Golf: Jones Cup II tees off today

Richard Dunn

SANTA ANA HEIGHTS - Proudly displayed at Mesa Verde Country Club is

the perpetual Jones Cup trophy, but three other golf clubs in the

Newport-Mesa community will be looking to take it away today in the

second annual men’s community pro-am.

The event, hosted by Santa Ana Country Club at 1 p.m., features the

four men’s club champions in the Daily Pilot circulation, along with the

head professional and/or director of golf at Mesa Verde, Santa Ana, Big

Canyon Country Club and Newport Beach Country Club.

Spectators are welcome to gallery. Admission is free. The dress code

at Santa Ana, which includes collared shirts, will be enforced. Shorts

are permitted as long as they’re no shorter than five inches above the

bend in the back of the knee, or 18 inches in total length.

Jones Cup II is played under the auspices of the Fletcher Jones

Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series, which was launched by

this sports section in 1997.

The format of the event is better-ball of partners over 18 holes. Two

pro-am teams will play in a group. The two groups tee off back-to-back

with galleries in tow. A pre-event drawing is held to decide which two

clubs play together.

“(The format) is perfect,” Santa Ana Director of Golf Mike Reehl said.

“I like it, because it takes a lot of pressure off and it kept the scores

real close (last year).”

In the inaugural Jones Cup at Newport Beach, one stroke separated

champion Mesa Verde (2-under 69) and runner-up Newport Beach (70), and

one shot was the difference between Santa Ana (even-par 71) and Big

Canyon (72).

In addition to two galleries filled with club members supporting their

pro and men’s club champion, the Jones Cup will have two moving

scoreboards, manned by an official scorer in a golf cart. Walkie-talkies

will be used to update scores.

Santa Ana, which is celebrating its centennial next month, hosted the

Tea Cup Classic for women in 1998.

After the club championship series experienced success with the Tea

Cup Classic -- started to promote women’s golf and bring the local golf

community closer together -- the Jones Cup made its debut last summer.

There’s no green jacket or million-dollar paycheck for the winner, but

local interest is high and players, both pros and amateurs, are eager to

participate in the unique community event.

In addition to the perpetual trophy, the Jones Cup winner is crowned

Daily Pilot champion and celebrated largely in local golf lore.

In leading his team to victory on the final hole last year, Mesa Verde

head pro Tom Sargent executed the now-legendary flop shot at 18 to set a

birdie tap-in.

Sargent and three-time Mesa Verde men’s club champion Pete Daley are

not only defending champions, but the only repeat pro-am team in the

Jones Cup.

For the hosts, Reehl and 2001 men’s club champion Gregg Hemphill are

expected to be a formidable team on their home course. Big Canyon comes

in with Director of Golf Bob Lovejoy and club champion Ron Maggard, while

Newport Beach, which came down the stretch tied with Mesa Verde last

year, enters with head pro Paul Hahn and club champion Vinnie Brascia.

Each club is responsible for selecting its own team, as long as the

pro is a full-time member of the staff and the amateur a member of the

club.

Brascia, who replaces Bob Kraft from the Newport Beach amateur field

as Hahn’s partner, is a 1-handicap golfer who won his first Newport Beach

men’s club title in early June.

Hemphill, who replaces amateur Chris Veitch in the Jones Cup for Santa

Ana, also won his first club title this year.

Maggard, who captured his first Big Canyon club title this year and

replaces Steve Collins in the field, enjoyed a career year in 2000,

winning the Five Crowns of Golf: The club championship, senior men’s

title, match-play championship, senior match-play championship and the

couples title with his wife, Linda.

Daley, 61, is the only multiple club winner in this year’s Jones Cup

and has probably been playing more golf than anybody else, considering

his summer stints in the British Senior Amateur and Canadian Senior

Amateur, where he finished fourth in 54 holes of stroke play.

In last year’s Jones Cup thriller, Sargent won it for Mesa Verde with

a jaw-dropping flop shot from the deep rough to the right of the 18th

green.

After python putts and chip-ins for birdies by Sargent and hosting

head pro Hahn, it came down to one big flop.

Sargent’s ball was buried in the rough, requiring rules official Jerry

Anderson, President of Newport Beach Country Club, to check if the ball

was embedded and possibly stepped on by a member of the gallery (it

wasn’t).

Sargent executed one of golf’s toughest shots to near perfection,

flopping onto the edge of the green and rolling two feet to the flag,

setting up an easy birdie putt as Mesa Verde captured Jones Cup I before

an estimated 300 fans.

Along with his 18th-hole dramatics, Sargent drained a 60-foot birdie

putt on No. 2 and a 50-footer on No. 16, which tied Newport Beach for the

lead in a tightly contested Jones Cup.

Hahn, who chipped in for birdie from 30 feet at 9 and sank a 40-foot

birdie putt at 11, said he felt his competitive juices coming back. “It’s

been years (since I’ve played competitively),” Hahn said. “This is not a

big tournament, but it’s competitive.”