Big Canyon rises to the occasion, big time

Richard Dunn

As if Big Canyon Country Club didn’t have enough pressure with the

largest of the two galleries and playing on its home course, the

pro-am team of Director of Golf Bob Lovejoy and men’s club champion

Danny Lane captured Jones Cup III in thrilling fashion Friday after a

shaky start.

Heading into Jones Cup III, a double or triple bogey had never

been recorded. Newport Beach Country Club engulfed seven bogeys in

the inaugural Jones Cup and Santa Ana Country Club caused four last

year in the better ball of partners format.

But Big Canyon, with its hilly golf course and severe greens,

tripped up its own team on the second hole as Lovejoy found the creek

and Lane hit out of bounds as the hosts, as well as defending

champions, carded a triple bogey 8.

Going three shots down seemed like an insurmountable deficit

considering the day’s competition, format and golf course, but

Lovejoy and Lane rallied smoothly, calmly and at times miraculously

as Big Canyon shot 2-under-par 70 and finished with a two-shot

victory over runners-up Santa Ana and 2000 champion Mesa Verde

Country Club, which tied at even par. Newport Beach, which was in the

hunt heading into a nail-biting par-5 finishing hole, double bogeyed

18 and shot 3-over 75.

“I knew I could make birdie at 18 if I laid up, but I just hit a

horrible layup shot,” said Newport Beach head pro Paul Hahn, who hit

into the water.

Lane, a former standout Laguna Beach High football quarterback and

minor league baseball player in the Montreal chain, thrived in the

spotlight during crunch time and birdied two of the last three holes,

including the dogleg-right 518-yard par-5 No. 18 in front of his home

fans with a 20-foot putt. The roar of the greenside gallery of about

100 even impressed Newport Beach amateur Jeff Wright.

“At 18 on Danny’s birdie shot, when you heard that whole gallery,

you could really feel the energy. It really culminated the whole

event for me. It was first class all the way,” said Wright, who

played in his first Jones Cup.

Lane, also playing in his first Jones Cup, had the entire field on

his tail at 18, when Big Canyon stepped to the tee with a slim

one-stroke edge over Santa Ana, which was at even, while Newport

Beach and Mesa Verde were both at 1-over and very much in the thick

of things considered how tempting it is to try for the 18th green in

two.

To add to the suspense, Santa Ana amateur Gregg Hemphill, who was

sizzling on the front nine with three birdies to give his team the

lead at the turn, reached the edge of the 18th green in two and

attempted a 30-foot eagle putt to tie Big Canyon and force a playoff

for the second straight year.

But Hemphill’s putt didn’t fall and Big Canyon celebrated with

another title, its third in the Fletcher Jones Motorcars/Daily Pilot

Club Championship Series. Selby Schriber won the inaugural Tea Cup

Classic in 1997 and Big Canyon won a three-hole playoff against host

Santa Ana in Jones Cup II with Lovejoy and club champion Ron Maggard.

“A lot of times you try to cut the corner at 18 and get there in

two, but I elected to play conservative,” said Lane, who landed in

the right rough, but hacked a wedge from 120 yards to within 20 feet

of the flag to set up his birdie.

Lane, an All-CIF Southern Section quarterback in 1987 and minor

league infielder for four years in the 1990s, said he “enjoyed” the

pressure of what was at stake on the last hole.

Lovejoy ignited the Big Canyon rally with a birdie at 4, then Lane

birdied 6 and Big Canyon made the turn tied for second at 1-over 37.

Lovejoy birdied 10 to trigger another Big Canyon run on the back

nine, where Lane birdied 12, 16 and 18.

Mesa Verde amateur Pete Daley birdied 18, his third birdie of the

round, to bring his team even at 72. The putts didn’t fall Friday for

Mesa Verde head pro Tom Sargent, who burned more edges than a

Benihana chef.