Jones Cup ready to tee off

Santa Ana Country Club Director of Golf Mike Reehl said golfers won’t

face as difficult a test as they might expect when the Jones Cup tees

off at 1 p.m. on his home course.

“I’m trying to set it not that hard so it looks better for

everybody,” said Reehl, who will join four teammates from Santa Ana

against fivesomes from the other three private clubs in Newport-Mesa:

Big Canyon Country Club, Newport Beach Country Club and Mesa Verde

Country Club. “I want people going for birdies instead of pars and

bogeys.”

Each team will count its two best scores on each hole in search of

victory in the second edition of the revamped tournament.

Each club featured four players last year when Newport Beach won

with a 5-under-par 66 on its home course. A fifth player -- a member

of each club’s golf staff -- was added for this year’s tournament to

increase participation.

The latest Jones Cup features the best of the former Jones Cup and

Tea Cup Classic tournaments. The Tea Cup Classic, which began in

1997, lasted seven years. It pitted the women’s club champions from

each of the four clubs against one another in an 18-hole, stroke-play

event. Marianne Towersey, a 21-time women’s champion at Santa Ana,

claimed five of seven Tea Cup Classic crowns.

The former Jones Cup, started in 2000, paired an amateur, usually

the men’s club champion, with a member of the club’s golf staff in a

better-ball of partners format. Big Canyon Director of Golf Bob

Lovejoy, with three different amateur partners, helped the club win

consecutive Jones Cup titles from 2001-03 under that format.

A few handfuls of newcomers, as well as familiar stalwarts, will

be featured in the Newport-Mesa community golf extravaganza.

Newport Beach Country Club head professional Paul Hahn and women’s

champion Debbie Albright, Towersey, Mesa Verde head pro Tom Sargent

and Lovejoy have played in all of their respective tournaments (Jones

Cup or Tea Cup Classic, including last year’s revamped Jones Cup).

Eight players will make their Jones Cup debuts: women’s champion

Martha Redfern and head pro Clint Whitehill from Big Canyon; senior

winner Bryan Rolfe and assistant pro Brett Brummett from Mesa Verde;

and the Newport Beach trio of champions Brian Lindley (men’s) and

Steve Rausch (senior), with assistant pro Bruce Hooper.

Big Canyon includes Lovejoy, Whitehill, Redfern, former club

champion Danny Lane and senior winner Danny Bibb.

Mesa Verde features Sargent, Brummett, women’s champion Akemi

Khaiat, Rolfe and men’s winner Matt Baugh.

Newport Beach has Hahn, Albright, Lindley, Hooper and Rausch while

Santa Ana includes Towersey, head pro Geoff Cochrane, Reehl, Chris

Veitch and Bill Welch.

Several players said there weren’t more birdies at last year’s

tournament -- the four clubs combined for 21. But Hahn said last

year’s pin positions were some of the most difficult he had seen at

the course.

Albright, the 2001 Tea Cup Classic champion and 10-time Newport

Beach women’s champion, downplayed any home-course advantage.

“Most of the players around here have played most of the courses

one time or the other,” Albright said.

Players often invite guests from other clubs to compete in

member/guest tournaments and some golfers in this year’s tournament

have held memberships at two or more Newport-Mesa clubs.

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

said. “Our course [Newport Beach Country Club] can be tricky with

reading the greens. I just hope to play steady.”

Albright said it could be difficult for the ladies to reach some

of Santa Ana’s greens in regulation, where longer hitters have a

better chance to thrive.

The men will play the par-72 course from the black tees (6,536

yards) while the women will play the white tees (5,809 yards).

Three of the eight par 4s exceed 400 yards from the black tees:

the 423-yard fourth, the 417-yard fifth and 418-yard 16th.

The back nine includes three par-3s and as many par-5s, including

the tempting dogleg-left 18th, which measures 473 yards from the

black tees. Golfers can go for the green in two, but must navigate

their shots up and around a lake guarding the green’s left side.

The 18th has served as the theater of thrilling finishes in past

Jones Cup and Tea Cup Classic events.

Towersey sank an 11-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to win the

2002 Tea Cup Classic by one stroke. A year earlier, Lovejoy also made

the winning birdie putt as he and amateur partner Ron Maggard held

off Reehl and Gregg Hemphill in a three-hole playoff to claim the

2001 Jones Cup.

Big Canyon and Santa Ana duos each shot 4-under 68 in the 2001

Jones Cup.

Reehl said the course suits a golfer who can keep the ball in

play. Several holes require tee shots through tree-lined fairways.

Galleries are welcome and admission is free, though Spectators

must follow Santa Ana’s dress code. T-shirts and jeans are not

allowed and shorts must be at least 19 inches long.

Albright and Reehl predicted this year’s winning score will better

last year’s 5-under.

“I think the scores will be low because there are five players to

choose from,” Albright said. “There won’t be many putts left short.”

FYI

* What: Jones Cup

* Where: Santa Ana Country Club

* When: 1 p.m. today