Golf column, Inaugural Tee Off for Technology Classic plays out

like a veteran

Organizers are still glowing after Monday’s success in the

Inaugural Tee Off for Technology Golf Classic, which was played in

summer-like weather at Santa Ana Country Club.

The event, to benefit the Newport Harbor High Educational Foundation

and raise funds for much-needed technology at the school, should reach

$50,000 in net proceeds by the final accounting, said tournament

co-chairman Mitch Barker, who shared duties with Kevin Murphy.

Esteban Toledo, a member of the PGA Tour who plays out of Newport

Beach Country Club, provided a morning clinic to about 50 golfers before

the shotgun start. Mike Reehl, Santa Ana Country Club head pro,

introduced Toledo to the crowd.

“Things went magnificently,” Barker said. “The course was in great

shape and the club supported us in everything we needed. I don’t know how

(the tournament) could have been done better -- we lucked out. The

weather was another great thing. It was perfect weather, shorts weather.”

The tournament, sold out in advance, plans to return to Santa Ana

Country Club next year.

No surprise: Marianne Towersey, 15-time SACC women’s club champion and

back-to-back Tea Cup Classic winner, was part of the winning low-net

foursome in the Inaugural Tee Off for Technology Classic.

Towersey, a girls golf coach at Newport Harbor with Sandy Huber (Big

Canyon Country Club assistant pro), joined Kurt Yeager, Bill McCullough

and Jay Swigart to capture first place. Al Rowland, Don Moos, Dave Grant

and Gabe Loya combined to win low gross in the Texas scramble.

An impressive 24-player field has been finalized for the 1999 Diners

Club Matches Dec. 11-12 at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast, and

two-time defending LPGA champions Dottie Pepper and Julie Inkster, a

formidable team and good friends off the course, are lacking no humor

heading into the made-for-television event.

“For us, it’s kind of a chance to play aggressive and laugh real hard

at our husbands, who will both be on the bag again,” Pepper said in a

recent conference call. “They are now faced with a golf course that they

do not have a yardage book for, and we will greatly enjoy watching them

walk in circles for the first couple of days.”

The LPGA field will have four of the five top money leaders this

season at the Diners Club Matches, while Pepper, Inkster and Karrie Webb

form a trio that accounts for all four major victories won on the 1999

LPGA Tour. Webb will team with Kelli Robbins, while LPGA Hall of Famer

Nancy Lopez will be partners with newcomer Kelly Kuehne. Annika Sorenstam

and Lorie Kane will form the other LPGA team.

“Fans will be treated to the best that women’s golf has to offer,”

tournament director Gary Pollard said.

The four teams from the Senior PGA Tour will be Jack Nicklaus-Tom

Watson, defending champions Gil Morgan-Jay Sigel, Bruce Fleisher-David

Graham, and Allen Doyle-Dana Quigley.

Sigel, of course, is known in this town for having lost to Bob Murphy

in an incredible nine-hole playoff at the 1997 Toshiba Senior Classic at

Newport Beach Country Club.

Fleisher, this year’s leading money winner, will make his first local

playing appearance since 1986, the final year of the Crosby Southern

Pro-Am, before the tournament was changed to the Newport Classic Pro-Am.

The PGA Tour entries will consist of Fred Couples-Mark Calcavecchia,

Steve Pate-Mark Wiebe, Chris Perry-Skip Kendall and defending champions

Steve Elkington-Jeff Maggert.

“This is one of the strongest and most competitive fields ever to

compete for the Diners Club Matches title,” Pollard said. “Having all

three tours represented by such high-profile players is a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Orange County fans.”

In its fifth season -- and following a year’s hiatus and move from PGA

West in La Quinta -- the Diners Club Matches will be held for the first

time at Pelican Hill.

The event was created in 1994 by Jack Nicklaus Productions, which is

headed by president Terry Jastrow, who will produce and direct the event

for ABC Sports.

Tickets are available through the tournament office, (949) 759-5175;

by calling (888) 386-8497, or online at o7 www.etm.com.f7

Strawberry Farms Golf Club will host the Monday qualifier for the 2000

Toshiba Senior Classic, as well as the Georgia Pacific Super Seniors

Pro-Am on Thursday, March 2, tournament director Jeff Purser said.

The second annual Myron McNamara Memorial Golf Tournament will be

played Monday at Los Serranos Golf and Country Club in Chino Hills. The

event benefits the Myron McNamara Endowment Fund for the UCI men’s tennis

program. Details: (949) 824-8366.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.