The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is doubling up on celebrations this year as the 100th anniversary of its founding coincides with the resort hosting the U.S. Senior Open at the East Course from June 28-July 1.

With that in mind, we decided to take a trip down memory lane, looking back on milestone anniversaries of big golf tournaments held in Colorado or of feats accomplished by local golfers. In other words, things that happened exactly five, 10, 20, 25 years ago, etc.

So without further ado …

— 80 Years Ago (1938): Colorado hosted a major championship for the first time as the U.S. Open came to Cherry Hills Country Club. Only six men’s majors have been contested in the Centennial State to this day, so this was no small matter.

The 1938 U.S. Open marked the first Open held west of Minneapolis. Will Nicholson Sr., a future mayor of Denver and the father of a future USGA president (Will Jr.), played a key role in luring the Open and was general chairman of the championship. He served on the USGA Executive Committee at the time.

Ralph Guldahl rallied with a final-round 69 to win by six strokes, successfully defending his title. His victory margin was the largest at the U.S. Open since 1921 and he’ll go down as the last person to win a U.S. Open while wearing a necktie. Guldahl went on to supplement his two U.S. Open victories with a win in the Masters and three titles in the Western Open, which at the time was considered a major championship of sorts.

Cherry Hills drew about 37,000 people for the week, a big success at the time.

— 70 Years Ago (1948): A PGA Tour event, the Denver Open, was held in the city on and off from 1947 to ’63. Ben Hogan was by far the biggest name to win the event when he prevailed in 1948 at Wellshire Country Club.

The victory was Bantam Ben’s sixth straight on the PGA Tour, and one of 10 he posted that year on the circuit, including the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

One oddity from that Denver Open: Hogan failed to show up for the trophy presentation. Believing his total wasn’t going to be good enough for the title, he left shortly after finishing his final round, saying, “I can’t win.”

— 70 Years Ago (1948): Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who moved to Colorado in 1943 with her Pueblo-born husband, George, won the first of her three U.S. Women’s Opens in 1948. That year’s Women’s Open, conducted in Northfield, N.J., was just the third ever held.

Zaharias, a six-time AP Female Athlete of the Year who previously excelled at track and field, cruised to an eight-stroke victory over runner-up Betty Hicks. Zaharias, sometimes dubbed “Denver’s Queen of the Fairways”, recorded an even-par 300 total.

Zaharias, a co-founder of the LPGA, won 17 consecutive tournaments in 1946 and ’47 while representing Park Hill Country Club. She also spent plenty of time at Lakewood Country Club.

In 1950, Zaharias prevailed at the Women’s Western Open, a women’s major at the time, at Cherry Hills.

— 60 Years Ago (1958): Dow Finsterwald, who would later become a fixture as the director of golf at The Broadmoor, scored his lone victory in a major, winning the PGA Championship in Havertown, Pa. That was the first PGA conducted with a stroke-play format to determine the champion, but Finsty was also the runner-up in 1957 (to Lionel Hebert) when a 36-hole match play final was held.

Finsterwald (left), the 1957 Vardon Trophy winner as the tour player with the best season-long stroke average, finished two strokes better than Billy Casper in 1958. Finsterwald closed with a 67 for a 4-under 276 total and later that year earned the PGA’s Player of the Year award.

— 40 Years Ago (1978): Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the last of its three U.S. Opens to date. Two future World Golf Hall of Famers had won the 1938 and ’60 editions (Ghezzi and Arnold Palmer), but this time around Andy North recorded the second of what would be just three PGA Tour victories, though two of them were in U.S. Opens. Few people can say they won more majors than non-majors on the PGA Tour, but North is one such person.

North tied Billy Casper’s record (set in 1966) by needing just 114 putts over 72 holes, winning with a 1-over-par 285 total. He led outright after each of the final three rounds.

Also finishing in the top 10 in a star-studded leaderboard were University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin and Tom Weiskopf (tied for fourth), and Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller (tied for sixth).

