On a day when most of the best scores in the HealthOne Colorado Open were shot by golfers from out of state, Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch was dressed like a local favorite, in a Bronco orange shirt.
“It was at the top of my laundry,” the former University of Colorado golfer said with a chuckle.
Whatever the case, the 23-year-old was stylin’ Thursday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, shooting a 6-under-par 65 that was good for a share of the lead after the first round of the Open.
Eight of the top 10 scores Thursday were posted by out-of-state players, but Rob Hunt, an assistant pro at The Links Golf Course in Highlands Ranch, joined Tolan in leading the Colorado contingent. Hunt, winner of the 2008 FCA Denver Open, fired a 66 to share third place.
Sharing the top spot on the leaderboard was Aaron Goldberg of San Diego, a Canadian Tour player and 2008 graduate of San Diego State. Goldberg, the son of two CU graduates, eagled a par-4 (No. 4, with a 30-foot putt) en route to a 65 — one of the 30 sub-70 scores of the day.
Chris Kamin of Phoenix backed up the course-record round of 61 he shot in Wednesday’s pro-am with a 66 on Thursday, joining Hunt and Vince Jewell of Wylie, Texas, at that figure.
Players who reside outside Colorado have won three of the last four Opens, though Arizonans John Douma and Brian Guetz grew up locally. Tolan, Hunt and countless others would like to be the one to keep the 2009 Colorado Open trophy in the state.
Tolan certainly has been playing good enough golf of late. Since turning pro less than two months ago, he’s won the San Juan Open and now is in contention to claim the biggest title of his outstanding career.
“It feels good to be a pro — so natural,” the 23-year-old said. “It feels like this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Things certainly came naturally on Thursday, when he posted an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys in near-perfect scoring conditions. The eagle came at the 639-yard 18th hole — Tolan’s ninth — where a 3-wood approach finished just 5 feet from the cup.
Tolan’s amateur career was full of highlights — qualifying for 10 USGA championships including the 2002 U.S. Open as a 16-year-old, two college victories as a CU senior last season, the 2008 CGA Publinks title and the San Juan win last month — but he feels he’s ready for a different level of achievement. In other words, a Colorado Open championship.
“Without a doubt,” he said. “If I expect to win at other levels, I’ve got to win at this level. No matter who is in the field, I’ve got to do what I’m capable of doing. I’ve done some pretty big stuff in my life, so knowing what I can do helps.”
Hunt, 30, hasn’t been playing a lot of tournament golf recently — at least not of the multi-round variety — but he certainly looked solid in a bogey-free round on Thursday.
“I haven’t played a lot in the last month and a half; I’ve been real busy,” he said. “So I didn’t have any expectations. But it turned out all right. We caught a break with the weather — it was perfect, which is rare for the afternoon. I’m very pleased. That’s a good way to start.”
Goldberg, 24, had never seen the Green Valley Ranch course before Tuesday, making his first-round 65 all the more impressive.
“It was a good start, but I haven’t accomplished anything yet,” said Goldberg, the stroke-play medalist in last year’s U.S. Publinks at Murphy Creek in Aurora.
Kamin, winner of five Gateway Tour events in his career, managed his second straight stellar round at Green Valley Ranch.
“Fifteen under par — I wish I had that (for the first two rounds of the tournament),” Kamin said. “(Wednesday) was a great round, and it’s hard to shoot another 61 (the course record by two shots), but I took what I could get.”
LOST AND FOUND: Tom Glissmeyer of Colorado Springs, one of the pre-tournament favorites, called Thursday’s round of even-par 71 the worst he’s played in two months. No doubt that feeling was influenced by what happened on the par-4 12th hole.
There, Glissmeyer hit what he thought was a good drive, but he and other people couldn’t find the ball during a five-minute search. He abandoned the first ball, took a stroke-and-distance penalty and re-teed. On the way to the green, Glissmeyer spotted his first ball in a bunker much closer to the green than the area that previously had been search. Alas, at that point it was too late, and he made a double bogey instead of a possible birdie or par.
THRIVING WHEN HEALTHY: Two former PGA Tour players who have battled injuries and illness in recent years are in contention at Green Valley Ranch. Brian Kortan of Albuquerque, who survived a “widow-maker” heart attack in 2006 as a 35-year-old, shot a 4-under-par 67 Thursday. At that same score is Boyd Summerhays of Farmington, Utah, who in recent years has overcome a bad back, bad hip, broken finger and broken foot.
Both players competed on the PGA Tour beginning in 2004, with Summerhays”˜ stint being very injury-plagued.
“Three years being injured can get pretty frustrating,” said the 30-year-old Summerhays, who broke his foot when plates fell on it, and his finger while playing basketball. “I feel like I’ve weathered the storm a little. The biggest hurdle is having your body feel good.”
Neither Summerhays nor Kortan are strangers to being in contention at the Colorado Open. Kortan has finished in the top eight seven times in the last 17 years, including second twice and third twice. Summerhays lost in a four-way playoff in last year’s Open, and won the 2003 Denver Open at Green Valley Ranch.
“I’m comfortable at altitude,” Kortan said. “I’ve won all over the country, but I can be playing good and come here and play great, and I can be playing terrible and come here and play great.”
COLORADO OPEN CHIP SHOTS: Former CU golfer Kenny Coakley was 5 under par through six holes on Thursday, but shot a 1-under 70. “¦ Charlie Beljan of Mesa, Ariz., who has qualified for the last two U.S. Opens, hit drives “literally” 50 yards over the greens of two par-4s on Thursday — the 326-yard fourth hole and the 346-yard 14th hole. “The golf ball really travels here,” he said.
