Food and humor on breakfast menu

Tony Dodero

Golfing aficionados and fans were treated to a morning of ribald

humor and some unprintable jokes Tuesday in what has become a staple

of the weeklong festivities surrounding the annual Toshiba Senior

Classic golf tournament -- the annual Breakfast with the Champions.

The breakfast this year featured keynote speakers Gary McCord and

David Feherty, who normally are employed as color commentators for

CBS Sports golf coverage.

The pair kept the Balboa Bay Club crowd of about 400 in stitches

with a litany of one-liners, scatological references and good-natured

ribbing of amateur and professional golfers.

“It’s when [golfing] is bad that we earn our money,” said Feherty

of his job at CBS. “And fortunately, it’s bad pretty often.”

Feherty hails from Bangor in Northern Ireland and was planning to

be an opera singer before he discovered his affinity for golf,

turning pro at the age of 17 and winning more than $3 million in

prize money over the course of two decades.

McCord, a longtime professional golfer who won the 1999 Toshiba

tournament, started golfing at the age of 12 and is a graduate of

Garden Grove High School.

Both Feherty and McCord are the authors of books on golfing.

McCord told a story of his worst pro-am moment at the Bob Hope

Classic.

He said one amateur golfer took a shot that hit a tree, skidded

backward and hit the golf cart, bounced off the golfer’s head and

rolled out of bounds.

“He looked at me and said, ‘How many is that?’” McCord said. “I

said, ‘I think you’re done.’”

The butt of many of their jokes Tuesday morning was Hank Adler,

the co-chairman of the tournament, who moderated the discussion and

reminded all why the Toshiba Senior Classic was formed in the first

place -- to benefit Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

“The only reason for this breakfast and the Toshiba tournament is

for the hospital,” Adler said. “This community has a love affair with

the hospital.”

That love affair has equated to nearly $7 million, since the

tournament’s inception, delivered to the hospital and other Orange

County charities.

Adler also paid tribute to his fellow co-chairman, Jake Rohrer,

who announced Monday that he is retiring from his Toshiba tournament

duties.

Rohrer received a standing ovation from the crowd and said his

work has been “a labor of love,” for the hospital.

As always, the Breakfast with the Champions honored 12 Orange

County high school seniors, who each received a $1,000 grant and a

Toshiba Satellite notebook computer. The winners are selected by

committees at Toshiba, based in Irvine, and Hoag Hospital.

Tuesday’s award recipients were Lauren Abercrombie of Corona del

Mar High School; David Do of Estancia High School; David Manchester

of Newport Harbor High School; Christine Twohig of Costa Mesa High

School; Jamie Gordon of Laguna Hills High School; Nina Narasimhalu of

El Toro High School; Divya Shenoy of Mission Viejo High School;

Chelsea Maxwell of Trabuco Hills High School; Marissa Gilman of

Irvine High School; Betsy Wan of University High School; Kipp Muir of

Northwood High School; and Justin Holtzman of Woodbridge High School.

“These are our future doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers in

America,” Toshiba executive Marks Simons said of the high school

honorees.