Full steam ahead for better-ball pro-am

Because it’s only fair, a week after handicapping the four ladies who

dazzlingly displayed some dynamic golf in last Friday’s seventh

annual Tea Cup Classic, I will now give a prediction on who will

claim the trophy in Jones Cup IV, slated for 1:30 p.m. Friday at Mesa

Verde Country Club.

The most intriguing aspect about this year’s Jones Cup is the

novelty of the tournament for all four amateurs from the four private

clubs in Newport-Mesa community.

Big Canyon Country Club’s Will Tipton, Steve Rhorer (Mesa Verde),

Boyd Martin (Santa Ana Country Club) and Bruce Bearer (Newport Beach

Country Club) will all tee off for the first time in the Jones Cup, a

better-ball of partners format where the aforementioned amateurs will

team with a golf professional from their respective club.

A quartet of amateurs making their initial tournament appearance

hasn’t occurred since the initial Jones Cup in 2000.

Three of the four professionals have logged Jones Cup rounds. Bob

Lovejoy, Big Canyon’s Director of Golf, has won the last two Jones

Cups with two different partners (Danny Lane and Bob Maggard), while

Tom Sargent (head pro from Mesa Verde) made birdie after a flop shot

on the 18th hole at Newport Beach Country Club, securing the victory

with amateur Pete Daley in the inaugural tournament. Newport Beach

head pro Paul Hahn has played in all three so far and will compete

with Bearer on Friday.

The only newcomer to the Jones Cup will be Santa Ana head pro

Geoff Cochrane, but he may be the best bet.

Cochrane has spent his share of hours walking the fairways of Mesa

Verde, where he began as a bag attendant in 1993 and learned under

the tutelage of Sargent, who began his stint there in 1995. Cochrane

began as an assistant pro at Santa Ana in December 2001 before being

promoted to head pro earlier this year.

When Cochrane wasn’t working, he was playing, Sargent said.

I know the allure of working at a golf course. While a bag and

cart attendant at Mission Viejo Country Club in high school, I would

regularly be at the course on my off days, getting in as many holes

as I could from the time I teed off -- usually around 3 p.m. -- to

whenever the sun went down.

Golf became an addiction because I was around the game so much.

Even though Cochrane might work at a different course, he could

probably still recall which way the wind blows on No. 7, how the

green at 12 breaks, where a drive needs to be placed on 17.

“Santa Ana is the team to beat,” Sargent said. “Geoff is the best

player among the golf professionals and is one of the best players in

the metro chapter of the Southern California PGA.”

His partner, Boyd Martin, the six-time club champion at Santa Ana,

has played Mesa Verde “many times,” giving Santa Ana the familiarity

factor edge.

Don’t count out the host duo of Sargent and Rhorer. They are most

familiar with Mesa Verde as it is “now,” which greens are slow and

which are fast, how long the rough is and where the bail-out places

are.

“We know each other’s games well,” Sargent said.

But as last week’s Tea Cup Classic showed, players must expect the

unintended. Last week the ladies were caught off guard by the

relative “slow” greens, which made putting a constant adjustment.

Also, never underestimate a streak, which Big Canyon is on.

Amateur Will Tipton will team with Lovejoy in an attempt to claim the

club’s third consecutive Jones Cup title. Lovejoy has been in these

situations before and has played Mesa Verde numerous times. He walked

the course last week during the Tea Cup, getting a sneak peak at

course conditions.

Hahn must be getting hungry for a Jones Cup crown, entering his

fourth tournament. His partner, Bruce Bearer, makes his initial Jones

Cup appearance since club champion Jeff Bloom is vacationing with

family in Hawaii. Bearer is no stranger to Mesa Verde. He played with

Tea Cup participant Debbie Albright and Hahn in a practice round at

the host course last week.

All said, look for Cochrane and Martin to be dueling with Lovejoy

and Tipton as the back nine unfolds Friday with the Santa Ana

contingent bringing back a Jones Cup trophy for the first time.

Again, I stress, this is only a prediction. Good luck to everyone.

*

Akemi Khaiat, the Mesa Verde women’s club champion who finished

second by two shots to Marianne Towersey at last week’s Tea Cup

Classic, offered a suggestion after completing her round.

“Could the tournament be held in the morning?” Khaiat said “We

could play, have the ceremony and eat lunch.”

The greens would roll truer than they would in the afternoon, when

foot traffic causes bumps here and there, it would be cooler and the

wind most likely wouldn’t be a factor.

What fun is that?

Then again, I am not the one playing.

*

Gary Newman has been appointed Director of Golf at Pelican Hill

Golf Club in Newport Coast.

Newman, the club’s head golf professional since 2000, has been an

employee there for five years, and will report to Hansjoerg Maissen,

general manager at both Pelican Hill and Oak Creek Golf Club in

Irvine. He will oversee all Pelican Hill golf operations, including

maintenance of the two courses, group tournaments, golf shop

operations, the Pelican Hill Golf Academy and outdoor services.