NINTH ANNUAL JONES CUP:

The last time Newport Beach Country Club hosted the Jones Cup, it won.

NBCC is hoping that trend continues at this year’s ninth annual Jones Cup.

The Newport Beach Country Club will once again host the event Tuesday and its players are anxious for the competition to be hitting their fairways.

The course is expected to be in pristine condition come tee-time with the preparations being done on the course in the same fashion they were done when the Newport Beach Country Club hosted the Toshiba Classic. Greens keepers and crew will be ahead of the groups to make sure all bunkers are hand raked and all divots are fixed. The preparation will also impose a huge amount of difficulty for the teams competing with some tricky greens standing in there way of winning. However, it is safe to say the Newport Beach quintet of Paul Hahn, Rich Ortega, Debbie Albright, Rick Johnson and Joe Staford won’t be so fooled.

“It is always nice to host an event and we look forward to the players competing on our course,” said Hahn, NBCC’s head pro and team captain. “Last time we hosted the tournament, we won. So there just might be a little advantage.”

The tournament is a best-ball, one-round format, to determine the Jones Cup Champion between four of the best Newport-Mesa country clubs, which includes Big Canyon Country Club, Mesa Verde Country Club and Santa Ana Country Club. Each country club will be represented by five of its best players and Newport Beach has fielded a solid group.

Hahn will be backed by Ortega, the club’s assistant pro. Debbie Albright, the NBCC ladies champ, was on that team that won in 2004. Johnson is the NBCC men’s champ and Staford is an alternate for the senior men’s champ, Ron Ramsey.

Johnson will be a huge asset to the team. As he proved in the men’s championship he is a birdie machine and in a best-ball format with all competitors relying on one another, birdies become the difference maker.

However there may be one drawback to the event being at Newport Beach Country Club this year.

“It is sometimes harder to play in front of your friends,” Hahn said about the pressure of playing on the home course. “[But] there is really no pressure. Everyone is just looking forward to playing in it.”

With that mentality and some home course bounces, the Newport Beach Country Club’s five players have a chance to sink the competition, just as long as they sink some putts first.

MARK RATTO may be reached at (714) 966-4616.