Farewell to Tea Cup Classic

RICHARD DUNN

Clear the path. Rev up the mowers. Grab a rake. This golf course will

never be the same.

For the first time known to mankind in the Newport-Mesa community,

the best of both worlds have joined forces in the revamped Jones Cup.

Circle Aug. 18 on your calendar. Newport Beach Country Club. Tee

time, 1 p.m.

With the official ending of the Tea Cup Classic after seven years

-- tissue, anyone? (since yours truly started the event in 1997) -- a

bigger, brighter format has evolved with the venerable local

championship for ladies only joining the Jones Cup, which will

feature four foursomes.

Each of the four private country clubs in the Newport-Mesa

community -- Newport Beach Country Club, Big Canyon Country Club,

Mesa Verde Country Club and Santa Ana Country Club -- will be given

formal invitations to the summer blockbuster, the ultimate community

team pro-am with a staff professional playing with (presumably) the

club’s men’s, women’s and senior champions.

Not every club has a senior champion, so a player 50 or older will

be invited by the club to join the group in the Jones Cup.

The former Tea Cup Classic and Jones Cup were originally designed

to give local club champions a showcase event in which to play in

front of club members, family and friends, while bringing the golf

community closer together and promoting women’s golf.

Since the majority of the Tea Cup Classic participants continually

requested playing with a pro or a partner to take away some of the

pressure, it is the perfect golf marriage. The experience of

competing in front of a gallery, some a rolling crowd in the

150-to-200 range, was never easy for most of the women.

Official closure of the Tea Cup Classic will come following the

revamped Jones Cup on Aug. 18, when the former Tea Cup Classic and

Jones Cup trophies will be retired. The names of the winners of the

Tea Cup and previous Jones Cup, however, will be engraved on the new

trophy.

Big Canyon Country Club, which claimed three straight Jones Cup

titles in the four years under the old format of a men’s pro and

amateur best ball, will be presented the retired Jones Cup trophy and

Santa Ana Country Club’s Marianne Towersey, who won five of seven Tea

Cup Classic titles, will be awarded the everlasting Tea Cup trophy.

Today’s column represents a so long, farewell to the venerable Tea

Cup Classic, which provided great golf drama from ’97 through last

summer, when Towersey captured her fifth crown at Mesa Verde Country

Club.

It was an event started from scratch by this newspaper’s former

golf columnist, with the immediate assistance from GreenStripe

Media’s Joe Winkelmann, who represents Fletcher Jones Motorcars and

offered to get involved from Day One. This year’s format change came

suddenly, but Winkelmann adjusted quickly and continues to be a solid

drum-beater with even bigger and better ideas to come in the future.

So, yes, saying goodbye isn’t always easy, but you do your best

and move forward. The Tea Cup Classic will always have a special

place in my heart.

The women’s club champions, mind you, will continue to be

spotlighted every summer in the Jones Cup; this time playing more

aggressively, with less pressure, in the new foursomes format.

The public is invited.

* RICHARD DUNN is the Daily Pilot Sports Editor.