Jones Cup: Shady Canyon settles for second

Shady Canyon Golf Club is not one to skimp on drama when it comes to competing for a Jones Cup title.

Two years ago and on its home course in Irvine, Shady Canyon edged Big Canyon Country Club in a playoff, sinking two birdies to seal its first Jones Cup championship.

But on Wednesday at Newport Beach Country Club in the 17th rendition of a tournament pitting members and golf professionals from five area clubs against one another in a two-best-ball format, Shady Canyon found itself on the other end of a playoff.

Mesa Verde Country Club’s senior champion Mitch Allenspach and men’s champion Ryan Gale both rolled in birdie putts on the par-five 18th hole to give the Costa Mesa club its fifth Jones Cup title.

Shady Canyon had two birdie attempts to extend the playoff, but senior champion Greg Palmer, who caught fire on the back nine with three birdies in his first Jones Cup appearance, missed a 12-foot putt by inches to the left.

Shady finished 11-under-par.

“It’s a pity the way it ended, but someone has to win and someone has to lose,” Shady Canyon Director of Golf Brian Gunson said. “Thank goodness there was not a $1.2 million check [as the purse] at the end of the rainbow.”

Gunson led Shady Canyon with five birdies, exhibiting a deft touch with the putter on what several teammates called fast greens. Men’s champion Eoin Middaugh, like Palmer, tallied three birdies while women’s champion Kelly Ly had one birdie.

Head professional Kirk Manley contributed some key pars, including on the 18th, on which Shady needed a birdie to tie Mesa Verde, which had already finished at 11-under.

Middaugh gave Shady the birdie it needed by knocking his 104-yard approach shot within 10 feet and subsequently sinking the downhill putt.

Three holes prior on the par-five, 15th, Middaugh, who played collegiate golf at Washington State, did some nifty scrambling to earn a birdie. Middaugh hit his third shot over a greenside bunker and eventually sank a 12-foot putt.

Shady Canyon golfers rarely found themselves in trouble off the tee, but when they did, they often recovered.

On the tricky uphill par-four seventh hole, Gunson made up for a wayward tee shot that found the right rough with a stellar approach shot. With a wedge, Gunson flew his second shot over an impeding tree and onto a severely sloping green.

He promptly rolled in the 20-foot putt, capping, as he did many of his birdies, with a modest fist pump.

Shady Canyon kept pace with Mesa Verde on the front nine with birdies on four of the final five holes before the turn. The tournament was essentially a three-team race with Big Canyon within striking distance followed by Newport Beach and Santa Ana country clubs.

Ly earned her birdie on the par-three eighth hole, sticking a five-iron within two feet, just missing a chance at winning a new Mercedes as the prize for a hole-in-one.

On the back nine, Palmer followed Middaugh’s birdie at the 15th hole with some heroics at the difficult par-four 16th.

Palmer hit a seven-iron to 10 feet and used some extra muscle to roll in the birdie putt. The ball hit the back of the cup, rose a few inches and dropped in.

Palmer dropped his putter and did a little dance to the cheers of his teammates.

“I didn’t want to leave it short,” he said.

Gunson praised the efforts of his teammates, whom he said took the pressure off throughout the round.

“We kept momentum going from the start,” Gunson said. “We hit great putts at the right time.”

Mesa Verde just made a few more at the end.