A real golfing classic

Jerry Anderson’s office at the Newport Beach Country Club may not be as big or opulent as you’d expect, but it fits the bill in all other respects: photos of the course, a framed press clipping from the first Toshiba Classic at the club, clubs propped up by the door.

Ask around the Toshiba, and people uniformly will say Anderson fits the bill too.

“He’s just as good as they get,” tournament chairman Hank Alder said of Anderson, the country club’s president and chief operating officer.

Added volunteer chairman Ira Garbutt: “Jerry has been a friend of this tournament. You couldn’t ask for a better guy. He’s a real pro.”

Anderson, in his 20th year at the country club, is retiring at the end of the month, once this year’s Toshiba Classic ? which begins this morning with a 7:30 a.m. tee off ? is in the history books.

During those years, he’s seen a lot of golf history, enough to make the grin on his face broaden into a cheeky smile as he recalls it all.

“The moments are unbelievable,” he said Thursday evening after playing a round in the tournament’s Classic Pro-Am. He mentions the 1997 nine-hole playoff between Jay Siegel and winner Bob Murphy; the infamous 1998 rake incident at the 17th hole when victor Hale Irwin’s tee shot was kept out of the water; the playoff in 2001 between Gil Morgan and eventual winner Jose Maria Canizares; and the lengthy 1999 playoff between winner Gary McCord and John Jacobs.

And then there was last year’s eagle finish on the final hole by winner Mark Johnson.

“We’ve had so many special finishes,” Anderson said.

Those finishes wouldn’t have been possible, he’s quick to say, had club owner Beverly Ray not jumped at the chance to go after the tournament when organizers were considering changing locations in the mid-1990s.

Anderson acknowledges that the decision may not have excited too many club members at first, but that attitude has changed.

“Now they all look at it as something that brought a lot of pride to the community,” he said.

It’s also improved the club.

“It’s something that makes the club special,” Anderson said, noting that the course has improved over the decade since the tournament started at Newport Beach in 1996.

The community too has improved ? with the tournament raising $7.8 million, mainly for Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

“The community has really embraced this tournament,” said Anderson, who has worked at two country clubs during the past 44 years. “We couldn’t be more proud of our association with Hoag.”

And Anderson has been accommodating with his hand-picked successor, Perry Dickey, who will become vice president and general manager and has been working at the club since Feb. 13.

“He’s been a tremendous mentor,” said Dickey, who last worked as general manager and director of golf at the PGA Tournament Players Club at Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fla., and spent 12 years at Huntington Beach’s SeaCliff Country Club.

Anderson was effusive in his praise for Dickey:

“He understands country clubs. He’s excited. It’s going to get a lot better ? no question,” Anderson said.

Dickey said he intends to preserve the service quality for members and is anxious to work with the Toshiba Classic.

Anderson, who’s going to remain a member of the club, expects to have some sort of role in next year’s Toshiba Classic. It’ll just be a little smaller.

“The thing I’ll miss most is the association with the people,” he said, emphasizing that it’s his job to make members’ days better. “It’s been a totally great experience for me.”dpt.17-toshiba-anderson-CPhotoInfoJU1P1V0F20060317iw8z2xknKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Jerry Anderson is the president and of the Newport Beach Country Club, home of the annual Toshiba Classic.