Pelican Hill Hoping Matches Put It on the Map

By STEVE KRESAL and MARTIN BECK

Dec. 8, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Pelican Hill Golf Club, thanks to its location overlooking the Pacific Ocean along the Newport Coast, has been called “Pebble Beach South.”

Such remarks are usually made in promotional copy aimed at luring golfers to one of the two courses that sit on the bluffs above Crystal Cove State Park.

Rob Ford, director of golf at Pelican Hill, knows the idea of such comparisons makes purists cringe.

“The thing we just don’t have,” Ford said, “is the rich tournament history of Pebble Beach.”

That’s quite an understatement. Pebble Beach, home of a professional tour stop since 1947, will host its fourth U.S. Open next year. And the U.S. Open there in 1982 is one of the most memorable, when Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson battled down the stretch.

Watson made Pebble Beach’s par-three 17th hole nationally known when he chipped in for a birdie from the deep rough. He also birdied 18 and beat Nicklaus by two shots for his only U.S. Open title.

Pelican Hill will never be able to match that rich history, but this weekend the course hopes Nicklaus and Watson can bring it some measure of national recognition.

They make up one of the teams taking part in the Diners Club Matches Saturday and Sunday. The event, nationally televised live two hours each day on ABC, features eight players each from the PGA, LPGA and Senior PGA tours in team match-play competition.

The event is part of what the PGA calls the “challenge season.” Others have dubbed the series of made-for-TV tournaments “the silly season.” Either way, the money at stake this week is a serious $1.2 million. The three winning two-person teams will split $200,000.

The Diners Club Matches are moving to Pelican Hill from PGA West in La Quinta, where the event started in 1994. It is also back after a one-year hiatus; Jack Nicklaus Productions, which owns the event, agreed to cancel last year’s Diners Club Matches when the PGA Tour decided to hold the Presidents Cup during the same weekend.

Terry Jastrow, president of Jack Nicklaus Productions, said the event was successful at PGA West, but it was never well-attended by local golf fans.

“That marketplace is over-saturated with events,” Jastrow said. “They would rather play golf over there than watch it. It was a terrific event with some of the greatest players in the game playing, having a great time and there were, you know, 200 people out there, or 2,000 people out there or something.

“There were never many. Not enough.”

It remains to be seen whether Orange County fans will embrace the event. Ticket sales, slow for the first couple months, have picked up lately, and tournament director Gary Pollard said Tuesday that about 3,500 of the 10,000 tickets printed have been issued.

Jastrow said he is confident the tournament will gain momentum. “I think if you put on a quality event at a quality place,” he said, “the popularity will take care of itself.”

And Ford and Pelican Hill, which has a one-year contract to host the event, are hoping to take advantage.

“What we look to get out of this is national exposure,” Ford said. “We feel we have saturated the local markets. We’ve got to start bringing in people from the East.”

Ford figures four hours of television coverage showing golfers and spectators in short sleeves will help make Pelican Hill a destination for those hoping to escape from a bleak winter.

Ford also said he hopes the event will help remind local golfers that Pelican Hill is a public course, although at $155 Monday through Thursday and $225 Friday-Sunday, it’s certainly intended for the well-heeled portion of the public.

Of course, the visiting professionals won’t have to worry about green fees.

But they and the spectators on the grounds will have to adjust to both 18-hole courses being in play each day.

In an effort to take advantage of the best of both courses, the first 14 holes will be played on the Ocean North course and the final four on the Ocean South. That each course will get air time and plenty of mention on television also played into the decision to use both courses.

Event organizers would like to use all of the south course, which features two oceanside par threes, but the logistics of moving spectators through tunnels that go under Pacific Coast Highway were too much to overcome.

The only drawback to the current plan is the lengthy hike from the green of the 14th hole on the north course to the tee of the 15th hole on the south.

It will take the players about two minutes to be taxied over in golf carts, but spectators will be on their own. Of course, the walk will go right through the main hospitality area of the tournament, which is usually the nursery for the courses.

From that area, spectators can see the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes, on which many of the matches could be decided.

Tom Fazio, who designed both courses, intended for the north course to be able to accommodate professional tournaments and even recommended Pelican Hill to Jastrow when Jack Nicklaus Productions was looking for a site in the early 1990s.

Jastrow, who helped produce or direct the television broadcasts of the U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach in 1972, ’82 and ‘92, was impressed then.

“I know a little something about California golf courses up against the Pacific,” Jastrow said. “And when I saw Pelican Hill, I thought, ‘This is fabulous.’ The golf course is going to be so terrific. I think the players will love it. I think the television cameras will love it.”

But officials of the Irvine Co., which owns Pelican Hill, didn’t think the courses were ready to host such an event, Jastrow said, and PGA West was picked instead.

Now, apparently, Pelican Hill is ready for its close-up.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Perfect Match

Pelican Hill Golf Club is being remade this week to host its first major professional tournament, the Diners Club Matches. The professionals will play their first 14 holes on the North course and their last four on the South.

The event features eight players from each of the PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA tours competing in a team match-play format similar to the Ryder Cup. Many of the matches could end on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes, which are conveniently near the hospitality village. Should matches reach the 18th hole, the pros are in for a challenging finishing hole.

HOLE 18: “DOUBLE CROSS”

A look at the challenging finishing hole:

Called “Double Cross” because players have to hit across a yawning canyon twice, this par four hole will play 442 yards for the PGA players, and 430 for seniors and 412 for LPGA.

The tee shot can be treacherous, the farther up the fairway a play aims, the longer the carry over the canyon must be.

Second shot is into a two-tiered hard-to-hold green guarded by a set of bunkers. “Anybody who hits their long irons high is going to have an advantage there,” said Rob Ford, director of golf at Pelican Hill.

Scorecard of combined course

Should look something like this:

Hole No. 1 2 3 ... Total

Par 5 3 4 ... 71

PGA yardage: 511 189 409 ... 6,914

Seniors yardage: 511 173 409 ... 6,713

LPGA yardage: 489 173 383 ... 6,347

Schedule of events

Friday: Celebrity Pro-Am, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Saturday: First-round matches, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sunday: Final- and consolation-round matches, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Tickets: $125 for three-day pass, single-day tickets are $45 for Friday and $65 for Saturday and Sunday. Call (888) 386-8497 or click on https://www.etm.com to purchase tickets.

Television schedule

Saturday, 1-3 p.m., Channel 7

Sunday, 1-3 p.m., Channel 7

Field (we will add tee times if we get them)

PGA Tour

Fred Couples-Mark Calcavecchia

Steve Elkington-Jeff Maggert

Steve Pate-Mark Wiebe

Skip Kendall-Chris Perry

Senior PGA Tour

Gil Morgan-Jay Sigel

Jack Nicklaus-Tom Watson