Tea Cup Classic: All is bright in Tea Cup Classic V

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - It was definitely all bright Friday in Newport

Beach -- as in Debbie Albright.

Playing the Newport Beach Country Club fairways and greens like a true

women’s club champion, Albright showed a grateful and loyal gallery of an

estimated 250 at Tea Cup Classic V how to play her home golf course.

The others in her foursome -- Mesa Verde Country Club’s Denise

Woodard, Big Canyon Country Club’s Olivia Slutzky and three-time

defending Tea Cup champion Marianne Towersey of Santa Ana Country Club --

trailed Albright in the final 13 holes as the vivacious blond and

six-time Newport Beach champion captured the prestigious perpetual Tea

Cup Classic trophy for her club.

But, while Albright enjoyed a four-stroke lead in the last four holes

in the locally famous Tea Cup Classic, it wasn’t easy at the end.

On 18, Albright hit into a bunker on the left side of the fairway, but

stayed in the sand after her second shot with a 9-wood. Instead of

unraveling, Albright “just focused on a good tempo to get out (with a

6-iron)” and survived her most difficult moment of the day.

With Slutzky and Towersey breathing down her neck, and battling for

second place, Albright maintained her poise and settled for bogey at 18.

She won by two strokes.

“I’m so excited, I can’t stand it,” said Albright, who has played in

all five Tea Cup Classics, but this time carried away the glass cup,

finishing at 6-over-par 78.

“It was like survival out there,” added Albright, who made five

consecutive pars on the back nine (12 through 16). “It’s great (to win).

It’s so exciting. It’s a fun day whether you finish first or last. But it

was fun to play well.”

Albright was second in the inaugural Tea Cup Classic to Big Canyon’s

Selby Schriber in 1997, then finished as the bridesmaid twice more,

including last year’s playoff against Towersey.

Albright, who won an Orange County golf publication title last year

for all of the women’s club champions in the county, was swarmed

afterward by friends and family, including her husband, Jock, and

children Katie and Charlie, who know more than anyone how much winning

Tea Cup Classic V meant to their mother on her home course.

“They’re all great golfers (in the Tea Cup),” Albright said. “You have

to be on your game out there.”

Albright, a 1-handicap golfer who consistently breaks 80 at Newport

Beach, made three pars in a row on holes 3 through 5 to take a one-stroke

lead, an advantage she never relinquished.

On the par-4 No. 5, the course’s No. 1 handicap hole and usually the

toughest hole for members of the Senior PGA Tour in the annual Toshiba

Senior Classic, Albright hit the green in two, then came up just short on

a downhill 25-foot birdie attempt, leaving an easy par.

Albright’s lead increased at the par-3 No. 8, when she made par and

Towersey bogeyed. Woodard drained a 30-foot birdie putt on 8 to get back

in the hunt.

To start the back nine, Slutzky began her move, making three straight

pars to pull into second place, two strokes off Albright’s pace.

But Albright got her lead back to three on the par-3 No. 13 as

Towersey and Slutzky bogeyed and she made par. Albright’s tee shot landed

on the edge of the left rough, 12 feet from the flag. She chipped up

close and sank her par putt.

Albright went up by four strokes at the par-4 No. 14, where Towersey

also took over second place. Towersey eventually won the runner-up battle

against Slutzky by making birdie at 18.

“It would’ve been great to finish second for my ego, but she’s great,”

Slutzky said of Towersey, who has won 17 of the last 20 women’s club

championships at Santa Ana Country Club and is tied for the all-time lead

in the Newport-Mesa community for club titles (men or women) with Dee Dee

White of Newport Beach.

Towersey, who finished at 80, made two of the three birdies in Tea Cup

Classic V on 2 and 18.

“It’s been a tough three weeks and I think today it kind of showed,”

said Towersey, whose mother, four-time Santa Ana champion Pat Cox,

underwent major surgery recently. “I felt I was going through the motions

... Debbie’s a great champion. She played well enough to win. She pulled

it out. I’m happy for her. But I’ll be back.”

The spirited Woodard, who has won six straight Mesa Verde titles, shot

5-over 40 on the front nine to remain in the heat of contention. Albright

carded a 38 at the turn, followed by Towersey and Woodard at 40 and

Slutzky at 42.

“I’m playing better than ever this year,” said Woodard, who has bagged

her “softball swing” and lowered her handicap from 9 to 4.

Slutzky, a Tea Cup Classic newcomer, felt the pressure of a large

gallery early in the round, but settled down and found her groove.

“Even when I didn’t hit great tee shots (on the back nine), I felt I

scrambled,” said Slutzky, who ended with four straight pars and was happy

shooting 3-over 39 on the back nine.