Gone, after a run of just four years, is the CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play, which was won twice by Michael Harrington of Colorado Springs. Filling the 24-man field with the top mid-amateur players proved difficult, so the CGA opted to discontinue the championship, which was limited to players 25 and older.

Meanwhile, two longstanding CGA championships will undergo name changes. What had been the CGA Stroke Play will become the CGA Amateur. And what was the CGA Senior Stroke Play will become the CGA Senior Amateur.

The CGA tournament committee wanted to designate major championships in three divisions — open-age, mid-amateur and seniors — which led to the decision, said Dustin Jensen, managing director of operations for the CGA. Those CGA majors going forward will be the CGA Amateur, the CGA Mid-Amateur and the CGA Senior Amateur.

The CGA Amateur, set to be played for the 80th consecutive year in 2016, is set for Aug. 4-7 at Boulder Country Club. The 30th Mid-Am will be Sept. 23-25 at Saddle Rock Golf Course in Aurora. And the Senior Amateur will be contested for the 45th time Sept. 6-8 at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden.

It should be noted that the CGA Match Play, the association’s oldest championship, will continue its long run, having been held every year since 1901. In 2016 it will be played a little earlier than normal, June 20-24 at Lone Tree Golf Club.

Also still intact is the CGA Senior Match Play, which dates back to 1970. Next year it will be May 23-26 at The Fox Hill Club in Longmont. One tweak is that the Super-Senior Match Play will be the same dates but at a different site, West Woods Golf Club in Arvada.

One championship that will be tweaked is what was previously known as the CGA Father/Son. The tournament will become the CGA Parent/Child and will be open not only to teams including father/sons, but to father/daughters, mother/sons and mother/daughters. In 2016 the Parent/Child is set for June 4-5 at Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club in Steamboat Springs.

In addition, CGA leadership set up the 2016 championship schedule — along with those in 2017 and ’18 — so as to avoid date conflicts with USGA championships, which has been an issue on occasion in the past.

To view all the dates and sites for CGA championships and USGA qualifiers for 2016, CLICK HERE.

As for the big changes in the works for the 2016 junior golf schedule, CLICK HERE.

There seems to be no match for Michael Harrington when it comes to the CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play.

The 43-year-old from Garden of the Gods Club has had eight opponents on the schedule over the last two years in the championship, and has bested all eight. In fact, only once in that span has Harrington been forced past the 16th hole.

On Sunday, he became the first two-time winner of the Mid-Amateur Match Play as he prevailed in two matches to successfully defend his title at The Ridge at Castle Pines North.

“It’s nice to win any CGA event,” said Harrington (above). “Here, you go up against some good players and you can’t play mediocre. You really have to play well in match play to make it to the end.”

The Colorado Springs resident never trailed in Sunday’s final in defeating second-seeded Chris Thayer of Bear Creek Golf Club 4 and 2. Thayer won the stroke-play version of the CGA Mid-Amateur last September. (The two are pictured together below.)

Sunday’s victory gives Harrington three CGA championships — two Mid-Amateur Match Plays and the 2009 CGA Mid-Amateur stroke play. Mid-Amateur competitions are limited to players 25 and older.

Harrington, the CGA’s Player of the Year and Mid-Amateur Player of the Year in 2014, performed so well over the weekend that he never had to play the 17th or 18th hole in any of his four matches. He won by scores of 6 and 5, 6 and 5, 4 and 2, and 4 and 2.

And just like last year, he capped off his title run by going with a purple outfit for good luck. This time around, he sported a purple shirt and visor, and had golf shoes featuring some purple (along with shamrocks). Even his golf bag had some purple accents.

“I kind of remember I wore all purple last year so I decided to at least go with the purple theme,” he said. “These are my lucky purple shoes (the same ones he wore in last year’s final). They’ve got the shamrock on the side.”

Whatever works. When you’ve got a good thing going, why mess with what got you there?

“He just didn’t give me any windows to make up ground with a par or whatever,” Thayer said of Harrington. “He was 5 under through 16 and he made some great par putts too. I couldn’t get anything back. I think I was 1 under” and still lost. “I’ve got a few things to work on for the rest of the summer. It’s good to know where I stand — which is a little bit lower than he is.”

Harrington (left) rallied from being 3 down after three holes in Sunday morning’s semifinals to beat former University of Colorado golfer John Luoma of Colorado Golf Club, 4 and 2. Then in the finals, Harrington made six birdies and one bogey — via a 3-putt.

After Harrington was 2 up through 10, Thayer put some pressure on by hitting his pitch inches from the cup and making birdie at No. 11. But Harrington, a 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist, promptly answered with a 15-foot birdie of his own to earn a halve.

“It was a thrilling type of putt to jar it in the center when I needed to,” Harrington noted.

