Golf: Tea Cup Classic IV set

Richard Dunn

Tea Cup Classic IV will come full circle in 2000, when the Fletcher

Jones Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series for women makes its

stop at Big Canyon Country Club.

The date is set for Friday, Aug. 11, with an 8 a.m. tee time and luncheon

to follow, Big Canyon Director of Golf Bob Lovejoy said.

The one-day, 18-hole championship to decide an overall women’s club

champion in the Daily Pilot circulation started at Newport Beach in 1997,

moved to Santa Ana Country Club in ’98 and was hosted by Mesa Verde

Country Club last year.

The intent of the Tea Cup Classic was to change sites each year, with the

four private country clubs in the area rotating as the host.

The event was conceived because of the large margins of victory by the

champions at each club, along with the ideas of growing women’s golf and

providing a different forum to unite the golf community.

The final round of the Big Canyon women’s club championship (won last

year by Sally Holstein) is April 13; Mesa Verde’s final round is April

14. Newport Beach will decide its 2000 champion on April 27, and Santa

Ana the following day.

Marianne Towersey (Santa Ana) has won the last two Tea Cup Classics,

including a dramatic, overflowing 53-hole day last year, when she

competed for 35 holes in the Southern California Women’s Match-Play final

at Mission Viejo Country Club, then arrived in time for Tea Cup Classic

III at Mesa Verde.

Denise Woodard (Mesa Verde) and Debbie Albright (Newport Beach) are

defending champions at their respective clubs.

Friends in Service to Humanity, a United Way agency based in Newport

Beach, will host the FISH 2000 Charity Golf Classic April 3 at SeaCliff

Country Club in Huntington Beach.

FISH assists families in need, helping to prevent them from becoming

homeless. FISH provides rental assistance, utility payments to avoid

shut-offs, food, child care, subsidies for single parents, medical,

dental, transportation, baby needs and mobile meals. Details: (949)

645-8050.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.