Tijeras Creek Rates Up, but Sodas Included

A round of golf at Tijeras Creek will get more expensive next month. Or cheaper, depending on how many holes players are willing to squeeze into a day.

On Sept. 18, the Rancho Santa Margarita public course will raise its greens fee to $125 (an increase of $50 Monday through Thursday and $15 Friday through Sunday), but it’s a price hike with a twist:

On weekdays, including Fridays, golfers will be able to play as many holes as they want.

Also included in the new price is unlimited range balls at the course’s practice facility and unlimited food and soft drinks from the snack bar and beverage carts. Alcohol and tobacco products and restaurant and bar food are excluded.

On Saturdays and Sundays, the price includes all of the above except for only one round of golf.

Tijeras Creek officials believe the new rate structure will set it apart from other high-end facilities in the county. Similar facilities near Tijeras Creek include Aliso Creek ($85 Monday-Thursday, $125 Friday-Sunday), Monarch Beach ($115, $145), Oak Creek ($90, $125) and Strawberry Farms ($85, $125).

Tijeras Creek is betting that hard-core weekday players will pay more for the chance to play 27 or 36 holes in a day--or perhaps a less-crowded 18.

“It’s not for everyone,” said Jennifer Alderson, Tijeras Creek general manager, “but for our market, I think it matches up really well with what they’re asking for.”

The course will still offer a twilight rate. The cost will be $80 (up from $55 Monday-Thursday, $70 Friday-Sunday) but will start about five hours before dark instead of the current 4 1/2 hours.

BOOTH’S DEBUT

Kellee Booth’s professional golf career started Tuesday at the LPGA Tour Sectional Qualifying Tournament. Booth, the former Santa Margarita High and Arizona State standout and top-ranked amateur woman in the nation, is among the 180-player field at the Plantation Golf and Country Club and Venice Country Club in Venice, Fla. She is playing for one of 30 spots in the tour’s final qualifying tournament in October.

Another former Orange County high school player, Jenny Lee, also is entered. Lee, who played at Sunny Hills High and Texas, played 15 tournaments on the LPGA Tour in 1998.

Eunice Choi, a Dove Canyon resident who played at Laguna Hills High and UCLA, already has qualified for the final qualifying tournament, Oct. 19-22, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Choi finished fifth on the money list on the Futures Tour. The top three on the list, including five-time winner and 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Grace Park, earned exempt status on the 2000 LPGA tour.

Choi finished $1,069 behind Audra Burks, who won the Futures Tour’s third 2000 LPGA Tour spot.

AJGA UPDATE

Nico Bollini, a junior at Servite, survived a shaky start Sunday to win a junior event in Rome, Ga.

Bollini, of Yorba Linda, started the final round of the two-round AJGA Rome Junior Classic at Stonebridge Golf Club with a three-shot lead but had four bogeys on the front nine. He recovered by shooting 33 on the back for a one-over 72. He won the tournament by four strokes over Kevin Wilhelm of Aiken, S.C.

Fountain Valley’s Candie Kung, on the other hand, lost a five-stroke first-round lead to Courtney Wood of Brentwood, Texas, in the girls’ division. Kung shot 73 and Wood shot 67 to win.

LONG DRIVE QUALIFYING

Qualifying for the World Long Drive Championship will take place Aug. 30 at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

A $30 entry fee gets contestants six balls. Players may enter as often as time permits. There is an open division and a senior division for players over 45. Up to six players will advance to the finals Oct. 20-23 in Mesquite, Nev., to compete for a $250,000 purse.

Information: (800) 546-4821.