Golf: Mesa Verde hosting Girls Junior America’s Cup

Richard Dunn

It only comes around Southern California once every other decade,

and, when it does, it’s a privilege to host it.

So, when the Southern California Section of the PGA of America asked

Mesa Verde Country Club to host the 24th annual Girls Junior America’s

Cup Matches, a spirited golf committee at Mesa Verde jumped at the

opportunity.

The prestigious international event, Aug. 6-9, brings together 18

teams from the Western United States and our neighbors to the north and

south, Canada and Mexico.

The 17-and-under girls, most of whom will stay at Mesa Verde members’

houses, will play a practice round Monday with team competition Tuesday

through Thursday.

Each of the 18 sections rotate as host site. The Southern California

PGA hasn’t hosted the Girls Junior America’s Cup Matches since 1981.

“This golf course has hosted more tournaments than any other golf

course in Orange County,” Mesa Verde head professional Tom Sargent said.

“And nobody has hosted as many (pro) tour events. We’ve hosted five PGA

Tour events (1959-62 and ‘68), six LPGA events, one Senior PGA Tour event

(1995) and a USGA championship.”

Mesa Verde, home of the original Orange County Open on the PGA Tour,

hosted the LPGA Kemper Open from 1979-81 and the LPGA Uniden Invitational

from 1984-86. It played host to the 1993 U.S. Junior Girls Championship.

In 1995, Mesa Verde prepared in less than five months for the

inaugural Toshiba Senior Classic on the Senior Tour, which has been

played at Newport Beach Country Club since 1996.

Under Mesa Verde golf committee chairman Bill Wallace, the Costa

Mesa-based equity-owned private club successfully hosted Orange County’s

first Senior Tour event that year.

Mesa Verde, which will break ground on a $7-million clubhouse

remodeling project in the fall, received a written letter of request by

the Southern California PGA Section to host the 24th annual Girls Junior

America’s Cup Matches, which features four players on a team.

The format is similar to NCAA golf team competitions. Captains will

play all four team members and count the teams’ top three gross scores.

Awards will be presented for first- through third-place teams. The

defending champion is Mexico, which won the 2000 event by one stroke over

the team from Northern California.

“The Girls Junior America’s Cup is an extraordinary event with a rich

tradition and a storied history,” Frank Talarico of the SCPGA said. “It

is only appropriate that this year’s event be contested on a course the

caliber of Mesa Verde Country Club. We are honored to host this year’s

event and are very grateful to Mesa Verde for welcoming us.”

Teams from Hawaii, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington,

Arizona, New Mexico and California, along with two teams from Canada and

one from Mexico, will play the Mesa Verde course at about 6,100 yards

from the gold (or yellow) tees, which are farther than the reds.

“It will be set up like college length,” said Sargent, a former PGA of

America Club Professional of the Year.

Many Southern California PGA Junior America’s Cup alumna have gone on

to play on the LPGA Tour, such as Brandie Burton, Pearl Sinn, Kim Saiki,

Emilee Klein and Kellee Booth, a longtime Sargent pupil.

The public is invited to watch at no charge. You can bet the galleries

will be full of college coaches. Details: (714) 776-4653.

Speaking of Mesa Verde, men’s club champion Pete Daley, who will play

in the second annual Jones Cup with Sargent on Aug. 14 at Santa Ana

Country Club, is playing in the British Senior Amateur next week in

Portrush, Northern Ireland.

Last month, Daley finished fourth in stroke play in the Canadian

Senior Amateur at Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.

Daley and Sargent are the defending champions of the Jones Cup.

The Golf Lab at 1730 Pomona Avenue in Costa Mesa, owned and operated

by former two-time Canadian Tour money winner Eric Woods of Corona del

Mar, is expanding.

The indoor golf facility now has a 1,000-square foot putting green and

a large tent to provide more indoor room.

Woods, a local playing pro since 1988 and Order of Merit winner on the

Canadian Tour in 1993 and ‘94, said business is booming since opening his

doors about 1 1/2 years ago.

Dave Donnellan, a former assistant golf pro at Newport Beach Country

Club, is the new Director of Instruction at the Golf Lab.

“Everyone wanted golf lessons, and I was driving all over the place,”

Woods once said of his golf brainchild.

Woods said he now books appointments and provides clients, mostly from

the corporate world, with royal treatment at his impressive facility.

Details: (949) 548-2526.

In the Pacific Golf Players Tour, Jerry Wyrick of Newport Beach Golf

Course finished tied for third at 73 in the open seniors division,

winning $166, at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta.

In the First Flight, Rudy Corral of Newport Beach tied for second with

a net 71 to win $365.

The 13th and final year of the Steve Van Horn Memorial Golf Tournament

scramble is Aug. 27 at Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club.

All proceeds of the tournament benefit the Steve Van Horn Memorial

Scholarship at Estancia High and the Steve Van Horn Foundation at

Fullerton College. The Estancia award will go to the outstanding senior

girl and outstanding senior boy student-athlete.

A former basketball great, Van Horn starred at Estancia and Fullerton

College, before he was killed in an accident while on vacation in Mexico

in March 1982. Van Horn is a member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of

Fame.

His family started the golf tournament in 1989, and, even though 2001

will be the final year of the event, the family will continue to fund the

scholarship in the future.

Tee times are scheduled from noon to 1:15 p.m. on both the Los Lagos

and Mesa Linda courses. A free box lunch and unlimited beverages on the

course will also be provided. Cost is $125 per player. Details: (406)

995-2234.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.