The 1967 PGA Championship, held at Columbine Country Club, proved to be the little engine that could.

A half-century ago this year, this Grand Slam event overcame multiple major hurdles to finally become a reality. To this day, it remains one of just six men’s major championships ever to be held in Colorado — and the only one at a course other than Cherry Hills Country Club, which has hosted three U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships.

Specifically, the ’67 PGA came to fruition despite a flood of the South Platte River that postponed the Championship in Colorado a year, a potential player boycott, an ill-timed major hailstorm, and being held a week after the British Open, which made for a very rough travel schedule over the course of two weeks.

Suffice it to say that the road to the 49th PGA Championship included a lot of hairpin turns.

“Until two weeks before the start of the tournament, it looked as if the 1967 PGA was destined to go down in history as the Snakebit Open,” Sports Illustrated’s Alfred Wright wrote in the July 31, 1967 issue. 

When Don January (pictured with trophy) defeated fellow Texan Don Massengale in a playoff to win the only major championship of his career, it concluded a 25-month odyssey for the tournament.

First, there was the flash flood of June 16, 1965, with the South Platte, which directly borders the course at several junctures, laying waste to much of Columbine Country Club, which was scheduled to host the 1966 PGA. Roughly 25 homes at Columbine were either destroyed or severely damaged, and overall, the town of Columbine Valley suffered an estimated $2 million in financial loss.

“At one point, a third of the golf course was, in effect, the bottom of a lake,” SI noted. “When it emerged two days later, two holes had disappeared. So had some $35,000 worth of face-lifting. In September, Tournament Chairman (Everett) Collier, the gregarious businessman-golfer who had launched Columbine 11 years earlier and had brought the championship to his new club, invited 500 eager citizens for a kickoff dinner. The kickoff turned out to be more like a touchback. Former Colorado Governor Dan Thornton arose to announce that there was no chance to rebuild the course in time for a tournament only 10 months away.”

Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, was set to host the 1967 PGA, but with Columbine’s situation, PGA Championship director J. Edwin Carter convinced officials from the Ohio club to switch years and give Columbine an extra 12 months to recover from the flood.

In that recovery period, $90,000 was spent on getting the Columbine course back up to snuff for a major championship, with some strategically-placed fairway bunkers and trees being added to the Henry Hughes layout.

Then it was player unrest that threatened the championship. In 1967, we were still a year away from the professional golf separation of what is now known as the PGA Tour from the PGA of America. The latter still owns and operates the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup, among other championships. But in ’67, there was ongoing unrest between touring professionals and PGA of America leadership. Since the Masters in April, the touring pros had been threatening to boycott the PGA Championship. The situation was dire enough that PGA of America president Max Elbin was calling “aging” former PGA Champions in the hopes that they would compete at Columbine if the boycott came to fruition.

Despite no resolution to the touring pros’ ongoing grievances, they voted in early July to play at Columbine. The ’67 PGA had dodged another bullet.

But not the last …

Not long after the player vote, a major storm hit Columbine, with hailstones the size of golf balls pock-marking the greens. Fortunately, a rainy stretch helped the course recover — just in time for the championship, which was contested July 20-24, including the playoff day.

Then there was the problematic schedule, with players competing in major championships in Liverpool, England and Columbine Valley, Colorado, in back-to-back weeks.

“This is the toughest time I’ve ever had adjusting to the time change,” 1967 U.S. Open champion Jack Nicklaus said at Columbine. “Then there is the altitude and the heat. I don’t have any zip, and I’ve never slept worse in my life.”

Oh, yes. Then there was a heat issue. High temperatures were in the 90-degree range, with largely cloudless skies and the altitude taking a toll on several players. Dan Sikes, who would lead after 54 holes, almost collapsed on the 13th hole in round 2 and didn’t feel up to participating in an expected post-round press conference. Playing partner Al Geiberger, the defending champion, almost fell over while teeing up his ball on No. 17 on Friday and hit it out of bounds.

“This should be a fall tournament — something to wind up the tournament year,” Nicklaus said. “Then it would have some meaning. Until they do that, it is just another stop on the summer tour.”

Given the temperatures, perhaps it wasn’t surprising that two Texans were left to battle it out in a playoff after finishing regulation at 7-under-par 281. Coincidentally, the playoff was one of just two of the 18-hole variety in PGA Championship history — the tournament was a match play affair through 1957, then went to sudden-death playoffs in 1977 — and January was involved in both 90-hole competitions. He lost to Jerry Barber in round 5 in 1961 and was 0-4 in playoffs overall when he squared off with Massengale at Columbine. This time, just to get to face Massengale — who had closed with a 6-under-par 66 in the final round of regulation — January had to rally from the four-stroke deficit he encountered after 54 holes.

