Albright a Newport Beach ace

Having won a record 11 straight Newport Beach Country Club women’s championships, Debbie Albright has become a symbol of consistent excellence in the Newport-Mesa golf community.

But, entering her third straight Jones Cup, which pits five-person teams from four Newport-Mesa private clubs against one another in an 18-hole, team best-ball gross match, Albright proved recently that her game continues to show improvement.

“I got my first hole in one three weeks ago,” said Albright, who will be representing Newport Beach Country Club in the seventh edition of the Jones Cup, Thursday at 1 p.m. at Mesa Verde Country Club.

“It was a six-iron on the 13th hole [at Newport Beach Country Club, where she has been a member for 24 years]. It was one of those shots that felt really good and it was right on line. I’m one of those people who doesn’t really care what happens to the ball once it lands, as long as I put a good swing on it. But when this one went in the hole, I was extra happy.”

It was another memorable moment in a distinguished golf career that began after Albright moved from New Zealand to the United States.

As a perennial club champion, Albright participated in all seven Tea Cup Classic events, a precursor to the Jones Cup created in 1997 by then-Daily Pilot sportswriter Richard Dunn.

The Tea Cup Classic, which Albright won in 2001, featured the four women’s club champions in an 18-hole match play format.

The Jones Cup, initiated in 2000, was originally contested between two-man teams from each club, typically composed of the head professional or director of golf and the men’s club champion.

That format lasted through 2003, before the Jones Cup essentially absorbed the Tea Cup Classic in 2004. That year, the Jones Cup featured four-person teams from each club, including the head pro/director of golf, men’s champion, women’s champion and senior champion.

Albright, teamed with head pro Paul Hahn, men’s champion Jeff Wright and senior champion George Dahl, helped Newport Beach Country Club win the 2004 Jones Cup. Newport won by three shots, the only time the event has been decided by more than two strokes.

“Debbie knows how to get the ball in the hole,” Hahn said. “She knows how to play the game.”

This year, Albright and Hahn, one of three players to play in each of the six previous Jones Cup events, will be joined by club pro Carlo Borunda, men’s champion Brian Lindley and senior champion Bob Kraft.

Hahn, the head professional for 17 years, has competed the last two years in the Toshiba Classic, a PGA Champions Tour event at Newport Beach Country Club. He also played in the Senior PGA Championship in Pennsylvania in 2005.

Borunda has been one of Hahn’s first assistants for three years. He won an 18-hole playoff with the other two assistants to earn his spot in the Jones Cup.

Lindley, an Estancia High product, won the club championship in a playoff against former Newport Harbor High basketball and volleyball standout Eric Vallely. It was Lindley’s second consecutive men’s club title.

Lindley, who was men’s club champion at Mesa Verde Country Club in 1980, finished second at the United States Amateur Championship in 1981.

Kraft was Hahn’s partner in the inaugural Jones Cup in 2000.

“Bob is the steadiest player we have in the club,” Hahn said of Kraft. “He hits the ball real straight and he is also a good putter.”