New year, new big-time events, new rules, new look for old courses and new dates for some mainstays.

Such is the outlook as Colorado golf enters 2019 with more than the usual amount of major happenings to look forward to in the Centennial State.

Let’s hit some of the highlights:

— U.S. Mid-Amateur: For just the second time ever and the first since 1983 — when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the proceedings and Jay Sigel added the U.S. Mid-Amateur title to the U.S. Amateur victory he had posted 32 days earlier — Colorado will host the national championship for amateurs 25 and older.

This time, Colorado Golf Club (left) in Parker will be the primary championship site for the 264-player event, which will run Sept. 14-19. Aurora-based CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA, will serve as the second host facility for the stroke-play portion of the event Sept. 14-15. CommonGround did likewise for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills hosted.

It will be the latest feather in the cap of Colorado Golf Club in terms of hosting big-time tournaments. It’s previously been the site of the 2010 Senior PGA Championship and the 2013 Solheim Cup. Bill Coore and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw designed Colorado Golf Club, which opened in 2007.

Besides the national title being on the line, the winner of the U.S. Mid-Am will receive a berth in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York — and likely the 2020 Masters.

With the national championship coming to Colorado, the state will host two qualifying tournaments instead of the usual one for the event: Aug. 13 at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club in Broomfield and Aug. 19 at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood.

Admission to the U.S. Mid-Amateur will be free.

— TPC Colorado Championship: The other national/international tournament coming to Colorado in 2019 will be the inaugural TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes, set for July 11-14 at Berthoud-based TPC Colorado, which opened to the public in 2018.

The tournament, the first of at least five Web.com Tour events scheduled for TPC Colorado, will be mark the first visit to Colorado by the PGA Tour’s feeder circuit since 1997, when the second of two Nike Colorado Classics was held at Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, prevailed in the 1996 event at the Dunes.

The 2019 TPC Colorado Championship will feature a $600,000 purse and a 156-person field. Monday qualifying tournaments are set for Riverdale Dunes and Highlands Meadows Golf Course in Windsor on July 8.

— Return of City Park Golf Course: Sometime this year, after being closed for two years for a course redesign and construction project, a new-look City Park Golf Course (left) in Denver is scheduled to reopen. The return is no small matter given that City Park GC dates back to 1912 and has a strong regular clientele.

Todd  Schoeder and his Broomfield-based iCon Golf Studio teamed with design advisor — and three-time U.S. Open champion — Hale Irwin in the course redesign for the site, which will integrate stormwater detention areas to help protect some of the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods from flooding.

When the redesign project is complete, the site will feature the new 18-hole par-71 golf course, a full-size driving range, a dedicated four-hole course for The First Tee of Denver, a new clubhouse and maintenance facility, stormwater detention, and a reforestation program with a net gain of 500 trees.

— Comeback for Cornerstone: It was several years ago at a CGA senior championship that a member at Cornerstone, the Greg Norman-designed course in the high country near Montrose, said that there were plans to reopen the club, which stopped operating in 2012. And while it took a few years, it appears as if that member was correct.

The highly acclaimed private course is undergoing a renovation — at the hands of Matt Dusenberry and Dusenberry Golf Course Design — with plans to reopen in the summer of this year.

Cornerstone originally operated from 2008 through ’12.

— Colorado’s Second Topgolf: Since August 2015, there’s been one Topgolf location in Colorado — the one in Centennial. But three-plus months ago, ground was broken at a second site — at I-25 and 60th Ave., in Thornton. The 65,000-square-foot, three-level facility is scheduled to open to the public in late 2019. It will have 102 climate-controlled hitting bays — where players hit microchipped golf balls at targets with varying point values — in addition to a restaurant and three bars. There will be 250 HD televisions, a rooftop terrace with fire pits and 3,000 square feet of space devoted to private events. The Centennial Topgolf employs about 500 people, the same number that is expected in Thornton.

— Playing by the (New) Rules: The new Rules of Golf, part of a rules modernization project long in the works, took effect with the new year. But for those who don’t play golf outside of Colorado, there’s still some time to get up to date on the changes given that the first tournaments of the year are months away and that scores from Colorado courses can’t be posted for handicap purposes until March 15.

