Among those three who won their Regional Qualifying competition at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis was Caitlyn Chin of Greenwood Village, who became the first Coloradan to qualify twice for the DCP Nationals.

Chin competed in the Girls 7-9 division at Augusta National in 2016, and now she’s in the 10-11 group.

Chin won that 10-11 division Saturday in St. Louis by accumulating 115 points for an 18-point victory over fellow Coloradan Taylor Hale of Eagle.

Also advancing to the DCP Finals at Augusta National on Saturday were Chunya Boonta of Centennial, who prevailed by one point in the Girls 12-13 group with a 131 total, and Grady Ortiz of Colorado Springs, who won in the Boys 7-9 group with a 104 tally.

In order to qualify for Nationals, a golfer has to win — out of 12 players — in his/her gender/age division at Regionals. There are eight divisions in each DCP event.

Each of Saturday’s champions previously advanced through Local and Sub-Regional qualifying events.

When Chin qualified for Nationals previously, in 2016, she was one of a three-player Colorado contingent that year also, along with Luke Trujillo and Arielle Keating, both of Colorado Springs. Trujillo and Keating each finished sixth at Nationals that Year, while Chin was 10th.

The only other Coloradan who has competed in the nationally-televised DCP Finals has been Kaden Ford of Colorado Springs, who placed sixth in the Boys 14-15 competion on April 1.

In DCP events, contestants score points in each discipline — driving, chipping and putting — which are added together for a cumulative total.

In addition to the three Coloradans who won their divisions at Regionals in St. Louis on Saturday, four from the Centennial State were runners-up, coming up just short of advancing: Miles Kuhl of Boulder (Boys 10-11), Maxwell Lange of Golden (Boys 14-15), Hale (Girls 10-11) and Grace Ha of Greenwood Village (Girls 14-15).

In all, 40 boys and 40 girls will compete in the Nationals of the DCP, which is sponsored by the Masters, the USGA and the PGA of America. The competition is limited to players 7-15.

ҬHere are the results for the Coloradans at the Drive Chip & Putt Regional Qualifying in St. Louis on Saturday:

ҬScore: Drive-Chip-Putt=Total

ҬBoys 7-9
“¨”¨1. Grady Ortiz, Colorado Springs 30-23-51–104
“¨7. Ryan Fenton, Colorado Springs 28-26-17–71
10. Benjamin Pederson, Arvada 28-30-8–66″¨

Boys 10-11
“¨2. Miles Kuhl, Boulder 24-45-55–124
3. Jake Dost, Parker 45-45-32–122″¨
6. Gregory White, Centennial 16-40-50–106

ҬӬӬӬBoys 12-13
“¨5. Reese Knox, Peyton 19-32-55–106
“¨6. Matai Naqica, Centennial 52-20-27–99
9. Carter Surofchek, Colorado Springs 18-32-40–90

ҬӬBoys 14-15
“¨2. Maxwell Lange, Golden 62-45-55–162″¨
4. Matthew Wilkinson, Centennial 70-40-36–146″¨
6. Ben Harding, Longmont 46-40-50–136
12. Jackson Rottschafer, Centennial 0-55-32–87″¨”¨

Girls 7-9″¨
3. Jadie Wilson, Denver 14-26-27–67
“¨4. Amalei Lagrimas, Castle Rock 13-21-31–65″¨
4. Annabel Roy, Denver 11-41-13–65
“¨7. Adrielle Miller, Highlands Ranch 14-30-12–56

Girls 10-11
“¨1. Caitlyn Chin, Greenwood Village 34-26-55–115″¨
2. Taylor Hale, Eagle 23-45-29–97
4. Addison Hines, Arvada 36-37-12–85″¨
12. Emmalee Johnson, Denver 2-25-7–34″¨”¨

Girls 12-13″¨
1. Chunya Boonta, Centennial 36-45-50–131″¨
11. Madeline Bante, Denver 19-40-27–86

Girls 14-15
“¨2. Grace Ha, Greenwood Village 51-26-22–99
5. Elle Higgins, Centennial 32-26-32–90
6. Sofia Choi, Littleton 17-35-36–88 “¨ 

Ford, who on Saturday became just the fourth Coloradan ever to qualify for the DC&P Nationals, is a high school golf teammate of defending 4A state individual champion Luke Trujillo, who went to the Nationals at Augusta in the spring of 2016.

That should give Ford some insights.

