Golf: Competitive seniors sought

Richard Dunn

For senior golfers looking to play on a mini-tour, regardless of

handicap or age, your search is over.

Say hello to the new Pacific Golf Players Tour, billed as a mini-tour

offering competition for all ages and all skill levels.

The tour, conceived by two individuals, including PGA golf

professional Glenn Stuart, features an Open Division (gross scores for

scratch and low-index players competing as pros or amateurs), an Index

Division and a Senior Division.

Players can compete as an amateur or non-amateur in all three

divisions.

“Other (Southern California mini-tours) cater to and go after the

younger players ... but they ignored the middle-aged player and didn’t do

much for the senior amateur who wanted to compete with an index,” Stuart

said.

“And seniors have been bounced around with no real schedule.”

Stuart, along with tour operating partner Bobbi Stone, believes the

three-tiered divisional arrangement and competition on fine Southland

golf courses will draw full fields and exciting play.

Along with the featured Open Division, the Index Division is based on

net scores with different flights, while the Senior Division (gross

scores) is for players 48 and over. For players 60 and over, they will

compete from adjusted tees.

Stuart, for the past nine years, operated the Senior Challenge Golf

Tour and the Tournament Players Tour, which was “recognized as the class

of mini-tours based on the quality of golf courses played and overall

professionalism,” he said.

Stuart is the tournament director. Stone, a business woman and golfer

entering a second career, handles sponsorships and promotions.

Some of the courses this year on the Pacific Golf Players Tour include

the PGA West Stadium Course, the PGA Nicklaus Resort Course, Strawberry

Farms, SeaCliff Country Club and Mission Viejo Country Club.

Keith Wyrick of Newport Beach Golf Course won the Senior Division last

week at Temecula Creek with a 70, winning $625. Wyrick was also third in

the Open Division.

The tour will convene again Saturday at the Southern California PGA

Legends Course at Oak Valley. First tee times are 9:30 a.m. Details:

(909) 693-2167.

Rich Saul, the former All-Pro center for the Rams, is hosting the 19th

annual Childhelp USA Celebrity Golf Classic May 16 at Pelican Hill Golf

Club.

The Orange County Chapter of Childhelp USA, based in Newport Beach, is

expecting a full field of golfers and proceeds to net approximately

$150,000. Childhelp USA was founded in 1959 and is dedicated to the

treatment, prevention and research of child abuse and neglect. Details:

(949) 589-2770.

Newport Beach Country Club, host site of the Toshiba Senior Classic,

is hosting a U.S. Open local qualifying for the second year in a row.

The 101st U.S. Open Championship is June 14-17 at Southern Hills

Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

The local qualifying at Newport Beach is 18 holes on May 16, with the

Southern California Golf Association operating the event. Newport Beach

is one of seven Southland courses to be used during qualifying week (May

14-21) by the SCGA.

More than 200 professional and amateur golfers will play in theseventh

annual Tommy Bahama Newport Beach Open April 23 at Newport Beach. The

event benefits the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

The tournament crowns an amateur Newport Beach city champion, although

the field is open to anyone with an SCGA handicap of 12 or lower.There

will be a shotgun start at 9 a.m. for pros and amateurs. Corporate

foursomes and other amateurs will tee off at 2 p.m. in a shotgun start.

Last year’s Newport Beach Open professional winner was Darren Ernst, a

Costa Mesa resident and former Ocean View High and Golden West College

basketball player who carded a 5-under-par 65 and won $2,000 cash, plus a

Breitling watch.

It will be the first time the event will be played at Newport Beach

Country Club since the 18th hole was remodeled.

The event’s annual Casino Night and Putting Contest is April 22 at

Sterling BMW in Newport Beach.

The grand prize in the putting contest is $10,000. Details: (949)

729-4400.

Mesa Verde Country Club and the SCPGA Foundation will host the 23rd

annual Girls Junior America’s Cup Team Matches Aug. 6-9, an event which

brings together players representing 18 junior golf associations from the

U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The format will have four players competing for each team but only the

three lowest scores count.

Mesa Verde hosted the LPGA Kemper Open from 1979-81 and the LPGA

Uniden Invitational from 1984-86. In 1993, it hosted the U.S. Junior

Girls Championships and, in 1995, the inaugural Toshiba Classic.

This fall, Mesa Verde will begin construction on a $7 million

clubhouse remodeling project.

The Costa Mesa-based Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is

hosting its Links to the Cure Golf Tournament May 3 at Coyote Hills Golf

Course in Fullerton. Details: (714) 957-9157.

The 11th annual Holy Family Cathedral golf tournament and fund-raiser,

hosted by Jim Pooler of Cal’s Caddyshack in Costa Mesa, is April 23 at

Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills. Details: (714) 771-6101.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.