Oraee, the CGA’s Les Fowler Player of the Year in 2015, posted rounds of 63-65-67 for a 15-under-par 195 total, which earned him the $7,000 first prize and his first professional victory.

Oraee (pictured), who made it to the round of 16 at the 2015 U.S. Amateur, prevailed by three strokes over another former CU golfer, Ben Portie, the University of Northern Colorado women’s golf head coach and the 2011 CoBank Colorado Open champion. Portie closed with a 64 on Sunday.

Two other former Buffs, Derek Fribbs and three-time champion Kane Webber, tied for fourth at 201, meaning ex-CU players claimed four of the top five spots.

Glenn Workman, a Pueblo resident and University of Wyoming golfer, earned low-amateur honors with an 8-under-par 202 total.

For results, CLICK HERE.

— Elsewhere on Sunday, Emily Childs, who played one season at CU before transferring to Cal, finished fourth at the Symetra Tour’s Donald Ross Centennial Classic in French Lick, Ind. Childs carded rounds of 70-68-70 for a 5-under-par 208 total, which left her seven strokes behind champion Erynne Lee.
 

Portie, who was the first women’s golf coach at Metropolitan State University of Denver the last four seasons, replaces Stephen Bidne, who resigned from the UNC post to take the same job at the University of Hawaii.

Metro State hosted the NCAA Division II Championship Finals last year, and Portie played a key role as the women’s tournament was played at CommonGround Golf Course and the men’s at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.

Prior to coaching at Metro State — where he led the Roadrunners to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles in 2015 and ’16 — Portie was an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at UNC from 2010 to ’13. The 2012 squad won the Big Sky Conference tournament title.

“I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of the UNC Bear family again,” Portie said in a UNC press release. “I am looking forward to jumping right in and helping our current Bear golf team be successful in the classroom, community and golf course.”

Portie played his college golf at the University of Colorado, and the left-hander led the way indiviudally the last time the Buff men competed in the NCAA Finals, in 2002. As a pro, besides winning a Colorado Open, Portie has captured the title twice in the Rocky Mountain Open.

As an amateur, Portie was the CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year in 2001.

UNC is one of four NCAA Division I women’s golf programs based in Colorado, along with CU, Colorado State University and the University of Denver.
 

The three Local Qualifiers in Colorado will take place Monday at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster (the former Heritage at Westmoor), May 15 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, and May 16 at Collindale Golf Course in Fort Collins.

At each site, 84 players will vie for five spots into the second and final qualifying stage. Ten 36-hole U.S. Open Sectionals will be contested in the U.S. on June 5. The U.S. Open itself is set for June 15-18 at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis.

The odds of qualifying for the U.S. Open after going through both stages are very long, to say the least. The USGA accepted 9,485 entries into the championship, and 51 are fully exempt and many others are exempt into the Sectional Qualifying stage.

Among those scheduled to compete in Colorado-based Local Qualifying tournaments this year, a handful have beaten the odds in the past by qualifying for the Open: Derek Tolan and Ben Portie (2002), Jason Preeo (2010), Steve Irwin (2011) and Nick Mason (2014). Tolan and Mason will be playing at Walnut Creek, and Portie, Preeo and Irwin at Collinale.

Among the other entrants at Walnut Creek are former Colorado Open champions Zahkai Brown and Scott Petersen; NCAA Regional qualifiers Ethan Freeman, Jake Staiano, Josh Seiple and Yannik Paul; and Michael Schoolcraft, who played in this year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour.

At CommonGround, the contestants include the winners of the two most prestigious CGA championships in 2016, Colin Prater and Nathaniel Goddard; and three-time Wyoming Open champion Kane Webber.

At Collindale, a regular host of U.S. Open Local Qualifying, the field includes — besides Portie, Preeo and Irwin — Geoff Keffer, the Colorado PGA Player of the Year each of the last three years; 2015 CGA Player of the Year David Oraee; Riley Arp, who competed in the Shell Houston Open on the PGA Tour in March; and Parker Edens, who finished a shot out of a playoff at a U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying site last year.