Whether it be putting with the flagstick left in or dropping from knee height, the CGA did a good job during recent months with a video series highlighting the key changes. To watch, CLICK HERE. 

— The Old Switcheroo: For the second time in six years, the dates of the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and the Colorado Senior Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club have been swapped, so that now the women are back around Memorial Day — as they were in 2012 and earlier — and the seniors return to around Labor Day.

Specifically, the Women’s Open is set for May 29-31 and the Senior Open for Aug. 28-30. (The CoBank Colorado Open remains in its same basic slot, with this year’s event planned for July 25-28.)

As Kevin Laura, CEO of the CoBank Colorado Open Championships, said in an email early last month, “We wanted to strengthen the field of our Women’s Open championship by going against the U.S. Women’s Open so that we can pull players from the LPGA and Symetra tours (the latter is expected to have an off week that week).

“Our purse ($150,000) and especially first place ($50,000) should entice players to compete who have not otherwise been able to do so while we were against an LPGA and Symetra event.”

As for the Colorado Senior Open, it’s very possible the date switch will cost the event a possibility at its top draw from a fan and media standpoint. Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway has played in the tournament four times (2010, ’14, ’16 and ’18) — in addition to the Colorado Open four times. But given that the new dates for the Senior Open are now roughly a week before the start of the NFL regular season, and that Elway is the Denver Broncos general manager, it seems highly unlikely that he’ll compete at Green Valley Ranch in 2019.

— CGA Majors: The CGA will return to some familiar courses for its two men’s “major championships” in 2019. The 119th Match Play is set for June 17-21 at The Club at Rolling Hills in Golden, which hosted the event in 2012 as well as 1997, ’88 and ’79. And Aug. 8-11 the CGA Amateur returns to the recently renovated course at Lakewood Country Club, the site for the championship four times just since 1999 — and numerous times prior — with 2014 being its last time as the host.

On the women’s side, the two majors will be played at venues which are hosting their respective events for the first time. The CGA Women’s Stroke Play is scheduled for June 17-19 at Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora, where the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links was contested. And the 104th CGA Women’s Match Play is set for July 9-11 at The Club at Ravenna in Littleton, which was the site of the men’s CGA Match Play the past two years.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton, who has matched Carol Flenniken’s record for CGA/CWGA women’s championship titles with 25, would grab the record outright with her next victory in one of the CGA events.

— USGA Qualifiers: A total of 18 qualifying tournaments for USGA national championships are scheduled in Colorado in 2019. Here’s the rundown on the men’s side:

* U.S. Open Locals: May 7 at Collindale in Fort Collins; May 9 at CommonGround in Aurora; and May 13 at Walnut Creek in Westminster.

* U.S. Senior Open: May 28 at Valley in Centennial.

* U.S. Junior Amateur: June 24 at Ptarmigan in Fort Collins.

* U.S. Amateur: July 1 at Columbine in Columbine Valley; and July 8 at Fort Collins Country Club.

* U.S. Senior Amateur: Aug. 5 at TPC Colorado in Berthoud.

* U.S. Mid-Amateur: Aug. 13 at Omni Interlocken in Broomfield and Aug. 19 at Inverness in Englewood.

* U.S. Amateur Four-Ball: Oct. 1 at Saddle Rock in Aurora.

And here’s the lineup for women’s USGA qualifiers:

* U.S. Senior Women’s Open: April 29 at Glenmoor in Englewood.

* U.S. Women’s Open: May 6 at Walnut Creek in Westminster.

* U.S. Girls’ Junior: June 24 at Colorado National in Erie.

* U.S. Women’s Amateur: July 3 at CommonGround in Aurora.

* U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur: July 24 at Meadow Hills in Aurora.

* U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: Aug. 1 at the newly renovated Thorncreek in Thornton.

* U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball: Sept. 30 at The Ranch in Westminster.

— Junior Tournaments: While the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado schedule is still being set in stone, the biggest junior tournament in Colorado for 2019 is finalized as the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior is scheduled for June 3-6 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster. It will be the fifth year for the event, with Walnut Creek serving as host for the third straight season.

The girls state high school tournaments this spring are set for May 20-21 at Harmony Club in Timnath (5A), Pelican Lakes in Windsor (4A) and Eagle Ranch in Eagle (3A).

