Huntington Beach golf clubs come together for inaugural Surf City Cup
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A new tradition began earlier this month between the two golf courses in Huntington Beach.
The Meadowlark Golf Course men’s club invited the Huntington Club men’s club to play in a friendly competition. The Huntington Club quickly accepted.
And so, the inaugural Surf City Cup tournament was created. Meadowlark hosted on Sept. 12 — and also won by a final score of 38-34.
Twenty-four players from each squad competed in a team play format.
“The idea in my mind wasn’t a rivalry, as much as it was a friendly competition,” said Alan Zimmer, one of two team captains for Meadowlark along with Scott Durand. “We all live in the same town, we all play the same game. Yeah, we want to be competitive, yeah, we want to win.”
Eric Foucrier was the team captain for the Huntington Club, formerly known as Seacliff Country Club.
“I knew Eric because I played against him when I was a member at Old Ranch,” Zimmer said. “I knew that he was a straight shooter. We started putting it together and just got really serious about it, came up with a format.”
The match came down to the wire. With 11 of the 12 teams in, the score was tied at 33-33.
In the final grouping, however, Richard Hanken and Shawn Gambill of Meadowlark earned five points to secure the victory for their club.
Zimmer said he’s long wanted to have a championship of Huntington Beach, which formerly had four golf courses — Meadowlark, Seacliff, Driftwood and Huntington Beach municipal. A Huntington Beach city championship was formerly held, but disappeared 20-plus years ago, he said.
Now, members at the two remaining clubs can look forward to the Surf City Cup each year.
As the victor of the Surf City Cup, the cup itself sits in the Meadowlark lounge — until next year, when the Huntington Club hosts the tournament for the first time.
“Wait until next year when we play at the Huntington Club,” Foucrier said.
