It’s an area that will be bustling with activity in roughly 100 days, when the U.S. Senior Open pays a visit to The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs during the resort’s centennial year.

But last month, there was no sign of any such activity at The Broadmoor’s golf shop and surrounding area. Indeed, much of that area was off limits to visitors.

And it wasn’t just because it was mid-winter. Instead, much of the area was obviously in the midst of a construction project.

But what will emerge — probably sometime in April if things go according to plan — will be an homage to the long and storied golf history of The Broadmoor. Plus, there will be a newly redone and improved golf shop and golf club dining area and grille.

The historical portion of the project will result in an area dubbed the Heritage Hallway.

“We’re doing panels to celebrate all the championships we’ve had here; the seven golf professionals that were here; architects Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones; the Trans Mississippi; the Broadmoor Invitation …,” Russ Miller, The Broadmoor’s director of golf since 1998, said during the recent G4 Summit held at the resort. “It’s kind of a history hallway. It goes from the minute you walk in the clubhouse all the way down to the grille room — both walls.”

As was noted in a trade magazine — Colorado Construction & Design — in January, about 25,000 square feet of public spaces will be involved overall.

The idea is similar to the Hall of Champions in the Cherry Hills Country Club clubhouse that has displayed — since 2012 — some of the memorabilia from that club’s rich history. 

In the case of The Broadmoor’s Heritage Hallway, featured will be display cases (left) devoted to the 1959 and 1967 U.S. Amateurs, won by Jack Nicklaus (bottom, in a USGA photo) and Robert Dickson, respectively; the five NCAA men’s Division I Championships held at the club; the 1962 Curtis Cup matches between the best amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland (the U.S. team included locals Judy Bell, Barbara McIntire and Tish Preuss, plus JoAnne Gunderson Carner); the Broadmoor Men’s Invitation tournaments that were held from 1921-94, with Hale Irwin winning in 1967 (the event was resurrected in 2014 as a four-ball championship); the Broadmoor Women’s Invitation, won three times each by Coloradans Babe Zaharias and Bell; the 1982 U.S. Women’s Amateur won by Juli (Simpson) Inkster; the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open won by Annika Sorenstam (pictured at top); the 2008 U.S. Senior Open claimed by Eduardo Romero; the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open won by So Yeon Ryu; and the upcoming 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

Nicklaus, Sorenstam, Zaharias, Irwin, Carner, Inkster and Bell are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. In addition, former head professionals/directors of golf at The Broadmoor Ed Dudley and Dow Finsterwald each won more than 10 times on the PGA Tour, with Finsty capturing the 1958 PGA Championship title.

The 2018 U.S. Senior Open will mark the eighth USGA championship hosted by The Broadmoor. It’s also been the site of the Trans-Miss six times (including the 1949 event won by Charlie Coe); and the World Seniors on many occasions.

“We just didn’t feel like we’ve been doing a good job of promoting our history here,” Miller said. “We’ve had eight USGA championships. If you look at the members here — Judy Bell, Tish Preuss, Nancy Syms, Barbara McIntire (all Colorado Golf Hall of Famers) … We just haven’t done a good job promoting our history. We’ve been talking about it for three or four years now. We just decided to go ahead and do it. It’s going to be awesome.”

Also getting done, from a golf perspective, is a new golf shop. “We’re gutting it and redoing it A to Z — lighting, fixtures, counters, the whole thing,” Miller said.

And if No. 5 is anything like Nos. 1 through 4, something headline-worthy will occur.

This time around, the G4 will be conducted at The Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs for the third time, returning Feb. 28 after being hosted by the Omni Interlocken Hotel in Broomfield last winter.

It’ll be the first of many notable large-scale golf events set for The Broadmoor in 2018, the year the resort celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. Of course, things there will center around the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, which will pay a visit June 28-July 1.

The G4 brings together the organizations that make up the Colorado Golf Alliance — the CGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, and the Mile High Chapter of the Club Managers Association of America. And many others in the Colorado golf community likewise will be on hand.

Each year, the G4 features discussions of various pressing issues golf faces, tries to be more effective growing the game, shares best practices and emphasizes collaboration among industry leaders.

Among the G4 highlights in previous years:

— Pete Bevacqua, the CEO of the PGA of America, was the headline speaker in 2015, also at The Broadmoor. The former USGA executive also has served as the chairman of the World Golf Foundation board of directors.

