduate and Stanford history major, Towersey

grew up playing Santa Ana, and, at age 16, defeated future LPGA Hall of

Famer JoAnne Carner (nee Gunderson) in the first round of match play at

the 1967 U.S. Women’s Amateur and went on to the quarterfinals. Gunderson

would capture five U.S. Amateur titles in her career, including 1966 and

‘68. A recent issue of Golf World magazine included Towersey’s victory

over Gunderson as one of the country’s 10 greatest upsets this century.

Towersey, who won the 1999 Santa Ana women’s club title by o7 36

strokesf7 after shooting a four-round 307, was a primary reason why the

Tea Cup Classic was invented in the first place by this sports section

two years ago. The large margins of victory by the ladies champions

created interest in a one-day community showdown -- and Towersey has

proved to be up to the task in the Fletcher Jones Motorcars/Daily Pilot

Club Championship Series.

In the 1970s, Towersey became disenchanted with the prospects of

playing on the LPGA Tour and decided to focus on her career and family.

But after an eight-year hiatus from golf, she returned to the game and,

while pregnant with her second son, Patrick, won the 1981 women’s state

amateur championship.

“Once I met my husband (Brian), he was interested in playing golf and

we purchased my parents’ membership, and there I was, back at Santa Ana

Country Club,” said the latest member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of

Fame, celebrating the millennium.

Towersey is three club championships away from breaking the area’s

all-time record of 17, held by Newport Beach Country Club’s Dee Dee

White, a Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer who won her first title in 1961

at age 37 and her last at the club in 1986.

As if Towersey wasn’t prominent enough at Santa Ana Country Club, her

family has a rich history there. Her grandfather, Richard Emison, was

among the original SACC members when the club was located at the

Castaways. Emison is also the club’s only three-time president.

Towersey’s late father, Alvin, is a former President’s Cup champion at

Santa Ana, while her mother, Pat Cox, is a four-time women’s club

champion there, winning titles in 1947, 1952, 1961 and 1962.

Her husband has won Santa Ana senior club titles, while her son, Chad,

has won Santa Ana junior club championships. She has two sons, Chad, who

turns 20 this month, and Patrick, 18. They live in Newport Beach.

Towersey, who has one career hole in one, played volleyball, tennis

and golf at CdM High, and golf and tennis at Stanford. “She’s one helluva

an athlete,” Brian Towersey said.