Mid-Am coming to Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde Country Club continues to be the hotbed of golf in the

Newport-Mesa area this summer.

Coming off hosting the Jones Cup and Tea Cup Classic events in the

past month, the private Costa Mesa club now readies for the 84

players who will converge on its fairways and greens for the Southern

California Golf Assn.’s men’s mid- amateur championship.

Players will play 36 holes Monday and then the field will be cut

in half for Tuesday’s final round.

Mesa Verde head professional Tom Sargent believes this is the

first time the club has hosted the 54-hole tournament, though the

course has served as the track for numerous other high-profile

tournaments since opening in 1959.

The club hosted four consecutive Orange County Opens -- PGA Tour

events -- in the early ‘60s and has also been the site of regional

qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open, the LPGA Tour’s Kemper Open from

1979-81, the U.S. junior girls championship, the Toshiba Senior

Classic and the Girls Junior America’s Cup matches in 2001.

The mid-am, which began in 1984, is limited to golfers ages 25 and

older, in contrast to the SCGA amateur championship, which is open to

a greater variety of ages.

“The idea is that collegiate golfers play all year long and will

play more golf than a guy who is a computer programmer with a job and

family,” said Mike Peck, an SCGA publicist. “In theory there is less

opportunity to be able to practice enough to compete against the

really strong players.”

Sargent said the course is in ideal shape and players can expect

fast greens.

The wealth of summer tournaments at the course is not abnormal,

according to Sargent.

“We at least try to host something,” he said.

The top five finishers receive plates and the winner takes home a

trophy. The first tee time is 7:30 a.m. on Monday.