Golf: Living par on the edge

Richard Dunn

Charity golf tournaments are a hoot, especially on a sunny day with

the ocean breezes on certain holes becoming a strong head wind at Pelican

Hill Golf Club (North Course) -- site of the 20th annual Childhelp USA

(Orange County Chapter) Celebrity Golf Classic.

It isn’t often I tee it up in these events, but in my years I’ve come

to realize that you need 1) a big hitter off the tee; 2) a good putter;

and 3) someone who can play well inside 100 yards.

If there’s someone to consistently fill those roles, while playing the

various forms of best-ball scrambles and shambles in golf tournaments,

your chances of bringing home hardware at the awards dinner increase

expediently. Not that winning is important, but let’s face it, it’s fun

to play well and finish with a team souvenir.

Now, in our Newport Beach-based Finton Associates fivesome Tuesday --

led by chief Mike Reeves (wearing a Big Canyon Country Club hat) and with

yours truly as a so-called celebrity guest carrying a so-called handicap

(let’s just say it’s high) -- we didn’t exactly set the golf course on

fire with our smooth 10-over-par 81.

“You’re willing to admit that?” long-drive professional Frank Miller

quipped during the silent auction when he heard our team score.

In the event’s shamble format, golfers played the team’s best tee

shot, then played their own ball to finish each hole.

Earlier, Miller asked how we scored on the par-5 No. 8, which is 502

yards from the white tees and 528 from the back. He crushed two golf

balls for your group for a $40 fee, and, presumably, to set you up for an

easy birdie.

When Kevin Wynn, a Finton home builder in our group along with Jeff

Rath and Don Bergeron, told Miller that we made par at the par-5, where

the two-time national long-drive champion uncorked a 400-yard drive for

us, he couldn’t believe it.

“What?! Guys were making eagle on that hole,” said Miller, who

apparently wasn’t trying to cheer us up.

While none in the group will be joining the PGA Tour any time soon,

the guys can definitely build big, pricey custom-made homes. It was quite

an experience carting around Pelican Hill and seeing the mansions up top

at Newport Coast being built by Finton. Rath and Bergeron got on cell

phones to flag down hammer-and-nail boys above who were actually working

that day.

“Hey, can you see us? We’re right down here by the (hole-in-one) car,”

Bergeron said on a cell phone, while looking up at one of the unfinished

multimillion-dollar lots and waving to someone I could not see.

Indeed, it was an honor and privilege to be invited by celebrity host

Rich Saul, the former All-Pro center for the Los Angeles Rams, and play

golf in Reeves’ group with some of the more eclectic personalities (and

golf swings) anywhere. Just hope those blueprints come out straighter

than those tee shots.

In the bottom line department, tournament publicist Eileen Saul

(Corona del Mar) said about $27,000 was raised during Tuesday’s live

auction and the day’s total fund-raising package generated over $140,000

for Childhelp.

On the golf course, former baseball star Fred Lynn won the celebrity

contest, followed by runner-up Mike Lansford, the former Rams kicker, and

Rich Saul.

Several former pro football and baseball players teed it up as

celebrities, along with actors, pro skaters (including Johnny Baldwin and

Todd Sand) and volleyball players (such as Dain Blanton).

Medhi Eftekari of the Four Seasons Hotel and theater magnate Jim

Edwards of Newport Beach were the co-honorary chairmen of the event.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.