— Colorado PGA Championships: The Colorado PGA will hold its biggest tournament, the three-day Section Championship, Sept. 9-11 at Meridian Golf Club in Englewood.

The CPGA Women’s Championship is set for Glenmoor in Englewood June 19-20. The Assistants Championship is planned for Walnut Creek in Westminster July 29-30, and the Senior Championship Aug. 12-13 at Inverness in Englewood.

And, after an off year, the CGA amateurs and the Colorado PGA professionals will square off for the Colorado Cup Matches on Oct. 16 at the West Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

— Winter Events: Meanwhile, one of the first major Colorado golf events of the year will take place in about a month as the Denver Golf Expo returns to the Denver Mart (I-25 and 58th Ave.) Feb. 8-10. Typically, the three-day show attracts close to 10,000 people. Last year, the Expo celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The CGA Women’s Golf Summit, traditionally known as the Annual Meeting, will take place on March 9 at Pinehurst in south Denver.
 

Before we bid adieu to 2018, we have one last bit of unfinished business regarding our year-end retrospectives.

Yes, it’s time to revisit some of the most memorable, insightful, profound and/or funny quotes of 2018 from the world of Colorado golf.

In other words, our most notable quotables.

Here are our picks for 2018:

— Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz on qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor:

“I don’t know if there’s a cloud higher than Cloud Nine, but that’s where I feel like I’ve been.

“It’s probably the No. 1 thing that I’ve ever accomplished. 

— Then-State Senator Lucia Guzman said after fellow Senator Jack Tate read a tribute to golf during Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol:

“Golf is a good thing. It’s good for the economy. It’s good for the soul, so get out and do it.”

— Former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi, who has never competed in a USGA championship other than the two U.S. Women’s Opens for which she’s qualified:

“It’s the biggest tournament. I feel like I’ve had a big jump. I feel like I’m missing the (USGA) in-betweeners. I think it’s weird.”

— Former CWGA/CGA president Juliet Miner (above), on being honored as the CGA women’s volunteer of year:

“I’m a comer, I’m a doer, I’m a participant.”

— Retired District Judge Tom Kennedy on winning the Jim Topliff Award as the CGA’s on-course rules official of the year in late 2017:

“I think it was a pretty easy transition for me because I spent my entire adult life dealing with the law, dealing with the rules and learning how to understand them and apply them to the factual situation that existed at that time. As I told people when I first started doing this, ‘I’m used to calling balls and strikes. That’s what I’ve been doing all my adult life.'”

— Oswaldo Morales, a Coloradan who received the full-tuition and housing Evans Scholarship for caddies in 2018:

The Evans scholarship will “not make A difference in my life, but THE difference.”

— An article in azcentral.com, the digital home of The Arizona Republic newspaper, on the social media phenomenon that is Paige Spiranac, who grew up in Colorado and won the 2015 CWGA Match Play title:

“She picked up her first individual win in years, and checked her phone as she walked off the course, assuming the stream of texts was to congratulate her. Then she checked Instagram.

“Thousands of people had followed her. As she searched for explanation, a friend texted her a link to an article on (name redacted), a website devoted to frat parties and college girls. Spiranac clicked the link. The bro-targeted site had declared, “The Whole World Is About To Fall In Love With Paige Spiranac,” complete with a dozen photos and a link to her Instagram account.

“… Thousands of more people found her and followed Spiranac. She told her sister she just wanted a ‘K,’ to see her follower count tick from ‘9,999’ to ’10K.’ That happened in a few hours. Then it kept climbing.

“Twenty-thousand. Fifty. By the next day, she had more than 100,000 followers.”

— Three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder, on the end of an era regarding 18-hole playoffs at the U.S. Open:

“It’s not a surprise, frankly. I’m sure there have been a lot of opinions expressed to see a winner determined on Sunday, be it fans or media or Fox Sports, which is paying umpteen millions to broadcast the U.S. Open. I think tradition had to take a backseat here to the times we live in.”

— CGA executive director Ed Mate, at the Women’s Annual Meeting regarding CGA/CWGA unification, which took place a year ago:

“We’re just better together. It’s that simple.”

— Mate, in an interview with We Are Golf, on caddying:

“Caddying embodies some of the most important and fundamental attributes of our sport that make it great. Golf is a game of a lifetime and caddying puts young and old together to share it. Golf promotes health and wellness and caddies make it more enjoyable for adults to walk and gets kids outside and away from their video screens. Golf is a social game; show me a group of four golfers with four caddies and I will show you eight people having a great time.”