— Also in 2015, Denver resident and former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., announced that Jack Nicklaus had agreed to be a headliner at the Colorado Century of Golf Gala later that year at The Broadmoor.

— In 2016, the name and logo for the then-new Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado were unveiled at the G4 Summit. The JGAC, founded by the CGA and Colorado PGA, has proven a big success since being launched.

— Also in 2016, the high-powered speaker lineup included Dottie Pepper, winner of 17 LPGA Tour events and now a golf analyst on CBS, and Rhett Evans, CEO of Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Other speakers over the years have included high-level leaders in the USGA and the military.

The lineup for the Feb. 28 G4 will have similar firepower. It includes:

— Joe Steranka, a former CEO of the PGA of America (2005-12) and now chief global strategist for Steranka Sports + Strategy, is tentatively scheduled to speak on “Why Digital Media is at the Center of Golf’s Future.” Steranka was a journalism major at West Virginia University.

Steranka has previously spoken in Colorado at the 2010 CGA Season Tee-Off Luncheon, a predecessor of sorts to the G4 Summit.

— Dr. Michael Cooper, chairman of the Golf 20/20 Diversity Task Force, will address the subject of diversity in golf. Last week, Cooper appeared on the Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” program.

Also scheduled to speak are Frank Vain, president of McMahon Group, on club industry trends; and Ross Iverson, co-founder and executive director of the Vail Centre, on leadership and staff development.

All four speakers also will take part in an industry discussion panel to conclude the G4 Summit on Feb. 28.

Likewise on the tentative agenda are a JGAC update on the alliance’s recent addition of the Youth on Course initiative (READ MORE); a state legislature briefing from Jennifer Cassell, a lobbyist for the Colorado Golf Alliance; and a few minutes with Colorado Golf Hall of Fame leadership. The executive committees for the allied associations will start the day with a by-invitation-only breakfast meeting.

The G4 Summit has attracted 125 to 300 attendees per year, with about 180 coming in 2017. It was held at Inverness in 2014, The Broadmoor in 2015 and ’16, and The Omni last year.

To register for the G4 Summit or to get more information, CLICK HERE.

Russ Miller has been the PGA director of golf at The Broadmoor for 19 years — a period during which the Colorado Springs resort has hosted two USGA open championships — the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open.

Despite his experience, there’s always more to learn when helping to oversee a major championship. That’s why — at least in part — Miller traveled to the U.S. Senior Open near Salem, Mass., in late June, and to the U.S. Amateur in Pacific Palisades Calif., this week.

With a little more than 300 days before tournament week at the East Course at The Broadmoor — June 25-July 1 — the resort is gradually gearing up for the 2018 U.S. Senior Open. It will be the 13th major championship to be conducted in Colorado — at least according to the current lineups used by the PGA Tour, LPGA and PGA Tour Champions. (The Women’s Western Open, once considered a major, was held at The Broadmoor in 1938 and at Cherry Hills Country Club in 1950, when Babe Zaharias won.)

Here’s the rundown of tour majors contested in Colorado:

U.S. Open — 1938, 1960 and 1978 (Cherry Hills).
PGA Championship — 1941 and 1985 (Cherry Hills); 1967 (Columbine).
U.S. Women’s Open — 1995 and 2011 (The Broadmoor); 2005 (Cherry Hills).
U.S. Senior Open — 1993 (Cherry Hills); 2008 and 2018 (The Broadmoor). (Note: After 2018, only Ohio, home to six championships, will have hosted the U.S. Senior Open more times than Colorado.)
Senior PGA Championship — 2010 (Colorado Golf Club).

In the 43-year period from 1972 through 2014, there was only one year (2007) that Colorado didn’t host at least one significant professional tour event or a major national/international amateur golf competition. But with the 2018 Senior Open being the first such tournament in Colorado since Cherry Hills did the honors at the BMW Championship in the 2014 PGA Tour playoffs, there appears to be some pent-up demand.

Miller said that in the first phase of ticket availability, which just concluded, sales more than doubled what they were for the same period in 2008, the last time the U.S. Senior Open came to The Broadmoor — or to the state.

“What that tells me about Colorado is people are really excited to have another championship back,” Miller said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “When your ticket sales are good, that shows you the excitement is good and it’s going to keep on growing.”

