Golf: McCord, Jacobs need mikes

Richard Dunn

With Gary McCord and John Jacobs representing the Senior PGA Tour

in the upcoming Hyundai Team Matches, event organizers of the

made-for-television golf tournament might consider miking both players

for added spectator entertainment.

No two professional golfers joke around more than McCord and Jacobs,

who are good buddies and golfing partners, as well as neighbors in

Scottsdale, Ariz., and in their prime (in their 50s!) as free spirits.

In Newport Beach, they helped make the Toshiba Senior Classic famous

in 1999 with their hilarious antics in a five-hole playoff, eventually

won by McCord, the wisecracking CBS golf commentator with the

barbershop-quartet mustache.

For these guys to return as a tandem, it’s time to stop the presses

and redesign the brochure.

Oh, sure, Jack Nicklaus is a legend and widely viewed as the greatest

golfer of all time. But Nicklaus and partner Tom Watson will come nowhere

near McCord and Jacobs on the Richter scale of gags.

These days, with athletes and coaches wearing microphone hook-ups for

television audiences, the Hyundai Matches, formerly the Diners Club

Matches, would be the perfect venue for McCord and Jacobs to get wired

for sound. Not only for TV, but for those in the gallery at Pelican Hill

Golf Club.

McCord and Jacobs are locally renowned for their roles in an

unforgettable playoff in the ’99 Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country

Club, producing one of the most memorable finishes in Senior Tour

history.

On the first playoff hole (No. 18), Jacobs chipped in for eagle from

90 feet. Believing he’d captured the tournament, Jacobs pranced around

the fairway in celebration, did an imitation of Chi Chi Rodriguez’s sword

dance and then tumbled backward onto the turf.

The gallery erupted.

McCord, meanwhile, who had never won a PGA or Senior PGA Tour event in

382 previous starts, was staring at an 18-foot eagle putt to stay alive

and extend the playoff.

“I’ve played with Gary enough to know that he doesn’t make that putt

for a $180 Nassau, so I was sure he wouldn’t make it for $180,000,”

Jacobs said.

McCord sank the python putt to continue the playoff (and eliminate

Allen Doyle and Al Geiberger from the four-man playoff).

But after McCord made it, he motioned with a curled index finger for

Jacobs to come and fetch his ball from the cup with the ESPN cameras

rolling.

Jacobs retrieved his ball, all right, then chucked it into the crowd,

which loved every second of the frolics rarely seen in golf.

With McCord and Jacobs as a team in what is already a hit-n-giggle

affair, it would be ideal for them to strap on mikes for the gallery.

Follow those guys if you’re looking for a few laughs.

Bobby Heath has replaced Rob Ford as Director of Golf at Pelican Hill.

The Irvine Co., which owns Pelican Hill and calls the area Newport

Coast, and officials from the Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau,

are trying to agree on what to call Pelican Hill’s “city” for ABC

television during the Hyundai Matches: Newport Beach or Newport Coast?

The one day last week when the weather was foggy along the coast, CNBC

television cameras showed up at the Pelican Hill clubhouse for a live,

two-hour broadcast of “Power Lunch,” and the sun never came out.

“Supposedly,” show host Bill Griffeth said, “there are gorgeous views

of the Pacific Ocean from here. But not this morning.”

Prior to and during the telecast, CNBC referred to it as “Newport

Beach.”

The name Newport Beach will certainly go a lot farther on the global

map than Newport Coast.

Today’s proposition: Let’s get the largest gallery possible to follow

Marianne Towersey (Santa Ana Country Club) during her rounds in the U.S.

Women’s Mid-Amateur championship Oct. 3-8 at Big Canyon Country Club.

She’s the only local golfer playing in the event, and, of course, a

three-time defending Tea Cup Classic champion.

Newport Harbor High’s golf team will have 32 players carrying placards

during the U.S. Mid-Am.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.