The high school freshman overcame the DC&P Regional Qualifying hurdle on Saturday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

With just the winner — out of 10 competitors — in each age/gender division of the Regionals advancing to Nationals on April 1, 2018, Ford won the Boys 14-15 competition. He scored 67 points in the drive portion of the contest, 17 in the chipping and 55 in the putting. That gave him 139 points overall, three more than runner-up Carsen Silliman.

The only other Coloradans who have made it to DC&P Nationals in the first five years of the competition are Trujillo, Arielle Keating and Caitlyn Chin, all of whom went in April of 2016. The Nationals are televised from Augusta by the Golf Channel.

Ford had to survive Local, Sub-Regional and Regional Qualifying to advance. In the Sub-Regional at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora last month, he finished second to Joshua Gallegos of Belen, N.M.

Ford was one of 20 Colorado residents who were competing in the Regionals at Southern Hills. None of the others advanced to Nationals, but here’s how all 20 fared on Saturday, with their scores and placing (Note: The top finisher in each division advances to Nationals. Points are for Drive-Chip-Putt–Total):

Boys 14-15
1. (out of 10 competitors) Kaden Ford of Colorado Springs 67-17-55–139
4. Hunter Khan of Highlands Ranch 42-13-65–120
8. Joshua Stouder of Grand Junction 42-13-36–91

Girls 14-15
3. (out of 10 competitors) Emma Bryant of Aurora 56-17-31–104
4. Alyssa Chin of Greenwood Village 36-26-41–103
5. Sofia Choi of Littleton 36-13-51–100
10. Rachel Penzenstadler of Centennial 34-3-31–68

Boys 12-13
4. (out of 10 competitors)Yusuke Ogi of Arvada 58-5-31–94
5. Wesley Erling of Arvada 18-30-41–89

Girls 12-13
3. (out of 10 competitors) Abigail Aeschleman of Highlands Ranch 47-27-41–115
4. Kaylee Chen of Highlands Ranch 39-17-45–101

Boys 10-11
3. (out of 10 competitors) Kaden Devenport of Windsor 46-3-50–99
7. Matai Naqica of Centennial 19-16-45–80
10. Tucker Jaffe of Vail 0-3-21–24

Girls 10-11
10. (out of 10 competitors) Macy Kleve of Windsor 30-4-17–51

Boys 7-9
2. (out of 10 competitors) Max Riley of Fort Collins 35-7-50–92
8. Ashton Edwards of Boulder 15-12-27–54
9. Collen Todd of Golden 20-3-27–50

Girls 7-9
4. (out of 10 competitors) Adrielle Miller of Highlands Ranch 15-18-36–69
6. Allie Smith of Aurora 8-22-35–65

In all, 40 boys and 40 girls will compete in the Nationals of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, which is sponsored by the Masters, the USGA and the PGA of America. The competition is limited to players 7-15.

Each participant in the DCP is awarded points for each skill based on his or her performance, with the points added together for an overall score.
 

If you don’t think that’s unusual, think again.

Prior to this current “drought”, you have to go back more than a half-century to find a Masters without at least one competitor with major Colorado ties.

With that in mind, we decided to dig into the records and highlight the Colorado “locals” who have shined at Augusta National Golf Club over the history of the Masters, which debuted in 1934.

Almost 25 players with significant connections to the Centennial State — either before, during or after their Masters heydays — have competed in what is now the first major of the season. A couple others have more tenuous ties to Colorado, but are interesting to note.

Here’s the rundown:

— Craig Stadler (current Evergreen resident): The Walrus, of course, didn’t move to Colorado until the 1990s, but he’s the one person to win the Masters who’s long resided in the state. In 1982, Stadler scored the biggest victory of his career. After posting rounds of 75-69-67-73–284, he defeated Dan Pohl in a playoff and slipped on a green jacket (pictured with ’81 champ Tom Watson). Stadler’s 75 remains the highest opening round by a champion.

He led by six with nine holes left in regulation, but lost ground with a 40 on the back nine on Sunday. A par on the first hole of sudden-death yielded the win.

“Walking down the fairway on No. 11, I said to myself, ‘This is easy,'” Stadler said at the time. “It looked like they all were playing for second and the only thing in doubt was by how much was I going to win. The National proved itself on Sunday again. I’ll take ’em any way I can.”

The victory was one of five top-seven finishes by Stadler at the Masters, including a third-place showing in 1988, when he ended up two back of champion Sandy Lyle. Stadler competed in 36 consecutive Masters, ending his run after playing in the 2014 event with son Kevin.

