Golf: Jones Cup III heating up for summer

Richard Dunn

With the third annual Jones Cup set for July 26 at Big Canyon

Country Club, it bears saying that two men’s club championships are still

up for grabs.

That means two amateur spots are still open for the community-made

pro-am -- aka the Jones Cup -- featuring the four private country clubs

in this newspaper’s circulation.

Big Canyon, which won Jones Cup II last year at Santa Ana Country Club

with Director of Golf Bob Lovejoy and 2000 men’s club champion Ron

Maggard, will defend the perpetual Jones Cup trophy on its own turf this

summer.

“We’re excited about hosting it,” said Lovejoy, who will most likely

have a new partner, because Maggard was unable to defend his club

championship last fall when he was stranded on the East Coast after the

Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Young hotshot Danny Lane and senior sensation Pete Daley are the

reigning men’s club champions at Big Canyon and Mesa Verde, respectively,

and are penciled in to play in Jones Cup III.

Lane, who captured his first Big Canyon title last fall to earn a 2002

Jones Cup invitation, finished ahead of two former club champions,

runner-up Steve Collins and third-place Charlie McLaughlin.

Daley, golf’s ultimate late bloomer, has played in the first two Jones

Cups, including winning the inaugural event in 2000 at Newport Beach

Country Club with Mesa Verde head professional Tom Sargent, whose

memorable flop shot at 18 clinched it.

Two men’s club titles, however, have yet to be decided in the

Newport-Mesa community -- at Santa Ana and Newport Beach country clubs.

The Santa Ana match-play championship concludes May 4 with four-time

winner Chris Veitch expected to return to the field. Veitch, who played

in the inaugural Jones Cup with Director of Golf Mike Reehl, missed last

year’s Santa Ana club championship because of his daughter’s wedding the

same weekend as the finals.

Gregg Hemphill won last year’s Santa Ana championship and played with

Reehl in Jones Cup II, in which Santa Ana rallied to tie Big Canyon and

force extra holes.

Santa Ana’s run included birdies by Hemphill at the par-5 No. 15 and

par-4 16, and a birdie at 18 by Reehl as Santa Ana tied Big Canyon at

4-under 68.

Big Canyon won a three-hole playoff as Lovejoy ended Jones Cup II on

the 21st hole with a birdie at 18, a dogleg left and outstanding

finishing hole with water on the left and players going for it in two.

At Newport Beach this year, the three-round men’s club championship

wraps up June 2, and any number of players could win the title and gain

entry into the Jones Cup, which features a better-ball of partners

format. The four clubs serve as host of the event on a rotating basis.

Joining defending Newport Beach men’s club champion Vinnie Brascia in

this year’s field will be Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer Jeff Wright,

formerly of Dove Canyon.

Wright, a former Corona del Mar High standout and Orange County Player

of the Year by the Los Angeles Times, is a new member at Newport Beach.

Club president Jerry Anderson said any member with a current handicap is

eligible to play in the club championship.

Four-time Newport Beach champion Jim Whitaker (1990, ‘93, ’95 and ‘98)

and two-time winner Joe Stafford (1997 and ‘99) are also considered

strong candidates to win the 2002 title. Kent Pfeiffer is another hot

player at the club.

“In the past, we’ve had not necessarily the lowest handicap players

win the club championship,” said Newport Beach Country Club head pro Paul

Hahn, who will play in Jones Cup III and will be eligible for a sponsor’s

exemption in the Toshiba Senior Classic in two years.

“We have a large amount of members under 10 (handicap). In general, we

have about 35 players in the club championship.”

In last year’s Jones Cup, Hahn’s 10-foot putt for eagle at 18 burned

the edge and didn’t fall, which would have allowed Newport Beach to

finish in a three-way tie and join the playoff fun. Hahn dropped to his

hands and knees on the green in an emotional finish.

For Big Canyon, which won the perpetual Jones Cup trophy in near

spectacular weather, it was the club’s second title in the Fletcher Jones

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

1997 to form the Tea Cup Classic for women.

Big Canyon women’s club champion Selby Schriber won the inaugural Tea

Cup Classic in 1997.

The Jones Cup was created by this sports section as an effort to

celebrate the men’s club champions in the Daily Pilot circulation, while

providing the Newport-Mesa community with a unique opportunity of joining

all four private country clubs in a one-day, 18-hole event.

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

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

of the club.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.