The Monday playoff attracted just 7,500 fans after 74,500 came out for the four days of regulation play.

January, 37, trailed Massengale by two strokes after six holes, but made five birdies in the eight-hole stretch from No. 8 through 15 to gain control. With both players posting sub-par rounds in the playoff, January prevailed 69-71. He won $25,000 out of the $148,200 purse.

“January is playing fine golf and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” Massengale said.

Here’s how the most prominent players — past and future — fared at Columbine, which played at a then-PGA record 7,436 yards, offset largely by the mile-high altitude:

— Nicklaus, who had won the ’67 U.S. Open and placed second the week before at the British Open, finished a stroke out of the playoff, in third place. The Golden Bear posted rounds of 67-75-69-71 for a 6-under-par 282 total, but battled a problematic putter. Nicklaus, of course, would go on to earn five wins in the PGA Championship. In Colorado, he notched the first and last of his USGA championship titles — at the 1959 U.S. Amateur at The Broadmoor and the 1993 U.S. Senior Open at Cherry Hills. He also finished second as an amateur at the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. (Nicklaus is pictured at left with Dave Hill during a Columbine practice round.)

— Arnold Palmer, winner of the 1960 U.S. Open, tied for 14th place in the PGA at 287 (70-71-72-74). In the third round, The King showed his integrity when his second shot on the par-4 fourth hole landed in the crowd near the green before mysteriously coming out of Arnie’s Army and rolling 6 feet from the pin. Palmer demanded to know approximately where it had landed in the crowd. He then dropped it there, pitched to the green and made par. Arnie would never win the PGA Championship, finishing second in 1964, ’68 and ’70.

— Meanwhile, Billy Casper and Ray Floyd finished 19th and 20th, respectively, at Columbine. 

Several players with significant Colorado ties made the cut at the ’67 PGA. Then-Englewood resident Hill, who called Colorado home for much of the 1960s and ’70s and went on to win a record four Colorado Opens, led after round 1 with a then-course-record 66 in which he holed out a 170-yard shot for eagle on the par-4 14th. He ended up finishing 11th at 2-under-par 286. (As it turned out, Hill’s course record lasted only a day as Tommy Aaron fired a 65 in round 2, carding 10 3s and needing just 24 putts.)

Bill Bisdorf, winner of three of the first four Colorado Opens in the mid-1960s, tied Floyd for 20th place at 289. Fred Wampler, the head professional at Denver Country Club at the time, placed 38th. Dale Douglass, now a Colorado Sports Hall of Famer, came in 44th. Davis Love Jr., twice a winner of the CGA Junior Match Play and at the time father to a 3-year-old Davis Love III, finished 55th. Dow Finsterwald, the 1958 PGA Champion who served as director of golf at The Broadmoor at the time, placed 60th.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Tony Novitsky, the longtime head professional at Columbine, missed the cut as the host pro in the ’67 PGA, carding rounds of 79-83. (Novitsky is pictured behind January in the top photo.)

As a postscript, 50 years after the eyes of the golf world were on Columbine — which was named after Colorado’s state flower — the club is taking on a fresh look. A new $20 million clubhouse is currently under construction and is tentatively expected to be completed by late September, according to head professional Bryan Heim.
 

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the sixth monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1965-74. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE.

The decade beginning in 1965 featured some new twists on major championship themes in Colorado golf.

For the first time, a Colorado venue other than Cherry Hills Country Club hosted a men’s major. And golfers who grew up in Boulder won not one but two USGA championships, including a U.S. Open, plus an NCAA title.

The PGA Championship was scheduled to be played at Columbine Country Club south of Denver in 1966, but the June 1965 flood of the South Platte River — which runs adjacent to parts of the course — caused a change of plans.

Firestone Country Club in Ohio was set to host the 1967 PGA, but with the flood damage at Columbine, the USGA swapped the years for the two venues, giving Columbine the 1967 slot.

Unlike PGAs in recent decades, the ’67 championship was played in late July. In fact, it took place the week after another major, the British Open, was contested in Liverpool, England.

The ’67 PGA was, at the time, the longest course in major championship history at 7,436 yards, though with the mile-high elevation it played significantly shorter. That year also marked the second and final 18-hole Monday playoff in PGA Championship history, with Don January (below) prevailing over Dan Massengale for his lone victory in a major. The playoff format was later changed to sudden-death, then to a three-hole aggregate. Jack Nicklaus finished a shot out of the playoff, in third place.

