Santa Ana strives for first win

Club pride is the Reehl deal for Santa Ana Country Club Director of Golf Mike Reehl, who began working for his present employer since 1968.

So, Reehl, who learned the game as a teenager at the Mesa Verde Country Club, would love nothing better than to help place Santa Ana Country Club on the list of winners at the Jones Cup, which tees off Thursday at 1 p.m. at Mesa Verde Country Club.

Santa Ana, which played host to last year’s Jones Cup, an annual event pitting top players from Newport-Mesa’s four private clubs against one another, is the only club not to have won at least one of the six previous Jones Cup events.

“My success in the tournament has been pretty poor,” said Reehl, who returned to the event last year after sitting out in 2003 and 2004. “Any time you’re out there competing, you’re out there to win. To not have gotten in there with a win yet does hurt.”

There is an indelibly painful memory for Reehl at Mesa Verde, where his father died after suffering a heart attack on the ninth fairway in 1968. Reehl, 16 at the time, was playing with his father when tragedy struck.

“When my dad died, we couldn’t stay members, but they let me play as an honorary member for the rest of that year,” Reehl said.

“Then, I got a job at [Santa Ana Country Club] in October, 1968.”

Reehl, a product of Corona del Mar High, helped Orange Coast College win the state championship in 1970, then played three years at Long Beach State. He was an All-American and won the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. title in 1972.

Reehl said he realized after just five weeks on a professional minitour, that playing on the PGA Tour was a pipe dream.

So, Reehl devoted himself to teaching at Santa Ana Country Club and became the club’s head pro in 1985.

“I’ve never had a job outside of golf,” Reehl said. “Santa Ana has a great membership and it’s just a great family. To have the kind of longevity at one place I’ve had is kind of unheard of in this business.”

Reehl said he enjoys the Jones Cup, which has had various formats since its debut in 2000.

Initially, it involved two-player men’s teams from each club, until incorporating women’s and senior club champions in 2004, virtually absorbing the four-club women’s tournament known as the Tea Cup Classic that originated in 1997.

Last year, a second professional staff member was added to make it a fivesome.

“I’m the one who suggested we add a fifth player, so I could get back playing,” said Reehl, who while teamed with Gregg Hemphill in 2001, lost a three-hole playoff to Big Canyon Country Club representatives Bob Lovejoy and Ron Maggard in the second Jones Cup event.

This year, Reehl will be joined by Geoff Cochrane, the head pro, women’s champion Nicole Ronald, and Rick Herrera, who won both the senior and men’s club titles. Bruce Bearer, who competed for Newport Beach Country Club in the Jones Cup in 2003 and 2004, will be Santa Ana’s men’s amateur representative.