Newport fashioned with iron

To talk about Newport-Mesa community golf in the case of Newport

Beach Country Club is to speak of head golf professional Paul Hahn

and Debbie Albright.

Call them the Cal Ripkens of the summer golfing circuit in these

parts who never miss the chance to represent the club and compete in

front of friends and family.

Hahn and Albright played in every Jones Cup and now-defunct Tea

Cup Classic, respectively, and helped team Newport Beach Country Club

claim the revamped Jones Cup last year on their home course.

They teamed with Jeff Wright and George Dahl to shoot 5-under-par

66 in the two best-ball format and defeat both Big Canyon Country

Club and Santa Ana Country Club by three strokes.

The two will join men’s champion Brian Lindley, senior winner

Steve Rausch and assistant pro Bruce Hooper in this year’s Jones Cup,

scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at Santa Ana Country Club. They will

face teams from Big Canyon, Santa Ana and Mesa Verde country clubs.

Hahn played in the first four Jones Cups (2000-03) under the

former better-ball of two partners format with three different

amateurs [Vinnie Brascia, Bruce Bearer, Wright and Bob Kraft]. Hahn

and Kraft narrowly missed winning the inaugural Jones Cup in 2000, if

not for Mesa Verde head pro Tom Sargent’s flop shot from the

greenside rough on 18 that set up a winning birdie putt.

Albright played in all seven Tea Cup Classics, winning the

tournament on her home course in 2001. The tournament pitted the four

ladies club champions from each of the four private clubs against one

another in an 18-hole, stroke-play format. Santa Ana’s Marianne

Towersey claimed five of the seven tournament titles, including the

concluding championship in 2003.

Albright set a club record with her 10th straight ladies title in

May, besting her prior-year total by one stroke. She beat Dee Dee

White’s prior mark of nine straight women’s titles. White holds the

all-time record for Newport Beach ladies club titles with 17.

In June Lindley, who joined Newport Beach Country Club just two

months earlier, won the men’s club championship in wire-to-wire

fashion with a four-round total of 2-over 286, besting his closest

competitor by 13 strokes. Lindley, 48, an Estancia High product who

finished second at the 1981 United States Amateur championship,

claimed the men’s club title at Mesa Verde in 1980.

In May, Lindley shot 3-over 74 in a U.S. Open local qualifying

round on his home course, but missed the cut for sectional play. Only

six out of 90 golfers advanced from Newport Beach that day, with just

nine players breaking par.

Rausch placed third to Lindley for the men’s title, but won the

club’s senior crown by four strokes at 6-over (75-73 -- 148). Scores

from the first two rounds were used to determine the senior champion

-- for golfers 55 and older.

Hooper, a longtime assistant pro at Newport Beach, also makes his

first Jones Cup appearance. In December, Hooper shot 4-over 75 at

Newport to place seventh in the junior pro flight of the

Senior-Junior Pro-Am against competitors from across Southern

California. Paul Holtby won the division with a 70.

Hahn brings additional tournament experience this year after

playing in the first two rounds of the Senior PGA Championship at

Laurel Valley Country Club in Ligonier, Pa., in May. Hahn rebounded

with four birdies en route to a 4-over 76 in the second round, but

missed the cut.

Hahn, 51, finished his second straight Toshiba Senior Classic with

a 2-over 73 on his home course in March, equaling his best score in

six tournament rounds.

Team Newport Beach caught fire late en route to winning last

year’s Jones Cup -- they birdied four of the final five holes after a

deadlock with Santa Ana after the 14th hole.

Hahn and Dahl both birdied the par-5 15th and capped the final two

holes in under-par fashion. Hahn sank a curling 20-foot birdie putt

on Newport Beach’s treacherous par-3 17th hole while Dahl birdied the

par-5 18th.

Albright said the key to victory at Santa Ana this year lies on

the greens.

“It comes down to putting, whether the putts go in or not,” she

said. “[Santa Ana] is a great course and should be in great shape.

“There is a wonderful lineup of golfers playing, so it will be

anyone’s tournament.”