The first half of 2013 has been nothing if not eventful for local players competing on the major golf tours around the world.
Four players with strong Colorado ties have won significant tour events in the first six months of the year, one leads a 2013 tour money list, and one competed on Golf Channel’s “Big Break” series.
One Colorado Golf Hall of Famer returned to the LPGA Tour after a two-year absence, and another lost his fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour.
In short, “locals” have crammed a year’s worth of notable events into six months.
Here’s the rundown:
— Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird ended a two-year PGA Tour victory drought by shooting a course-record-tying 63 in the final round of the Valero Texas Open, where he overcame runner-up Rory McIlroy. It was the third PGA Tour win of Laird’s career.
The Scotsman, who later finished in the top five at The Players Championship for the second consecutive year, stands 23rd on the 2013 PGA Tour money list.
— Evergreen resident Craig Stadler (pictured), in the same month he turned 60, won his first Champions Tour event in eight years and nine months when he prevailed in the Encompass Championship last month.
The former Masters champion won three times in 2003 and five times in 2004 on the Champions Tour, but hadn’t hit pay-dirt again until this year. His feat marks the longest time between victories in Champions Tour history.
— Former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo has had a stellar rookie season on the Champions Tour, capped by a victory in the Insperity Championship, where the native of Mexico prevailed in a three-man playoff on Cinco de Mayo.
With five top-10 finishes — and eight top-20s — Toledo sits seventh on the 2013 Champions Tour money list.
— Former University of Denver golfer Sue Kim likewise won a playoff for her victory this year. The Canadian posted her win last month in the Symetra Tour’s Decatur-Forsyth Classic.
Kim, who is conditionally exempt on the LPGA Tour, leads the Symetra Tour money list in 2013. She’s posted three top-three finishes this year.
— Former University of Colorado golfer Emily Talley was picked to compete in this year’s Golf Channel “Big Break Mexico”, which featured 12 professionals vying in various skills challenges for the right to play in a PGA or LPGA Tour event, plus other prizes.
But Talley, who competes on the Symetra Tour, was one of the first players eliminated from the show. At 22, she was the youngest Big Break competitor this year.
— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill has won $2.34 million in her LPGA Tour career but hadn’t competed on the circuit in two years. That changed in May when she placed 61st in the Bahamas LPGA Classic. McGill, winner of two USGA amateur championships, has played in three LPGA events so far this year, and is entered in this week’s Manulife Financial LPGA Classic.
— Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Brandt Jobe, lost his fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour in May. As part of his major medical extension, he needed to earn at least $303,178 in his first 10 Tour events of the year to keep his full status.
Jobe missed that mark, and now he’s relying on veteran members’ status and sponsor exemptions to get into tournaments.
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