THE JOY OF THREE

Bryce Alderton

Quiet, unassuming, methodical. Those would be the words to describe

Bob Lovejoy. On Friday they were the descriptors of Big Canyon

Country Club’s Director of Golf and Will Tipton, his amateur partner

and reigning men’s club champion, as the duo took control of Jones

Cup IV on the back nine at Mesa Verde Country Club en route to

winning the tournament by a stroke over the host team of head pro Tom

Sargent and amateur Steve Rhorer.

Leading Mesa Verde by a shot after the par-three 16th, Lovejoy and

Tipton parred the final two holes to finish with a three-under-par 68

to claim Big Canyon’s third consecutive Jones Cup in the tournament’s

four-year existence. Lovejoy needed to two-putt from 25 feet on the

par-three 18th, with about 200 spectators encircling the green and

standing on the balcony of the clubhouse, to clinch the win. His

birdie putt -- a left-to-right breaker -- nestled about

two-and-a-half feet to the hole and he sank the par putt for the

victory.

“The least I could do was contribute a putt for all [Tipton] did

on the back nine,” Lovejoy said as he has now won the last three

Jones Cups with three different partners. “I was standing over that

putt saying, ‘I don’t want to miss this.’ ”

Rhorer and Sargent each had attempts to tie Big Canyon with birdie

on 18, but both putts failed to find the bottom of the cup.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, Steve’s putt was a 9.8,” Sargent said. “He

hit it so good. A Russian judge must have kept it out.

“I thought I made the putt at 17. I hit it on the exact line, but

it is a deceitful putt. It appears to go left, but slides right.”

A few missed putts and a couple of “bad chips,” according to

Sargent, caused Mesa Verde to surrender a two-shot lead. Sargent, who

holed a flop shot from the thick rough on the final hole in 2000 to

give Mesa Verde the initial crown, stuck a 127-yard, nine-iron

approach onto the 14th green and subsequently made birdie from seven

feet. Mesa Verde was four under at the time while Big Canyon was two

under, followed at even par by the Santa Ana Country Club contingent

of head pro Geoff Cochrane and amateur Boyd Martin, along with

Newport Beach Country Club’s duo of head pro Paul Hahn and amateur

Bruce Bearer.

Tipton birdied 14 -- sinking a six-foot putt -- after tallying a

two on the par-three 12th, where he sunk a four-footer.

But a par five on the 13th was the key in Tipton’s mind.

“To stay at two under, that gave us a boost to make birdies,” he

said.

“After Will birdied 14 I thought we had a chance,” Lovejoy said.

“I thought we would need one more birdie but [consecutive bogeys by

Mesa Verde on the 15th and 16th holes] took the pressure off.”

Though the heat of battle never really subsided.

As Tipton walked from the 16th green to the tee on No. 17, he

muttered, “I’m 35 going on 60.”

This Jones Cup was no different in the amount of drama brimming

with each shot.

“The ball seems to go 10 to 15 yards further,” Tipton said of the

nerves’ effect. “All you do is swing within yourself and hit the

right distance.”

On occasion Tipton boomed the ball 15 yards or more past the other

three competitors in his group. Lovejoy and Tipton played alongside

Cochrane and Martin, who fired an even-par 71 with two birdies and

two bogeys.

“It has been a struggle,” Cochrane said as he approached his

second shot in the 17th fairway. Santa Ana moved to within two shots

of Mesa Verde after Martin hit a five iron from 182 yards to within

12 feet on No. 5 and sank the birdie putt. That was as close as they

would get from there.

Newport Beach bolted to a two-shot lead over Mesa Verde and Big

Canyon after four holes. Hahn hit a five-wood four feet from the hole

on No. 1 and made the putt for an eagle three. Two holes later, the

Newport Beach head pro, who has played in all four Jones Cups,

drained a 25-footer across the third green for a birdie two.

Sargent, the head pro at Mesa Verde since 1995, said maybe once

has he seen an approach shot executed like Hahn’s on No. 1.

Newport Beach shot one under on the back nine and finished with

five birdies. They also tallied five bogeys.

“That is too many,” Hahn said of the number of bogeys. “I was not

on my game at all.”

Hahn’s partner, Bearer, hit a nine-iron approach from the fairway

that landed seven feet from the hole on No. 13 and made birdie.

Play really began to heat up at the 12th, when Bearer carded

another birdie after hitting his tee shot within eight inches on the

par-three. Hahn’s tee shot kicked back, mere feet from the hole while

Sargent also took target practice.

“Mine got a loud roar, so I knew it was close,” Sargent said.

“Bruce’s was a loud roar and a delayed explosion. Everyone got

excited about that.”

The galleries blossomed on the back nine, specifically on No. 13.

“There were a lot of people out here from all the clubs,” Sargent

said. “There were as many from Newport Beach as there were from Mesa

Verde.”

Play began at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Lovejoy’s par putt at 18 concluded

the round about 6:45 p.m. as shadows crept across the green. The

wind, which had swirled on several holes all afternoon, began to die

down. The setting sun still shone its light on a new champion and a

three-time achiever.

Tipton and Lovejoy held up the trophy, which sits at the winning

club for until the next Jones Cup, or until someone knocks off Big

Canyon.

“We let the fish off the line after we got it hooked,” Sargent

said.

“You don’t get used to it,” Lovejoy said about winning a third

consecutive title.