— Hale Irwin (Boulder High School and University of Colorado graduate): The World Golf Hall of Famer is best known for his three U.S. Open victories, but he was on the Sunday leaderboard numerous times at the Masters.

Overall, Irwin notched seven top-eight showings at Augusta National. He had an especially strong run from 1974-78, finishing fourth, fourth, fifth, fifth and eighth.

Of players with at least 50 rounds in the Masters, Irwin owns the seventh-best stroke average in history (72.18).

— Dow Finsterwald (director of golf at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs from 1963-93): Finsterwald didn’t take his job at The Broadmoor until 1963, but he was regularly in the hunt at the Masters from 1957 through ’64.

The 1958 PGA Championship winner recorded five top-10 finishes at Augusta National during that eight-year stretch, including placing second and third.

Two years particular stood out for “Finsty”. In 1960, he finished third, two strokes behind winner — and good friend — Arnold Palmer. Coincidentally, two strokes is what Finsterwald was penalized — retroactively — for taking a practice putt on the fifth green during the first round, “not realizing he had violated rules” according to a newspaper account at the time.

Two years later, Finsterwald watched Palmer beat him again, this time in an 18-hole playoff, with Dow and Gary Player tying for second place. All three players finished at 8-under-par 280. The next day in the playoff, Palmer shot 68, Player 71 and Finsterwald 77.

Finsty would end up with 11 PGA Tour victories.

— David Duval (Cherry Hills Village resident): Duval moved to Colorado after the last of his 13 PGA Tour wins, which includes the 2001 British Open. There was certainly a reason he once was the top-ranked player in the world, and his record in the Masters shows that.

In the four Masters beginning in 1998, Duval finished second, sixth, third and second. In 1998, a closing 67 left him one back of winner Mark O’Meara. And in 2001, Duval made 23 birdies and also closed with a 67, leaving him two back of champion Tiger Woods.

— Ed Dudley (director of golf at The Broadmoor Golf Club from 1941 to ’63): Before the Masters took a three-year hiatus in the final years of World War II, Dudley was one of the top performers at Augusta National, where he served as the first head professional. From 1934 (the first year of what was then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament) through ’41, he notched seven top-10 finishes. His best showing was a third place in 1937, when he ended up three strokes behind champion Byron Nelson.

Dudley, winner of 15 PGA Tour events, held jobs at The Broadmoor and Augusta National simultaneously from 1941-57 as the Augusta venue is typically open only from autumn to May.

— Paul Runyan (director of golf at Green Gables CC from 1972 to the early ’80s): The winner of two PGA Championships and 29 PGA Tour events overall, Runyan recorded four top-10 performances in the first decade of the Masters. His best showings were third place in the first Masters (1934) and in 1942, and a fourth-place in 1936.

Runyan ended up two behind winner Horton Smith in the first Masters — then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.

— Lawson Little: Little wasn’t a resident of Colorado, but it’s worth noting that in the summer of 1933 he made himself at home in the Centennial State. That year, the golfer from Stanford won the CGA Match Play (9 and 7 over Frank English in the final) and The Broadmoor Invitation, and finished runner-up in the Trans-Miss that The Broadmoor also hosted.

At the Masters, Little notched six top-10 showings from 1935 through ’51. His best finish was third place in 1939, when he ended up three back of winner Ralph Guldahl.

— Charlie Coe (a member at Castle Pines Golf Club late in his life): Coe, a two-time U.S. Amateur champion, posted three top-10 finishes in the Masters as an amateur. In 1961, he tied for second with Palmer, one behind winner Gary Player. Coe’s 7-under-par 281 total remains a Masters record for an amateur.

— Dave Hill (a longtime Colorado resident starting in the 1960s): At the same general time period Hill was winning a record four Colorado Opens, he posted a couple of top-10 showings at Augusta National. In 1970, he was a career-best fifth, ending up four shots behind winner Billy Casper, and five years later he placed seventh.

— Gary Hallberg (Colorado resident): Hallberg notched a top-10 in 1985 as his 2-under-par 286 total left him in sixth place, four back of winner Bernhard Langer.

— Mike Reid (attended Cherry Creek High School for one year): Like Hallberg, Reid’s best performance at Augusta National left him in sixth place at 286, in his case three behind champion Nick Faldo in 1989.

— Justin Leonard (Aspen resident): Long before moving to Aspen, Leonard notched back-to-back top-10s at the Masters, placing seventh in 1997 and eighth in ’98.

