Jones Cup: The ultimate community pro-am

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - The eight-man playing field is set for the

inaugural Jones Cup, the ultimate community pro-am featuring the four

private clubs in this newspaper’s circulation.

The Jones Cup is the new men’s competition in the Fletcher Jones

Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series, which launched the Tea

Cup Classic for women in 1997. It will be played July 28 at Newport Beach

Country Club in a better-ball gross format. Tee time is 1 p.m.

The lineup for the Jones Cup, named after the only benefactor the

series has had, will include the men’s club champions partnering with the

head professional from each club. Two foursomes will play back-to-back in

what is expected to be a sensational spectator event.

With the clubs listed alphabetically, here are the scheduled players:

From Big Canyon Country Club, head pro Kelly Manos and five-time club

champion Steve Collins; from Mesa Verde Country Club, head pro Tom

Sargent and two-time defending club champion Pete Daley; from Newport

Beach Country Club, head pro Paul Hahn and 2000 club champion Bob Kraft;

and from Santa Ana Country Club, head pro and director of golf Mike Reehl

and two-time defending club champion Chris Veitch.

Collins, Daley and Veitch won their respective titles in 1999. Each

club was responsible for selecting its own players.

Names of the clubs will be drawn out of a hat before tee time July 28

to determine which two clubs will play in a foursome. Newport Beach

Country Club President Jerry Anderson will serve as the rules official.

Similar to the popular Tea Cup Classic, which features the four

women’s club champions in stroke play, the Jones Cup will have

hole-in-one prizes on all par-3 holes, including a 2000 Mercedes Benz

ML320 (valued at $40,195).

Any amateur accepting a prize over $500 forfeits his amateur status.

The prizes for an ace on the other par-3 holes at Newport Beach Country

Club are less than $500 -- a set of Ping irons, a Titanium driver and

$250 pro shop gift certificate.

“You’re going to force me out of retirement,” Manos said of the event,

created by the Daily Pilot to promote golf in the area and bring the golf

community closer together for a day of fun, while crowning a club team

champion.

The Jones Cup will also be the first tournament outside of the Newport

Beach Country Club auspices to play the remodeled 18th green, which

reopens Tuesday.

“I’m glad you’re doing (the Jones Cup) now,” said the 60-year-old

Daley, “because we’ve got some new players there (at Mesa Verde), and I

don’t know if I can three-peat. There’s increased competition.”

At Newport Beach, 82 members carry a handicap index of 9 or lower,

Anderson said, and there were early discussions at the club about an

in-house qualifying tournament for Jones Cup representation. But the

men’s club champion was taken, instead. The pro-am is designed for one

staff member and one male amateur.

“I think 7- or 8-under will win it,” predicted Hahn, who is nursing a

sore lower back, but is still planning to tee it up with Kraft.

With the reality of the Jones Cup, it completes a three-year-old dream

of organizing a men’s club golf championship within the Daily Pilot’s

readership.

Furthermore, Newport Beach Country Club, host of the Toshiba Senior

Classic on the Senior PGA Tour in late winter, also hosted the inaugural

Tea Cup Classic in 1997.

“The clubs have been able to grow closer together because of (the Tea

Cup Classic),” Anderson said.

“Any time the clubs can get together for a nice little outing is

great. We don’t do that enough.”

The first Jones Cup will take place two weeks prior to the fourth

annual Tea Cup Classic, hosted by Big Canyon Country Club on Aug. 11.

A perpetual Jones Cup trophy will be presented to the winning club and

displayed throughout the year. A sizable gallery is foreseen. Admission

is free.