For the 2008 U.S. Senior Open — which featured the likes of World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange in the 156-man field — The Broadmoor attracted an announced 128,714 fans for the week. As good as that was, Miller is looking for a slight jump for next year’s event.

“We did about 130,000 in 2008. We’d love to exceed that by let’s say 5,000,” he said. “What’s neat about it this far out is you know how to build your restroom facilities, your food and beverage facilities and your concession stands based on ticket sales. It can keep going up and we just plan for it ahead of time.

“At The Broadmoor we have so much space that we won’t really sell out. We can accommodate however many we can take. We’re lucky at The Broadmoor. We can handle 35,000 people a day. At Cherry Hills or a smaller club logistics-wise, it may not be able to handle that many. I’d love to do 135,000. That would be just a home run.”

And, in an effort to encourage youngsters to attend, fans 17 and under will be granted free admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult, with each adult allowed to bring up to nine kids.

For more information about ticket sales, or to make a purchase, CLICK HERE.

If the numbers play out as expected attendance-wise, it’s believed that the Senior Open could have a $20 million-plus economic impact on the local economy after the ’08 event pulled in an estimated $21 million to the area.

“This is a big event, a big economic driver for Colorado Springs,” mayor John Suthers said. “We’ll make sure everybody is prepared.”

Next year will certainly be a momentous one at The Broadmoor, the picturesque venue at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain that opened in 1918. The resort will have centennial-related events throughout the year, starting Jan. 1. But the precise day The Broadmoor will turn 100 years old will be June 29, the Friday of U.S. Senior Open week.

The plan is to hold a large charity concert on Monday of that week (June 25) and fireworks on Friday night. As what you might expect at a five-star resort, The Broadmoor hopes to leave players, fans and anyone else associated with the event with an indelible positive impression.

“What’s unique about it is, it’s kind of the mentality we have every day at the hotel,” Miller noted. “How can we make our guest experience better and unique versus other resorts in the world? That’s the fun apart.”

The folks at The Broadmoor are certainly no strangers to hosting large-scale events, including major golf championships. Just with USGA tournaments, the club has hosted national/international events seven times since 1959, with next year being No. 8 (six at the East Course, a combination of holes designed by Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones Sr.). The list includes two U.S. Women’s Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens, two U.S. Amateurs, one U.S. Women’s Amateur and one Curtis Cup.

“It gets easier (with the past experience), but there’s still so many things to do before the time comes,” Miller said. “It’s like taking a test in college. You kind of know how to prepare, but you still have to study and do all the things beforehand. We always try to get better and you can always learn.”

That familiarity works both ways, of course. In joining forces with The Broadmoor, the USGA knows it’s getting a first-class resort. And with the East Course and its sometimes-confounding greens, it’s produced champions such as Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and So Yeon Ryu, currently the No. 1-ranked women’s player in the world.

“When you’re starting with the course here at The Broadmoor, you don’t want to mess with the masterpiece too much,” USGA championship manager Robbie Zalzneck said recently. “It’s a great test and we’ll have a great championship.”

To make sure The Broadmoor has all the bases covered — and perhaps to plant the seeds for future big-time championships coming to the resort — Miller was on hand for the 2017 U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club and is this week for the U.S. Am at Riviera Country Club near L.A.

“I’m kind of privileged they asked me a couple of months ago to serve on an advisory committee for the U.S. Amateur,” Miller said. “But it’s kind of all hand-in-hand. We want to keep on getting championships in the picture (for The Broadmoor) no matter what they are. So that’s why I’m here mostly.”

But Miller has learned some things in his recent USGA-related travels, most notably related to the player and family experience at championships.

“The USGA is really putting an emphasis on (that),” he said. “And from there, it goes on down the line to the caddies and the fans. No matter if you’re a Tom Watson or a club pro like me that qualified, they want to make sure that your experience was off-the-chart good. A big part of what I was doing (at the Senior Open in Salem) was seeing how we can initiate that program next year for the players. … That’s what we’re focused on is really, really making the player and family experience our No. 1 priority.”

As for the set-up of the golf course, the USGA and the staff at The Broadmoor finalized their plans back in May. Some new tees were built last winter, with the championship in mind. Fairway widths and rough height will vary depending on various factors. The perhaps-driveable par-4 second hole, for instance, will feature a fairway width of 23 or 24 yards, with the rough right next to the fairway being 3 1/2 inches deep. On longer par-4s, the fairway may be 28-30 yards wide, with graduated rough going from 1 1/2 inches to 2 1/2 inches, then deeper the further from the fairway.

