Daigle to be honored for role in saving golf course

Newport Beach councilwoman Leslie Daigle will be honored Dec. 19 at a fundraiser for the Santa Ana High football program.

The fundraiser, the Santa Ana High Quarterback Club golf tournament fundraiser at Newport Beach Golf Course, will help raise money for new uniforms.

Daigle was a strong supporter of the Save Newport Beach Golf Course initiative.

The pro-am tournament will have a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. and a luncheon at 11:30 a.m.

Daigle will be honored for her lobbying efforts to help save Newport Beach Golf Course. Residents and golfers feared losing the back nine after the Orange County officials considered building a parking lot for John Wayne Airport.

Golf course officials said there is no more need to worry, and airport officials are looking at other properties for the parking lot.

“We’re going to give (Daigle) an Angels bat with her name on it that says, ‘Thanks for going to bat for Newport Beach Golf Course,’” said tournament director Keith Wyrick, a longtime starter at Newport Beach Golf Course and strong community advocate for junior golf programs.

Plans are in the works for Newport Beach Golf Course to host a junior golf tournament in Daigle’s name in 2008.

“We will be celebrating the fact that we’re able to have things like this golf tournament,” said Wyrick, another supporter for the highly successful Save Newport Beach Golf Course committee.

The Committee collected 3,500 signatures to stop the Orange County from making preliminary plans to tear up the back nine and build a parking lot for the airport.

The 31-year-old golf course is split into two parcels — the front nine is owned by a private company and the back nine is owned by Orange County.

— From staff reports