For pairings, click on the following: WALNUT CREEK, COMMONGROUND, COLLINDALE.

It’s been almost a half-century since Colorado hosted the NCAA golf national championship finals — at any level — but the drought will soon end.

Both the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II tournaments will be coming to the Centennial State next May as part of the 2016 DII Spring Championships Festival that brings national finals in several sports to a single venue over a six-day period.

In the case of May 2016, the NCAA has announced that Metropolitan State University of Denver will host DII nationals for men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse and softball.

As for the golf, the women’s DII nationals are set for May 18-21 at CommonGround Golf Course (above) in northwest Aurora, while the men’s DII finals will be May 17-21 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.

The only NCAA golf national finals held in Colorado have been hosted by the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, which held the men’s Division I championships five times between 1953 and ’69. So next year will mark the first Colorado visit for an NCAA women’s golf national finals or a men’s or women’s NCAA DII golf nationals.

It should be noted that Colorado has hosted NCAA men’s and women’s regional tournaments, most recently at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie in 2012 (women) and 2011 (men).

“This is another feather in the cap for the state that we can host this kind of championship golf, like we have with amateurs, juniors and pros,” said Kevin Laura, the president of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club (left).

Indeed, the announcement of the DII national golf venues comes as both courses get ready to host significant championships. The AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, presented by MusclePharm, will be played at CommonGround Tuesday through Thursday, while the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open is set for Green Valley Ranch Wednesday through Friday. CommonGround is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, and served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur, along with host Cherry Hills. GVR, meanwhile, is home to all three HealthOne Colorado Open championships — the Colorado Open, Colorado Women’s Open and Colorado Senior Open.

“We are extremely excited for the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships to be hosted in Denver at Green Valley Ranch and CommonGround as part of the 2016 NCAA Division II Spring Championships Festival,” said John Baldwin, assistant director of championships and alliances for the NCAA. “We are confident that our student-athletes will enjoy competing on courses with great championship pedigree, and we look forward to crowning a couple of national champions in May 2016.”

Ben Portie, winner of the 2011 Colorado Open, was responsible for getting the ball rolling on setting the golf venues for the DII Spring Festival. Portie has been the women’s golf coach at Metro State for the past two seasons — the Roadrunners don’t have a men’s golf program — and he led his team to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title this year.

CommonGround and GVR both serve as home courses for the Metro State women’s team, and both courses have been proven as solid championship venues. The NCAA agreed after paying a visit to the two sites.

“They fit the right mold,” Portie said. “GVR hosts the biggest events in state, and that’s what the NCAA looks for — courses that have hosted big events. And the same for CommonGround. It’s hosted CGA championships and helped with the U.S. Amateur.”

Portie likes the thought of golf national championships coming to Colorado, especially with the state not having had a chance to host any NCAA finals in many decades.

“The national championships are in May, and a lot of times they go to warmer weather sites,” he noted. “But (the University of Colorado) has hosted men’s and women’s regionals. I think it’s pretty neat we are able to hold both national championships in our city. The two facilities will be great for them. GVR will probably be set up similar to a Colorado Open, and CommonGround held up nicely for a U.S. Amateur.”

Both Ed Mate and Ann Guiberson, respective executive directors for the CGA and CWGA, are looking forward to the associations’ home course hosting the best women’s players in Division II.

“It’s great to have a national women’s event at CommonGround,” said Guiberson, who played college golf at the University of Nebraska. “It’ll be interesting to see how they score and how they set it up. It’ll be fun. And I think Division II has gotten stronger players (over time).”

Mate believes having a high-level women’s national tournament at CommonGround presents many possibilities for course set-up.

