Golf column, Pelican Hill showed its true colors

The December colors of Pelican Hill Golf Club were flourishing last

weekend during ABC’s live coverage of the Diners Club Matches.

With perfect weather, and Jack Nicklaus shooting an unofficial,

jaw-dropping 62 in the opening round on his way to the Senior PGA Tour

title with the affable Tom Watson, the event’s executive producer, Terry

Jastrow, could not have written a better script for golf’s so-called

silly season.

If The Irvine Company, which owns Pelican Hill, was looking to sell

some multi-million dollar homes at Newport Coast, there was nothing silly

about the cloudless skies and beautiful backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.

In fact, there were 37 extra minutes of air time Sunday, because “the

show” ran late, and four of the six matches on the final day reached at

least the 18th hole as Pelican Hill was able to exhibit its famous

“Double Cross” finishing hole on the Ocean South course.

“It’s perfect,” tournament director Gary Pollard said of the weather

and the venue, which hosted its first major golf tournament.

Furthermore, considering Pelican Hill is not designed for walking, an

estimated 5,000 to 6,000 fans roamed the grounds Sunday, a huge increase

from Saturday’s attendance.

Pollard said he received phone calls Saturday from people asking about

the made-for-television event, unaware of the fact that the Diners Club

Matches were being held live at Pelican Hill. Pollard said that boosted

Sunday’s gallery.

Pollard was hired to operate the event in May, but the marketing

effort didn’t really begin until August. In 2000, when the title sponsor

changes to Lexus, the event should see improvement in terms of gallery

size and corporate hospitality tent sales.

But for a first-time event, the Irvine Co. could not ask for anything

more.

During the weekend telecast, “Newport Beach” seemed to be lost in the

shuffle of name recognition, while “Newport Coast” was prominently

displayed and heard throughout -- even though the Newport Beach

Conference & Visitors Bureau bought network air time.

On Saturday, ABC announcer Mike Tirico said Pelican Hill was near

Crystal “Cave” State Park, not Crystal Cove.

Rob Ford, Pelican Hill Director of Golf, made his national television

debut in a commercial spot and looked good swinging a golf club. “Yeah,

luckily I wasn’t hitting a ball (during the taping),” Ford quipped.

Dottie Pepper of the LPGA is “intense” on the golf course, according

to her partner, Juli Inkster.

But Pepper, who three-peated with Inkster at the Diners Club Matches,

also wins the award as the most unpleasant golfer in the field, blowing

off a reporter’s request for a quick, informal interview following the

pro-am Friday, among other things.

During Sunday’s press conference, Pepper, referring to the event’s

one-year hiatus in 1998, said (seemingly only partly joking): “It was a

bad Christmas last year without this tournament. We really had to scale

back (financially), but now we’ll be in an upgrade mode again this year.”

Inkster, the PR conscious one in the twosome, quickly interjected and

said: “This is just a really fun week. It’s the only time our husbands

caddie for us all year and we bring our families out -- Dottie brings her

coach and his wife. It’s a lot of fun.”

Winning teams split $200,000.

The inaugural Holiday Invitational Pro-Am, Dec. 23 at Newport Beach

Golf Course, will feature a family theme in each foursome. Proceeds of

the sold-out event will benefit a cystic fibrosis charity, tournament

director Keith Wyrick said.

Each foursome will feature a family of two (any combination of

mother/daughter, father/son, mother/son or father/daughter), while, under

an experimental auspices, pros like John Sullivan, Tony Forrester and

John Hartman will play for a senior purse of $2,000. There will be one

senior pro and a guest in each of the 15 foursomes.

Players will feast afterward at a prime rib luncheon. There will be a

clinic prior to the shotgun start at 9 a.m. The format’s scoring will use

the two best balls in each group.

Wyrick’s goal is to launch an Orange County Senior Invitational.

This year’s event will also include actors David Nelson and Mike

Villani, former Newport Beach mayor Tom Edwards and Newport Beach Golf

Course owners Chris Jones and Steve Lane.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.