Golf: Santa Ana starting over

Santa Ana Country Club head golf professional Geoff Cochrane and men’s champion Boyd Martin will see some new faces, at least as the Jones Cup is concerned, beside them as they play Mesa Verde Country Club today.

Cochrane and Martin join three first-timers to the event, a competition of four Newport-Mesa country clubs that include Santa Ana, Big Canyon, Newport Beach and Mesa Verde.

Tee time is 1 p.m. Two best balls from each club’s fivesome will count.

Santa Ana’s group includes women’s club champion Deborah Britton, senior champion Bob Veeh, men’s champion Martin, fresh off his victory Sunday, Cochrane, and assistant pro Nick Kumpis. Mike Reehl, now pro emeritus at Santa Ana, has a bulging disc in his neck and will not play.

Britton, Veeh and Kumpis make their Jones Cup debuts.

Britton won her first Santa Ana women’s championship by 12 strokes in March.

She has been a Santa Ana member for 25 years and took up golf in the mid-1990s.

She said she was nervous during the tournament, but concentrated.

“I stayed steady and [did] not get into trouble for three days,” Britton said. “It just clicks and you play really well. I played clean golf.”

Veeh, 55, won his first senior title in October by one stroke.

He lives in La Cañada and is also a member at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale. His wife, Sharon, plays team play at Santa Ana.

Martin birdied the last hole of the 36-hole match-play final against Rick Herrera to seal his eighth Santa Ana men’s club championship. He birdied three holes on the front nine in last year’s Jones Cup.

Britton expects to be nervous today, but has played Mesa Verde through the years. She said the course resembles Santa Ana, but “plays longer than it used to.”

She said putting will be crucial to increase the opportunity for victory.

“The greens are more elevated with a lot of undulations,” Britton said.

Will newness to the Jones Cup help Santa Ana rise to the top? We’ll see later today.

There will be no golf columns in July. The column will return the first week of August.