Robert Polk would love to make 2009 the year of the sweeps in major CGA championships.
Steve Ziegler of Broomfield set the tone last month by becoming the first player in 24 years to win the CGA Match Play and Stroke Play in the same calendar year. And now Polk has a similar opportunity at the senior level.
The 54-year-old from Parker will head a field of 84 players when the much-acclaimed Greg Norman-designed Cornerstone Club near Montrose hosts the CGA Senior Stroke Play Wednesday through Friday (Sept. 9-11).
Back in May, Polk claimed the CGA Senior Match Play title at The Ranch Country Club in Westminster. And if he wins this week at Cornerstone, he’ll complete the first calendar-year sweep of the CGA Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play since 2002, when John Olive claimed both tournaments for the second straight year.
Asked recently if pulling off the sweep would a big deal for him, Polk said, “Oh, yeah.”
A conversation Polk had with CGA director of rules and competitions Pete Lis brought the point home.
“Steve Ziegler won both the Match Play and Stroke Play, but I hadn’t really thought about (doing the same on the senior side) until Pete said something,” Polk said. “Since then, I’ve thought about it a lot.”
In the 37 years since the Senior Stroke Play joined the Senior Match Play on the CGA schedule, only three individuals have swept both events in the same calendar year. Olive did it three times (1997, 2001 and 2002), John Golden twice (1993 and ’95) and Larry Eaton twice (1981 and ’85).
Polk, who plays out of Colorado Golf Club, has had a strong run in CGA events over the last four years, having won two Senior Stroke Plays (2005 and 2007), a Mid-Amateur (2007) and a Senior Match Play (2009). Last week, he lost in a playoff for low-amateur honors in the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open after trailing by one shot in the overall competition entering the final round.
It’s little wonder why Polk has a chance at capturing his third straight CGA Senior Player of the Year title.
The owner of a corporate travel agency, Polk is in the midst of a busy stretch of multi-day tournaments. After the Colorado Senior Open and the CGA Senior Stroke Play, on the agenda are the CGA Mid-Amateur Sept. 18-20 at River Valley Ranch in Carbondale, and the Trans-Mississippi Four-Ball Sept. 21-24 at Cherry Hills.
“There’s a lot of golf in September,” he said.
As with many of the other competitors, Polk is eager to get a look at Cornerstone. At an altitude of more than 9,200 feet, Cornerstone was named the top new private course in the country by Golf Magazine in a Jan. 1, 2009 story. In addition, Golfweek magazine ranked Cornerstone the second-best new course in the U.S.
“It’s supposed to be great,” Polk said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Polk and Steve Murphy of Black Bear Golf Club have had the corner on the market in the CGA Senior Stroke Play in recent years. Polk won it in 2005, Murphy in 2006, Polk in 2007 and Murphy in 2008. Three other former champions are in the field this week: Ronald Knapp (2004), Kelly Crone (2003) and Charlie Post (2000). Also scheduled to compete are Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore and 2007 Senior Match Play champ David Delich.
