Tea Cup Classic’s Debbie Albright (Newport Beach Country Club)

still on top of her game, even as an active mother

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - As a busy mother, Debbie Albright finds solitude at

the practice range and putting green at Newport Beach Country Club.

And, with kids in their prime and a daughter with golf clubs in her

hands, the five-time Newport Beach women’s club champion, originally from

New Zealand, is spending more time commuting to the club from the

family’s Corona del Mar home, which is scheduled to be rebuilt soon.

Albright and her husband, Jock, enjoyed a spacious view of the Pacific

Ocean from their old home in CdM, but the neighborhood wasn’t kid

friendly, so they pulled up anchor and bought in another part of town.

With two children (Katie, 13, and Charlie, 12) and the family

preparing to live in a nearby rental for 10 months while their new home

gets built, Albright expects to spend less time on the practice greens

come September.

So, for now, with kids attending various summer camps and the big move

another four weeks away, Albright can unwind with leisurely thoughts of

playing in the fourth annual Tea Cup Classic -- Friday at Big Canyon

Country Club with a 2 p.m. tee time.

Albright will celebrate her 43rd birthday the day before Tea Cup

Classic IV. “I’ll have to be careful how much bubbly I have the day

before ... but, then again, maybe I’ll need to,” quipped Albright, an

affable and vivacious blond.

Albright, who finished second in the first two Tea Cup Classics at

Newport Beach Country Club in 1997 and Santa Ana Country Club in ‘98, is

the only player in the 2000 Tea Cup foursome who actually knows every

competitor personally, including newcomer Colette Taormina (Big Canyon).

Denise Woodard (Mesa Verde Country Club) and two-time defending Tea

Cup champion Marianne Towersey (Santa Ana) join Albright in the

prestigious field for the fourth straight summer.

Outside of Tea Cup Classic IV, Albright won’t be playing in many

events. Last year, she played in the Women’s Southern California Golf

Association match-play championships and reached the semifinals, but this

year she passed on the event at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, where

Towersey is playing this week.

“I can’t fit it all in,” Albright said. “I’m too busy with the kids,

and everything else that’s going on (the house project and an upcoming

family houseboat vacation). In a few years, I’ll be able to take on all

those fun tournaments. I just feel it’s important for me to be around the

kids.”

These days, with her daughter playing golf, Albright can share the

game’s nuances with her on the golf course.

“Katie has really caught the bug,” Albright said. “Any time she wants

to go over there (to Newport Beach Country Club), I’m trying to do that

with her. I think she’s a good little player, and, in another year, she

will be able to play at Corona del Mar High. I’ll have her ready.”

Katie and Charlie both attended soccer camps. Charlie added an

outdoors camp (with fishing and diving) and Katie just returned from a

Nike Golf Camp at Torrey Pines. Lately, the camps have allowed mom a few

quiet moments.

“I find practicing (golf) relaxing, and I enjoy it. It’s my time to

myself,” said Albright, who captured her fifth straight Newport Beach

title in April with four sub-80 rounds (76-79-74-77 -- 306), followed by

Sandi Coffer, Brenda Parrott and Janice Sauter (first net) in the

championship flight.Albright was introduced to golf by her husband, whom

she met in Cabo San Lucas in 1981 and married two years later, never to

return to her native land to live.

As a 19 handicapper in 1989, Albright started taking golf lessons from

Paul Hahn, now the Newport Beach head professional, and her scores began

to drop. By 1996, Albright was the club champion.

“She hits balls every day, unless she’s out of town, and that’s why

she’s a 0.0 index,” Hahn once said.

Albright entered the final round of the Newport Beach club

championship with a nine-stroke lead, then won by 11 shots. She sank a

15-foot, uphill birdie putt on 17, after hitting the middle of the green,

to solidify her win.

Coffer and Dee Dee White are the only other women in club history to

win at least five straight championships.

As Tea Cup Classic IV approaches, Albright has a theory on how to play

Big Canyon.

“You just need to know the greens,” she said. “I think (Tea Cup

Classic IV) is going to come down to ball placement on the greens and

putting ability.”

This year’s Tea Cup Classic, held at Big Canyon for the first time,

completes the originally intended four-club rotation as host site.

The ladies’ Tea Cup Classic is part of the Fletcher Jones

Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship Series. It was created in 1997 to

promote women’s golf and bring the Newport-Mesa golf community closer

together, while crowning a Daily Pilot champion.

The four women’s club champions in this newspaper’s circulation are

invited to participate in the Tea Cup Classic, which, in past years, has

drawn about 200 in the gallery.