Hoos, an Erie native and longtime resident of Boulder, had been battling leukemia.

“It’s with a very sad heart to say that my very best friend, a loving husband and dad, George Hoos, passed away today, surrounded by his family,” son Eric wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “He’s affected so many people’s lives in such a positive way it’s unbelievable. He was a great teacher and mentor and will be sorely missed but never forgotten. Love you so very much and everyone already really misses you. Play away dad.”

(George Hoos is pictured with wife Jean.)

Hoos played golf at CU under coach Les Fowler from 1953-55, with the Buffs winning the Big 7 Conference title in 1954, when Hoos placed third individually and teammate Keith Alexander won the tournament. CU shared the conference crown in 1955. Hoos also played on two Buffs’ teams that competed in the NCAA Championship Finals as CU placed 15th in 1954 and 31st in ’55. Hoos was CU’s top finisher at the ’55 nationals.

Hoos served as the boys golf coach at Fairview High School in Boulder for 30 years, starting in 1960, and led the Knights to state team titles in 1969 and ’73. In addition, three Fairview players won individual state championships in a five-season stretch — Pete Dawson in 1969, Tim Brauch in 1970 and Bob Byman in 1973.

Byman remains one of the most accomplished junior golfers in state history. Now a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, he won the U.S. Junior Amateur in 1972 while still in high school, defeating Scott Simpson in the finals. That same year, he qualified for the U.S. Open, which was held at Pebble Beach, where Jack Nicklaus won.

Also during his high school years — age 16 to 18 — Byman won three consecutive CGA Amateurs, joining Hale Irwin as the only players to have pulled off that feat. And in 1973, he earned the individual state high school title while Hoos’ Knights earned the team championship.

“Bob was 16 going on 26,” Hoos once said. “He was a very mature player at that point. He had all the shots, and the head to go along with it. He was a hard worker, good competitor, super organized and mature beyond his years. We had other kids that played very well, but they weren’t the whole package that Bob was.”

Hoos also helped establish the girls golf program at Fairview.

Two of Hoos’ own kids became very accomplished golfers in their own right and were tour professionals for a time. Son Eric won a Web.com Tour event in 1991 and was the longtime head coach of the University of Denver men’s golf program. And daughter Kristine (now Kristine Franklin) won the CGA Women’s Stroke Play in 1986 and recently captured the title in the CGA Women’s Senior Stroke Play.

After that win in August, Franklin dedicated the victory to her dad.

“I really wanted to do this for my dad,” said Franklin, who returned to competitive golf just last year after a layoff of 18 years. “I just can’t wait to tell my dad (about winning).

“I get so much joy from watching my kids play. I didn’t realize that back when I played that my parents got that much joy.”

One of Franklin’s sons — and George Hoos’ grandsons — is Walker Franklin, who’s among the top junior golfers in the state and who plays his high school golf at Prospect Ridge Academy. Franklin’s other son, Jaxon, used to play golf at Prospect Ridge, where Eric is now the head coach of the boys program and Kristine an assistant coach. Jon Hoos, another son of George Hoos, has had three of his kids play golf at Legacy High School — Morgan, Andrea and Grant — and Andrea currently competes in college golf at The Citadel in South Carolina. Jon Hoos himself played golf at Fairview and at Scottsdale Community College before later becoming a club professional.

Services for George Hoos are planned for Oct. 14 at 1 p.m. at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Boulder (3485 Stanford Ct.).
 

Most notably, after the Ryder Cup-style competition between the top amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals in the state was limited to an open division for its first dozen years, it broadened its reach. A senior division was added in 1983 and a women’s division in 2002.

But now, the Colorado Cup will undergo changes that make the earlier tweakings pale in comparison.

By agreement of the organizations involved — the CGA, Colorado PGA and the CWGA — the event will undergo the following alterations:

— This year’s 47th annual Colorado Cup, which will be held Oct. 17 at The Broadmoor Golf Club’s East Course in Colorado Springs, will mark the last time it’s conducted on an annual basis. From here on, it will be limited to odd-numbered years — the years the Colorado PGA doesn’t hold Taylor Cup Matches against the Sun Country PGA, based in New Mexico.

— Instead of being three separate Cups being at stake — men’s open, senior and women — the Colorado Cup will now be just a single competition.

— The event also will be streamlined. Instead of each team including a dozen open, a dozen senior and six women players, it will be eight, eight and four, respectively, for each squad.

