Golf: Taking the fifth

Richard Dunn

A longtime danger zone for members of the Senior PGA Tour, the

fifth hole at Newport Beach Country Club is now more customer friendly.

Not that the senior tour’s fifty-something field needs a break when they

play in the upcoming Toshiba Senior Classic, but hole No. 5 has been

anything but welcoming for the past four years.

Newport Beach has hosted the senior tour event since 1996, and each year

players have “taken the fifth” midway through the front nine when it

comes to making birdies.

The 430-yard par four ranked as the toughest hole on the golf course in

1996 and ‘97, was the fourth-hardest hole in ’98 and ranked second last

year, inducing a tournament-high 67 bogeys (tied with hole No. 9), even

though the famous fifth was shortened 25 yards before the 1999 event.

But a mound was constructed behind the fifth green last fall and club

officials believe it will make the hole easier.

While it’s still no cream puff, the fifth hole should certainly lend

itself to more birdies in this year’s Toshiba Classic March 3-5.

“Before, you would look through that green and see the 11th green (behind

it), but now the new mound blocks that, and the green is framed in with

the mounding and palm trees,” Newport Beach Country Club President Jerry

Anderson said. “It gives that hole much better definition of distance to

the green, and you’re no longer looking at just the 11th fairway and 11th

green. You see the mounding there, too. It kind of frames everything in.”

The hole has always played uphill and upwind, requiring careful club

selection on the approach shot to the green, which is bordered by two

bunkers.

“With the new mound behind five, that’s going to help the players select

the proper club,” Newport Beach head professional Paul Hahn said. “That’s

a much easier green now visually with the mounding. They’ll be hitting

some mid- to short-iron shots in there now.”

Hahn said the mound will make the hole seem shorter to the players.

Not everyone has struggled on the fifth, however. In 1996, after the

event was moved to Newport Beach from Mesa Verde Country Club, Jim

Colbert made a living there, lapping the field with birdies in all three

rounds to win the tournament.

Speaking of mounds, former major league pitcher Jim Abbott, a Corona del

Mar resident and member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, has been

taking golf lessons from Hahn for the past month and his swing reportedly

is improving.

“He can hit that ball,” Hahn said of Abbott, who played for Milwaukee

last season and apparently is finished with his big league career.

Abbott, whose best year came with the Angels in 1991 when he posted an

18-11 record with a 2.89 earned-run average in 243 innings, was born

without a right hand -- as most of the world knows.

But just as Abbott was so efficient transferring the ball and glove with

his left hand and fielding his position on the mound, he swings a golf

club as well as anybody.

“Actually,” Hahn said, “it’s been kind of fun giving him lessons, and

trying to understand how he handles it without the hand.

“Teaching him golf, I relate to him with his career in baseball. There

are so many similarities in body movements as a pitcher.”

Abbott, who plays to a 14 handicap, pitched a no-hitter for the New York

Yankees on Sept. 4, 1993, against Cleveland.

The Angels traded their beloved hero to New York on Dec. 6, 1992, then

got him back in a trade with the White Sox in July 1995. But Abbott never

regained his ’91 form.

FYI: According to Newport Beach superintendent Ron Benedict, there are

about 2,000 trees on the golf course, including 631 palm trees. “This is

my office,” he said of the 100-acre layout.

Toshiba Classic tournament director Jeff Purser said the Newport Beach

Marriott Hotel will be heavily involved in this year’s event for the

first time.

The hotel, adjacent to the second and third holes, will serve as the

television compound for ESPN, providing the tournament with space from

the parking lot near the tennis courts.

“We haven’t had a relationship with the Marriott in the past, because

they’ve had conventions or other activities happening during the week of

Toshiba,” Purser said.

The Marriott will also host the community breakfast Feb. 29 featuring

defending champion Gary McCord.

“He’ll be a riot,” Purser said of the wisecracking McCord.

The tournament is thriving with more hospitality tents and corporate

sponsorships -- about 250 companies are involved in some capacity.

“It’s been a good year,” said Purser, whose goal is to reach $1 million

for the tournament’s operating charity, Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian.

About 50 companies are involved in some form of hospitality, Purser said,

and one of the more unique corporate pavilions this year will be at the

17th green, Newport Beach’s signature hole.

Three companies are sharing a sky box that will be situated on the lake.

“You’ll get to it from the land, but the sky box actually sits on the

water,” Purser said.

The 17th green could be the most popular spot to watch the tournament,

especially in the final round.

No. 17 ranked as the toughest hole on the golf course in last year’s

event, forcing the most triple bogeys (four) and double bogeys (eight),

while yielding the fifth-fewest birdies (23).

The large lake creeps precariously close to the green and a large bunker

guards the front right of the two-tiered green. A second bunker was added

in front of the green last fall and will come into play for the first

time. Fewer tee shots are expected to roll downhill into the water

hazard.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.