Moving Wright along at Newport Beach

Richard Dunn

Jeff Wright of Newport Beach Country Club came home early from a

recent Hawaiian vacation to play in a member/guest golf tournament,

and, on a few occasions, didn’t know what to do with an empty house

while his wife and kids stayed on the islands.

“I’m a bachelor this weekend,” Wright quipped. “What are you doing

tonight?”

Wright, a former Orange County Player of the Year in boys golf at

Corona del Mar High, will have plans Friday in Jones Cup III at Big

Canyon Country Club at 1 p.m. He will tee it up with Newport Beach

head professional Paul Hahn in the pro-am better-ball of partners

format.

“I know I still have some game, but I feel like I’m kind of

relying on my past glory,” Wright said. “I think the last tournament

that I won was the club championship at Dove Canyon two years ago.

It’s funny to see these stories in the paper about me. I don’t feel

I’m worthy.”

Wright, a Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Famer based on his stellar

prep career and a former UC Irvine standout, enjoyed a six-shot lead

after the second round of the 54-hole Newport Beach men’s club

championship this year, but was disqualified after a ruling that

occurred on the sixth hole of the opening round.

Wright couldn’t find his tee shot at No. 6, so he went back to hit

another ball. Then, just as Wright was hitting his second shot, his

partners found his first ball, which might have been rolled over by

the wheel of a golf cart.

Nevertheless, as Wright was coming down from his backswing to

launch a second tee shot, his partners were waving their arms in the

distance after finding his first ball.

“They technically found my ball before I struck my second shot,

that’s the rules interpretation,” said Wright, who made the mistake

of hitting his first ball, which prompted the disqualification.

“If I broke a rule, then (the disqualification) should stand. Paul

Hahn’s a great guy and he did the right thing. But I still don’t know

the right rule. It’s very technical and I still don’t have a clear

idea how I broke the rules. All I know is that a rule was broken by

hitting a second ball.”

Wright, however, has news for his opponents: “I’m looking forward

to next year,” said Wright, a seven-time junior champion at Newport

Beach who is trying to become the first to win a men’s club title and

junior championship at the club, after joining Newport Beach on his

own last year (his father, Jack, was a member for 30 years).

“I’m certain I can (win) it next year,” added Wright, invited by

Hahn to play in Jones Cup III. “It’s a little goal you have. I grew

up playing there (when it was called Irvine Coast Country Club in the

1970s), and that club means a lot to me. There’s a lot of history

there. Like Danny Bibb, I saw him (recently) at the member/guest

deal, and I used to look up to those guys. It was really something to

win the club championship. That’s why it hurt (to get disqualified

after 36 holes). But I tried to be a good sport about it.

“In the grand scope of things, it’s just a golf tournament. I’ve

got two kids, I’ve got a house (in Mission Viejo), an appraisal

business ... that’s the way life is. I just accept it and go on. I’m

actually doing a music CD right now, too.”

Wright, a pop music songwriter and singer, as well as an

accomplished golfer, triathlete and distance runner, has written and

produced 10 songs on his new CD. Wright spent 10 years in the music

industry before trying to make it again in golf, then finally his

real estate appraisal business took off like a titanium golf ball

ripped off the tee with a Big Bertha and suddenly playing weekends on

the Golden State Tour wasn’t so important with young children in the

house.

Now Wright’s back into the music world.

“I’m feeling really fulfilled,” Wright said. “Whether I strike a

big record deal, I don’t care. It’s just something to keep me going.

I’m not bashing my head against a wall to get a record deal. You just

do it for yourself ... and try to win a golf tournament, along with

family, business and triathlons.”

Wright, groomed on the golf course as an adolescent by the late

Ray Haines, a legendary former pro who taught Don Pooley and Gary

McCord, won the Southern California Junior Match Play Championship 20

years ago this summer at Santa Ana Country Club, his biggest win as a

prep and a victory that opened the door to several four-year

colleges. right played two years at Arizona State and two years at

UCI.