One tournament will go by the wayside, others will be renamed, and one will be retooled slightly, according to the CGA’s recently-released 2016 championship schedule.
Gone, after a run of just four years, is the CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play, which was won twice by Michael Harrington of Colorado Springs. Filling the 24-man field with the top mid-amateur players proved difficult, so the CGA opted to discontinue the championship, which was limited to players 25 and older.
Meanwhile, two longstanding CGA championships will undergo name changes. What had been the CGA Stroke Play will become the CGA Amateur. And what was the CGA Senior Stroke Play will become the CGA Senior Amateur.
The CGA tournament committee wanted to designate major championships in three divisions — open-age, mid-amateur and seniors — which led to the decision, said Dustin Jensen, managing director of operations for the CGA. Those CGA majors going forward will be the CGA Amateur, the CGA Mid-Amateur and the CGA Senior Amateur.
The CGA Amateur, set to be played for the 80th consecutive year in 2016, is set for Aug. 4-7 at Boulder Country Club. The 30th Mid-Am will be Sept. 23-25 at Saddle Rock Golf Course in Aurora. And the Senior Amateur will be contested for the 45th time Sept. 6-8 at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden.
It should be noted that the CGA Match Play, the association’s oldest championship, will continue its long run, having been held every year since 1901. In 2016 it will be played a little earlier than normal, June 20-24 at Lone Tree Golf Club.
Also still intact is the CGA Senior Match Play, which dates back to 1970. Next year it will be May 23-26 at The Fox Hill Club in Longmont. One tweak is that the Super-Senior Match Play will be the same dates but at a different site, West Woods Golf Club in Arvada.
One championship that will be tweaked is what was previously known as the CGA Father/Son. The tournament will become the CGA Parent/Child and will be open not only to teams including father/sons, but to father/daughters, mother/sons and mother/daughters. In 2016 the Parent/Child is set for June 4-5 at Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club in Steamboat Springs.
In addition, CGA leadership set up the 2016 championship schedule — along with those in 2017 and ’18 — so as to avoid date conflicts with USGA championships, which has been an issue on occasion in the past.
To view all the dates and sites for CGA championships and USGA qualifiers for 2016, CLICK HERE.
As for the big changes in the works for the 2016 junior golf schedule, CLICK HERE.
