Golf column, Selling Newport Beach in December

The folks probably most excited about the upcoming Diners Club

Matches at Pelican Hill Golf Club are the ones at the Newport Beach

Conference & Visitors Bureau, where president Rosalind Williams heads up

the charge.

After stepping aside last year when the PGA Tour staged the

President’s Cup on the second week in December, the Diners Club Matches

returns to television at a new golf course.

The visitors bureau sells Newport Beach as well as anyone and brings

in tourism throughout the year, but the Diners Club Matches should create

a positive economic windfall that will only add to the bureau’s solid

reputation.

“I’ve always had my eye on Pelican Hill, which is a fascinating,

fabulous Tom Fazio golf course,” said Terry Jastrow, president of Jack

Nicklaus Productions and executive producer of the Diners Club Matches

Dec. 11-12.

“In fact,” an enthusiastic Jastrow added, “there are two (courses) --

and with many holes that overlook the Pacific Ocean. It is considered by

some to be sort of the Pebble Beach of Southern California, and I just

know the players are going to love it and it’s going to make for great

television pictures.”

Those are early Christmas bells ringing in the ears of the bureau and

the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

Though Williams is out of town this week on business, Jastrow filled

in nicely in pumping the tournament, which will be shown on ABC, and the

community.

“(The made-for-TV event) exists in a marketplace -- Orange County, the

Newport Coast area -- that is a hugely upwardly mobile, very aggressive,

very active, well-populated marketplace,” Jastrow said. “So I’m convinced

... that there’s going to be very significant local support.”

The Diners Club Matches were last played in December 1997 at PGA West (Nicklaus Course) in La Quinta. After a one-year absence, the $1.2

million event comes back to golf’s postseason.

Tickets are $125 and include admission to the Dec. 10 practice rounds

and both tournament days. Parking is also included. Ticket sales are

limited to 10,000. Details: (949) 759-5175.

The Inaugural Tee Off for Technology Classic, which will benefit the

Newport Harbor High Educational Foundation and raise funds for

much-needed technology at the high school, is Nov. 1 at Santa Ana Country

Club. Details: (949) 723-1212.

Scramble Format: Catching up on some charity golf tournament

highlights, Ann Igata of Corona del Mar won the Ladies’ Long Drive

Contest in the Goodwill Industries Golf Classic, hosted by former Angel

Bobby Grich, at Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club.

Igata’s company, Bank of America at Fashion Island, also sponsored the

10th annual Corporate Challenge Cup with Rich Saul earlier this month at

Santa Ana Country Club to benefit the American Cancer Society.

The women’s golf classic to benefit the American Cancer Society will

played Monday at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach (11 a.m.

start), a sixth annual event dedicated to raising funds to fight breast

cancer.

Sharon Govern of Newport Coast, a breast cancer survivor, will tee it

up in a limited field and share her experiences with golfers at the

tournament banquet that evening, encouraging the players to take charge

of their health.

Govern, 51, had a young daughter to raise and a home-based business to

operate when she received the diagnosis from her doctor that would change

her life.

She is celebrating 12 years of being cancer-free. Details: (949)

261-9446.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.