— The Colorado Cup, which normally was held in mid-season, will be moved to October. In all likelihood, that will mean fewer — if any — college players competing, given that’s in the middle of the fall portion of the college schedule. And with college golfers often being among the best players on the open and women’s amateur squads, that may be a factor in the overall results.

“I love the changes because let’s just go back to everyone working together — collaboration, one big team,” said Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s managing director of operations. “It will kind of re-energize (the matches). That was the hope we had: Let’s have some fun with it.

“When you get to the tournament you’ve got the open division ams sitting here, the open professionals on this side, the seniors separate. Let’s get everybody together to compete. We started to see that in the Junior Ryder Cup: We pulled the girls in and had a great experience with the girls and boys playing together. We pulled the 10-and-unders in last year to get more kids in. Everybody just enjoys it. I think it will revitalize (the Colorado Cup Matches) a little. It should be kind of fun.”

The Colorado PGA and the CWGA second that thought.

“We want to make it more meaningful,” CPGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth said earlier this year. “Having it every other year will add more significance — like the Ryder Cup. And instead of squeezing it in every year for a date in June when everyone is so busy, we can do it at the end of the season.”

Said Laura Robinson, executive director of the CWGA: “We are very excited about the format as I think it will be more competitive all around. We will obviously miss the presence of our college players, all of whom helped the women amateurs to win last year. It was a great experience for them to play against the pros, but we look forward to this new format on such a wonderful course as The Broadmoor.”

The Colorado Cup Matches, which feature four-ball and singles matches held on the same day, are seen by many as a matter of bragging rights between the pros and the amateurs. Last year marked the first time the amateurs have swept all three divisions, prevailing in the open division 13-5, in the senior division 9.5-8.5, and in the women’s division 6-3.

This year will mark a record 13th time the Colorado Cup Matches have been held at The Broadmoor, but the first time since 1989.

Among the players who have competed in the Colorado Cup over the decades are Dow Finsterwald, Steve Jones, Kevin Stadler, Bob Byman, Brandt Jobe and Fred Wampler, all of whom have now won on the PGA Tour and/or PGA Tour Champions. 

This year, those reflections have particularly come into focus.

With the CGA celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, there’s been a concerted look back on the past century of golf in Colorado. That includes a 10-part series of stories on notable people and events from the last hundred years.

Writing that series was illuminating, which brings us back to Thanksgiving. A better understanding of the past can lead to increased appreciation for all we have to be thankful for in Colorado golf.

To wit, here are 10 things that come to mind:

— Rich History of Golf. The Century of Golf Gala held recently at The Broadmoor particulary brought this home, with Jack Nicklaus reminiscing about his strong links to Colorado over the last 60 years. Nicklaus is one of golf’s all-time pantheon to have won significant tournaments in the state, with others being Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Kathy Whitworth, Babe Zaharias, Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson. For much more about Colorado golf history, CLICK HERE.

— Teamwork. Another thing that the Century of Golf Gala — 1,250 attendees strong — and related activities reinforced is that big things can happen when the Colorado golf community joins forces. Teaming up with the CGA in making it all a major success were the CWGA, Colorado PGA and the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association.

— Great Venues. The day of the Century of Golf Gala, a golf outing held at The Broadmoor (pictured) demonstrated yet again what stellar golf courses Colorado has produced. On a mid-November day, temperatures reached the mid-60s, and the setting was enough to make any golfer take pause. The same can be said for countless other courses in the state — Sanctuary, Arrowhead, Castle Pines, Ballyneal, Red Sky, Eisenhower, etc., etc. Golfers in Colorado are indeed fortunate.

— Good of the Game Partnerships. The recent creation of a partnership between the CGA and the Colorado PGA will result in a new Colorado Junior Tour and many other advantages for all levels of junior golfers in Colorado (READ MORE). It’s yet another example of how the game can be well served by constructive cooperation.

— Local Players Who Excel. Colorado has a long history of homegrown players hitting it big — with Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Dale Douglass, Jill McGill, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman, Kevin Stadler, Shane Bertsch, Bill Loeffler and to some extent Mike Reid, to name some. It’s always fun for Coloradans to have one of their own to root for on the national or international level. And we also have some very promising young players potentially in a similar pipleline with the likes of Mark Hubbard, Jennifer Kupcho, Wyndham Clark and Hannah Wood.