“I’m really excited that we’re going to host the women here because I think it’s a great golf course for women,” he said. “The beautiful thing about setting up the course for women is you’re not looking behind you all day, thinking we’ve got to build another set of tees. You can look at the tees that are there and start mixing and matching. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the course plays for a higher caliber of women player. It’s exciting and it’s just further testament of what this golf course was built for — programming, but also great championship golf. That’s just further validation of everything we aspire to be.”

NCAA Division II has held its own national championship in men’s golf since 1963 and in women’s golf since 2000. From 1996 through ’99, Division II and III women competed in a combined championship.

One of the top DII women’s golfers in the country goes to school in Colorado. Leina Kim, who will be a senior at Colorado State-Pueblo, finished 12th this spring in the DII nationals.

While the women’s tournament will be 72 holes of stroke play, the men’s event features a mixed format, with three days of stroke play and two days of team medal match play, with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals on tap. The men’s competition will include 108 golfers, while the women’s championship will feature 72.
 

The group ran the gamut in terms of age (young women to senior citizens) and golf ability (USGA handicap indexes ranging from 13 to 64, and most with no handicaps at all).

But young or old, good players or not, the 44 women who gathered Saturday at the Greg Mastriona Courses at Hyland Hills in Westminster had at least a couple of things in common. They like golf and are looking to improve their games, and they love to have a good time while they’re at it.

Saturday’s outing marked the start of the fifth year of the Women’s Golf Experiences, events hosted by the CWGA that combine small-group instruction with some fun social interaction with other women interested in the game.

“I do like events like this,” said Monica Halley, who participated in some of the popular “Ladies Night Out” social golf events at Hyland Hills last year. “I’m not a brand-new golfer, but I’m somewhat new. I don’t keep score yet. But this kind of gives me a way to come out and be with other women where I don’t feel intimidated. I feel like I fit in and can learn. They teach you a lot of new skills.

“My husband golfs and my youngest son is going to school at (CU-Colorado Springs) to be a golf pro. I’ve been around it but haven’t gone out too much myself. So this gives me a good opportunity to go out. And I was just thinking about joining a women’s group here in the summer on Tuesday and Thursday morning.”

That is music to the ears of organizers of events such as these. With the National Golf Foundation reporting that the number of female golfers in the U.S. dropped from 7 million in 2005 to 5 million in 2012, making potential new women’s golfers — and golfers in general — feel welcome and wanting to play more is a high priority.

“The CWGA is helping courses take advantage of this opportunity that women want social golf,” said Kim Schwartz, the association’s director of member programs. “Women are social, so they want opportunities to go play and have fun. As the CWGA, we represent all of women (golfers) across the state. We’re not just a championship organization. If we can offer opportunities by partnering with different golf courses, that’s huge to have (programs) for women to enjoy golf.”

Over the last several years, the CWGA has placed an ever-increasing emphasis on building the base of women’s golfers through social golf activities.

At the Women’s Golf Experience events, participants receive roughly 45 minutes of small-group instruction at each of four stations — full swing, chipping, putting, and rules, then have lunch afterward. Goodie bags are distributed and drawings are held for prizes. PGA/LPGA professionals provide the instruction. Among those leading the way Saturday was 2011 HealthOne Colorado Open champion Ben Portie, now the women’s golf head coach at Metro State, along with PGA professionals Val Heim and Joe Chavez of Hyland Hills, Jeff Carter from the Broadlands and Brian Lindstrom from Highland Meadows.

Saturday was the first of three Women’s Golf Experience events scheduled for 2014, with the others being May 10 at Overland Park in Denver and May 17 at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Denver broadcast personality Denise Plante is expected to be a special guest at the Overland Park Experience.

But the Experience events just scratch the surface of social golf outings the CWGA organizes or participates in. This year alone, there are more than three-dozen such events, with Hyland Hills, CommonGround, Buffalo Run and the City of Denver courses among those hosting outings. For a list of events, CLICK HERE. Many include social get-togethers in addition to golf.

