Jacobs turning on the charm

John Jacobs has become the PGA Champions Tour’s new dancing king.

Sure, Chi Chi Rodriguez is still around and Lee Trevino might show

the crowd a move or two if he’s in a good mood and shooting low

scores, but these days you can count on Jacobs to entertain the

crowd.

Jacobs, usually in tournament contention, could also be billed as

the tour’s Mr. Personality, instead of Fuzzy Zoeller, but it’s

Jacobs’ dances-on-the-greens that are making fans in the gallery buzz

at Newport Beach Country Club, site of the Toshiba Senior Classic.

Jacobs, who finished in a tie for third at 11-under 202 with defending Toshiba champion Hale Irwin and 2001 Toshiba winner Jose

Maria Canizares, will always be remembered in Toshiba lore for his

twinkle-toe dance and subsequent imitation of Rodriguez’s “sabre

dance” before finishing with a backward somersault on the first

playoff hole in 1999 at 18 after chipping from 90 feet out for eagle.

Gary McCord went on to win a five-hole playoff that year, but the

antics between Jacobs and McCord fired up the entire senior tour that

year, according to some.

Jacobs might be the most animated player on the tour. No doubt

he’s underrated. As a showman and a player. Everyone talks about Chi

Chi and Fuzzy and whoever else, but Jacobs is the real show out

there.

In the final round Sunday at the par-3 17, Jacobs sank a birdie

putt to move to 11-under, and what followed was a Monster Mash dance,

with Jacobs holding his arms in the air with his body shaking.

After making his par putt at 18, Jacobs was at it again, acting

like an old man, hunched over while spinning around in a circle on

the green, a la Bob Hope.

When asked about the dances, Jacobs quipped: “I’m just happy to

get the (bleeping) thing in the hole.”

*

While attendance was down Sunday from past final rounds of the

Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, local police

and paramedics were kept busy, responding to at least four calls and

making one arrest.

The Newport Beach Fire Department treated a person who became sick

in a skybox at the 18th hole and later an elderly woman in the

parking lot after the tournament. Neither were taken to Hoag

Hospital.

Police, however, arrested a juvenile for shoplifting in the pro

shop Sunday and later detained a young man on the sidewalk with a

golf cart along West Coast Highway off the Newport Beach Country Club

grounds. Newport Beach police officer Lloyd Whisenant said only one

arrest was made Sunday during the tournament.

About midday, eyewitnesses said a woman was taunting police while

intoxicated outside of the clubhouse. She was not arrested, according

to tournament security.

*

During Sunday’s live telecast on CNBC, the station aired a

promotion to buy tickets for the Toshiba Senior Classic at 4:40 p.m.

when eventual champion Rodger Davis was heading to the 18th green.

*

In addition to his knickers, Davis wears personalized red socks

with white diamonds on each side. In the diamonds are the letters

that spell his first name [his first name is stitched on the left

side of each sock, and his last name on the right side].

*

For the first time all week, the temperature dropped below 60

degrees late in the afternoon Sunday. When Davis was still

celebrating at 6 p.m., it was 59 degrees with winds 10-15 mph.

*

Longtime Toshiba Classic volunteer Brian Carter, a retired judge

who has lived in Cameo Highlands since 1962, said the reason he keeps

coming back to volunteer is because of how well tournament officials

and players treat him.

“They treat us very well here,” said Carter, who used to volunteer

at two tournaments in Las Vegas, but quit both because of how

official managed the volunteers. “Here, they know they couldn’t run

this tournament without us and they treat us that way.” Carter is the

chairman of the leader boards.

*

Speaking of volunteers, standard bearers co-chairs Gordie Fitzel

and Randy Loats got an assist from Tamar Weinstein when she suggested

putting small American flags on each of the standard bearers

throughout Sunday’s final round. It was a big hit. “Everyone was

talking about them and saying what a nice touch it was,” Loats said.

*

No attendance figures were released by the tournament, but the

crowds were definitely lower this year than past Toshiba Classic

events.

“I’m surprised the crowd’s so small,” Newport Beach Country Club

head pro Paul Hahn said Sunday. “Maybe people were feeling guilty or

something if they go somewhere. Who knows why [attendance was down]?”

Added Newport Beach member Janice Sauter, one of the club’s top

female players: “Yeah, the crowd’s not very big at all. I’m amazed

it’s so small. But it’s beautiful and it’s a perfect golf course to

walk.”