“It’s kind of hole by hole, based on the width of the fairways and the difficulty of the hole, which is really neat because it makes it inconsistent — and we think inconsistent is good,” Miller said.

One of the more notable changes on the scorecard will be that the third hole will be a 540-yard par-4 and the 17th a 610-yard par-5. That’s the opposite of what was done for the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, when No. 3 was a par-5 and No. 17 a par-4.

“The back nine is so much more difficult, so by making No. 3 a long par-4, it’ll help make the front nine a little bit more difficult and not make them as different,” Miller said. “But it’s downhill, downwind and normally firm. It sounds like a long hole but 500-some yards downhill, they can handle it; it’s not a huge deal.”

Fan experience-wise, the biggest change from the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open will be that cell phones are now allowed.

“Now the world is so technological that we’re promoting cell phones and trying to create apps and ways to have visual maps of the golf course; player locations during the round that you can look up on your cell phone; scoring updates on your cell phone,” Miller said. “It’s just a totally different mindset from the past, but it’s just the way the world is going. It’s the best way to communicate.”

Another big change from the past will be that Fox Sports — with its tech-heavy broadcast mindset — will be televising the Senior Open at The Broadmoor, whereas the telecasts were handled by NBC in 2008 and for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open.

“Back in ’08 NBC had three tractor-trailor trucks for their entire production,” Miller noted. “We’re expecting between 11 and 13 tractor-trailor trucks (with Fox next year). Why it’s so much bigger is (shot tracker and ball tracker on every green). There’s now 18 towers for all 18 greens. That’s a big change.

“(But) there’s a lot less cables than there used to be. There’s more cloud (communication) and all that stuff. That makes it easier too. But we’re definitely going to use more space than we did in the past for (the TV compound).”

All told, the tournament broadcast will reach more than 100 countries, and Fox and Fox Sports 1 will combine for more than 20 hours of live TV coverage.

About 2,300 volunteers will be needed for the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, and Miller said roughly 70 percent of those slots have already been filled, with about 43 states represented.

To volunteer, REGISTER HERE.
 

But some years have more change than others. And 2017 figures to be one of those “more change than usual” years for the Denver Golf Expo, which will be held for the 24th time.

Let’s hit upon some of the significant alterations for this winter’s show, which will be held Feb. 10-12 at the Denver Mart (58th and I-25):

— After two years of the Expo being held in the second half of February, the show will be moved up 10 days or so, to its more traditional dates. And with no conflict with the Super Bowl or Valentine’s Day, Expo owner and operator Mark Cramer hopes a boost in attendance is in the works — assuming the weather cooperates.

“We’re expecting a huge year on attendance — fingers crossed,” he said last week. “We had two brutal years (due to a snowstorm in 2015 and unseasonably warm temperatures last year). And we’re back to the week after the Super Bowl. Traditionally, that’s been good dates for us — and good Expo weather. Hopefully, there’s pent-up demand.”

The last two years, the three-day show has attracted 7,195 (2015) and 8,130 people (2016). That’s not up to the Expo’s traditional norm. The show has hit five figures, attendance-wise, on several occasions, with the all-time high being 11,202 in 2008.

— As far as activities at the Denver Golf Expo, some of the biggest changes fall under the purview of the CGA. A two-day Rules of Golf Workshop was a fixture at the Expo for years, but was discontinued after 2010. However, it’s back this year, on Feb. 11-12, and as of last week the event was virtually a sellout via pre-registration. Among those scheduled to speak at the Rules Workshop are Mark Passey from the USGA, CWGA and USGA rules official Karla Harding, and various CGA officials.

“The (workshop) has been a complete home run. It’s big for us to bring that back,” said Dustin Jensen, managing director of operations for the CGA.

Also during the Expo, the CGA is helping member clubs transition to the USGA’s new Tournament Management software.

Meanwhile, gone this year from the Expo is the CGA Used Club Sale, which had proven to be quite a labor-intensive endeavor. Instead, the CGA will focus on the Rules Workshop and engagement with members and potential members at the Expo. Filling the Used Club Sale’s usual spot at the Denver Mart will be a minature golf area, adjacent to Junior Golf Central. The CGA and the Colorado PGA, founding partners of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, will team up for junior golf-related efforts at the Expo, most notably Junior Golf Central, which will have a “Drive Chip & Putt” theme again this year.