— Kevin Stadler (part-time Denver resident): Stadler posted a top-10 finish in his Masters debut in 2014, placing eighth as his dad, Craig, played in his final Masters. It’s one of two times Kevin has competed at Augusta National.

— Dale Douglass (former longtime Colorado resident and former CU golfer): The three-time PGA Tour winner had a best Masters finish of 19th in 1969.

— Steve Jones (grew up in Colorado and former CU golfer): The best Masters showing by the 1996 U.S. Open champion was 20th in 1990.

— Brandt Jobe (Colorado resident from 1970 to ’99): Among his appearances at Augusta National, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer had a best finish of 14th in 1999.

Other players with strong Colorado connections who have made the cut at the Masters are one-time Fitzsimons resident Orville Moody (best: 18th place), former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird (best: 20th), former Boulder resident Bob Byman (best: 34th), Colorado resident Mark Wiebe (best: 35th), and Denver native and former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye (best: 43rd). There was no cut at the Masters in 1947, but Denver’s Babe Lind, who was inducted into the first class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1973, finished 46th as the first Colorado native to compete in the tournament. Davis Love Jr., winner of the CGA Junior Match Play in 1953 and ’54 (and the father of Davis Love III), earned a 34th-place finish at Augusta National in 1964.

Another Colorado resident who competed in the Masters — but in his case failed to make the cut — was 1986 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Bill Loeffler in 1988. Denver native Tommy Armour III also missed a cut in the Masters, in 1990.

While no “locals” will compete in this year’s Masters, at least a couple of Coloradans will play a role at Augusta National Golf Club. On Wednesday, Craig Stadler is expected to compete in the Par-3 Contest a year after tying for second in that event. And CGA executive director Ed Mate, who serves on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, will be a rules official at the Masters for the second consecutive year.
 

Ed Mate had been to Augusta National Golf Club during Masters week once before, about a decade ago. But that was as a spectator for the practice rounds.

This time around, the CGA’s executive director left feeling like he’d wrung the whole nine yards out of the Masters experience.

“I did take full advantage of being there,” Mate said on Monday after serving as a rules official for the four rounds of the Masters. “The whole thing was a lot of fun. It was a lot more enjoyable and less stressful than I anticipated.

“I would describe everything about the tournament as welcoming. They’d ask, ‘Do you have anything you need?’ ‘Is there anything we can do for you?’ They appreciate you being there, and anybody there will tell you that. They just make you feel good. And if everyone around you treats you courteously, you can’t help but reciprocate.”

As with former CWGA executive director Robin Jervey from 2008-11, Mate earned the chance to be a Masters rules official by virtue of serving as an advisory member of the powerful USGA Rules of Golf Committee, representing state and regional golf associations. Mate, the CGA’s executive director since 2000, joined the Rules of Golf Committee last fall, and figures to serve up to four years on it.

According to the Augusta Chronicle, while dozens of people served on the Masters Tournament Rules Committee in 2016, the only representative from Colorado this year was Mate, though former Coloradan Thomas Pagel was also on the committee.

In his rules official role, Mate said he worked the par-4 17th hole on Thursday, the par-3 sixth on Friday, the par-4 ninth on Saturday, and the par-4 third on Sunday. He said he had just three interactions with competitors overall — with Charl Schwartzel on Friday, Dustin Johnson on Saturday and low-amateur Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday.

“It was very simple stuff, but enough to make you feel you contributed,” Mate noted.

Schwartzel’s ball at No. 6 on Friday ended up right next to a pair of sunglasses, leading to an interaction with Mate, though Schwartzel was just confirming how to proceed. He marked his ball, moved the sunglasses and played on.

As for Johnson, after he hit his approach on Saturday right of the hole on No. 9, he couldn’t get his ball to stay in place on the sloping green when he tried to replace it in front of his ball mark, and asked Mate about the proper procedure. Mate told him to find a spot as close as possible where the ball would stay put, and Johnson did just that.

On Sunday, DeChambeau hit his ball behind a temporary immovable obstruction on No. 3, and Mate helped him find his point of relief.

“I felt comfortable” overall, Mate said. “All the rulings I had were so straightforward. I’ve worked a couple of U.S. Opens, and it’s still just golf. I didn’t think of the potential of everyone watching. And I knew if I did have any doubt (about a ruling), I’d just go on the radio.”

Indeed, this certainly wasn’t Mate’s first rodeo — which is to say, major championship. He worked the U.S. Open in 2009 and ’10, and has also served as a rules official at U.S. Women’s Opens and U.S. Senior Opens. He likewise had the opportunity to work this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, Pa., but can’t commit to that one.

