* Mesa Verde Country Club’s ladies champion...

* Mesa Verde Country Club’s ladies champion Akemi Khaiat hit 13 of a

possible 14 fairways, primarily with a backup driver.

Khaiat found her primarily driver split 3/4 of the way down the

shaft when she reached into her bag while practicing at Mesa Verde

Country Club Tuesday.

She suspects the shaft split during a return flight from Europe,

where Khaiat and family vacationed for three weeks.

* Khaiat said local knowledge helped after she stuck an 88-yard

pitching wedge within seven feet on the par-5 third.

Khaiat claimed three straight Newport Beach Country Club ladies

club championships before joining Riviera and Mesa Verde country

clubs.

* Sounds of jackhammers and falling debris from construction to

the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club caused Mesa Verde

Country Club’s men’s club champion Dave Irwin to back away from a

putt on the par-4 second.

“I guess you never know what’s coming,” Irwin quipped.

Host Newport Beach took the Jones Cup with two birdies on the

par-5 15th. But one of their members almost got taken before he could

roll in the dramatic putt.

* As the Newport foursome stood before their second shots, a cry

rang out, loud and unmistakable: “Fore.”

A few people farther back of the group ducked, but they weren’t in

the line of fire. Newport’s senior champion, George Dahl, was. The

ball, an errant tee shot from the 18th hole that runs alongside the

15th, landed just feet away from him.

“It was Purser,” head pro Paul Hahn joked of Jeff Purser, who was

playing in a group ahead of the Jones Cup and knows a thing or two

about tournament golf.

Purser is the tournament director for the Toshiba Senior Classic,

which also is played at Newport Beach Country Club.

* Newport Beach Country Club’s signature par-3 17th hole, one

surrounded by water, is a challenge enough. Add to it the possibility

of driving off in a brand new Mercedes and it can get even dicier.

The three men on Newport Beach’s team all managed the pressure,

landing their tee shots on the green. The third to tee off, men’s

champion Jeff Wright, sent his tee shot right on line, flying in the

way that makes the crowd thing, “Maybe!”

After it came up a bit short, the last of the foursome to tee off,

women’s champion Debbie Albright, walked confidently to the tee and

pronounced, “My car.”

She then sailed her tee shot into the rough on the left of the

green -- a shot that didn’t hurt her team at all, as Hahn ended up

with a birdie on the hole.

But a few people in the crowd sensed someone might have been a

little hurt and lamented with Albright’s caddie that she -- the

caddie -- wouldn’t be getting that new car.

The caddie happened to be Albright’s teenaged daughter, Katie.

* Course conditions drew positive reviews from several players,

including Santa Ana Country Club head professional Geoff Cochrane.

Greens firmed up with a splattering of afternoon sun and some

difficult flagstick positions presented teams with several

challenges.

“Play was difficult out there,” Cochrane said.

* Cochrane, who played in the Jones Cup last year, added that the

“[new] format’s fantastic. It takes the pressure off each player and

I think team golf is a great thing. It’s like the Ryder Cup and you

see how popular that is.”