— Highly Regarded PGA Professionals. There are oustanding PGA professionals throughout the country, but members of the Colorado PGA have proven to be high achievers as the Section or its members have won national PGA of America awards eight times in the last nine years. And highly respected instructor Ann Finke was recently voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, along with Colorado-based Champions Tour player Craig Stadler. And Vic Kline was honored as Colorado Golf Professional of the Century during the Century of Golf Gala.

— Foundations to Support Good Causes. Numerous golf foundations in Colorado do considerable and commendable work in bolstering good causes through the game of golf. Among them are the Colorado Golf Foundation, Colorado PGA Reach, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, and the Rocky Mountain Environmental Golf Institute.

— Volunteers. While the staffs of the major golf organizations in Colorado do yeoman’s work, those organizations would be a shell of what they are were it not for volunteers. Such volunteerism came to the forefront this past year with the passing of Joe Salvo, and the departure from the Colorado tournament golf scene of Rich Langston and Joan Scholes. Each of them made major contributions — in terms of both time and dediction — to the likes of the CGA, CWGA and Colorado PGA over the years. And many, many others do likewise each year.

— Another Senior Major on the Horizon.This year it was announced that the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at The Broadmoor the year the resort celebrates its 100th birthday. It will mark the third U.S. Senior Open held in Colorado, meaning only Ohio (with six) will have hosted more. The Centennial State also was home to another senior major, the Senior PGA Championship contested at Colorado Golf Club in 2010.

— Good People. I’ve always marveled at the number of good people you meet through the game of golf. Perhaps it’s part of the significant “self-policing” aspect of the sport that tends to attract people of high character. But whatever the case, it’s refreshing.

And yet another reason to give thanks.
 

The records aren’t complete — the sites of the CGA Stroke Play are only noted back through 1978 — but what records are accessible indicate that never before have both the CGA Match Play and Stroke Play been conducted at the same course in a single year.

Until this summer, that is.

CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, will host the 79th CGA Stroke Play Thursday through next Sunday (Aug. 13-16). Four weeks ago, the 115th CGA Match Play concluded at CommonGround, with Nick Nosewicz of Meadow Hills Golf Course claiming the title.

Though CommonGround is the home course of the CGA, the association didn’t plan to have both of its “state amateurs” at the course in 2015. Originally, CommonGround was going to host the Stroke Play, while the Mountain Course at The Broadmoor was to be the site of the Match Play. But heavy rains in the spring caused enough damage to the Mountain Course that officials at The Broadmoor said it wouldn’t be ready in time for the Match Play. So, two weeks before the championship was scheduled to start, the CGA moved it to CommonGround, the Tom Doak-designed course that opened in 2009 and that served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills Country Club hosted.

“That’s where owning a golf course is helpful,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA, which otherwise would have had to do considerable last-minute scrambling to find a suitable venue.

So we’ll have a little history made this summer with the two state amateurs taking place at the same site five weeks apart.

There were two years in the last four decades that the CGA Match Play and Stroke Play were held in very close proximity — both geographically and date-wise.

In 1982, the two events were linked and played in one seven-day period in July. After four days of the Stroke Play — which competitor Kent Moore remembers being contested at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs — the top 16 finishers advanced to the Match Play, which was held at the nearby West Course at The Broadmoor. In the 36-hole Match Play final, former University of Colorado All-American Rick Cramer defeated Moore, 3 and 2, completing a sweep of the Stroke Play and Match Play in 1982. Will Nicholson Jr., of Denver, just a half a year after completing his term as president of the USGA, officiated the Cramer-Moore final.

The next year, a similar format was used, though the top 32 in the Stroke Play at The Broadmoor’s South Course advanced to the Match Play at the Country Club of Colorado.

This year, with both the Match Play and Stroke Play at the same course, the situation would seem to favor Nosewicz. After all, he won the Match Play at CommonGround last month with a 4 and 3 final victory over Connor Klein. At 31, Nosewicz became the oldest winner of the Match Play since 1994. (Nosewicz is pictured above during the Match Play final.)

And besides winning the Match Play at CommonGround, Nosewicz tied for second last year in the CGA Stroke Play after leading through three rounds at Lakewood Country Club. And it should be noted that the player who won last year’s Stroke Play, David Oraee of Greeley, won’t defend his title as he’ll be playing practice rounds next weekend in preparation for the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in suburban Chicago.

