Fores to forecasts

The weather was a topic of conversation at the Toshiba Classic on Monday.

It wasn’t the only topic of conversation, but it certainly came up a lot.

Tournament director Jeff Purser mentioned the weather holding up, after a beautiful but crisp day for the Monday Pro-Am at the Newport Beach Country Club, as he told pro-am players that the tournament’s goal, once again, is to net $1 million for charity.

If the weekend turns out to be anything like Monday, Toshiba Classic officials have nothing to sweat about. The day was breezy, but it didn’t stop a fleet of low scores during the pro-am, which the foursome of George Farley, Kirk Norton, Jermy Skiver and Tony Schaffer won with a net 54 in best-ball action. The group played with pro Jim Thorpe.

Second place went to Peter Foulke, Bob Gauntner, Gary Hamm and Tim McGlew, who played with pro John Harris and totaled 55.

In third place were Mike Ameel, Duffy Leone, Jason Said and Bob Stegner, who played with pro Ron Streck. The foursome also shot a 55 but lost out on a tie breaker.

Those scores bettered the apparently humble 58 put in by my foursome, which included two players from Santa Ana Country Club, club president Doug Kanen, Rick John (who threatened to abscond with my Notre Dame head cover all day) and Pilot publisher Tom Johnson.

We played pretty well, with everyone contributing some scores, including natural birdies by both John and Johnson.

Where we were really fortunate, though, was in our professional playing partner, Bob Eastwood.

Eastwood was helpful ? especially on putts, and he sank a bunch of his own with a less-than-week-old putter, so I’m going to give him early “dark horse” status for this weekend ? and just a downright good guy. That phrase gets overused, but in this case it’s spot-on.

Eastwood’s roots at the Toshiba go back further than the tournament, if that doesn’t sound crazy. He won the old Little Crosby in the early ‘70s and came in second at the Toshiba in 1996.

“I enjoy it,” Eastwood replied to my invitation to complain about having to play with a bunch of truly rank amateurs during the pro-ams. “I have a good time. It gives me another look at the golf course.”

The course, Eastwood said, is “in good shape, as always. It’s in tournament shape already.”

Eastwood shared my, and my playing partners’, love for the old-fashioned courses like Newport Beach (and Santa Ana). “We don’t play many old-fashioned golf courses,” he said. “It’s really fun to come and play.”

Judging by the greens on Monday, which were fast but not at an Augusta-like level that is completely bedeviling, I’m going to guess that come the weekend ? if that weather in fact holds ? we’re going to be seeing some super-tricky putts. The rough, which I fortunately didn’t see too much of Monday, is already challenging, too.

By Friday, expect the course to firm up with some dry days and be in terrific, but challenging, shape. Just as it should be.dpt.mug-sjcahn-CPhotoInfoNH1OTMHR20060314ipny9okn(LA)