At Augusta National, Mate also enjoyed interacting with — and picking the brains of — rules officials who have worked dozens and dozens of major championships over the years. Also memorable from last week was just the general feel of being at the Masters.

“It was amazing — everything you’ve heard about the Masters,” Mate said. “From the experience standpoint, it’s unlike anything, so unique. It’s like you’re in a time warp, with no cell phones (allowed for fans on the grounds) and the food costs ($2.50 for a Masters club sandwich, $2 for a soft drink and $1.50 for a Georgia Peach ice cream sandwich). It’s the spirit of Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts: They don’t measure themselves against what everyone else is doing. They do stuff their own way. It’s not a coincidence they’re viewed the way they are.

“There was a great quote (uttered) at a rules meeting: ‘We strive for everything to be the best, and if it’s not, we’ll figure out how to make it the best.’

“And then when you come up to 9 and 18 (greens), there are no corporate sky boxes. On 9 you’re struck by the fact the only things around the green are a bunch of chairs. It’s like a well-attended CGA Stroke Play.”

Mate took advantage of being situated on hole 17 Thursday to take in the experience of the ceremonial opening tee shots by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, with Arnold Palmer also on hand.

“That was a highlight to be there,” Mate said. “How many other times are you going to get to see (those three greats together)? It was packed. And (Masters chairman) Billy Payne exudes charisma. He’s very impressive, so well spoken and gracious. He didn’t drone on (in introducing Palmer, Nickland and Player), but said just enough.”

All in all, suffice it to say Mate is looking forward to a return trip to Augusta National next spring. After all, as they say, it’s a tradition unlike any other.
 

The 1982 Masters champion, who competed in his final Masters in 2014, tied for second place despite lipping out a 3-foot birdie attempt on the ninth and final hole of the par-3 course. That gave the Walrus a 5-under-par 22 total, the same as Keegan Bradley.

Jimmy Walker not only won the Par-3, but set a record in the tournament that was first played in 1960. Walker shot an 8-under-par 19 that included a hole-in-one, one of nine aces made during the contest.

Stadler, who won an event on the PGA Tour Champions circuit as recently as 2013, made five birdies and no bogeys on Wednesday.

Stadler will be inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame next month.

For all the scores from the Par-3 Contest, CLICK HERE.
 

And the 53-year-old native of Mexico will have another opportunity of a lifetime next month, albeit one that came about in an unusual way.

After never competing in a Masters — or even attending one — the former Coloradan will be at Augusta National in three weeks for the year’s first major championship. Though he won’t be in the field, he will be inside the ropes — as a caddie.

Toledo (pictured) persuaded fellow PGA Tour Champions player Sandy Lyle to let Toledo carry his bag for the Masters starting on April 7. Lyle won a green jacket at Augusta National in 1988.

Toledo had asked two-time Masters champ Ben Crenshaw to caddie for him last year. “I wanted to see what was going on inside the ropes,” Toledo told PGATour.com this week. “So I asked Crenshaw. I said, ‘Hey, I can donate $10,000 to your charity. Let me caddie for free and I’ll take care of the whole thing.'”

But last April was going to mark Crenshaw’s final Masters, so Gentle Ben wanted his regular Masters caddie, Carl Jackson, to do the honors.

Not one to give up, Toledo approached Lyle with a similar offer. And the Scotsman took him up on it last week, calling Toledo in Los Cabos, Mexico to give him the good news.

“He said, ‘You’re on.’ So I’m going,” Toledo said. “It will be fantastic.”
 

Last year, Evergreen resident Craig Stadler played in his final Masters after 38 appearances, including his victory in 1982.

This week, Stadler’s son Kevin, a part-time Denver resident, will carry on the tradition of Coloradans competing at Augusta National Golf Club. That is, assuming the stress fracture in his left hand allows it. Kevin Stadler has played a grand total of just two PGA Tour rounds — plus two holes — since mid-October because of the hand injury. He’s in the 2015 Masters field thanks to a top-12 finish in last year’s tournament — eighth place, to be exact — his best showing ever in a major championship.

Stadler said he’s about 70 percent of normal.

“Basically, I figured if my hand wasn’t detached I’d give it a go here,” he said. “I had the time of my life last year and I couldn’t miss it.”

(April 10 Update: Stadler posted rounds of 77-74 and missed the cut by five strokes.)