Saturday marked the first local Women’s Golf Experience that new CWGA executive director Ann Guiberson has witnessed firsthand, and she came away impressed.

“This is a terrific event today,” she said. “We’ve got a good mix of CWGA members and new golfers and advanced golfers, and everyone is supporting each other and having a good time.

“I talked to a few people today who said they weren’t sure if they were going to come out, but they decided to come. Once you get here, everyone is talking to everybody else and sharing experiences and helping each other. It’s a great program.

“Kim (Schwartz) has done a fantastic job putting this program together the last couple of years. Based on what I’ve seen today, it’s something we will definitely continue and maybe even take around the rest of the state.”

Among the sites that have hosted Women’s Golf Experience events in past years are Grand Junction, Colorado Springs and Loveland, in addition to the Denver metro area.

Included among the first-time participants on Saturday was Shona Eliason, president of the Women’s 9-Hole League at the Broadlands in Broomfield. She attended along with one of her regular playing partners.

“It’s one of those benefits that we get that we don’t usually take advantage of,” Eliason said of the Experience, which is discounted for CWGA members.

Eliason, a 20-handicap, enjoyed the rules instruction, along with the fact that most of the various teaching stations featured two instructors for each rotating group of 10 or 11 players.

“I like that they have different instructors at each station because sometimes if you just go with one or two instructors (total) and you do a half-day clinic, it’s not quite as interesting,” Eliason said. “I also liked that they had two people at each one. It changed it up.”

The idea is that the Experience engages the participants to the point that they’re drawn into the game long-term.

“We have two instructors at most of the stations to give somewhat personalized instruction, so everyone of every ability can get something out of it,” Schwartz said. “That’s what the goal is today. That’s why we’re drawing that broad range (of golfers). But by far, most of the participants are newer golfers or new to golf. I think why this is popular in the spring is because it’s kind of jump-starting their games.”

Drawing more women into the sport will take time, but events like the Women’s Golf Experience are part of the step-by-step process.

“We can’t just build women’s golf by ourselves,” Schwartz said. “We have to work with everyone else in the community.”
 

Three players who have accounted for a collective four victories in Colorado Open championships shot in the 60s on day 1 of the 2013 tournament at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.

Though none of the three leads — that distinction belongs to former University of Northern Colorado golfer Stephen Bidne, who made eight birdies en route to a 7-under-par 64 — Coloradans Doug Rohrbaugh, Derek Tolan (pictured) and Ben Portie are right in the mix.

The 51-year-old Rohrbaugh, a Carbondale resident and head professional at Ironbridge Golf Club, more than held his own with the young guns. The 2013 HealthOne Colorado Senior Open winner shot a 5-under-par 66 and shares second place.

Tolan, the defending champion seeking his third Colorado Open title in the last five years, posted a 67, good for seventh place.

And Portie, the 2011 Open winner and newly named Metro State women’s golf coach, fired a 69 and shares 14th place.

All told, they were three of the 38 players who broke par on a mostly benign scoring day at Green Valley Ranch. Joining Rohrbaugh in second place at 66 were former University of Denver golfer James Love, Dustin Mills of Arvada, Nathan Tyler of Tucson and Brad Besler of Blessing, Texas.

Especially in the morning wave, before some wind and rain moved in, red scores were plentiful.

“The course here is soft, so it’s there for the taking because you can throw darts in there (at the pins),” said Rohrbaugh, who welcomed that after facing very difficult conditions recently at the U.S. Senior Open. “Today was the day. The greens were perfect, they were soft, and we didn’t have (much) wind” in the morning.

Bidne, a 2011 UNC graduate who now plays on PGA Tour Canada, started his day with three consecutive birdies and made three more in his last five holes. His only bogey came on a three-putt. He’s shot 62 before, but Thursday marked one of perhaps his best six scores in a tournament.

“I definitely played really solid today,” Bidne said. “I missed three 6-footers, but I also made a couple of 30-footers so it all evened out. I’m happy with it. It was a fun day out there.