— The Colorado PGA’s free 10-minute lesson area, which had long been a fixture near the back of the Expo area, will move much close to the entrance this year for the first time, between the seminar stage and Junior Golf Central. Taking the space the PGA instruction area/Junior Golf Central formerly occupied will be the First Tee of Denver’s pitching contest.

The list of seminars that will be conducted by Colorado PGA members, CGA officials and others are listed below.

— Among the new exhibitors at the Expo this year will be the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, set for The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs. The Senior Open will mark the first USGA championship held in Colorado since the 2012 U.S. Amateur.

Meanwhile, here’s what’s planned at the CGA and CWGA booths, both located near the front entrance of the Expo:

CGA: With the CGA launching a new-look website with additional features during Expo week, the association will be informing Expo visitors about its new online “Member Zone”, which will go live with the new website. The Member Zone will give members access to discounts and special offers related to golf, travel, and business products and services. Among the businesses participating in the Member Zone will be Office Depot, Avis and Budget, Wyndham Hotels and Imperial, which will offer CGA headwear.

CGA members who stop by the association’s Expo booth will receive a goodie bag. Those who join the CGA for the first time during the Expo can spin a prize wheel for larger gifts, including complimentary golf at the associaton-owned CommonGround Golf Course.

CWGA: The CWGA, which launched a new website of its own at the very end of 2016, will roll out an expanded lineup of CWGA Experience events at the Expo. Experience events, which debuted in 2010, provide female golfers with high-quality group instruction from LPGA and/or PGA professionals in a friendly and welcoming environment. Featured are separate sessions on full swing, chipping, putting, and basic of the Rules of Golf, along with lunch.

This year, for the first time, five CWGA Experience events are planned: May 13 at Overland Golf Course in Denver, May 20 at Pelican Lakes in Windsor, June 3 at Tiara Rado in Grand Junction, July 8 at City Park in Denver, and Aug. 6 at Fossil Trace in Golden.

“The feedback from all the Experiences has been wonderful,” said CWGA executive director Laura Robinson. “We’re trying to broaden our reach to new golfers, and the Experience is a great way to do that.”

At the Expo, the CWGA will be holding a raffle in which the winner and a friend can attend a CWGA Experience event for free.

The CWGA is also kicking off fundraising — through the sale of its centennial water bottles — for the 2018 Girls Junior America’s Cup, which the association will host at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen.

Generally speaking at the Expo, “We’re looking to have a large presence to encourage more women to play golf,” Robinson said.

Cramer loves that the major golf associations in the state buy into the Denver Golf Expo so wholeheartedly.

“We’re so blessed to have the people that we have here, with the (PGA) Section, the CGA, the Junior Golf Alliance and the CWGA,” Cramer said.

This year’s Expo will feature a grand prize — valued at $9,000 — of a trip for four to Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Attendees that register will be automatically entered in the grand prize drawing.

Denver Golf Expo
Highlights, Essentials for 2017 Show

What: 24th annual Denver Golf Expo.

When: Feb. 10-12.
 Open Friday, Feb. 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
 Saturday, Feb. 11, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
 Sunday, Feb. 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Denver Mart (58th Ave., just east of I-25).

Tickets:
Adults, $13; Seniors, $11; Military/Vets with I.D., $11; Kids 16 and Under, $3.
Available at King Soopers and by CLICKING HERE, or the Denver Mart during Expo days.

