Mesa Verde to host SCGA Senior Amateur championship

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - Pete Daley, a participant in this year’s inaugural

Jones Cup, and fellow Mesa Verde Country Club member Farrell Hinkle will

play in the 23rd annual Southern California Senior Amateur championship

today and Tuesday on their home course.

The event, operated by the Southern California Golf Association, will

feature a super seniors division this year for the first time for players

65 and older.

The SCGA Senior Amateur championship for golfers aged 55 to 64 will

have about 80 players, SCGA official John Alber said Thursday.

There are some players in the field, however, who are older than 64

and will play in the regular senior division, including 68-year-old Paul

Ladin of Westlake Village. Ladin captured the SCGA Senior Amateur title

in 1995 at La Cumbre and the California State Amateur championship in ’93

at Ojai.

The seniors will play Mesa Verde at 6,350 yards, while the super

seniors will play from about 5,900 yards. Tee times today will start at

7:30 a.m.

Joe Byrom of San Diego is the defending champion of the SCGA Senior

Amateur, which began its annual competition in 1978. Byrom won last year

at Redlands. Earlier this month, Byrom was medalist in a qualifier for

the U.S. Senior Amateur at Oak Valley and will play in the national

championship Sept. 23-28 in Charlotte.

No local player has ever won the Southern California Senior Amateur

championship. Mesa Verde is hosting the event for the first time.

Daley, a Newport Beach resident, is listed with a 1.3 handicap index,

while Hinkle, of Costa Mesa, is 2.3. Dr. Michael O’Brien of Newport Beach

(7.1 index) also qualified for the SCGA Senior Amateur.

In late July, Daley teamed with Mesa Verde head professional Tom

Sargent to win the first Jones Cup at Newport Beach Country Club, a men’s

pro-am in the Fletcher Jones Motorcars/Daily Pilot Club Championship

Series, which started the Tea Cup Classic for women in 1997.

Daley saved par for his team with a big up and down on No. 9 and

helped Mesa Verde finish at 2-under 69 for a one-stroke victory in the

Jones Cup.

Daley, 60, didn’t start playing golf until age 41 and has never taken

a lesson in his life. But he has won the last two Mesa Verde club

championships.

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Hinkle is a previous Mesa Verde club champion.