— 40 Years Ago (1978): The player with the most career wins on any major U.S. tour, Kathy Whitworth, earned one of her 88 LPGA Tour victories right here in the Centennial State.

Colorado hosted LPGA events for 16 consecutive years starting in 1972, and a dozen of the winners here became World Golf Hall of Famers. But none is higher on the totem pole than Whitworth, who won the 1978 National Jewish Hospital Open at Green Gables Country Club.

— 25 Years Ago (1993): Speaking of the aforementioned Nicklaus and Weiskopf, two former Ohio State golfers, they finished 1-2 when Cherry Hills hosted the U.S. Senior Open in 1993.

Nicklaus, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, prevailed for what would be his last title in a USGA championship. Coincidentally, the first of his eight USGA championships also came in Colorado, in the 1959 U.S. Amateur at The Broadmoor.

Nicklaus (pictured at top with son/caddie Jackie) fended off Weiskopf by one stroke, recording a 6-under-par 278 total. It was the Golden Bear’s second U.S. Senior Open title in three years.

— 25 Years Ago (1993): Cherry Creek High School product Jill McGill made quite a run at USGA amateur championships in the early 1990s, winning two national titles. A quarter-century ago, McGill captured the trophy at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Then in 1994, when she was runner-up to Wendy Ward in the Women’s Amateur, McGill earned the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championship.

McGill (left) went on to a long career on the LPGA Tour, and though she never won on that circuit, she finished second three times and third twice.

Also in 1993, the Dunes Course at Riverdale in Brighton hosted the U.S. Amateur Public Links, with David Berganio taking home the title.

— 25 Years Ago (1993): Phil Mickelson, who three years earlier won the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in Colorado, claimed the first of his two International PGA Tour events at Castle Pines. He scored an eight-point victory in Stableford points over Mark Calcavecchia.

— 20 Years Years Ago (1998): Vijay Singh, like Mickelson now a World Golf Hall of Famer, beat Mickelson and Willie Wood by six points to put his name on The International trophy. All told, a half-dozen Hall of Famers won The International at least once.

— 20 Years Ago (1998): Former CU athlete Hale Irwin won three U.S. Opens from 1974-90, but that wasn’t the extent of his success in USGA championships. In 1998, the World Golf Hall of Famer won the first of his two U.S. Senior Opens, giving him five USGA championships in all.

In ’98, Irwin withstood a formidable test at Riviera Country Club outside of Los Angeles. Since 1984, just two winners of the U.S. Senior Open have finished with over-par totals, with Irwin’s 1-over tally in ’98 joining Nicklaus’ 2-over in ’91.

Earlier in 1998, Irwin also won another one of his seven career senior majors, the Senior PGA Championship — by six shots over Larry Nelson.

— 10 Years Ago (2008): It’s a rarity that Colorado hosts two USGA championships in the same year, but 2008 was such as year as the U.S. Senior Open came to The Broadmoor and the U.S. Amateur Public Links paid a visit to Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora.

In a U.S. Senior Open perhaps most remembered for the bear that ran across the course on national TV in the midst of play at The Broadmoor, the 2008 championship drew close to 130,000 people for tournament week. Eduardo Romero of Argentina claimed the trophy at the picturesque resort.

At Murphy Creek, Jack Newman won the title, but the field included Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel, the latter of whom would go on to win the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship at Cherry Hills in 2014.

— 5 Years Ago (2013): The Solheim Cup, the female version of the Ryder Cup, came to the western U.S. for the first time, with Colorado Golf Club in Parker playing host. The course proved a formidable test, with the European squad handling the conditions best.

The Euros (left) won the Solheim Cup on American soil for the first time, and the 18-10 score was the largest final victory margin in the history of the event.

— 5 Years Ago (2013): Then-Colorado resident Mark Wiebe won the first major championship of his career, claiming the title in the Senior British Open at Royal Birkdale in England.

To earn the win, Wiebe had to overcome one of the greatest senior players of all time, Bernhard Langer, beating the German in a playoff that lasted five holes. Wiebe closed with a 66, while Langer double bogeyed his final hole in regulation.

