Arnold swinging at boomtown

Mary Beth Arnold, a Class-A teaching professional at Costa Mesa

Golf & Country Club, has returned from golf’s festival of boom boxes

in Mesquite, Nev., site of the Remax World Long Drive Championships.

Once an aspiring LPGA Tour player, Arnold played in mini-tour

events and tried the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, but gave up her

dream of playing on the tour, and now, at 36, has two children and

teaches golf.

But about a year ago while surfing the Internet, her husband came

across a Web site and suggested she give it a look. “I saw names of

girls I competed against when I was playing, and I out-drove them

back then,” said Arnold, who won a local qualifier last April to

advance to last month’s district qualifier at The Palms Golf Club in

Mesquite, then moved on to last weekend’s finals, also in Mesquite.

“This is my first year of this,” said the 6-foot-1 Arnold, who has

powered golf balls 287 yards, after reaching the semifinals and

finishing sixth in the finals.

And, with a name like Arnold, she was always first off the tee

during qualifying rounds and was forced to wait a long time before

finding out the results.

Joining the long-drive circuit -- Arnold plans to try for Mesquite

again next year -- means tinkering with your swing and using

different equipment, like a driver with a 48-inch shaft. The club is

three inches over the USGA’s standard.

*

Hale Irwin, this year’s Toshiba Senior Classic champion at Newport

Beach Country Club, needs to win $147,697 this week at the

season-ending Senior Tour Championship at Gaillardia to become the

first player in Senior Tour history to win $3 million in a season.

Irwin needs to finish in a two-way tie for fourth place at worst in

order to pass the $3-million mark.

Irwin, whose 2002 victory in Newport Beach will propel him to

another Senior Tour money title, needs $9,642 to eclipse his own

single-season record of $2,861,945 set in 1998 -- also the year Irwin

won his first Toshiba Classic title with a course-record 62 in the

final round. He’s guaranteed to break the record as long as he

finishes this weekend’s championship in Oklahoma City.

*

Let’s hear it for our friend George Archer, the original Toshiba

Classic champion in 1995 at Mesa Verde Country Club. Archer, 63, came

within a shot of shooting his age last week at the SBC Championship

in San Antonio with his first-round 64, his lowest score of the year.

And hats off to Dana Quigley, the game’s consummate professional

who, as if playing in his 200th consecutive event last week wasn’t

enough, captured his seventh career victory and took home the biggest

check of his career ($217,000).

*

UC Irvine athletics and the Private Tennis Club Association will

present the fourth Myron McNamara Golf Tournament Nov. 18 at Jack

Kramer’s Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino Hills.

Proceeds benefit the Myron McNamara Scholarship Fund for UC

Irvine’s men’s tennis program. The late McNamara coached the

Anteaters’ men’s tennis team to NCAA Division II championships in

1972, ‘73, ’75 and ’77.

The event will begin with check-in at 10 a.m., followed by an 11

a.m. shotgun start in a four-player scramble format. After golf is a

hospitality tour, dinner and silent auction. The cost is $150 per

player or $500 per foursome. Details: (949) 824-2046.

*

The first Wally Joyner and Friends Golf Classic, benefiting the

Newport Harbor Baseball Association, is Nov. 15 at Talega Golf Club

in San Clemente. The event is a scramble format with an 11 a.m.

shotgun start.

Joyner and over 30 of his former teammates reportedly will play in

the tournament, which aims to help NHBA’s ability to provide baseball

scholarships for underprivileged children, improve and maintain the

baseball fields, purchase much-needed equipment, pay for professional

training for our coaches and provide player clinics.

It is the priority of NHBA and the golf tournament to make sure

every child in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, who wants to play

baseball, is not excluded for any reasons. Details: (949) 723-4110.

*

The 2003 Vanguard University baseball team will host the program’s

sixth annual Baseball Golf Classic Monday at Tustin Ranch Golf Club.

The tournament is open to the first 144 players. Proceeds will go

directly to the Vanguard baseball program and athletic department at

Vanguard.

The event begins at 9 a.m. with registration, followed by a

putting contest and shotgun start at 10:30 a.m. Prizes will be given

throughout the day, and awards for the top three teams will be handed

out at the event’s post-golf awards dinner. Fees for the tournament

begin at $175 per player. Details: (714) 556-3610, extension 208, or

e-mail Vanguard University Coach Kevin Kasper at

kkasper@vanguard.edu.