The edge comes from experience

OK, here goes nothing.

I’m not normally one to make predictions, especially since

Friday’s Tea Cup Classic VII at Mesa Verde Country Club will mark the

first time I’ve covered the event -- or any golf tournament -- since

I’ve been working in sports for the Daily Pilot for a little more

than a year now. But the field has been set for some time and after

speaking to each of the four women’s club champions, the time has

come to look into the future, even if that is only one day.

Marianne Towersey, Santa Ana Country Club’s champion and Debbie

Albright, Newport Beach Country Club’s title holder, are the most

experienced Tea Cup participants, winning a combined five of the

first six tournaments.

Towersey won last year’s event on her home course with a dramatic

11-foot birdie putt on the final hole, finishing with a two-over-par

74 to edge Big Canyon Country Club’s Olivia Slutzky by one shot.

Albright won in 2001.

Will there be a home-course advantage with Mesa Verde’s Akemi

Khaiat, who will make her second straight Tea Cup appearance?

Khaiat doesn’t think so. She has said she feels more pressure than

a “regular tournament,” because the hopes of an entire club rest with

her.

Kind of like a Ryder Cup feel.

There is some truth to that statement, but don’t look for the

former captain and player on the Japanese national team to be

distracted from the perceptions of the gallery or the media.

This is one focused woman who has spent much time with a personal

trainer and added 10-to-15 yards on her drives.

But as all golfers know, driving is just one in a series of steps

to success. The short game holds paramount importance.

“Putting will be the challenge,” Albright said.

Sally Holstein, the champion from Big Canyon Country Club, makes

her second Tea Cup appearance. She competed in 1999, also at Mesa

Verde.

All four golfers have trekked the fairways of Mesa Verde, a

venerable venue since its inception in 1959, and look forward to the

challenge it provides.

Towersey and Khaiat are most likely to not get caught up in the

galleries because of their experience playing in front of spectators

during national tournaments, but all four have had to endure the

grueling golf that can come with a club championship.

Towersey has hardly lightened her schedule load, which included a

fifth-place finish at the California Women’s Championship last week.

The frequency of play, along with a keen knowledge of what it

takes to win a Tea Cup, should prevail again Friday.

*

First-time winners resounded at Newport Beach Country Club last

weekend for the facility’s annual “Regatta,” or member-guest

tournament.

The field of 185 golfers included NBCC’s Gary Paoli and guest

Peter Ells claiming the championship in the low-gross flight with a

291 over three days (July 17-19). Overall net winners were Charles

Van Cleve and Dick Kurnutt (266.5) while Jack McMackin and brother

Ron shot 273 to place first in the cutter flight.

Joe Jenova and Joe Perricone shot 274.5 to win the frigate flight

while John French and guest Chuck Schreiber shot 270.5 to win the

schooner flight.

The cutter flight included golfers with the lowest handicap of

either the schooner or the frigate divisions. The frigate flight

featured golfers with the highest handicaps of the three categories.

All winners’ scores included handicaps.

*

Newport Beach’s Justin Morehead, 14, shot 184 over two days

(95-89) of play in SCPGA Foundation Junior Tour Toyota Tour Cup

Series action July 14-15 at Tijeras Creek Golf Club in Rancho Santa

Margarita.

Derek Sipe, a 17-year-old from Yorba Linda shot 139 (70-69) on the

par-72 course to win by three shots over 16-year-old Bob Whitney

(142) of La Quinta.