Ready to rip it

Bryce Alderton

Steve Rhorer was just trying to win the Mesa Verde Country Club men’s

championship last August. Little did he know he would break a streak.

The 54-year-old Costa Mesa resident out-dueled the rest of the

Mesa Verde field by shooting 70-72-74--216 to unseat Pete Daley

(74-74-75--223), who had won four consecutive club championships.

Daley teamed with Tom Sargent, Mesa Verde’s head professional, to

claim the inaugural Jones Cup in 2000.

Rhorer will partner with Sargent for Jones Cup IV, scheduled for

1:30 p.m. Friday at Mesa Verde.

“We are good friends who enjoy competing against each other,”

Rhorer said, referring to Daley. “I was gunning to win [the club

championship] and felt great about it. There were many fine players.”

Rhorer had won a club championship at Virginia Country Club in

Long Beach, where he was a member prior to moving to Mesa Verde three

years ago.

He said his game was better at the same time last year.

“I played very well in the club championship last year and fared

better in tournaments,” Rhorer said.

This year Rhorer missed qualifying for the Southern California

Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship, held at Mesa Verde in

August, by one shot and failed to gain entry into the California

Amateur Championship by three strokes.

He averaged 78 over three rounds in last year’s Southern

California Mid-Amateur, held at Big Canyon Country Club.

“I was happy with that, [because] Big Canyon is a difficult golf

course,” Rhorer said.

Beginning when he was 10, Rhorer took to the Recreation Park Golf

Course near his boyhood home in Long Beach.

“My mom kicked me out of the house to learn to play golf,” he

said. “For 25 cents you could get a big bucket of balls and learn the

grip and address position from a head pro. I started playing and

practicing with friends. You make friendships in golf.”

In 1968 Rhorer competed in the NCAA golf championships as a member

of UC Santa Barbara’s golf team. He graduated from UCSB in 1971 and

is now in the roofing distribution business.

He is married with three sons and takes the occasional lesson from

Sargent.

“[Sargent] is a student of the game who understands the golf

swing,” Rhorer said. “I’m looking forward to playing with him since

we don’t get a chance to play together very much.”

Accuracy off the tee and the ability to hit greens are two keys

Rhorer said the winning team will need to perform often in order to

win this year’s Jones Cup.

“It is hard to run the ball through the kikuyu grass,” Rhorer said

of Mesa Verde’s rough. “The more drives you can put in the fairway

and the more greens you can hit, the more opportunities to make

birdie.

“Mesa Verde is a good driving golf course that has some difficult

and easy holes. I think it helps playing on our home course.”