“I was the second group off this morning and the greens were pretty soft, so it was easy to get them close. I got pretty lucky with a good draw this week and a good tee time.”

Despite the fact that the course plays roughly 300 yards longer — and to a par-71 vs. a par-72 — than it does for the Colorado Senior Open, Rohrbaugh didn’t miss a beat on Thursday. His 66 Thursday was about as impressive as his first-round 65 in the Senior Open.

“With those tees and that set-up, it’s definitely my best round out here,” Rohrbaugh said. “I can almost say that’s every bit as good a round or better than I shot in the first round of the Senior because I’m playing it longer. I putted well today. If you’re going to be technical and counting only the putts that were on the green, it was in the low 20s; it had to be. I just made putts today. It was fun.”

And Rohrbaugh took advantage of a big break on No. 18 — his ninth hole — where he “thinned” his third shot (out of a fairway bunker), hit a small fence bordering cattails, and saw his ball carom completely across the fairway, stopping a foot short of the hazard. Because his swing was restricted by a small fence, he received a free drop and no longer had to deal with a bush that was in his way. He hit his fourth shot 12 feet from the cup and drained the par putt.

“It could have been a double (bogey),” he admitted. “There was my big break today. A routine par,” he said with a chuckle.

Tolan, winner of the Colorado Open in 2009 and 2012, carded five birdies and one bogey to begin his title defense.

“I felt real good about” about the round, the 27-year-old from Highlands Ranch said. “I wasn’t overly confident coming in here with my game. I’m not as tuned up as I’d like, but I played pretty solid. I hit it well and hit some good putts.

“I feel like it’s a good spot for me. I love the golf course, I love the area, love the way the tournament is run, love everything about it. I thought if I played solid and got off to a good start that I’d be able to make something happen.”

The 156-player field will be cut to the low 60 and ties after Friday’s second round. On the weekend, a $125,000 purse will be up for grabs, with $23,000 going to the top professional.

One player already out of the running is two-time champion Jim Blair, who withdrew mid-round.

For Colorado Open scores, CLICK HERE.

After all, he’ll go down as the final champion of the tournament.

Four months after the USGA announced it will discontinue its men’s and women’s Amateur Public Links Championships after 2014, CGA leadership has decided to make a similar move.

This week’s CGA Public Links Championship — set for Friday through Sunday (June 21-23) at Twin Peaks Golf Course in Longmont — will be the last played, concluding a run of 31 tournaments since the event’s inception in 1983. (Eric Parish, pictured hitting above, will defend his title this weekend.)

As was the case with the USGA, CGA officials believe the Publinks no longer serves its original purpose.

“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “At the time the tournament was created, there was a need to have distinction between public and private. Now the line between public and private is blurry — which is good — and there’s no need” for that distinction.

“There was a feeling as long as the USGA conducted a national Publinks, we should do a state Publinks. Now that rationale is gone.”

Mate said the CGA plans to add a new championship in 2014, though what form that tournament might take hasn’t been decided. But he added that whatever replaces the Publinks will be an open-field event, meaning any CGA member will be able to compete, aside from the possible restriction of age.

“In no other tournament that we run do we say, ‘You can play and you can’t’, except for age purposes,” Mate continued. “It got to be really silly, with people having a range membership at a private club not being able to play (in the Publinks), while a college player who has access to a private club could play.”

Currently, the CGA Public Links Championship is limited to “active CGA members who, since January 1st of the current year, are bona-fide public course players who have not held privileges of any course which does not extend playing privileges to the general public or privileges of any private club maintaining its own course.”

Gary Potter, now a CGA governor emeritus, was one of the driving forces in creating the Public Links Championship in the early 1980s. But he supports the decision to discontinue the event.

“I was urging for it to be done away with,” he said. “At the time we started it, we were looking to create more events for more people. It was just one more thing to be meaningful at a time when we didn’t have a lot of activity on the tournament front.

