The dawning of a new year evokes thoughts of a fresh outlook moving forward, and of unique experiences that may await us in the coming 12 months.
That’s as true in Colorado golf as it is in other respects. The year 2010 no doubt has many surprises in store, but we can already point out some new events on the horizon. Here are a half-dozen out-of-the-ordinary happenings on the Colorado golf schedule for the new year:
“¢Southern Colorado Golf Expo (March 13-14), Colorado Springs — The longtime operators of the Denver Golf Expo, Mark and Lynn Cramer, are adding a second event this year, at the Phil Long Expo Center in Colorado Springs. The Southern Colorado event will debut March 13-14, a month after the Denver Expo (Feb. 12-14).
Courses, equipment manufacturers, the state’s golf associations and many others in the industry are expected to be well represented at both Expos. It’s a good chance to gear up for the 2010 season, literally and figuratively.
“¢Senior PGA Championship (May 27-30), Colorado Golf Club in Parker — For the second time in three years — following the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor — a Champions Tour major will be contested in Colorado. Adding to the luster of the event (trophy pictured) is that three winners of majors on the PGA Tour — Fred Couples, Paul Azinger and Corey Pavin — likely will be competing in the first Champions major of their career.
“These guys are all proven players,” said Hale Irwin, the career wins leaders on the Champions Tour. “Every one of them can play.”
Other big-name contestants at Colorado Golf Club — the furthest west the Senior PGA has ever been held — are likely to include Irwin, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, Mark O’Meara, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Craig Stadler, Tom Lehman, Bob Tway, Ian Woosnam, Lanny Wadkins and Fuzzy Zoeller.
The Senior PGA will start a run of significant tournaments scheduled for Colorado. In 2011, the U.S. Women’s Open will be held at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and an NCAA men’s regional is set for Colorado National Golf Club in Erie. In 2012, Cherry Hills will host the U.S. Amateur. And in 2013, the Solheim Cup — the women’s version of the Ryder Cup — will take place at Colorado Golf Club.
“¢PGA Junior Series (June 29-July 1), Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy — The Air Force Academy just north of Colorado Springs will be one of nine stops on the PGA Junior Series, which attracts some of the best junior players in the nation.
Eisenhower has previously hosted the PGA Junior Series, but not since 2007, when Arvada’s Zahkai Brown won the boys title the same year he captured the 5A state high school championship. Kayley Kempton of Littleton claimed the girls championship at the Academy.
This year marks the 15th season of the Junior Series, which features competitions for both boys and girls. About half the contestants for the event at the Air Force Academy will reside in the area covered by the Colorado Section of the PGA. Winners will receive exemptions into the Junior PGA Championship that will be played Aug. 2-5 in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“¢Trans-Mississippi Championship (July 12-15), Denver Country Club — The Trans-Miss should attract some of the top amateur players in the country after the decision was reached to bring college golfers back into the event for the first time since 1987. For the last 23 years, the field has been limited to players 25 and older, but with the age requirement lifted, tournament officials hope to invite at least 50 college golfers.
The tournament is also being changed from a match-play event to 54 holes of individual stroke play.
The Trans-Miss leadership hopes the alterations help restore the luster of the tournament, which was won by Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw while they were still college players.
Besides having an 84-man championship division, the Trans-Miss will feature a 60-man senior division limited to players 55 and older.
“¢CGA Team Interclub tournament (season-long, with finals Sept. 25 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora) — The CGA will formally conduct this new event for the first time in 2010. It’s a season-long net match play tournament in which men’s clubs from various courses play one another until just the top two are left for the Sept. 25 final at CommonGround. The first round-robin matches will take place in May.
The CGA Team Interclub is patterned after similar events run by the Southern California Golf Association and the Golf Association of Philadelphia. In the CGA’s case, each competing men’s club will field a team of 12 golfers that can change match to match. Competitors simultaneously play net four-ball (best ball) and net singles matches. Teams are awarded two points for a win, one for a tie and zero for a loss.
“¢Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational (Sept. 27-28), Colorado National Golf Club in Erie — Division I college golf tournaments are rarely held in Colorado, but the University of Colorado is starting an invitational named for longtime CU golf coach Mark Simpson, who passed away in 2005 after battling cancer.
CU, which now calls Colorado National its home course, last hosted a Colorado-based intercollegiate tournament in 1993, the last year of the Fox Acres Invitational in Red Feather Lakes.
The Simpson Invitational will have plenty of local flavor. Teams currently scheduled to compete besides CU are Colorado State, Denver, Air Force, Northern Colorado, Wyoming, Brigham Young, East Carolina, Kansas, Louisville, New Mexico, New Mexico State and San Jose State.
