Golf: This corner’s Top 10

Richard Dunn

There were playoffs and wild finishes in the first year of the new

millennium, and, as an annual holiday treat in this space, here are the

Top 10 Golf Stories for 2001, according to yours truly.

1 -- Another thrilling Toshiba Senior Classic playoff.

Spaniard Jose Maria Canizares wins the seventh annual Toshiba Classic

at Newport Beach Country Club, capturing a nine-hole playoff over Gil

Morgan. It was Canizares’ first victory on the Senior PGA Tour.

Canizares sank a 24-foot putt to win on hole No. 17, earning$210,000.

“It is very nice to win because I am playing with some of the best

players in the world,” Canizares said.

It’s the third playoff in five years for the event, and second

nine-hole playoff.

The tournament, operated by Hoag Hospital, also raises over $1 million

for charity for the third year in a row, making it again the most

philanthropic stop on the Senior Tour.

2 -- Debbie Albright wins Tea Cup Classic V.

It was definitely all bright for the Newport Beach women’s club

champion on her home course in the annual Tea Cup Classic in late July.

The vivacious blond and six-time defending Newport Beach champion

secured the perpetual Tea Cup trophy for her club and led the foursome

over the final 13 holes.

Albright defeated Mesa Verde Country Club’s Denise Woodard, Big Canyon

Country Club’s Olivia Slutzky and three-time defending Tea Cup champion

Marianne Towersey of Santa Ana Country Club.

3 -- Big Canyon triumphs in Jones Cup II.

Big Canyon Director of Golf Bob Lovejoy and men’s club champion Ron

Maggard win the annual Jones Cup in August at Santa Ana Country Club in a

three-hole playoff against the host team of SACC Director of Golf Mike

Reehl and men’s club champion Gregg Hemphill.

Lovejoy and Maggard built a four-shot lead with a four-birdie run on

the back nine, but Reehl and Hemphill rallied to tie Big Canyon and force

extra holes.

Hemphill birdied the par-5 No. 15 and par-4 16, then Reehl birdied 18

as Santa Ana tied Big Canyon at 4-under 68.

On the third playoff hole at 18, Lovejoy made birdie to seal the

victory.

4 -- Santa Ana Country Club’s centennial.

The golf-only private club commemorated its 100th year in September

with a stunning and memorable celebration, which included a nostalgic

journey through a century of history.

“This celebration is not just another party, but a statement of our

strength (as a nation),” said SACC Chief Operating Officer Jeff Schlicht,

whose club hosted a tasteful and elegant evening 11 days after the Sept.

11 terrorist attacks.

Fireworks, food and a fantastic video presentation filled the

celebration, while 500 members and guests were treated to a multiple

course gourmet dinner.

The club, the oldest in Orange County, opened in 1901 as Santiago Golf

Club, then moved to the Castaways at the Upper Newport Bay as Orange

County Golf Club in 1912. It remained there until April 1923, when the

club moved for the final time to its current Santa Ana Heights location.

It was also renamed Santa Ana Country Club.

5 -- SACC’s Marianne Towersey wins medalist honors at U.S. Women’s

Senior Amateur Championship.

Towersey, who turned 50 this year and is playing in the event for the

first time, shot a two-round total of 144, the lowest score by four

strokes, at Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, Pa.

6 -- Former UC Irvine standout Ted Norby sets a course record at

Newport Beach, shooting a career-best 10-under-par 61 while playing with

local golf professionals Eric Woods and Dave Donnellan.

Norby, a teaching pro at Aviara Golf Academy in Carlsbad, shot

31-30--61 to break Hale Irwin’s 62, carded in the final round of the 1998

Toshiba Senior Classic. Irwin’s 62 remains as the tournament course

record at Newport Beach.

7-- Costa Mesa’s Bryan Saltus impacts Canadian Tour.

The Newport Harbor High product, completing in his first year on the

Canadian Tour, created quite a stir in the Canadian press.

Saltus, who finished 77th on the money list ($8,362), made headlines

with his Southern California surfing mentality, goatee, wild colored

shirts, baggy pants and shaggy hair tucked under a golf cap. “Saltus adds

spice to Open” one headline read.

Earlier in 2001, Saltus, a former Costa Mesa city champion, captured

the first Golden State Tour event he entered, and later won the San

Francisco Open.

8 -- Mesa Verde hosts the Girls Junior America’s Cup Matches.

Won by Southern California, which was led by UCI-bound Angela Won,

Mesa Verde played host to the 24th annual event, which comes around only

once a decade to Southern California.

The prestigious international event in August brings together 18 teams

from the Western United States and our neighbors to the north and south,

Canada and Mexico.

9 -- Mike Carpenter wins 29th annual Costa Mesa City Championship.

The event at Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club, formerly known as the

Will Jordan Classic, is won by Big Canyon Country Club member Carpenter,

who shoots 137 in two days Aug. 4-5 to win by two strokes over Jeff

Coburn.

10 -- Mike Fergin returns to his old stomping grounds.

Fergin, a former Newport Beach Country Club assistant pro, wins the

Newport Beach Open on the third extra hole, defeating 43-year-old Fred

Stamey.

Fergin, 35, drained a 10-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to

win the seventh annual $10,000 event.