Scheduled Educational Seminars:
— Using your Wedge the Way It Was Designed (Nathan Morris, GolfTEC), Friday 10:15-10:45 a.m.
— Taking Your Game the Extra Degree (Ty Walker, GolfTEC), Friday 11-11:30 a.m.
— Rules of Golf Explained (CGA), Friday noon-12:30 p.m.
— Swing TRU Motion Study: The Most Comprehensive Fact-Based Swing Study Ever Conducted (Nick Clearwater, GolfTEC), Friday 1-1:30 p.m.
— Ground Force, For More Speed (Jason Witczak, Green Valley Ranch GC), Friday 2-2:30 p.m.
— Ground Force, For More Speed (Jason Witczak, Green Valley Ranch GC), Saturday 10:15-10:45 a.m.
— Rules of Golf Explained (CGA), Saturday noon-12:30 p.m.
— Plan, Think and Work Your Way to Better Golf (Doug Wherry, Jake’s Academy), Saturday, 1-1:30 p.m.
— Live Lesson with Audience Member (Trent Wearner, Trent Wearner Golf Academy), Saturday, 2-2:30 p.m.
— Why Your Ball Curves and What You Need to Do to Fix It (Trent Wearner, Trent Wearner Golf Academy), Sunday 10:15-10:45 a.m.
— Ground Force, For More Speed (Jason Witczak, Green Valley Ranch GC), Sunday 11-11:30 a.m.
— Swing Like a Girl — How to Get More Distance Off the Tee (Alex Phillips), Sunday, noon-12:30 p.m.
— How Does Your Body Really Work for Golf (Doug Wherry, Jake’s Academy), Sunday 1-1:30 p.m.

Major Colorado Golf Organization Booths: CGA #1215; CWGA #1218; Colorado Golf Hall of Fame #1306-1308; the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado #1330.

Junior Golf Central, including the Drive Chip & Putt activities, will be located immediately to the right upon descending the stairs from the main entrance to the Expo. The area where Colorado PGA professionals will give free 10-minute lessons to all interested Expo attendees is adjacent to Junior Golf Central.

For a full list of exhibitors, CLICK HERE. 

Expo floorplan: CLICK HERE. 

For more information: CLICK HERE.  

Colorado last hosted a USGA championship in 2012 when the U.S. Amateur paid a visit, but there are now two national events on the horizon.

Less than three months after the USGA announced that The Broadmoor will be hosting the U.S. Senior Open in 2018, the association on Thursday revealed its plans for the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur to come to Colorado Golf Club in Parker, with CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora serving as the second stroke-play course for the tournament.

The dates are set for Sept. 21-26, 2019, with two rounds of stroke play preceding 64 players advancing to match play.

“The USGA is pleased to bring a championship to Colorado Golf Club (pictured) for the first time,” said Diana Murphy, who is set to become the president of the USGA in February. “The course has a proven record in both stroke-play and match-play competition, and the variety of risk-reward options will allow for exciting and dramatic play, helping to identify a champion worthy of hoisting the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy.”

It will mark just the second time the U.S. Mid-Am — a championship for players 25 and older — will be contested in Colorado. The 1983 Mid-Am was held at Cherry Hills Country Club, with Jay Sigel winning one of his five USGA titles, this one coming just a month after capturing the U.S. Amateur championship.

Overall, it will be the 33rd USGA championship played in Colorado, with the first being the 1938 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills.

Colorado Golf Club, designed by Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, has hosted the 2010 Senior PGA Championship (won by Tom Lehman) and the 2013 Solheim Cup (where Europe defeated the U.S.) in its first decade of existence, but this will be its first USGA national championship for the club that opened in 2007. However, Colorado GC has hosted numerous USGA qualifiers over the years, including U.S. Open Local Qualifying in 2009.

“We’ve always wanted to work with the USGA, so this is really exciting,” Graham Cliff, head professional at Colorado Golf Club, said on Thursday. “From Day 1 we’ve wanted to give back to amateur golf. For guys that don’t turn pro, this is a huge event. And it fits in with our mission to give back to the game.” 

CommonGround (left), which is owned and operated by the CGA, served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills hosted. Designed by Tom Doak, CommonGround opened in 2009.

“If you told me in 2009 that in the first decade of the golf course that it would play a significant role in two (USGA) championships, I’d have said we’re hitting it out of the park,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA. “But it’s one of the main reasons we did what we did in hiring a (big-league) architect who designs a course worthy of them.”

After the USGA progressed in discussions with Colorado Golf Club officials about hosting the Mid-Am, USGA director of regional affairs Mark Passey called representatives of CommonGround to see if they were interested in being the companion course.

The USGA said, “We’d love your golf course (to co-host the stroke-play rounds),” Mate relayed. “They said your golf course complements Colorado Golf Club really well. It all just made sense.”

The U.S. Mid-Amateur dates back to 1981. Coloradan Bill Loeffler captured the championship in 1986 in Madison, Miss. Traditionally, the U.S. Mid-Am champion receives an invitation to the following year’s Masters.