The other runner-up from last year, Jimmy Makloski of Pueblo Country Club, will be in the field at CommonGround, as will Klein.

The only former CGA Stroke Play champion entered — as of Friday — was 2012 winner Steven Kupcho of Heritage at Westmoor.

Other notable players in the Stroke Play field are 2014 CGA Match Play winner Cody Kent of The Club at Ravenna and four-time CGA Mid-Amateur champion Keith Humerickhouse of Glenwood Springs Country Club.

Whoever is crowned champion come Aug. 16 will join an illustrious list of winners of the Stroke Play. That list includes Babe Lind (1941, ’42 and ’48), who was part of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s inaugural class of inductees; Hale Irwin (1963, ’64 and ’65); Bob Byman (1971, ’72 and ’73); Steve Jones (1981); and Brandt Jobe (1985). Irwin, Jones and Byman all went on to win on the PGA Tour, and Jobe has also had a long run on the world’s top golf circuit. And between them, Irwin and Jones have won four U.S. Opens.

Next week will mark the second CGA Stroke Play CommonGround has hosted. Zahkai Brown won there in 2011 before claiming the HealthOne Colorado Open title in 2013 and placing second in that event in 2012 and ’15.

In all, 84 players will compete next week at CommonGround, with a cut to the low 40 and ties coming after two rounds.

For living scoring starting on Thursday, CLICK HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday evening, a couple of teams figured they’d be celebrating a victory and everyone involved thought they’d be sharing golf stories and a few laughs after the 45th edition of the Colorado Cup Matches at CommonGround Golf Course.

Little did anyone expect that, instead, the participants would be sitting in an electricity-deprived clubhouse looking out at a sight that seemed to be straight out of the Caddyshack scene where the bishop was playing the round of his life amid a violent storm.

As caddie Bill Murray told the bishop, “I’d keep playing. I don’t think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while.”

Well, the heavy stuff did come down Wednesday, and with a vengeance. The result was a first for the annual Colorado Cup Matches held between many of the best golf professionals and amateurs in the state.

With heavy rain, gale-force winds, lightning, hail, flash flooding and a tornado warning quickly turning a nice day into a batten-down-the-hatches situation, the Cup Matches were limited to a four-ball session, with the singles results being nixed in mid-session because of unplayable conditions at CommonGround Golf Course.

“We were down on No. 12 and I was getting a little nervous because it was starting to get dark,” said Steve Irwin, captain of the CGA’s open-division amateur team. “I looked up and saw the cloud spinning, and that really got all of our attention. So we were glad they called it when they did. We were ready to get out of there.”

Play was suspended due to lightning shortly after 4:30 p.m., with most players in the midst of their singles session and more than a half-dozen singles matches having been completed. But the weather deteriorated considerably from there, knocking out power in the clubhouse and buffeting a large tent nearby.

After more than an hour of suspended play, the singles session was canceled altogether, with the final result of the matches reverting to the scores that stood after the morning four-ball.

That means that the 2015 Colorado Cup Matches will go down as the CGA amateurs prevailing 4-2 in the open division.

“It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to get the whole day done,” Irwin said. “However, a win’s a win. Two in a row now. But it would have been good to get those matches in. There were some great ones. I was right smack in the middle of a very tough one with Tray Shehee. I was 2 down through 12. I had him right where I wanted him, though,” Irwin added with a smile. (Shehee and Irwin are pictured at left.)

I the senior division, the teams tied 3-3, with the Colorado PGA pros retaining that Cup because they won it last year. The Section’s pros had already won five singles matches and lost one when played was called, but those results were negated. Six matches had yet to be completed.

The Colorado PGA still leads the overall series in the open division 30-13, with two ties, though the CGA has prevailed the last two years.

The all-time senior division series is tied 15-15, with three ties, but the pros have gone 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings.

While the senior pros would like to have had the chance to post an outright victory on Wednesday, they understood and supported the decision to cancel the singles matches.

“I think that’s the way you have to do it,” said Ken Krieger, a veteran of about 40 Colorado Cup matches, including a few as an amateur. “It’s too bad, but it happens.”

Krieger, a two-time Section Player of the Year, and Robert Polk a three-time CGA Senior Player of the Year, were in the midst of a hard-fought match in which they were all square through 14 holes. (The two are pictured at left.)

