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.
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