The 2013 Champions Tour season comes to a close this week at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in San Francisco. And what a season it has been for golfers with strong Colorado connections.
There have been 25 Champions events contested so far this year, and five have been won by players who live in Colorado now or have been a resident within the last decade.
And, besides that 1-in-5 success rate, one of the victories came in a Champions Tour major, by Aurora resident Mark Wiebe (pictured above) in the Senior British Open.
Before this year, the last time a longtime Coloradan had won a Champions major was in 2004, when Boulder High School and University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin prevailed in the Senior PGA Championship and Colorado resident Craig Stadler captured the title in The Tradition. (Mike Reid won two majors in the interim, but he lived in Colorado for just over a year, attending high school at Cherry Creek during that time.)
The real success in 2013 came from the three players who qualified for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship by finishing in the top 30 on the season-long money list: Wiebe, Stadler and former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo.
Wiebe and Toledo won twice each this year, while Stadler captured his first title since 2004.
Here’s a brief rundown on their accomplishments and those of other “locals” on the 2013 Champions Tour:
— Aurora resident Mark Wiebe: In the course of eight weeks from late July to late September, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer won twice, giving him five victories in his six years on the Champions circuit.
In both cases, Wiebe’s victories came in playoffs over golfers who have won majors on the PGA Tour. After battling knee and elbow problems in recent years, he outdueled Bernhard Langer over five holes of sudden death to claim the Senior British Open title. In the wake of his biggest victory, Wiebe tweeted about receiving a congratulatory letter from Arnold Palmer and a heartfelt voicemail from Gary Player.
In September, Wiebe won another playoff — this time against Corey Pavin — to claim the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship.
The amazing thing about Wiebe’s performance in 2013 is that he’s posted just two top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour, and both have been victories. Wiebe stands 22nd on the season-long money list, marking his sixth straight year of placing in the top 30.
— Former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo (pictured at left): Toledo has made his first full season on the Champions circuit one to remember. Last November he earned his Tour card by finishing fourth in the final stage of qualifying school. Then on Cinco de Mayo, the native of Mexico won his first Champions Tour title by prevailing in a three-way playoff at the Insperity Championship. And last month he won another playoff to claim the title in the Montreal Championship.
Overall, Toledo has been a force on the 2013 tour, recording nine top-10 finishes and winning more than $1.2 million, good for 11th place on this year’s money list.
— Evergreen resident Craig Stadler (pictured below): The former Masters champ resurrected his career when it seemed unlikely that he would ever win again. When Stadler earned the Encompass Championship title in June — the month he turned 60 — he set a Champions Tour record for most time between victories (roughly 8 years and 9 months). Stadler won three times in 2003 and five times in 2004, but when the spigot was turned off, it was closed completely. Then he went 171 starts unless notching his next victory.
Before this year, Stadler hadn’t recorded a top-five finish on the Champions Tour since 2009. He goes into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 27th place on the 2013 money list.
— Elsewhere: Irwin, owner of the most Champions Tour titles in history (45), posted one top-10 finish in 2013. The 68-year-old winner of three U.S. Opens shot a 64 — four strokes under his age — at the Shaw Charity Classic on Sept. 1, marking his best Champions Tour score since 2007. … Irwin finished the year 73rd on the 2013 money list. Gary Hallberg of Castle Rock was 43rd, former CU golfer Steve Jones was 74th and Colorado Springs native R.W. Eaks was 106th.
