Golf: Feeling lucky?

Richard Dunn

Part of the beauty of golf includes a compelling factor almost

never taken into consideration when standing over your next shot.

Luck.

You might think about your swing or the pin placement or your club

selection, but how often do you really feel lucky? Or, better yet, get

lucky?

Those of us high handicappers appreciate the golden stroke of low

probability on the links. It keeps us coming back. We actually think we

had something to do with it.

When a hacker finds the bottom of the cup, it is a celebration of

different proportions. Those in the fraternity know what I’m talking

about.

For Newport Beach’s Allan Effron, his recent hole-in-one occurred

during the perfect holiday of the underdog -- the Runnin’ Gunnin’ Golf

Tournament for Irrelevant Week at Newport Beach Golf Course.

“It was a beautiful day ... it was a great day,” said Effron, a 34

handicapper, whose tee shot on the 152-yard par-3 hole No. 9 landed short

of the green, but rolled up and found the hole.

“This is probably the first and only hole-in-one I’ll ever get. I

never thought I’d get one.”

Effron, despite using a 5-iron on the hole, must have been feeling it.

“Actually, it was probably the wrong club, but I guess it worked,”

Effron quipped. “Plus, I got four Angel tickets, because (No. 9) was the

closest-to-the-pin hole.

“You know how some of those shots go. Maybe I’ll do better next time.”

Effron, a 52-year-old Newport-based physician, plays out of Marbella

Country Club in San Juan Capistrano, but said he doesn’t play much. He

participates in Irrelevant Week because of the charities it supports

(i.e. Disabled Sports USA).

Effron’s first ace was witnessed by Eberhard Neutz and Marsha Kerns.

Scott Kuhns isn’t the type of guy to fill his summer schedule with

golf tournaments. He didn’t play in the Southern California Amateur this

year and he probably won’t next year, either.

“I don’t play that many tournaments. I’d just as soon play with my

buddies on the weekend,” said Kuhns, who captured his fifth career Costa

Mesa men’s club championship and second in a row at Costa Mesa Golf &

Country Club, where both the Los Lagos and Mesa Linda courses were used

for the three-round championship.

Kuhns, a 42-year-old Irvine resident, shot 69 (Los Lagos), 71 (Mesa

Linda) and 74 (Los Lagos) for a total of 4-under-par 214 to win by nine

strokes over runner-up Tom Copland.

Kuhns said he would like to remain hot at Costa Mesa and challenge the

men’s club record of eight titles by Chris Keyte, a former Orange Coast

College state championship player now living in Florida.

“He’s the guy,” Kuhns said of Keyte. “He’s a good friend of mine, but

that’s what I’m trying to do -- catch him. He’s like a legend around

here.”

In the first round, Kuhns made eight birdies and five bogeys, then

shot 3-under-par at Mesa Linda in the second round, which included an

eagle on No. 5. “I just putted really well, and when you can putt well,

you’re going to make a lot of birdies,” Kuhns said.

Kuhns, who won all four of his previous Costa Mesa titles in the

1990s, has played at Costa Mesa for about 14 years.

In the 101st Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship

last month at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in San Diego, Newport Beach’s

Mike Walker shot 306 and former Corona del Mar High standout John

Wardrup, now living in San Diego and playing out of Torrey Pines, fired

313 to finish in the second division.

Newport Beach’s Chad Towersey and Costa Mesa’s Farrell Hinkle did not

make the cut after 36 holes.

Walker and Wardrup both struggled in the third round, carding an 81

and 84, respectively, to end their quest for a title.

Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club has a connection to the Toshiba Senior

Classic.

Before Bing Crosby moved his famous clambake to Pebble Beach after

World War II, the Crosby National Pro-Am (now the AT&T;) was played at

Rancho Santa Fe from 1937 to 1942. Sam Snead won the first two events.

Crosby moved his family to Rancho Santa Fe in 1934, and, when he

started the pro-am, it attracted celebrities and top players as the

course, built in 1927, gained national fame.

Crosby and Newport Beach’s Marshall Duffield, the former USC

quarterback and neighbor of John Wayne, were good friends and golfing

buddies. Together, with Charley Hester, the Crosby Southern was founded

in the fall of 1974, with the first tournament in January 1975 at the

current site of the Toshiba Senior Classic and managed by the same

charity (Hoag Hospital).

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.