Big Canyon edged

BY TONY LEE

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SANTA ANA — There was a long putter, a belly putter and three different blade designs used by the Big Canyon Country Club team.

But at the 10th annual Jones Cup at Santa Ana Country Club, none of the putters responded well on Wednesday as the two-time defending champions finished in second place, three strokes behind Mesa Verde Country Club, with an 11-under-par 133.

“Oh, that’s just golf,” said Big Canyon’s captain and head professional Robert Pang. “It’s an old cliché but it’s just golf. We all had our chances and lip-outs are just a part of the game.”

Men’s club champion Will Tipton, who was apart of the biggest lip-out in the tournament, also echoed Pang’s view.

“We missed a few putts in the front nine, but it’s a funny game,” he said. “The par-three sixth, we could’ve had two bogies, but we made a 16-footer and a six-footer for par. Then the next hole, we missed two six-footers.”

Tipton’s biggest lip-out of the tournament came on the par-three 11th. After hitting a knock-down six iron to a foot, his birdie putt somehow defied gravity, spun 360 degrees in the cup and came right back to him.

“Ninety-nine out of a 100, that putt goes in,” Big Canyon’s women’s club champion Martha Redfearn said. “That’s why golf is a cruel, cruel game.”

Tipton joked that he should’ve just made the hole-in-one on the 11th instead, which would’ve won him a five-day, four-night golf vacation package at the Fairmont Hotel and Resorts.

“It would’ve beaten the camping trip we have scheduled this weekend,” he said.

But Wednesday’s round also produced some great putts for Big Canyon.

Senior club champion Robert Ihrke made a downhill slider for birdie from 20-feet on the 10th and a 40-plus feet par putt on the 15th.

Redfearn — who was caddied by her son Chad Redfearn, a Newport Beach 11- to 12-year-old Little League All-Star — also made two, right-to-left, downhill birdie putts on holes nine and 12.

“I was glad I can make a few birdies because a lot of the holes are harder for me to get there,” she said.

Martha Redfearn added she had backup caddy help from her other son Cole Redfearn, who plans on playing golf for Corona del Mar High as an incoming freshman.

Martha Redfearn, who plays many competitive amateur tournaments throughout the year, said her next one is the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship qualifier at Big Canyon on Aug. 20.

Despite birdies from first assistant professional Michael Castillo and Ihrke on the 18th to put Big Canyon at 11-under-par, which at the moment was the tournament best after Mesa Verde bogeyed the 14th, the final hole dramatics erased all hopes of Big Canyon’s seventh Jones Cup trophy.

With both teams tied going into the 18th hole, Mesa Verde’s women’s club champion Madelaine Campbell holed a pitching wedge for eagle and head professional Tom Sargent made a birdie to give their team a three-stroke lead and the 10th annual Jones Cup.

“Well, if we’re going to lose, might as well been due to that,” quipped by the Big Canyon team.

This year’s Big Canyon squad was without Bob Lovejoy, who was a head professional at Big Canyon for 24 years and retired earlier this month.

Lovejoy, however, was involved in the Jones Cup this year as the starter and joked, “Well if I have a choice between watching them play or being able to play going back to work, working six days a week, I’m fine.”

“It’s an honor to take over after Bob,” Pang said. “Bob was at Big Canyon for 24 years and it’s big shoes to fill. It’s an honor to be at Big Canyon and to have a job there.”

Despite the second place finish for Big Canyon, the Jones Cup was a success on many levels.

“It’s just a fun event playing with your buddies and members of your club and competing against your best friends around here,” Lovejoy said. “What could be better?”