“It served its purpose. The true Publinks player doesn’t really exist anymore. Anyone can enter the U.S. Amateur. We probably started (the Publinks) in Colorado too late; we were already well into the mode of everyone being able to play in every tournament.”

Ninety years ago, the Amateur Public Links gave public golfers a national championship as they couldn’t compete in the U.S. Amateur, which was limited to players from USGA member clubs. But that restriction ended for both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1979. Nowadays the Publinks events are dominated by college players — or younger.

Every champion of the CGA Publinks since 2000 has won the title the same year he competed as a college golfer. The last non-college player to win was Rick DeWitt in 1999.

Terry Byrnes won the inaugural CGA Publinks in 1983 at Gleneagle Golf Club in Colorado Springs.

“I’m not surprised the state Publinks is scheduled to join the persimmon driver as part of golf’s past,” Byrnes noted this week. “Much has changed in 30 years regarding how and where people choose to play their golf and the CGA offers a handsome slate of competitive opportunities each year anyway.

“I do remember feeling a great sense of pride in winning the inaugural event just outside of Colorado Springs back in 1983. If I had known sooner, I would have tried to arrange to compete in the last event as the Colorado Public Links does hold a special place for me.”

Among the other champions of the tournament are two-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Kaye (1992), two-time HealthOne Colorado Open champion Derek Tolan (2008) and current Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Mark Crabtree (1990) and DeWitt (1999). Also champions are brothers Zen and Zahkai Brown (2005 and 2009, respectively).

Three players have won the CGA Public Links twice each: Tom McGraw (1987 and ’93), Ben Portie (2000 and ’01) and Nolan Martin (2002 and ’04).

“The tournament (helped) Rick DeWitt and others rise to the top,” Potter said. “That’s kind of neat, being a true Publinks player.”

While the CGA Public Links Championship is going by the wayside, the association holds public players closer to its heart than ever, especially given that the CGA has so much invested in an inner-city public course. The CGA and CWGA have owned and operated CommonGround Golf Course since 2009.

“The whole idea with that is to be affordable and be accessible,” Mate said. “With all the rounds that are played there, that more than makes up for the (84) people who play annually in this (Public Links) tournament. And we are replacing that with another tournament.”

The CGA and CWGA will continue to conduct qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links through 2014. The men’s APL is the USGA’s fourth-oldest championship, having debuted in 1922. The WAPL was first played in 1977.
 

Though there have certainly been significant golf tournaments already held in Colorado in 2013 — including many involving girls high school golfers — the ball really gets rolling in the coming few weeks.

The CJGA tournament season begins this weekend (April 27-28) in Pueblo and the CGA championship campaign starts with the Four-Ball and Senior Four-Ball next weekend (May 3-5).

But by far the most notable tournaments in Colorado over the next few weeks are the three Local Qualifying stops for the U.S. Open. “Locals” are the first of two qualifying stages for the second major championship of the year. After the top Local finishers advance to Sectionals, the best performers at 13 36-hole Sectional tournaments earn spots in the Open itself, which is set for June 13-16 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

The application process for the U.S. Open closed on Wednesday (April 24) and the USGA announced on Thursday that it received a record 9,860 entrants. Most will compete at one of 111 Local Qualifying sites in the U.S. between May 3 and 16.

A total of 228 entrants are scheduled to tee it up at one of the three Colorado-based Local qualifiers: May 6 at the West Course at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs (60 players), and May 13 at the Heritage at Westmoor in Westminster (84) and Collindale in Fort Collins (84). Collindale has hosted U.S. Open Local Qualifying for more than a decade, according to the USGA.

The fields in Colorado include numerous former U.S. Open contestants, HealthOne Colorado Open champions, and former PGA and Web.com Tour regulars.

