Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton will be recognized this weekend at the CWGA Annual Meeting as the association’s Senior Player of the Year for 2016, but she won’t be on hand to accept the award for the seventh time in the last eight years.
You see, Eaton has a previous engagement.
Thanks to a special invitation she received based on her play in the last year and being the Arizona Women’s Golf Association Senior Player of the Year, Eaton will be teeing it up with the likes of Juli Inkster, Betsy King, Patty Sheehan, Pat Bradley, Amy Alcott and Hollis Stacy.
Eaton will be one of just two amateurs in the field — along with Kelly Loeb — for the Walgreens Charity Classic, the 2017 opener for the Legends Tour, the official senior tour of the LPGA. The tournament, limited to players 45 and older, is set for Saturday and Sunday (March 4-5) in Sun City West, Ariz. Former CWGA executive director Robin Jervey manages operations for the Legends Tour.
Eaton said it will be her first time competing on the Legends Tour. She tried qualifying for the Arizona stop last year but came up one stroke short.
Eaton, a four-time quarterfinalist at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, last fall was named one of the top 11 women’s senior amateurs in the world by Global Golf Post.
(March 5 Update: Eaton finished 21st out of 47 players in the Walgreens Charity Classic field. She posted rounds of 74-73 for a 3-over-par 147 total, ending up 15 strokes behind Inkster, who won the tournament for the second straight year.)
