Golf: Senior pro makes the cut

Richard Dunn

Former Newport-based golf instructor Ray Carrasco, a member of the

Senior PGA Tour and European Senior Tour, was not only free to play in

the second annual Holiday Invitational Pro-Am at Newport Beach Golf

Course, but he shot 3-under-par 56 to finish second Thursday among two

dozen senior pros.

“Yes, I was lucky to be able to play, because (Wednesday) I had jury

duty,” said Carrasco, also a pro at Strawberry Farms Golf Club.

“I went, I showed up and told them of the situation with my daughter,

who’s in town for only a week. She’s in school in England and I haven’t

seen her in three months, and I won’t see her for another three or four

months. They were understanding and let me go, and (Thursday) I shot

3-under.”

Prior to Carrasco’s early-morning Santa Ana Civic Center appointment,

the jury duty rookie was told by a friend to “wear a bow tie and they

won’t pick you,” but Carrasco didn’t need to go there.

The Holiday Invitational Pro-Am is a small event for senior pros,

directed by Newport Beach Golf Course starter Keith Wyrick, also the

course-record holder at 49. The event benefits a boy and a girl with

cystic fibrosis.

Former club pro Bruce Fleisher, the leading money winner on the Senior

PGA Tour in his rookie year 1999, enjoyed another big year in 2000.

But, last week at the Hyundai Team Matches at Pelican Hill Golf Club,

Fleisher called himself “just a journeyman” before striking it rich on

the Senior Tour with over $4.8 million in two years.

However, a club pro’s life isn’t all that bad.

“If you’re in the right situation, and, like at certain country clubs,

you might want to stay there (and never attempt to play on the senior

circuit), because it’s a great life,” Fleisher said. “You get home early

and you can be with your family. It’s a nice routine and a nice life.”

Fleisher, though, doesn’t mind his current weekend routines.

The eighth annual Estancia High Eagle Golf Classic is Jan. 15 at Costa

Mesa Golf & Country Club with the first tee time at 9 a.m.

The event is an important fund-raiser for the Estancia Athletic

Department. Cost per player is $95 ($360 per foursome), which includes

green fees, cart, dinner and prizes. Details: (949) 951-5435.