ORANGE COUNTY GOLF NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK and STEVE KRESAL : Senior Tour Event Is Certain; Location Isn’t

This much is certain, says PGA Senior Tour official Ric Clarson, there will be a Senior Tour event in Orange County next March. However, Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa, site of the inaugural Toshiba Senior Classic this year, appears to be out of the running.

Alternate sites, including Coto de Caza and Newport Beach country clubs, are being explored, but Clarson declined to elaborate beyond saying, “Where it is going to be played has yet to be determined. There is a chance it might be moved from Mesa Verde.”

The 1996 Senior Tour schedule is expected to be released July 10, but Clarson said he didn’t know whether tournament sites would be included. He said he expects Orange County’s event to have a home within 30 days.

“If the tournament is moved it should not be viewed as a negative for Mesa Verde,” Clarson said. “It was a fun tournament for the players. It would be moved more for the business side than the performance side, because the course performed well.”

Mike Mitzel, director of golf at Coto de Caza, said there have been preliminary discussions about holding the event at his club, but many details would have to be worked out. Lack of parking, a problem at the Mesa Verde event, would still be an obstacle. So would the distance to hotels; there is only one within eight miles of Coto de Caza.

“Right now, there’s as much chance of us hosting the event as Rancho San Joaquin,” Mitzel said. “You never know what might happen.”

Officials from Mesa Verde and Newport Beach country clubs did not return phone calls.

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Michael Uptegraff of Irvine, the current club champion at Marbella, recently turned pro will be playing in the U.S. Senior Open, which starts Thursday at Congressional in Bethesda, Md.

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Tough field: Fullerton’s Jenny Lee failed to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open Monday at Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, N.J., but there were no amateurs among the 28 qualifiers.

Lee, who will be a freshman at Texas this fall, was attempting to qualify in New Jersey because she recently finished playing in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championship Saturday in Colts Neck, N.J. Unfortunately for her, the LPGA also completed a tournament in the state Sunday, making the Atlantic City course the pros’ natural choice.

Saturday at the U.S. Public Links tournament, Lee lost in the quarterfinals of match play to eventual champion Jo Jo Robertson on the 20th hole.

Monday, she shot 78. The cut was 71 with a playoff for the final three spots among those at 72.

Among the LPGA professionals to qualify in New Jersey were three with Orange County connections: Cypress High graduate Amy Fruhwirth (67), San Clemente resident Sharon Barrett (70) and Laguna Beach resident Sandra Palmer (71).

The U.S. Women’s Open starts July 13 at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colo.

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Good cause: More than 20 Southern California golf courses and ranges have raised $27,984 to help the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The facilities, including Cypress Golf Club, Pelican Hill and Tustin Ranch in Orange County, raised the money last month during Memorial Day weekend.

The funds were donated to The Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund, which assists victims’ families.

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Look East: Few places in Southern California offer as much for your golfing dollar as the Moreno Valley Ranch course. It’s located in Moreno Valley, about 40 miles from Disneyland.

Cost is $38 Monday through Friday, $53 on weekends and holidays for 18 holes (including a cart) on the Pete Dye-designed course, which has three distinctive nines.

The course earned immediate praise from Golf Digest when it opened in 1988. The magazine selected it as the fifth-best public course built that year.

The best known and most difficult section of the course is the Mountain nine. Accuracy is of far greater value than distance. The at-times narrow nine measures 3,123 yards from the championship tees and 2,878 from the regular tees. Most holes are tight on the left side but open on the right.

There is one more set of tees behind the championship tees that reach 3,333, but only players with single digit handicaps are permitted to play from them.

The second hole, a 374-yard par four with three large fairway sand traps, is pictured on the scorecard.

But the most challenging tee shot comes on the seventh, a par three that is 165 yards from the championship tee.

The hole, which plays slightly downhill, offers a nice mix of trepidation and exhilaration. Set on the top of a rocky hill that overlooks the valley, players face outcroppings of rocks in front and in back of the green. A normally stiff afternoon cross breeze can increase one’s pulse rate.

To be fair, the green is large and there’s about 15 to 20 yards of thick rough to the left of the green. The right side offers no such haven. The only thing beyond the edge of the green is a hillside of rocks and scrub brush along with a few signs warning of rattlesnakes.

The Lake nine measures 3,282 yards from the championship tees and is named for the lake that sits in front of the seventh hole. It’s the widest and the easiest of the nines.

The Valley nine also has a lake that comes into play on five holes. It is the longest--3,215 yards.

The course played host to a Nike Tour event this year and some of the rough remains.

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County Drives

Here’s a look at the features that make one golf hole in Orange County stand out:

* Course: Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course

* Hole: No. 5

* Yardage: Blue, 525; White; 421; Red, 421

* Description: This downhill par 5 is virtually unreachable in two shots when played from the blue tee box. Even if you it your drive beyond the bunker in the fairway about 250 yards out, you are still left with about 250 yards, the last 75 or so over a lake. The second shot is crucial, the landing area between the lakes on either side of the fairway is about 50 yards wide.

* Hint: No matter the pin placement, aim for the middle of the green on your approach.

“If the ball lands just a bit short of the green, it will roll back into the water. It happens every time. It’s a nightmare.”

--Ken Wertzberger, assistant professional