Jones Cup: Pete Daley

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - Sometimes waiting has its rewards, like for Mesa Verde

Country Club’s Pete Daley, who was ready to accelerate as soon as the

light turned green for golf.

With three children to raise with his wife, Sue, and a whistle often

around his neck as an AYSO coach, Daley’s time to play golf was limited.

Daley grew up a baseball player, competed in fast-pitch softball for

several years, then got married and started playing tennis. Tennis could

be played leisurely with the entire family and there were no five-hour

rounds.

But, after his kids grew older and nine years of coaching soccer,

Daley decided to pick up the sticks on a regular basis at age 41. “OK,

now it’s my turn,” Daley announced.

Daley worked hard on his game, practicing two or three times a week

and playing rounds just as frequently. “You have to do that if you want

to be competitive,” said Daley, who started qualifying for senior events

at age 55.

Four years ago, Daley changed his grip from an interlock to a

10-finger grip and he said it has “helped keep me out of the trees ...

that helped (my game), along with playing with lower handicapped players.

“If you find somebody to play with who is a lot better, you can learn

a lot and become a lot more competitive.”

At the ripe ol’ age of 58, Daley captured his first Mesa Verde men’s

club championship, a year after winning the 1997 Mesa Verde senior men’s

title.

Daley, 60, won his second straight men’s club championship last year,

proving that experience and savvy are better on a golf course than youth

and length.

Daley enjoyed a sensational campaign in ‘99, including reaching the

Round of 16 in the U.S. Senior Amateur at Portland, Ore.

“That was pretty exciting,” Daley said. “Those USGA events, there’s

nothing like them, the way (USGA officials) run them and the way the golf

courses are set up. Last year (at the Portland Golf Club), the greens

were 12.5 on the stipmeter. That’s like putting on a table top.”

Daley, who will partner with Mesa Verde head professional Tom Sargent

in the inaugural Jones Cup Friday at Newport Beach Country Club at 1

p.m., won the 1999 men’s club championship on Aug. 22 in a one-hole

playoff against Randy Thorne. Daley and Thorne each shot 299, followed by

Bryan Rolfe (305), David Sun (306), Tom McGreeby (308), Dave Tanchuk

(313) and Farrell Hinkle (314).

Clyde Sarver is Mesa Verde’s all-time champion with five titles

(1962-63, ‘71, ’73 and ‘77), while Tanchuk and Bill Ott each have four.

In 1997, Daley won the inaugural Northwest Dodge Dealers Pacific

Amateur at Bend, Ore., and last week played at Poppy Hills in the

California State Senior Amateur for the sixth time in his career.

But the Mesa Verde club titles and the U.S. Senior Amateur last year

rank atop Daley’s highlight list. To qualify for the USGA event, Daley

won low gross after three rounds on three different golf courses in the

desert, including the Indian Wells Nicklaus resort course, where Daley

shot 67. Out of 250 players, Daley was first.

Also in ‘97, Daley qualified for the Canadian Senior Amateur at

Kapalano near Vancouver, and in ’98 finished third in the Southern

California Senior Amateur at the Alisal courses in Solvang.

“(Daley) is a very good player, he’s very competitive,” said Sargent,

who has played in a couple Senior PGA Tour Monday qualifiers, but would

consider Kelly Manos (Big Canyon Country Club) to be the top pro in the

Jones Cup.

The Jones Cup is the men’s ultimate community pro-am, a two-man,

better-ball gross competition involving the four private clubs in this

newspaper’s circulation. At stake are community bragging rights, a

perpetual Jones Cup trophy and bigger headlines in the Daily Pilot.

“I’m just a late bloomer,” said Daley, whose small Newport Beach

company publishes market and residual values for the computer industry.

Last fall, Daley had an artificial, six-hole putting green built in

the backyard of his Newport Beach home. “But I can’t say it has helped my

game,” Daley said.

Look for Daley on Friday in the Jones Cup, the brand new event in the

Fletcher Jones Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series, which

launched the Tea Cup Classic for women in 1997.

The Jones Cup is named after the only benefactor the series has had,

and includes a pro-am team from each club. Players are selected by their

respective clubs.

Before teeing off Friday, club names will be drawn out of a hat to

determine which two clubs will play in a foursome. Newport Beach Country

Club President Jerry Anderson will serve as the rules official.

And, like the popular Tea Cup Classic, the Jones Cup will feature

hole-in-one prizes on all par-3 holes, including a 2000 Mercedes Benz

ML320, a sports utility vehicle reportedly valued at $40,195, on 17.