With the 2019 U.S. Mid-Am, Colorado will add to the extensive and diverse list of significant golf championships it has hosted — or is scheduled to host — since The International PGA Tour event ended its 21-year run after the 2006 tournament.

That list includes:

— The 2008 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Murphy Creek
— The 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills
— The 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2010 Trans-Mississippi at Denver Country Club
— The 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and CommonGround
— The 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2014 BMW Championship at Cherry Hills
— The 2018 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Colorado Golf Club and CommonGround.

When it comes to Colorado hosting USGA championships, The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs and Cherry Hills Country Club run virtually neck and neck.

Cherry Hills has been the home of nine such championships, dating back to the 1938 U.S. Open. And The Broadmoor, which like Cherry Hills will celebrate its 100th “birthday” within the next decade, is on a similar pace.

With the USGA announcing Tuesday that The Broadmoor’s East Course will be the site of the 2018 U.S. Senior Open — the dates will be June 28-July 1 — the venerable resort at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain will be hosting a USGA championship for the eighth time. It’s scheduled to be No. 6 for the East Course, including the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, which drew 128,714 fans — and at least one bear (pictured below) — to The Broadmoor.

Appropriately, the 2018 Senior Open will be held at The Broadmoor in the summer it celebrates its 100th “birthday”.

“The Broadmoor has a rich and vibrant history in hosting tournament golf,” two-time U.S. Senior Open champion Hale Irwin noted in an email to coloradogolf.org on Tuesday. “The facilities (are outstanding) and, more importantly, the people there are gracious and accommodating hosts who proudly welcome anyone to one of our nation’s greatest resorts. The USGA has chosen a wonderful place to once again play the USGA Senior Open Championship as proven by the last time the tournament was played there in 2008.”

Overall, it will be the third time Colorado has hosted a U.S. Senior Open, which dates back to 1980. Jack Nicklaus won at Cherry Hills in 1993 and Eduardo Romero prevailed in 2008 at The Broadmoor. The resort’s East Course is combination of holes designed by Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones Sr.

“The Broadmoor has been a great partner with the USGA and a friend to golf on the international, national and collegiate levels since the 1920s,” said Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “The U.S. Senior Open is senior golf’s most coveted championship and we know the East Course will test the players thoroughly.”

By the time the 2018 championship is completed, only Ohio (with six) will have hosted the U.S. Senior Open more times than Colorado, which will be tied with Michigan and Pennsylvania with three each.

“The Broadmoor is thrilled to have the opportunity to host its eighth USGA championship,” said Russ Miller, The Broadmoor’s director of golf. “Not only will it be a time to watch and enjoy the greatest senior golfers in the world, it is a tremendous accolade to the city of Colorado Springs and the state of Colorado to be chosen as its site. We are privileged to once again stage such a prestigious and highly reconizable worldwide golf championship.”

All eight of The Broadmoor’s USGA championships will have been held since 1959, when Nicklaus defeated Charlie Coe in the final to claim the first of his two U.S. Amateur titles. Two U.S. Women’s Opens are among the events that have been contested on the East Course, including the one Annika Sorenstam won in 1995 for her first LPGA Tour victory. Another World Golf Hall of Famer who has won an USGA individual title at The Broadmoor is Juli (Simpson) Inkster, who in 1982 claimed her third consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur championship at what was then the South Course.

Overall, the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will mark the 32nd USGA championship played in Colorado, with The Broadmoor and Cherry Hills combined having hosted more than half of those.

Not only has Colorado been home to more than its share of U.S. Senior Opens, players with strong ties to the Centennial State have captured the title on several occasions. Irwin, a former University of Colorado golfer who grew up in Boulder, won the Senior Open in 1998 and 2000 to go with his three U.S. Open championships. Another former Buff, Dale Douglass, who grew up in Fort Morgan, landed the Senior Open title as a 50-year-old in 1986. And Orville Moody, who was once stationed at Fitzsimons while in the Army, won in 1989.

With the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, Colorado will add to the extensive and diverse list of significant golf championships it has hosted since The International PGA Tour event ended its 21-year run after the 2006 tournament.

That list includes:

— The 2008 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Murphy Creek
— The 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills
— The 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2010 Trans-Mississippi at Denver Country Club
— The 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and CommonGround
— The 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2014 BMW Championship at Cherry Hills

Other upcoming U.S. Senior Opens are scheduled for Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio (2016) and Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. (2017).