Golf column, Coming into its own

Golf’s off-season barnstorming tour, on the heels of the Ryder Cup,

will bring a three-ring circus to Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport

Coast, which gets misidentified in publications as Pelican “Hills” more

often than The Irvine Company would like.

But perhaps a dose of the PGA Tour, Senior PGA Tour and LPGA Tour,

lumped together in the Diners Club Matches Dec. 11-12, can generate enough appeal so folks in our business can get it right.

That’s Pelican o7 Hillf7 Golf Club. With two 18-hole, championship

resort courses. The same facility that, six years ago, negotiated with

Diners Club officials to bring the event here, only to pull out in

January 1994.

Pelican Hill announced “that it is simply premature to invite a

tournament of this caliber to our club at this time,” adding that it

wanted “to give the course more time to mature, and for us to complete

additional facilities and desirable amenities before we undertake a

showcase event of this magnitude.”

Look what time can do.

With the South and North courses in full bloom, after opening in

November 1991 and November ‘93, respectively, and a top-notch clubhouse

and banquet facility in place, Pelican Hill is ready for the magic (red)

carpet ride on ABC television.

“It’s a television producer’s delight, because there’s action going on

all the time,” Diners Club producer Terry Jastrow said, referring to the

match-play, made-for-TV event, which will feature Jack Nicklaus.

Jastrow, president of Nicklaus’ production company, which founded the

Diners Club Matches, said “it’s the only time in the year when all the

tours gather at one site at one time for a tour event.”

With Jastrow at the controls, it appears Pelican Hill has the right

guy pumping its coming out party on TV. During a conference call recently

with Dottie Pepper to promote the Diners Club Matches, Jastrow said “the

players love it, the fans love it, television audiences love it and by

and large it’s an extremely popular way to play the game.”

Jastrow said in the ancient days of golf, when it was common in Great

Britain for two players to take on two others in a match, “they would

play, it would be raucous, there would be much drinking and heavy betting

and all the rest of it.”

Wonder what’s the line in Las Vegas on Pepper and Juli Inkster

capturing their third straight LPGA title at the Diners Club?

And is there action on Nicklaus (paired with Tom Watson) winning his

own event? Just food for at-the-turn thought.

Following the original good-times crews on the links, golf competition

became “more formal” in the 19th century and, finally, in the “1860s or

so, something was formalized by the RNA (Royal & Ancient) and it was

called the Open Championship now known as the British Open Championship

and we know the history from there,” Jastrow said.

The Diners Club Matches were last played in December 1997 at PGA West (Nicklaus Course) in La Quinta. After a one-year absence, the $1.2

million event returns to golf’s weekend postseason for the armchair

athletes.

Jastrow, winner of seven Emmy Awards and whose resume includes the

relaunching of Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, said Jack Nicklaus

Productions moved the event from La Quinta to Newport Coast because “the

(Coachella Valley) marketplace was insufficient to really support an

event of this size. There’s too much ... there’s a lot of golf

competition, a lot of golf events over in Palm Springs, so we wanted to

find a new home site.”

Could Pelican Hill become “home” to the Diners Club Matches? It would

be the second to permanently land in the area, following the Toshiba

Senior Classic on the Senior PGA Tour in March, which stops at Newport

Beach Country Club.

Speaking of the Toshiba Classic, the event is o7 notf7 sold out of

hospitality boxes. According to tournament officials, the Senior Tour

event “will always accommodate” prospective buyers and sponsors. The

information was erroneously reportedly in this space earlier.

The event, however, is sold out of pro-am spots March 1-2 for the 2000 Toshiba, which will feature Senior Tour pros on ESPN March 3-5.

Add Nicklaus and Watson: Together they have won 103 PGA Tour events

and 26 majors, and are pairing for the first time in a professional

competition. As participants in 10 Ryder Cups and captains for three

more, they have plenty of experience with the team match-play format used

at the Diners Club Matches.

The event will be played on holes one through 14 on the North Course,

and 15 through 18 on the South Course, about a two-minute ride on the

golf cart for players traveling from the 14th green to the 15th tee. The

bulk of the event’s hospitality village will be positioned in that area.

Diners Club tickets are $125 and include admission to the Dec. 10

practice rounds and both tournament days. Parking is also included.

Ticket sales are limited to 10,000. Details: (949) 759-5175.

Spots are still available for the Inaugural Tee Off for Technology

Classic, which will benefit the Newport Harbor Educational Foundation and

raise funds for much-needed technology at the high school. The event is

Nov. 1 at Santa Ana Country Club. Details: (949) 723-1212.

The RIO Classic, which benefits the Rehabilitation Institute of

Southern California, is Nov. 15 at Santa Ana Country Club.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.