He then won No. 12 with a par and No. 13 with a 4-foot birdie. Thayer (below) birdied No. 15 from 18 feet to keep the match alive, but Harrington closed things out in style at No. 16 with an 18-foot birdie of his own.

The weekend’s performance leaves Harrington 11-1 in his dozen match play matches he’s played since the beginning of 2014. His lone loss came in the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur.

So what the key to Harrington’s success in match play?

“I hit the ball long,” he said. “You can be more aggressive and if you hit it in the hazard or in the trees (in match play), you just lose one hole. I’m a relatively straight driver of the ball. If you’re feeling comfortable and make a decent swing, I’m going to keep it in play. And golf is a great game if you’re comfortable.

“I definitely think I played more aggressively than I have sometimes in the past. Sometimes in the past I’d get 3 up and lay off the pedal a little bit.” But not so much anymore.

Sunday marked one of the rare times in a large-scale match play event that the top two seeds made the finals. And both finalists won titles in CGA Mid-Amateur championships during 2014.

CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play
At The Ridge at Castle Pines North

Round of 32
  Michael Harrington, Garden of the Gods Club (1) – Bye
  Adam W Nelson, Commonground Golf Course (17) def. Mark Brown, Highlands Ranch Golf Club (16), 4 and 2
  Jeffrey Gravina, Pinehurst Country Club (8) – Bye
  Andy Dannewitz, Meadow Hills Golf Course (9) def. Nick Simmons, Commonground Golf Course (24), 8 and 6
  Nick Nosewicz, Meadow Hills Golf Course (4) – Bye
  Marc Vincelli, Fossil Trace Golf Club (20) def. Gary Driber, Golfweek Amateur Tour Denver (13), 3 and 2
  Alex Kephart, Eisenhower Golf Club (5) – Bye 
  John Luoma, Colorado Golf Club (12) def. Jim Doidge, Pueblo Country Club (21), 2 and 1
  Christopher Thayer, Bear Creek Golf Club (2) – Bye
  Brett Housman, Elmwood Golf Course (18) def. David Lysaught, Pinehurst Country Club (15), 19 holes
  Richard Bradsby, Lakewood Country Club (7) – Bye 
  Christopher Wilson, Eisenhower Golf Club (23) def. Jeff Chapman, Inverness Golf Club (10), 2 and 1
  Keith Humerickhouse, Glenwood Springs Golf Club (3) – Bye
  Dallas Massey, South Suburban Golf Course (14) def. Jason Browder, Colorado Avidgolfer Passport C (19), 1 up
  Steven Irwin, Lakewood Country Club (6) – Bye
  Wesley Martin, Commonground Golf Course (11) def. Steve Sullivan, Bear Dance Golf Club (22), 6 and 5

Round of 16
  Michael Harrington, Garden of the Gods Club (1) def. Adam W Nelson, Commonground Golf Course (17), 6 and 5
  Andy Dannewitz, Meadow Hills Golf Course (9) def. Jeffrey Gravina, Pinehurst Country Club (8), 5 and 4
  Nick Nosewicz, Meadow Hills Golf Course (4) def. Marc Vincelli, Fossil Trace Golf Club (20), 4 and 3
  John Luoma, Colorado Golf Club (12) def. Alex Kephart, Eisenhower Golf Club (5), 1 up
  Christopher Thayer, Bear Creek Golf Club (2) def. Brett Housman, Elmwood Golf Course (18), 4 and 3
  Christopher Wilson, Eisenhower Golf Club (23) def. Richard Bradsby, Lakewood Country Club (7), 1 up
  Dallas Massey, South Suburban Golf Course (14) def. Keith Humerickhouse, Glenwood Springs Golf Club (3), 24 holes
  Steven Irwin, Lakewood Country Club (6) def. Wesley Martin, Commonground Golf Course (11), 2 and 1

Quarterfinals
  Michael Harrington, Garden of the Gods Club (1) def. Andy Dannewitz, Meadow Hills Golf Course (9), 6 and 5
  John Luoma, Colorado Golf Club (12) def. Nick Nosewicz, Meadow Hills Golf Course (4), 3 and 1
  Christopher Thayer, Bear Creek Golf Club (2) def. Christopher Wilson, Eisenhower Golf Club (23), 3 and 2
  Dallas Massey, South Suburban Golf Course (14) def. Steven Irwin, Lakewood Country Club (6), 3 and 1

Semifinals
  Michael Harrington, Garden of the Gods Club (1) def. John Luoma, Colorado Golf Club (12), 4 and 2
  Christopher Thayer, Bear Creek Golf Club (2) def. Dallas Massey, South Suburban Golf Course (14), 2 and 1

Final
   Michael Harrington, Garden of the Gods Club (1) def. Christopher Thayer, Bear Creek Golf Club (2), 4 and 2