Manos resigns as Big Canyon head pro

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Kelly Manos, a fixture at Big Canyon Country Club

since Feb. 1995, has resigned as head golf professional to accept a

higher position at a private club in the desert.

A member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, Manos has been hired

as Director of Golf at The Club at Morningside in Rancho Mirage and will

start Nov. 1.

“These opportunities do not come around very often,” said Manos, 35.

“It’s a dream come true. That’s what you build your whole career for, to

get something like this. You want to go out and see how you can handle

(the new challenges), because you can’t get complacent. At least I can’t.

I’m too goal-oriented. I want it all and this is it.”

Manos, who grew up playing golf with man-child Tiger Woods, got his

start in the business when Tom Sargent, then the head pro at Yorba Linda

Country Club, hired him in 1990.

Manos considers Sargent, the Mesa Verde Country Club head pro, one of

his four mentors, along with Bob Lovejoy (Big Canyon Director of Golf),

Dr. David Wright (noted golf psychologist and Pelican Hill Golf Club

instructor) and John Anselmo (Meadowlark Golf Course in Huntington

Beach).

Manos, who spent five years at Yorba Linda before Lovejoy hired him as

a first assistant, won the Southern California PGA sectional championship

in 1996.

The Club at Morningside is an exclusive, equity-owned club that opened

in 1983.

“I’m planning on settling in the desert. That’s the attitude I’m

taking and that’s my new home,” Manos said. “Service is service. It

doesn’t matter who you work for. At (Big Canyon) I became a polished golf

professional.”

In his playing career as a club pro, his highlight was making the cut

at the 1997 Nissan Open, shooting 73-71-73-73 while teeing it up with

guys like Duffy Waldorf and Ed Dougherty. Manos qualified for the Nissan

Open, as well as other PGA Tour events, by winning the ’96 Southern

California sectional title.