Catching fire late in round lifts Sargent & Co.

Bryce Alderton

The putts that made Mesa Verde Country Club team members shake their

heads for much of Wednesday afternoon’s revamped Jones Cup finally

began to fall. The problem was too few holes and too many strokes to

make up.

The Mesa Verde foursome in this newest of Jones Cup championships

birdied the final two holes to finish 1-under-par 70 at Newport Beach

Country Club, four shots behind champion Newport Beach Country Club

(5-under) and one stroke back of both Santa Ana Country Club and Big

Canyon Country Club, which both finished 2-under.

The retooled Jones Cup featured foursomes from each of the four

private clubs in Newport-Mesa counting two best balls for each of the

18 holes.

Steve Rhorer, Mesa Verde’s senior club champion, tallied his

second birdie of the round with a 2 on the par-3 17th hole while

men’s club champion Dave Irwin, playing in his first Jones Cup, sank

a 15-foot uphill putt on the par-5 18th for Mesa Verde’s fifth and

final birdie.

The hot putting followed several holes where Mesa Verde put itself

in birdie positions with straight drives and accurate approach shots,

but the greens that have so often fooled the best golfers on the

Champions Tour when they compete in the Toshiba Senior Classic every

March at Newport Beach Country Club often deceived, sometimes subtly,

head professional Tom Sargent, Rhorer, Irwin and ladies club champion

Akemi Khaiat.

Several well-struck putts skimmed edges of holes while others

ended just inches from the cup.

“The greens are the hardest part of this golf course,” said

Rhorer, who has played Newport Beach Country Club several times. “I

three-putted eight and [the 10-foot putt] broke more left than I

thought it would downhill. But I didn’t know it would break that

much.”

Rhorer’s birdie 4 on the 549-yard par-5 third piggy-backed

Sargent’s 3 on the par-4 second to put Mesa Verde at 2-under and tie

Big Canyon for the early lead.

But Mesa Verde went seven straight holes -- they finished the

front nine 2-over 37 -- without a birdie before Sargent stuck a lob

wedge within seven feet and sank the subsequent putt on the par-4

11th, which put Mesa Verde at 1-over to pull two shots behind leaders

Newport Beach and Big Canyon through 11 holes.

Rhorer made a key up-and-down save on the par-3 13th after his tee

shot landed left of the cart path. Using a sand wedge, Rhorer’s

second shot cleared a sloping greenside bunker, but caught a

downslope and rolled 15 feet past the hole. Khaiat had nestled a

35-foot uphill putt within inches of the hole, giving Rhorer a sneak

peek of the break and Rhorer’s putt went in along the left edge.

Sargent, who claimed the first Jones Cup in 2000 at Newport Beach

Country Club with partner Pete Daley, said he struck putts well, but

it was hard for the team to establish any momentum.

“It’s difficult to read the slope and you’ve got the downhill

[putts] and the ocean influence,” Sargent said. “[The greens] are the

same as I remember. They are always a challenge.”

Mesa Verde finished with a 3-under 33 on the back nine, second

only to Newport Beach’s 4-under 32 on that side. Newport Beach

tallied seven birdies to two bogeys in all, including four birdies in

the final four holes.

Irwin hit six of nine greens in regulation on the back nine. He

said his swing got too quick on the front nine.

“It was fun after while, just not fun on the front nine,” Irwin

said. “I enjoyed it. I wish I played better.”