Jones Cup: Showdown

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - For the first time, it is believed, since this

newspaper began serving the Newport-Mesa community in 1907, a locals-only

golf championship will take place to determine a men’s pro-am team

champion among the four private country clubs.

Today’s headliners -- Big Canyon Country Club, Mesa Verde Country

Club, Newport Beach Country Club and Santa Ana Country Club -- will tee

off in the inaugural Jones Cup at 1 p.m. at Newport Beach (1600 East

Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach). Admission is free.

The winning club will receive a perpetual Jones Cup trophy to hold

until 2001 and display proudly in the club’s trophy case, while garnering

year-long bragging rights and being crowned Daily Pilot champion.

“I took a golf trip once to Ireland and Scotland, and it was wonderful

to play on some of those seaside links golf courses. But (playing in the

Jones Cup) is easily the highlight of my career,” Newport Beach Country

Club amateur Bob Kraft said of the thrill of playing in the

gallery-friendly Jones Cup, which will feature two foursomes teeing off

back-to-back in a better-ball gross format.

Kraft, who won his first Newport Beach men’s club championship this

year at age 61, will partner with NBCC head professional Paul Hahn.

Big Canyon, with amateur Steve Collins and head pro Kelly Manos, has

been loosely regarded as the pro-am favorite coming into the initial

Jones Cup.

Manos, who grew up playing with Tiger Woods, won the 1996 Southern

California PGA sectional championship, which earned him spots in three

PGA Tour events in ‘97: The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in the desert, the

Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines and the Nissan Open at Riviera, where

Manos made the cut and played with Duffy Waldorf in the final round.

Mesa Verde Country Club head pro Tom Sargent, who gave Manos his start

in the golf business 10 years ago at Yorba Linda Country Club, is among

those who are targeting Big Canyon as a front-runner.

“Kelly’s a young guy (34) and he’s a fairly recent section champion,”

Sargent said. “But, of course, now he’s got a real job and he can’t

practice as much. Maybe that’ll affect his game. But of all the pros,

Kelly’s the best player.”

Add Collins, 48, to the mix -- a five-time Big Canyon men’s club

champion and former course-record holder -- and Big Canyon looks pretty

solid.

Sargent, the 1997 PGA of America Professional of the Year and

president of the Southern California PGA from 1993 to ‘95, will team with

two-time defending Mesa Verde men’s club champion Pete Daley.

Daley, 60, didn’t start to play golf until age 41, but then won the

Mesa Verde men’s senior title in ’97 and captured the open club

championship in ’98 and ’99.

“I’m just a late bloomer,” said Daley, who had an artificial, six-hole

putting green built in his backyard last fall, but added that it hasn’t

exactly helped his game.

In confirming his attendance for an 11:30 a.m. pre-tournament luncheon

today for the players at Newport Beach, Daley said he would probably

arrive at 10:30 a.m. to hit balls and warm up.

Players will be given time to warm up between lunch and the 1 p.m.

start, Jones Cup rules official and Newport Beach Country Club President

Jerry Anderson said.

One of the most intriguing pro-am teams in the Jones Cup will be Santa

Ana Country Club, which could surprise the field with head pro Mike Reehl

and four-time Santa Ana men’s club champion Chris Veitch, who, at 46, is

the youngest amateur in the field.

Veitch might not play as frequently as his men’s club champion

brethren, but you can hardly tell from his track record. Veitch has

qualified for the California State Amateur five times, and, in 1998 and

‘99, captured the Newport Beach city amateur titles at the Newport Beach

Open.

Moreover, Newport Beach Country Club is again creating history by

hosting the first Jones Cup. It is a golf course that played host to the

old Crosby Southern Pro-Am, later the Newport Classic Pro-Am, for 23

years. It has hosted the Toshiba Senior Classic on the Senior PGA Tour

since 1996 and has an agreement to continue as host site through 2003.

The 6,584-yard, par-71 layout at Newport Beach, known as Irvine Coast

Country Club from 1952 to the mid-1980s, has upgraded its golf course

each year it has hosted the Toshiba Senior Classic, including its most

recent addition: A remodeled finishing hole at the 18th green.

Originally designed by renowned golf course architect William Bell in

‘52, the club underwent minor changes in ’73 in a project by Harry

Rainville and in ’85 by Ted Robinson, who has continued to be the man

NBCC officials call upon when more improvements are sought.

Newport Beach also hosted the inaugural Tea Cup Classic in 1997.

The Jones Cup was created by the Daily Pilot sports department through

the Fletcher Jones Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series. The

series launched the Tea Cup Classic for women in 1997 and always intended

to feature a day for men. Today is that day.