It marked the first Monday finish in Senior British Open history.

After winning 18 major championships — plus two U.S. Amateurs — and 73 PGA Tour events in all, Jack Nicklaus is considered by many to be the GOAT — greatest of all time — in golf.

Still, when he stood over his tee shot on the 72nd hole of the 1993 U.S. Senior Open at Cherry Hills Country Club, a case of nerves set in — and the Golden Bear couldn’t have been happier.

In an all-too-familiar situation, Nicklaus held a one-stroke lead coming down the stretch in a major championship — in this case a senior major.

“On that tee shot on 18, I was half shaking,” Nicklaus recalled later. “And I said to myself, ‘Damn, this is fun.'”

Not surpisingly, Nicklaus turned that fun into a victory. He hit a perfect 1-iron off the tee over the water on the 450-yard, par-4 18th at Cherry Hills, a 5-iron approach to 35 feet, then two-putted for a par and a one-shot win over Tom Weiskopf, who also finished second to Nicklaus at the 1972 and ’75 Masters.

“I knew it was over when he hit it on the green,” said Weiskopf, like Nicklaus a former Ohio State golfer. “Jack is the greatest putter under pressure of all time.”

(Afterward, Nicklaus was congratulated by his son/caddie, Jackie, in a moment pictured above.)

It was yet another stellar performance in a long series of stellar performances by Nicklaus in Colorado. And it was another reason why the Bear will be the featured guest and participate in a fireside chat with noted golf journalist Tim Rosaforte at the Century of Golf Gala that will be held Nov. 14 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. (For more information about the Gala, CLICK HERE.)

Some people may think it’s neat that Nicklaus agreed to headline the event during the year the CGA turns 100 years old, but that the same thing could take place in any number of other states given all that Nicklaus accomplished during his unmatched career. But Colorado truly is the site of more than its fair share of Nicklaus highlights:

— He won eight USGA championships in his lifetime, and the first and last of those came in the Centennial State.

He outdueled defending champion and two-time winner Charlie Coe to win the 36-hole U.S. Amateur title at — appropriately — The Broadmoor’s East Course in 1959, 1 up.

Coe never trailed through the first 31 holes and things were all square going into the 36th hole. Though Coe missed the green there, he almost pitched in for birdie, with the ball ending up on the lip of the cup. The 19-year-old Nicklaus (left in a USGA photo) then drained an 8-foot birdie putt to become the youngest U.S. Am champion in 50 years. He would go on to capture a second U.S. Amateur title in 1961.

“My career basically started right there,” Nicklaus said of The Broadmoor. “That 8-foot putt gave me the opportunity to believe that I could win a championship, that I was good enough to play and I was good enough to win.”

In his 1969 book, “The Greatest Game of All”, Nicklaus said the match against Coe “certainly was both the most exhilarating and exhausting duel I have ever been engaged in.”

(With the Gala taking place at The Broadmoor, the Nov. 14 golf outing appropriately will have a Nicklaus tie-in. Participants will compete, with each group’s net best-ball scores being matched up against the best-ball scores from the Bear’s two rounds — totaling 65 — in the ’59 U.S. Am final. The winning team will be the one which “defeats” the 19-year-old Nicklaus by the largest margin. And players will also have a chance to attempt the 8-foot winning birdie putt Nicklaus stroked on No. 18.)

Then, as noted above, Nicklaus edged Weiskopf for the ’93 U.S. Senior Open championship at Cherry Hills, earning his final USGA title. In the case of both the U.S Amateur and the U.S. Senior Open, it marked the first time each USGA championship had been held in Colorado.