“You want to see the thing completed,” said Polk, the CGA’s senior division captain. “You never know how matches can turn around. I know we had gotten beaten in some of them already. My match was even with Ken Krieger, who is such a gentleman and such a great guy. I don’t know how many times we’ve played each other, but quite a few. And it’s always fun. It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to finish it.”

Another notable match apparently going down to the wire was between 2012 CGA Player of the Year Steven Kupcho and 2008 Colorado PGA Player of the Year Erik Billinger, the men’s golf coach at the University of Denver. Those two were all square through 13.

“The weather turned quick,” Billinger said. “It’s unfortunate. I think there were some good matches going on when they called it so I’m bummed out. We wish we were playing, but I think (under the circumstances) you’ve got to call it. It’s the right thing to do. But I know the pros sure wish we could beat these young guys.”

Billinger (left) is another Colorado PGA pro who has also competed in the Colorado Cup Matches as an amateur. In fact, three times from 1999-2001, he was an amateur teammate of Kevin Stadler, who won last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour. Other longtime PGA Tour players who have competed in the Colorado Cup over the years include Steve Jones, Dow Finsterwald, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman and Fred Wampler.

“It’s fun to see the Cup Matches through the years, having been on both sides,” Billinger said. “Playing guys you looked up to … Now I’m playing the young guys and I want to see how their games are — scope it out a little bit. Kupcho is hitting it 100 (yards) by me every stinking time.”

Krieger feels similarly.

“This is a great event,” he said. “I’ve played since 1973. I love these. They’re great for golf. We get to hang out with the amateurs, we get to hang out with the pros.

“My very first Colorado Cup Match was against Clayton Cole when he was an assistant at Cherry Hills. It was 1973 at Lakewood Country Club. Clayton Cole was was a stud (of a player at the time). He was really good. I got beat 4 and 3 and I was pretty proud of that. I took him all the way to the 15th hole.”

This time around at the Cup Matches, some of the biggest highlights of the day came from amateur Alex Kephart, who along with Lamar Carlile were the only returnees from the 2014 amateur Colorado Cup team. In his 1-up four-ball victory with Chris Thayer over Geoff Keffer (the Colorado PGA’s Player of the Year two of the last three seasons) and Blake Sharamitaro. Kephart won the fifth hole for his team by holing out a 9-iron from 160 yards, then pitched in from about 40 yards on No. 8, winning another hole. 

Unlike most years in the new millennium — and every year since 2008 — no women’s Colorado Cup competition was held in 2015 as the CPGA didn’t field a team. The amateurs representing the CWGA have won all 10 times women’s matches have been contested.
 

Colorado Cup Matches
At CommonGround GC in Aurora

OPEN DIVISION
FINAL SCORE: CGA Amateurs 4, Colorado PGA Professionals 2

Four-Ball: CGA 4, Colorado PGA 2
  Chris Thayer / Alex Kephart, CGA, def. Geoff Keffer / Blake Sharamitaro, 1 up. 
  Lamar Carlile / Jacob Allenback, CGA, def. Caine Fitzgerald / Peter Norwood, 3 and 2.
  Barry Milstead / Erik Billinger, CPGA, def. Jimmy Makloski / Cody Kent, 1 up.
  Steve Irwin / Steven Kupcho, CGA, def. Doug Wherry / Will Panella, 1 up. 
  Tray Shehee / Dan O’Shaughnessy, CPGA, def. Adam Griffith / Braden Baer, 2 and 1.
  Nick Nosewicz / Gus Lundquist, CGA, def. Vince Buelk / Jeff Carlson, 2 and 1. 
 

SENIOR DIVISION
FINAL SCORE: Colorado PGA Professionals 3, CGA Amateurs 3

Four-Ball: Colorado PGA 3, CGA 3
  Gregg Jones / Ken Krieger, CPGA, def. Kelly Crone / Larry Netherton, 7 and 6.      
  Frank Wilkinson / Bruce Hogg, CGA, def. Perry Holmes / Jeff Hanson, 5 and 4.
  Mike Northern / Paul Lobato, CPGA, def. Steve Bell / Pat Bowe, 6 and 5.
  Kent Moore / Robert Polk, CGA, def. Rick Ellefson / Zane Zwemke, 3 and 2. 
  Russell Aragon / Vance Pollock, CPGA, def. Harry Johnson / Robert West, 2 and 1.
  Art Cudworth / Bob Chandler, CGA, def. Rick Cole / Tom Carricato, 6 and 5.