For instance, at the Broadmoor on May 6, two Coloradans who competed in consecutive U.S. Opens (2002 and 2003) as 16-year-olds, Derek Tolan (pictured) and Tom Glissmeyer, are in the field. Tolan has won two of the last four Colorado Opens. Also playing at the same site will be 2011 U.S. Open qualifier Steve Irwin, and former Web.com Tour players James Love and Dustin White, winner of the 2006 Colorado Open.

At Collindale, former PGA Tour player Leif Olson is scheduled to play, along with Jason Preeo, who made the cut in the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and Wyndham Clark, who won the 2010 CGA Stroke Play Championship as a 16-year-old.

At the Heritage at Westmoor, the field includes 2011 Colorado Open champion Ben Portie, who played in the 2002 U.S. Open along with Tolan. Also planning to compete are former Asian Tour event champion Kane Webber and Rob Hunt, winner of two of the last four Colorado PGA Professional Championships.
 

But R.W. Eaks (pictured) isn’t your typical 60-year-old golfer.

Despite his age, the former longtime Colorado Springs resident could very well be in the hunt at the 48th Colorado Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.

Eaks, in the field after winning the 2011 HealthOne Colorado Senior Open at GVR, has the most impressive golf resume of anyone competing in the Colorado Open this week.

The former University of Northern Colorado athlete owns four victories on the Champions Tour — all coming in 2007 and 2008 — and three more on what is now known as the Web.com Tour.

Eaks still plays occasionally on the Champions circuit — three times this year so far and once in 2011 — but he has very limited status. That’s why he played in the Colorado Senior Open last year. And even though he spent much of his life in Colorado, his six-stroke victory in the senior tournament marked his first professional win in the Centennial State.

The set-up for the Senior Open at Green Valley Ranch isn’t what it is for the Colorado Open, but Eaks’ record 15-under-par performance over three rounds proved he certainly could be a contender this week. Because of longtime back problems, Eaks will be allowed to ride in a cart at GVR.

Meanwhile, a prominent player who missed last year’s Colorado Open is back in the field this year. Coloradan Derek Tolan, who won the Open in 2009 and was a regular participant for a decade, skipped last year’s event because he played in a conflicting tournament on the Web.com Tour.

In all, nine former Colorado Open champions are expected to play this week, including defending champ Ben Portie and former PGA Tour player Wil Collins.

The winner this week will receive an exemption in the Canadian Tour’s Great Waterway Classic in Ontario Sept. 6-9, along with the Texas State Open.

Colorado Open: All the Essentials

What: 48th annual HealthOne Colorado Open.

When: Thursday through Sunday (July 26-29).

Where: Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver (4900 Himalaya Road).

Prize Money: $125,000, with $23,000 going to the low professional.

Field Size: 156 players, with a cut to the low 60 and ties after 36 holes.

Defending Champion: Ben Portie.

Other Former Champions in Field: Nathan Lashley (2010), Derek Tolan (2009), John Douma (2007), Dustin White (2006), Wil Collins (2005), Scott Petersen (2000), Mike Zaremba (1995), Jim Blair (1983 and 1987).

Attendance: Free.

It was a day more than 20 years ago, but Ben Portie recalls the details as if it were yesterday.

Long before Portie won the 2011 HealthOne Colorado Open, a few hours he spent at the International PGA Tour event helped set him on the path toward becoming a professional golfer.

At the end of a weather delay at Castle Pines Golf Club when he was 12 or 13 years old, Portie was sitting behind the practice tee. Out of the blue, Tour player Russ Cochran invited Portie — a lefty like himself — out on to the range to hit a few balls.

“He actually let me hit some of his clubs,” Portie recalled on Tuesday. “I remember hitting a 6-iron and it was the heaviest club that I’d ever swung. He let me hit three balls. After the rain delay I followed him around for the last nine. Most of the people had left, so I got to chit-chat with him for about nine holes. I still remember it to this day. And that’s what kind of (got me thinking), ‘this is what I want to do — play professional golf.'”

