Hosts grind to 5-under

Santa Ana Country Club team members maintained jovial expressions as

best they could while fighting frustration from missed opportunities

during Tuesday’s Jones Cup.

The host team for the revamped event’s second year put itself in

position for numerous birdie chances, but the putts didn’t fall with

enough frequency and Santa Ana finished 5-under-par 67 in the

two-best-ball-per-fivesome format.

Big Canyon Country Club played bogey-free golf to seal the title

(12-under) by one stroke over defending champion Newport Beach

Country Club. Mesa Verde Country Club placed third at 6-under.

Santa Ana tallied seven birdies, six en route to shooting 5-under

31 on the back nine after firing even (36) on the front side. They

made two bogeys.

“We didn’t make the putts and the harder we tried, the more

frustrated we got,” said Santa Ana Director of Golf Mike Reehl. “When

you’re fighting yourself, it’s tough to keep concentration.”

Reehl and head professional Geoff Cochrane each tallied two

birdies while 2004 men’s club champion Bill Welch, current men’s and

senior winner Chris Veitch and women’s champion Marianne Towersey

each carded one.

But by the time Santa Ana players made the turn at even, Big

Canyon and Newport Beach each sat six shots better at 6-under.

“We got too far behind,” said Veitch, who landed a delicate chip

within four feet of the cup on the par-5 18th off a downhill lie with

a bunker to clear and water waiting beyond the green if he hit it too

firm.

He made the subsequent birdie putt to cap his round.

Moments earlier Towersey’s birdie try curled around the cup’s

right edge, but wouldn’t fall, reflective of Santa Ana’s day on the

greens.

Lipouts on four other holes hurt Santa Ana’s chances of catching

the leaders.

Reehl answered a bogey at the second with a birdie 3 on the

378-yard, par-4 third. He hit a 128-yard 9-iron from the left rough

to within six feet and made the uphill putt.

Santa Ana then went six straight holes without a birdie before

Cochrane and Welch started the back nine in stride with a pair of

birdies on the par-5 10th. Welch two-putted from 40 feet following a

255-yard, 3-wood second shot to the green’s front edge. Cochrane

chipped onto the green and made a six-footer.

Santa Ana followed a bogey at the 12th with birdies from Reehl and

Cochrane on the par-4, 368-yard 13th. Cochrane spun his 80-yard

second shot to nine feet and sank the birdie putt while Reehl rolled

in a 35-foot, left-to-right breaking putt.

Towersey, a 21-time Santa Ana women’s champion, chipped in for

birdie on the par-3 14th from the left rough. Her chip over the left

bunker hit the green’s front edge and rolled 10 feet gently into the

cup’s left side.

The shot pulled Santa Ana to 4-under, five shots behind Newport at

the time. Santa Ana settled for pars three straight holes until

Veitch’s birdie on 18.

“Everyone played OK, but in this format, you have to make the

putts and make birdies,” Welch said. “Pars are easy.”