As has been well-chronicled, Craig Stadler was continuing to play the Masters with the hope that Kevin would earn an invitation and that they could be in the same field at Augusta. With that happening in 2014, the elder Stadler will end his streak of 36 consecutive Masters when the field tees it up on Thursday.

“For five years or so, I’d been saying under my breath to friends that the first year Kevin got in was going to be my last,” Craig Stadler recently told Golf Magazine. “And it worked out perfectly because he played really well. A couple of bogeys down the stretch on Sunday, but otherwise it was awesome to watch.

“I love the place (Augusta National). I always have, other than Thursday or Friday the past five or six years (he missed the cut his last seven times competing in the Masters). Last year, I had a blast watching Kevin over the weekend. He played well, and I loved every minute of it.”

(The Stadlers are pictured together at last year’s Masters.)

With this passing of the torch, it seems a good opportunity to look back on how players with strong Colorado ties who have played multiple times at the Masters have fared over the years:

Evergreen resident Craig Stadler — Masters appearances: 38. First Masters: 1974. Best finish: Won in 1982, beating Dan Pohl in a playoff. Top 10s: 5.

Boulder High School and CU graduate Hale Irwin — Masters appearances: 21. First Masters: 1971. Best finishes: Fourth in 1974 and ’75. Top 10s: 7. Notable: Irwin, now a three-time U.S. Open champion, finished in the top five at Augusta every year from 1974 through ’77.

Former Broadmoor director of golf Dow Finsterwald — Masters appearances: 14. First Masters: 1951. Best finishes: Third in 1960 and ’62. Top-10s: 5. Notable: Just months after being hired by the Broadmoor, Finsterwald posted his final top-10 at Augusta National, a ninth in 1964.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Dave Hill — Masters appearances: 12. First Masters: 1968. Best finish: fifth in 1970. Top-10s: 2.

Cherry Hills Village resident David Duval — Masters appearances: 11. First Masters: 1996. Best finish: second in 1998 and 2001. Top-10s: 4. Notable: Enjoyed his Masters success before moving to Colorado 11 years ago.

Former Yuma High School and CU golfer Steve Jones — Masters appearances: 9. First Masters: 1988. Best finish by 1996 U.S. Open champ: 20th in 1990.

Castle Rock resident Gary Hallberg — Masters appearances: 6. First Masters: 1978. Best finish: sixth in 1985.

Former Cherry Creek High School golfer Mike Reid — Masters appearances: 4. First Masters: 1981. Best finish: His only made cut was a sixth-place showing in 1989.

Former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 2001. Best finishes: 43rd in 2001 and 2005.

Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Dale Douglass — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 1969. Best finish: 19th in 1969.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 1999. Best finish: 14th in 1999.

Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 2011. Best finish: 20th in 2011.

Aurora resident Mark Wiebe — Masters appearances: 2. First Masters: 1986. Best finish: 35th in 1987.

Part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler — Masters appearances: 2nd will be this week. First Masters: 2014. Best finish: Eighth in 2014. Notable: Stadler’s showing last year was his best performance in any major championship.
 

The 1982 Masters champion didn’t directly answer the question, but his response did give a hint: “This is awesome.”

On that day, “This” was Kevin Stadler winning his professional debut at the Colorado Open in a three-man playoff, with Craig having caddied for his son all four days.

Throughout Kevin’s years playing amateur golf in Colorado and elsewhere, and during his professional career, Craig Stadler has been his son’s biggest champion.

And that will certainly be the case this week, as well, as the two become the first father and son to compete in the same Masters. The first men’s major championship of 2014 begins Thursday (April 10), with Kevin teeing off at 5:56 a.m. MT and Craig beginning play at 6:40.

“It’s emotional in a very, very good way,” Craig Stadler, a longtime Colorado resident, said this week at Augusta National, where he and Kevin were paired for Wednesday’s par-3 contest. “I had envisioned this and knew it would happen some day. I was hoping it would happen some day. I was pretty sure. The rest was up to him.

“But it was very cool on Saturday evening registering and then walking down and (seeing our) two names next to each other on the scoreboard. That got me a little bit. That was very cool. It’s going to be just a wonderful week and I hope he plays really well, and I hope I don’t embarrass myself.”

As a former champion, Craig Stadler receives an invitation to play the Masters as long as he’d like. But while Kevin has played 244 PGA Tour events and earned more than $9 million, it wasn’t until early February that he earned his first competitive invite to Augusta National. That was when he out-dueled former Masters champion Bubba Watson to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open near Stadler’s residence in Scottsdale.

