Breaking new ground in Newport-Mesa

RICHARD DUNN

You will not see any large flashing scoreboards along the Newport

Beach Country Club fairways today, but the Jones Cup promises to be

one of the finest hours in Newport-Mesa golf history with the

fearsome foursomes teeing off for the first time in this

gender-blending format counting the two best balls in the group.

Players from Big Canyon Country Club, Mesa Verde Country Club,

Newport Beach and Santa Ana Country Club will arrive today to play

the greatest community team golf tournament known to this kind in the

revamped Jones Cup, which has expanded to include the former Tea Cup

Classic players (i.e., women’s club champions) and senior men’s

winners from each of the four private clubs in this newspaper’s

circulation.

Unlike the Champions Tour event at Newport Beach every March, the

Jones Cup comes with few bells and whistles, but plenty of color and

credentials when you consider the lineups. And everyone will be

shooting for birdies with two best-ball format.

The idea of combining the two tournaments started last summer and

ultimately evolved this year; it would take the 18-hole,

do-it-yourself pressure off the ladies, and since we were at it,

let’s include a senior to make it an even foursome.

Men might be from Mars and women from Venus, but they’ll be

working together on the golf course today.

While the play should be aggressive and interesting to watch, the

scorekeeping will also be a hoot with two golf carts, driven by Costa

Mesa golfers Ned Bondie and Gordon Bowley, handling the overall

scoring picture.

Each group will have their own scorer holding a placard --

volunteers from Coach Art Perry’s Estancia High Eagles golf team --

while the carts will go double time on each green. In other words,

once every player in the lead group has putted out, the cart scorer

will remain at the green until the following foursome finishes

putting, then the cart scorer will hustle ahead of the lead group

again.

And for any hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 17 over water, Newport

Beach’s signature hole, Fletcher Jones Motorcars will award a

$425,000 Maybach 62.

When the Tea Cup Classic started in 1997, the intent was to

promote women’s golf, bring the golf community, as a whole, closer

together and celebrate the ladies champions as each of the four

private clubs in Newport-Mesa. After all, these ladies were winning

their respective club titles by huge margins and it seemed

appropriate to bring them together in a one-day, stroke-play event.

Rolling galleries from the Tea Cup Classic reached 200 at its

peak. One year, a group of women showed up wearing Victorian dresses

with parasols in hand. The Tea Cup had a life of its own.

Marianne Towersey, the 20-time Santa Ana Country Club champion,

won five times in seven years while Debbie Albright (Newport Beach)

and Selby Schriber (Big Canyon) captured the other two titles. The

event broke new ground for Newport-Mesa golf.

Today, we’re breaking new ground again.

* RICHARD DUNN is the Daily Pilot Sports Editor.