A couple months earlier that same year, University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin (pictured at top) started making an indelible imprint nationally as a competitive golfer. In the spring of 1967, Irwin captured college golf’s top honor by winning the NCAA Championship at Shawnee on Delaware, Pa. That same year, Irwin also prevailed at the prestigious Broadmoor Invitation.

Seven years later, after claiming his first two PGA Tour victories in the interim, Irwin would really make some noice in the tournament that would largely define his career, the U.S. Open. In a championship that became known as the “Massacre at Winged Foot,” Irwin claimed the title with a 7-over-par 287 total, giving him the first of three U.S. Open victories.

Coincidentally, another golfer who grew up in Boulder also claimed a USGA title during the first half of the 1970s. Bob Byman, who would join Irwin as a three-time winner of the CGA Stroke Play (1971-73), won the 1972 U.S. Junior Amateur as a 17-year-old, defeating Scott Simpson in the final match. That year, Byman also qualified for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he was the youngest player in the field. Byman said he won all but two or three of the roughly 15 tournaments in which he played in 1972. The next year, he won the Colorado state high school title. In 1971, Byman had become the youngest winner of the CGA Stroke Play, capturing the championship at age 16.

On the women’s side of things, 1972 was a momentous time as that’s when Colorado began a run of 16 consecutive years of hosting LPGA Tour events. The first of those events, the National Jewish Hospital Open, was held at Green Gables Country Club. Other Colorado venues were Rolling Hills, Pinehurst, Columbine, Lone Tree, Meridian and Glenmoor.

Out of the 16 tournaments held in Colorado, an amazing 12 champions are now members of the World Golf Hall of Fame: Sandra Haynie (1972 and ’74), Judy Rankin (1975), Joanne Carner (1977 and ’81), Kathy Whitworth (1978), Beth Daniel (1980 and ’82), Pat Bradley (1983 and ’85), Betsy King (1984) and Amy Alcott (1986).

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the decade from 1965-74:

— Every player who won the CGA Stroke Play championship in this 10-year period is now a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame: Irwin (1965), Bill Carey (1966), Ron Moore (1967), Les Fowler (1968), John Hamer (1969 and ’70), Bob Byman (1971 through ’73) and Gary Longfellow (1974).

— In 1965, Colorado hosted two USGA championships, the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Lakewood Country Club (won by Jean Ashley) and the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Hiwan Golf Club (won by Gail Sykes).

— Bob Dickson took a liking to the Broadmoor in the mid-1960s as he won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1966 before returning to the club the following year to capture the U.S. Amateur title. Dickson would go on to win twice on the PGA Tour. Another future PGA Tour champiuon, Grier Jones, earned the Broadmoor Invitation title in 1968.

— In 1968, Jim Haines of Denver Country Club won the national USGA Green Section Award, given to individuals who contribute significantly to golf through their work with turfgrass.

— Evergreen resident Dave Hill captured the Vardon Trophy in 1969, with a season-long scoring average of 70.34 on the PGA Tour. That same year, Hill and fellow Coloradan Dale Douglass played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

— In 1969, for the fifth time in 17 years, the Broadmoor hosted the men’s NCAA Division I golf championships.

— Carol (Sorenson) Flenniken, who won the 1960 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 1962 Women’s Western Amateur and the 1964 British Ladies Amateur, claims the first of her dozen CWGA Match Plays/Stroke Plays in 1968. She captured eight Stroke Play titles and four Match Plays.

— The CGA took on a bigger role, establishing a Course Rating and Measuring Committee in 1969 and offering handicap computation services starting in 1970.

— From 1971 through ’74, a remarkable total of 33 new courses opened up in Colorado.

— The first Colorado Cup matches, between the best amateurs and professionals in Colorado, was played in 1971, with the pros winning at Lakewood Country Club.

— The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame was founded in 1973, with Babe Zaharias, Babe Lind and Dave Hill the first class of inductees.

— The CGA and Colorado PGA hired a joint executive director in 1971, naming Jerry King to the post.

— Cherry Creek High school golfer Mike Reid won the 1971 CGA Junior Match Play. Reid would go on to win twice on the PGA Tour and two majors on the Champions Tour.

— Larry McAtee won his fourth CGA Match Play title in 1972, defeating Mark Achzinger in a 38-hole final.

— Future PGA Tour player Tom Purtzer won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1973.

— Warren Smith, the head professional at Cherry Hills Country Club, received a prestigious national honor in 1973, being named the Golf Professional of the Year by the PGA of America.

— In 1974, Coloradan Gary Longfellow became the first amateur to win the Colorado Open and the only person ever to pull off the triple crown by winning the Open and the CGA Stroke Play and Match Play in the same year.