While the Stadlers certainly haven’t been as close as they used to be — Craig and Kevin’s mother, Sue, divorced in 2006, and father and son very rarely had played golf together in recent years before coming to Augusta — Craig couldn’t have been more proud when Kevin scored his first PGA Tour victory. Not only was that important in and of itself, the main reason Craig continued to play the Masters — he’s now 60 years old — was in the hope that Kevin could join him in the field.

“If and when I do bow out, which probably will be this year, I can’t think of a better way to do it than playing with your son in the same tournament,” Craig said. “I mean, it’s awesome.”

As the son of a Masters champion, Kevin Stadler has attended the tournament many times over the years, even as a 2-year-old when his dad won in 1982. But before this year, Kevin had only played Augusta National once — during a winter visit with his dad when Kevin was 18 or 19.

“It was great to be able to tag along and walk around here,” Kevin Stadler said on Monday. “I couldn’t wait for April every year, when I was a kid, to come out here and just run rampant around the golf course and watch him and watch all the kids of other people play. I used to love tagging around at tournaments, watching the golf. It was what I got the most enjoyment out of when I was a kid.”

Obviously, being around all that good golf rubbed off on Kevin Stadler. In 1997 while attending Kent Denver, he won the state high school championship at Collindale Golf Club in Fort Collins. Two years later, at Fort Collins Country Club, Stadler claimed the title at the CGA Match Play. And in 2002, he added a second Match Play crown at the Country Club at Castle Pines, leading to him being named the CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year.

Also in 2002, besides Kevin winning the Colorado Open, he teamed up with Craig to earn the title in the Father/Son Challenge, which features past PGA Tour greats and their sons in a team event.

Two years later, Kevin Stadler won on the Web.com Tour the same week Craig prevailed in a Champions Tour event, making them the first father-son duo to win tour events on the same week since current Colorado resident David Duval and father Bob managed the feat in 1999. The last time Craig and Kevin Stadler have competed together on the PGA Tour was at the 2010 Bob Hope Classic.

This week, the Stadlers are making more father/son history. And Craig is reveling in how Kevin has stepped up his game in recent years. This season, Kevin has made 10 cuts in 11 events — he missed last week in the Shell Houston Open, his first MC since August — and ranks 16th on the PGA Tour money list with more than $1.67 million.

For his part, Craig Stadler has won 13 times on the PGA Tour and nine on the Champions Tour, and his victory last June in the Encompass Championship gave him the tour record for most time between victories (almost nine years).

“I’m so proud of the way he’s played the last three or four years,” Craig said of Kevin. “He’s been close a zillion times and finally got it done. …. He’s become a wonderfully consistent player. … I’m just going to kind of stand on the sidelines and watch, which is all I want to do, and just be supportive and root him on and hope more Phoenixes happen in the future — a lot more.”

For now, Kevin Stadler is looking forward to playing an Augusta National course that is in one way very familiar and in another very new to him.

“It’s going to be really, really fun to be on the inside of the ropes,” the 34-year-old said. “I feel like I know this place pretty well but I’ve never, ever played it (in competition). So it’s going to be a blast. I just don’t really know what I’m getting myself into, but it’s going to be really enjoyable.”
 

Of course, when you start with the 1986 Masters, the bar is set a bit on the high side.

That remains one of the great major championships ever — and sporting events in general — but what burned the tournament in Reilly’s memory goes beyond the fact that Jack Nicklaus shot 30 on the back nine the final day to win his 18th and final major at age 46.

“That was my first one ever. I was so scared,” Reilly said in a phone interview last week, before he made his usual early-spring trek to Augusta National for this week’s Masters. “I’d only gotten on the magazine (Sports Illustrated) the year before. They gave me the golf beat because Dan Jenkins left to go to Golf Digest.

“I had to ask Jack Nicklaus on Wednesday if he was broke. I had never met Jack Nicklaus. My dad and I used to sit and watch him; he was our hero. And the first thing I’ve got to say to Jack Nicklaus is, ‘Mr. Nicklaus, we hear you’re broke.’ I just wanted to crawl, but we had this great tip that he was broke. He said, ‘come with me,’ and he takes me up to the Champions Locker Room (at Augusta National).

“I can barely hear him talk because my knees are knocking together so loudly. I’m just gagging. I’m looking at all the (champions’) lockers and it’s amazing. And he said, ‘I’m not broke, I’m just overextended.’ He explained it all to me. But then, he goes on to win the thing (after being six shots behind with 10 holes remaining). I’ve never seen anything like it since.