And on Tuesday, Portie — along with nine fellow professionals with strong ties to Colorado — had an opportunity to pay it forward. With a few hundred people in attendance — many of them kids — Portie (pictured above) thought he might be doing for some youngster what Cochran did for him way back when.

The International episode “was a little different, but it was kind of similar to this,” he said.

The “this” Portie was referring to was the U.S. Amateur Alumni Day the CGA and CWGA held Tuesday at CommonGround Golf Course as a way of promoting next month’s U.S. Amateur, and getting kids involved in the game. CommonGround will serve as the second stroke-play course for this summer’s Amateur, while Cherry Hills Country Club will be the primary host course for the Aug. 13-19 championship.

A total of about 30 past U.S. Amateur qualifiers from Colorado showed up to participate in the Alumni Day, including Jim English, who competed in the event about five times from 1947 to 1961. English hit a shot on the CommonGround practice tee to start a Skills Challenge in which 10 U.S. Amateur alums competed against one another and put on a show for the kids and adults in attendance.

For the record, Gunner Wiebe won the “Phlop” shot contest (named in honor of Phil Mickelson). Scott Petersen was tops in accurately curving the ball around an obstacle to a designated target (a la Bubba Watson at the Masters). Former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney earned the distance title with a 342-yard drive. And Tom Glissmeyer, who qualified for the U.S. Open as a 16-year-old in 2003, landed the overall title with the best combined score in the three contests.

Besides the “Skills Challenge” per se, there was some trick-shot freelancing by some of the players, including hitting drives off their knees and whacking balls in mid-air. (Charlie Soule is pictured above.)

“To see the guys interacting with all the kids and interacting with each other, and giving each other a little grief when they hit a bad shot, that was fun,” said Wiebe, whose dad, Mark, was in attendance and signed autographs a couple of days after finishing eighth in the U.S. Senior Open. “I have never been to something like this on such a wide scale.” (Mark Wiebe is pictured below signing autographs.)

Combined, the Skills Challenge contestants have won a couple of Colorado Opens, five state high school titles and eight CGA Stroke Play or Match Play championships. They’ve also competed in four U.S. Opens.

At the end of the day, the “alumni” seemed to be having just as much fun as the kids and adults who watched the show.

Besides seeing some skillful demonstrations, the kids received a free lunch and a U.S. Amateur hat for autographs and got an up-close-and-personal look at the U.S. Amateur replica trophy that was on hand.

“Personally I wish we had the opportunity to do this more often,” said Steve Ziegler, a quarterfinalist in the 2009 U.S. Amateur. “This is the kind of thing that inspired all the guys here who are performing to get to the higher levels of golf. Seeing all these kids … it’s a special opportunity. I think it’s wonderful.”

Gunner Wiebe, who like Ziegler grew up honing his skills on the Colorado junior circuit, spoke with CGA executive director Ed Mate six or seven months ago about the possibilities for what eventually became Tuesday’s Alumni Day. And the end result left a big smile on Wiebe’s face.

“I think this is one of the coolest things we could do as part of the CGA, the U.S. Amateur or anything,” said Wiebe, who won a CGA Match Play Championship at CommonGround. “We don’t get enough opportunities to come back and have fun with a bunch of kids who just want to see golf. We might not be Tiger Woods or Phil (Mickelson), but to them we might be more than just your normal everyday (golfer).

“I just wanted to come back and say thanks really more than anything because I think I owe these guys (at the CGA) a lot. And since I don’t have enough money yet to donate back, I can at least donate my time. I wish I could do it more.”

Mate, who came up with many of the ideas that led to the Alumni Day, thinks such events could become mainstays at other venues set to host USGA championships.

“I think this is a perfect model for every state and regional golf association anytime they’re the host association for a USGA championship,” he said. “It makes sense to do an event like this where you invite all your past qualifiers from the event and make sure there’s lots of activities for the kids to keep them entertained.”