— Thirty-three years before his U.S. Senior Open victory at Cherry Hills, Nicklaus came very close at that same venue to becoming the only amateur since John Goodman in 1933 to win the U.S. Open. But on a leaderboard that featured a confluence of three generations of all-time golf greats — Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Nicklaus — Arnie prevailed by two strokes over Nicklaus in the ’60 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. The 20-year-old Nicklaus led by two with six holes to play, but two three-putts on the final nine proved very costly. Still, the runner-up showing was the best by an amateur at the U.S. Open in the last 82 years — and his 2-under-par 282 total remains the best ever by an amateur at the U.S. Open. Hogan, paired with Nicklaus for the final two rounds, noted he had just played 36 holes with a kid who should have won by 10 shots.

“I remember not getting a whole lot of respect at the ’60 U.S. Open, and I shouldn’t have,” Nicklaus said in a 21st-century visit to the state. “I was 35 to 1 (to win). My dad came up and said, ‘Do you want a piece of that?’

“It’s the only bet on golf that I’ve made in my entire life. I think I was more excited down the stretch about the $20 bet and maybe winning $700 than about winning the U.S. Open.”

— Besides the 1959 U.S. Amateur and the 1993 U.S. Senior Open, Nicklaus won the inaugural Jerry Ford Invitational in Vail, in 1977.

Another year at the JFI, a major thunderstorm moved through the Vail Valley and Ford, Nicklaus and about 20 other golfers were so far away from the clubhouse that they headed for shelter under an I-70 overpass. The group ended up spending about a half-hour there as perplexed drivers sped by.

— In addition to the 1959 U.S. Amateur, 1960 U.S. Open and ’93 U.S. Senior Open, Nicklaus contended in other major championships held in Colorado. The Bear finished third — one shot out of a playoff — at the 1967 PGA Championship at Columbine Country Club, and sixth at the 1978 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. For the record, Nicklaus was 32nd in his only other major in Colorado, the 1985 PGA Championship at Cherry Hills, where he was tied for second after a first-round 66.

“There’s no more fun in golf than going up 18 with a chance to win,” he said after his ’93 U.S. Senior Open triumph at Cherry Hills. “I love to be competitive.”

— Nicklaus also advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1960 NCAA Championships at The Broadmoor, though that undoubtedly was a bit of a letdown after winning the U.S. Amateur at the course the previous September.

— Nicklaus and his company have designed — or redesigned — 13 courses in Colorado, making him and Nicklaus Design one of the most prolific course designers in the state, along with the likes of Dick and Rick Phelps, Henry Hughes, Frank Hummel and Press Maxwell. Of course, the most prominent course Nicklaus designed in Colorado is Castle Pines Golf Club, which hosted The International on the PGA Tour from 1986 through 2006. The Bear’s best finish at The International was a ninth in 1989.

Other Nicklaus Design courses in Colorado include Aspen Glen Club; Breckenridge Golf Club; The Bridges; The Broadmoor’s Mountain Course (redesign); the Country Club at Castle Pines; Cherry Creek Country Club; the Club at Cordillera’s Summit Course; Cougar Canyon Golf Links (now closed); the Country Club of the Rockies; Meridian Golf Club; Ptarmigan Country Club; and the Roaring Fork Club.

— And Nicklaus was the third recipient of the Will Nicholson Jr. Award, given for a lifetime of commitment and dedication to the game of golf. Only Nicholson, the Denver resident who served as USGA president in 1980-81, and Palmer previously received the honor. Nicholson, by the way, is the person who deserves credit for receiving Nicklaus’ commitment to attend the Century of Golf Gala. (Nicklaus and Nicholson are pictured together at left at CommonGround Golf Course during the 2012 U.S. Amateur.)

Also in Colorado, Nicklaus learned to ski at Snowmass in the 1970s and owned property for several decades.

In short, while he doesn’t live in the state, Nicklaus may deserve honorary resident status for all he’s done and accomplished here.

Nicklaus won’t be the only luminary honored on Nov. 14 during the Century of Golf Gala. Also in the spotlight that night will be six “People of the Century” in Colorado golf: Judy Bell, Hale Irwin, Charles “Vic” Kline, Dennis Lyon, Barbara McIntire and Nicholson. For more on them, CLICK HERE.