Richard Dunn Golf Column: Another record for Tiger

As the bidding escalated during a coming out party by yours truly

as an auctioneer, there was almost disbelief in the audience as a white

Titleist golf visor approached $500.

The world’s most expensive visor?

That’s what is seemed Monday night at the awards dinner for Yardley VII

at Newport Beach Golf Course, the George Yardley-sponsored community golf

“event” to benefit the Newport Harbor High golf program.

The last of eight live auction items on the block, this particular visor

was signed by Tiger Woods and purchased by Kathy Morgan, who paid $525

for it after a crowd-stimulating bidding war.

Last year at Yardley VI, Morgan reportedly paid $350 for a hat signed by

Woods, an honorary member at Big Canyon Country Club.

Two weeks before Woods destroyed the field at the 100th U.S. Open at

Pebble Beach, he signed the visor for Big Canyon assistant pro Sandy

Huber, an annual participant in the Yardley tournament and active

volunteer for the Olive Crest Home, which also benefits from the

tournament.

“Right before (Woods) left, I told the kids they needed to write him a

thank you note,” Huber said.

Kathleen Hanold, a volunteer official for Yardley VII, said she was

“talking to (Morgan) before the auction, and she just couldn’t wait for

it to start. Then she set a (live auction) record that may never be

broken.”

Morgan reportedly will have the Woods-autographed visor and hat put in

acrylic and stored for safekeeping.

“She didn’t care how much she had to bid for it, she said ... (because)

she was going to buy it,” Newport Harbor golf coach Jim Warren said of

Morgan, who was unavailable for comment afterward, apparently because she

was too busy celebrating amid the chaos at banquet’s end.

Added Warren of Morgan, a mystery guest: “I hadn’t seen her before. She

just shows up.”

In a wild and wacky Yardley VII, even the tournament chairman and

featured celebrity was bidding on his own auction items, pumping up the

price tag in perhaps the quickest live auction in town (under 10

minutes?).

“It was a real fun event, and it was fun to see George Yardley bidding on

his own things,” Huber said.

Thanks to guys like Woods, who is reportedly buying a home in Big Canyon,

and Yardley, the event raised between $25,000 and $30,000, according to

Warren.

Tournament director Mark Whitfield, who will replace Buck Johns as chief

executive at next year’s Yardley VIII (held the last Monday in June),

called the event “the anti-golf tournament. It’s all about the lunch

buffet, dinner buffet and prizes.”

Don’t forget the live auction.

On the golf course, the best-ball scramble format awarded points for

birdies and eagles, no points for pars and minus points for bogeys and

double bogeys.

Even though our fivesome consisted of two standout club players,

including longtime reigning Santa Ana Country Club women’s champion and

two-time defending Tea Cup Classic champion Marianne Towersey, our team

finished nowhere near the top.

The group of John Hales, Dick Smith, Andy Miller, Cam Smith and Rick

Bowen won the tournament with 32 points.

In a scramble format played on an executive golf course, you need to sink

putts, and our group didn’t. OK, yours truly got lucky and drained a

couple of 20-footers, but overall we struggled on the greens, and that’s

where you score.

Most of the time, our group used Towersey’s shots, which, on the par-3s,

were always within birdie vision. Our team also had Greg Geissman of the

Daily Pilot, incoming Newport Harbor freshman Chase Wheeler and Newport

Beach Country Club’s David Wheeler, who said he has played Augusta

National “about 25 times” in the last 10 years and once shot 72 on the

hallowed grounds that host the Masters.

Other winners at Yardley VII included Mark Rogers (putting contest), a

different Mark Rogers (closest to the pin), Brad Estill (long drive),

Kathryn Anderson (closest to the pin for women) and Towersey (long drive

for women).

Several volunteers and booster members worked countless hours for Yardley

VII to achieve its great success, including co-chairman Bruce Akins.

Daily Pilot Publisher Tom Johnson was the event’s honorary chairman.

“This tournament should be called the Buck Johns VII, not the Yardley

VII,” Yardley quipped at the podium deep into the night. “I have nothing

to do with it. I’ve just got my picture everywhere.”

Kudos also to Newport Beach Golf Course owner Steve Lane, whose course

was in excellent condition (as usual) in what has become, according to

Warren, “a real tradition just before the Fourth of July.”

In the 101st Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship

last week at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in San Diego, Newport Beach’s Mike

Walker shot 306 and former Corona del Mar High standout John Wardrup, now

living in San Diego and playing out of Torrey Pines, fired 313 to finish

in the second division.

Newport Beach’s Chad Towersey and Costa Mesa’s Farrell Hinkle did not

make the cut after 36 holes.

Walker and Wardrup both struggled in the third round, carding an 81 and

84, respectively, to end their quest for a title.

Newport Beach’s Allan Effron fired a hole-in-one Friday during the

Irrelevant Week Runnin’ Gunnin’ Golf Tournament at Newport Beach Golf

Course.

Effron, 52, used a 5-iron on the ninth hole (152 yards), an ace witnessed

by Eberhard Neutz and Marsha Kerns. It was Effron’s first career

hole-in-one.

“Actually, it was probably the wrong club, but I guess it worked,” said

Effron, whose shot bounced in front of the green and rolled up, before

landing in the cup.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.