Towersey triumphs for 21st

BRYCE ALDERTON

And the legend grows.

Marianne Towersey has done it again at Santa Ana Country Club.

The California senior women amateur champion two of the past three

years won her 21st women’s club championship at Santa Ana following

four rounds.

Towersey (79-80-75-76 -- 310) finished comfortably ahead of Nicole

Ronald (second) and Margaret Darnell (third). Ronald placed second

last year.

JoAnn Brekhus won her third straight women’s senior division

championship while Janet Holladay placed second, Santa Ana’s Director

of Golf Mike Reehl said.

The victory qualifies Towersey for this summer’s Jones Cup, which

played to complimentary reviews last year with a revised format.

Each of the four private clubs in Newport-Mesa (Big Canyon Country

Club, Santa Ana Country Club, Newport Beach Country Club and Mesa

Verde Country Club) featured the men’s, ladies and senior champion

together with a member of the club’s golf staff. The clubs played

against one another in a two best-ball format.

Towersey, the all-time leader in club titles in Newport-Mesa

history, head professional Geoff Cochrane, senior champion Boyd

Martin and men’s champion Bill Welch, shot a 2-under 69 to finish in

a tie for second with Big Canyon Country Club, three shots back of

the winning team of Jeff Wright, Debbie Albright, George Dahl and

Paul Hahn from Newport Beach Country Club in last year’s Jones Cup.

Wright, Newport Beach Country Club’s reining men’s club champion,

incidentally, has been busy of late -- in the recording studio.

For the last three years, Wright has compiled material for the

release of the compact disc “All at Once,” a collection of 11 songs.

Wright, who said he sings and plays some guitar, teamed with

keyboardist Mario Rossi, bassist Vernon Porter, guitarist Richard

Berdice and drummer David Dennis to form the band titled, Jeff

Wright.

Wright compares the music to that of Sting and Chris Isaak.

“Adult sounding, yet still hip,” said Wright, who also competes in

triathlons. “It’s definitely not punk rock.”

Songs from the latest CD have appeared on soap operas such as “One

Life to Live” and “Days of Our Lives,” he said.

It has been 10 years since Wright last played out his own

material.

Wright used to play in cover bands at weddings and parties.

“I got tired and beat my head against a wall trying to make it in

music,” said Wright, 39, who owns a real estate appraisal business

and completed his first marathon in December’s Orange County

Marathon.

The urge stuck with him, though, and he found the right musicians.

“These guys are excellent,” Wright said.

The band will open for Air Supply at 8 p.m. March 18 at the Coach

House in San Juan Capistrano.

Tickets are $40 at www.jeffwrightmusic.com, where you can also

listen to two of the songs.

Between work, music and helping raise two children, Wright said

finding time for golf can be difficult.

“I’ve dedicated certain nights and days to each kind of activity,”

Wright said. “For triathlons, I’m training daily. For a [golf]

tournament, I’ll prepare the week before. Some guys are out there

every day, not me.

“But I’m definitely hoping to defend [the men’s club championship]

title [scheduled June 4-5, 11-12].”

Wright and partner John Washer of Big Canyon Country Club shot 68,

one stroke behind winners Dahl and Tobin Bogard in the gross division

at Newport Beach Country Club’s men’s guest day Feb. 16.