La Habra’s First Course Opening

Orange County is adding another public golf course this week and this time golfers are getting a bit of a price break.

Westridge Golf Club, La Habra’s first golf course, opens Saturday near the intersection of Imperial Highway and Beach Boulevard. The greens fees are $55 Monday through Friday and $75 on weekends and holidays.

That price compares favorably with the most recent public course to open in the county: Aliso Viejo Golf Club, which opened in May and charges $85 Monday-Thursday and $125 Friday-Sunday.

Westridge’s nearest competition, Coyote Hills in Fullerton, charges $80 Monday-Thursday and $95 Friday-Sunday.

Westridge will have its first paying customers Friday in a charity tournament, and, not surprisingly, tee times for the opening weekend are filling up fast. As of Tuesday afternoon, only afternoon times were available for Saturday and Sunday.

Steve Chase, director of sales and marketing for owner-operator Environmental Golf, says golfers will be pleased with the course. The back nine looks like it’s set up for a PGA Tour event, he said, and the less-mature front nine will catch up in about a month.

“The tee boxes look like greens,” Chase said. “The course is in great shape.”

Westridge is emphasizing speed of play, from scorecards that suggest which tees to play depending on a golfer’s handicap to a global positioning satellite system that can prompt groups to speed up if they have fallen behind.

Westridge, designed by Robert Muir Graves and Damian Pascuzzo, is a par-72, 6,500-yard course built on a former hilly oil field. It plays up and around large hills and valleys. For tee times or other information: (562) 690-4200.

A review of the course will appear in next Wednesday’s On the Green page.

CASHING IN

Coto de Caza’s Kellee Booth earned her first paycheck as a professional golfer Sunday, winning $2,150 for a sixth-place tie in the SBC Futures Tour Championship in Lakeland, Fla., Sunday.

Booth, a former Santa Margarita High standout and four-time All-American at Arizona State, shot 73-74-72-69--288, tying with three other players, including former Sunny Hills High standout Jenny Lee, five strokes behind the winner, Joellyn Erdmann of Little Chute, Wis.

Booth and many other Futures Tour players are preparing for the final LPGA Qualifying Tournament next week in Daytona Beach.

Another Coto de Caza resident, Heather Zakhar, also did well in the Futures Tour event. Zakhar, who played at Arizona as Heather Graff before getting married, finished tied for 13th at 291.

Gayle Jenkins of Santa Ana finished 44th at 301 and Eunice Choi of Dove Canyon 52nd at 304.

SENIOR SENSATIONS

Nine of the top 10 leading money winners on the 1999 Senior PGA Tour and a host of longtime fan favorites are committed to play in the Pacific Bell Senior Championship Oct. 29-31 at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.

Rookie sensation Bruce Fleisher and tour stalwart Hale Irwin, Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on the money list, headline the field. Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gary Player and Lee Trevino are also entered, as is Gary McCord, winner of the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club in March.

Volunteers are still needed. If interested, contact the tournament office at (213) 626-4611. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

SONORA’S RHO ON ESPN

Angela Rho of Fullerton will be on ESPN at 10 a.m. Monday. The sports cable network is running a show on the American Junior Golf Assn., focusing on the Junior Match, a Ryder Cup-style competition for juniors.

Rho, a senior at Sonora High who has committed to Stanford, is ranked fifth in the nation among girls. She played for the U.S. Junior Match team that lost, 10 1/2-1 1/2, to their European counterparts.

Staff writer Peter Yoon contributed to this story.