Nice Purse, Course Attract Idle Players to O.C.

NEWPORT BEACH — Professional golf, the ultimate Darwinian sport, doesn’t have many safety nets. But the Taco Bell Newport Classic Pro-Am might qualify.

The two-day tournament, which starts today at Newport Beach Country Club, has been serving since 1975 as a nice landing area for pros not otherwise occupied.

Tom Lehman, Steve Jones, Fuzzy Zoeller and Payne Stewart, among others, appeared in the tournament before they hit the PGA Tour.

Back then, few golf fans recognized those names, and there are no household names in this field, which is mostly Nike Tour and fringe PGA Tour players. (Four LPGA Tour players, including Muffin Spencer-Devlin, are entered.)

Larry Rinker and Chip Sullivan, who were expected to play, pulled out after receiving spots in the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open. Short of that, however, the 74 professionals are happy to be here.

It’s a popular tournament among the pros. The purse is $100,000 (up by $20,000 this year). The winner gets $20,000 and each pro is guaranteed $300, and all the free Taco Bell cuisine he or she can eat.

It’s also not a bad deal for fans. Admission--and the burritos, et al--are free.

The format is stroke play. Each professional is paired with an amateur, who has paid about $5,000. Funds raised--$306,000 last year--go to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.

The tournament is on the same course as the Toshiba Senior Classic, the Senior PGA Tour’s first California event of 1997. The course has been made soggy by the recent rain, but practice rounds were played Thursday without a hitch.