“That might be the greatest thing I’ve ever witnessed in sports in terms of just sheer ‘slap your own face, spit out your dentures’ amazing. It was (like) North Carolina State dunking the ball to win the (1983 NCAA basketball) title in Albuquerque on an airball. For sheer amazement, there’s Tiger (Woods) in ’97 at the Masters beating people by 12 when he was 21 years. And probably the most amazing achievement I’ve ever seen in sports was him winning four (majors) in a row. Nothing matches that, I don’t think.”

Reilly — who grew up in Boulder, graduated from Boulder High School and the University of Colorado, and remains a resident of Denver — said he received a letter this year from Billy Payne, Augusta National Golf Club chairman, saying that the writer had reached the 25-Masters-covered milestone. That, the letter said, entitled Reilly to one free pass for the week, in addition to his media credential. So for the first time, Reilly’s twentysomething son Jake will accompany him to Augusta National.

Reilly has covered about every sports event imaginable over the last 35 years. He’s been a sports writer for the (Boulder) Daily Camera, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated and ESPN. Along the way, he’s been named national sports writer of the year 11 times.

In June, he’ll be inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, with John Elway being his presenter at the ceremony. That puts the 56-year-old Reilly into some elite company, joining the likes of legendary sports writers Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon, Ring Lardner, Red Smith, Jim Murray, Dick Connor, Jenkins, Frank Deford, Bud Collins, Will McDonough, Peter Gammons and Mitch Albom. Oh, and guys named Ronald Reagan and John Wayne have also been enshrined.

At his request, Reilly will go part-time at ESPN on July 1. He’ll no longer write his popular ESPN column, but still will do TV work for the sports network and possibly write more books and screenplays.

Though Reilly has made a name writing about all different sports — besides his work for newspapers, magazines and web sites, he’s penned 11 books (not counting a few he co-authored) and a screenplay (Leatherheads, starring George Clooney) — he has a special place in his heart for golf. Five years ago, he and son Jake spent two days at Hyland Hills in Westminster while Rick hit 694 shots on the nine-hole, 673-yard, par-3 North course, trying for his first hole-in-one. Jake, who once made an ace barefoot during tryouts for Denver East High School at City Park Golf Course, was along to snag missed shots with a baseball mitt. Rick sometimes hit 20 shots per hole.

It wasn’t until day 2 and shot No. 694 that Reilly hit pay-dirt. It came on a less-than-demanding 52-yard hole.

“So when people say, ‘What are the odds of making a hole-in-one?’, I know: 694 to 1, not counting the rest of my life. In the same way that a woman who can’t get pregnant for years and years, then the couple adopts, and a month after they adopt they get pregnant … a month after (the Hyland Hills ace), on the way to Augusta, I made a hole-in-one.”

And it’s probably no coincidence that several of Reilly’s books are centered around golf. Asked which was the most fun to write, he doesn’t hesitate:

“‘Who’s Your Caddy’ is by far the most fun,” he said. “If that didn’t sell a single book it still would have been the most fun book I ever did. First, I love caddies. They give you the best quotes, they have the most fun, they find the best bars. I just love caddies. So to be a caddie for 12 different people — Jack Nicklaus, Tom Lehman, David Duval, Donald Trump, a blind guy, a $50,000 nassau guy, Jill McGill, John Daly … It was so fun.”

That said, it’s not surprising that the Masters is one of Reilly’s favorite events to cover.

“After 26 of them, it’s like you know every inch of it, you know?” he said. “Every year is amazing, though. I remember after Jack won in ’86, me and Jaime Diaz (now editor-in-chief at Golf World) were so pumped up and we had a bunch of stories still to write, but we had our golf clubs in the trunk of his car. And we got out just outside the gate (of Augusta National) and there was this big gravel parking lot with a big water tower there and we hit drivers off the gravel parking lot. I don’t know what we wanted to do, but I’ll never forget hitting drivers and trying to hit that water tower. Then we had to go back and write all night. I wrote until 7 a.m., I remember that. That was crazy.”

Then after finishing a 3,500-word “game story” for SI, Reilly tried to be one of 20 lucky media folks to get to play Augusta National on Monday, the day after the Masters ended.

“They said, ‘Get here on Monday; the list goes up at 7:30 a.m., and the first 20 guys to sign up get to play,'” he said. “I got there at 7:30 a.m., and 101 Japanese guys were in front of me. I think they spent the whole night out there. And I just went back and went back to sleep.”