— Three-time CGA Mid-Amateur champion Jon Lindstrom (left), on learning he had prostate cancer in 2017, shortly after turning 50:

“It wasn’t on my radar at all, then all of a sudden it went from 0 to 100 with a (mortality) scare. I was telling everyone I golf with who are over 40 to go get the blood test at the very least during your next physical because you never know. I had no symptoms or family history of this.

“Now that I’m a prostate cancer expert (he said with a bit of a laugh) … Obviously I had cancer before I was 50 because it didn’t just happen overnight, so I’d recommend at least having the discussion of the blood test starting at 40. Obviously I had it at some point in my 40s. The earlier you get it, the more options you have. That’s the biggest thing. There’s several different routes you can go, but the sooner you know, the more options you have.”

— CGA executive director Ed Mate, on Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol, an opportunity for golf industry leaders to meet state lawmakers:

“We have to kind of keep chipping away at the image” of the golf industry, referring to the stubborn perceptions that it wastes water and resourses and is inaccessible. “There’s always going to be people who think golf is the Masters. I think it’s worked out well that we follow the Masters (for Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol). It’s a nice landmark date. That (venue and event) is unique. This (Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol) is about affordability, and not emerald green (grass) but environmental stewardship.”

— Colorado PGA execuctive director Eddie Ainsworth, on a growing number of rounds played, according to the Public Golf Course Rounds and Revenue Survey:

“As long as the weather cooperates, I think rounds should continue to increase. All the things that everybody is doing to grow the game — all the efforts to make golf more inclusive, what we’re doing with junior golf and trying to get more families out at the golf course, private clubs becoming more family entertainment centers to get the entire family involved — I think everybody’s efforts are paying some dividends.”

— Runner-up Alex Buecking, after Jon Lindstrom teamed with Richard Bradsby and became the first person to win the CGA Four-Ball title at least four times:

“I’m going to create a conflict for Lindstrom next year” for this event.

— Wake Forest golfer and Westminster resident Jennifer Kupcho, after winning the women’s NCAA Division I individual title a week after turning 21 and on her parents’ 35th wedding anniversary:

“It’s awesome. It’s so fun to have my teammates here. To win this on my parents’ anniversary is even better. I’m really excited for that.”

— A year after Davis Bryant and younger sister Emma Bryant jointly won all four Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado majors in 2017, they completed a sweep of the boys and girls 5A state high school titles in the same school year. Said Emma:

“After he won state we were like, ‘Oh that would be so cool if Emma won state too. That’s never happened before.’ I was like, ‘It could happen. I don’t know. I guess you’ve got to see where the cards fall.’ Getting the Bryant Slam was so cool, but us both winning state … Thinking who won state this season, it’ll be, ‘Oh, Emma and Davis Bryant, they both won state.’ That’s so cool. I’m not exactly walking in his footsteps; I’m kind of building my own path a little bit. But I’m going back to his path a tad bit.”

— Two players with 44 CGA women’s championships between them at that point — Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Kim Eaton and Janet Moore (left) — teamed up for the first time to win another in May at the CGA Women’s Brassie. Said Eaton:

“We have never, ever played together as partners. It’s kind of like a no-brainer, right?”

— Despite his stellar record as a player, World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder, was pleasantly surprised to become a Memorial Tournament honoree, joining a group which includes many of the top players in history.

“I have a hard time putting myself in that category with the greats of the past, so I am absolutely delighted.”

— Colorado PGA professional Doug Rohrbaugh, on qualifying for his fourth U.S. Senior Open, this one at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs:

“Four times (in the Senior Open) is obviously amazing, but to play in your backyard … I’ve been thinking about this ever since I saw it was on the schedule — thinking how cool it would be to have family and friends come down. It’s huge.”

— Guy Mertz, on teaming with son Nick to win the CGA Parent/Child title:

“I’d put this up there with any of the wins I’ve ever had, maybe above them all. When you win with your son it means more than just winning by yourself.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Janet Moore, on qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open:

“This one is very special for me. Normally I don’t get too nervous for qualifiers. I was nervous for this one, and already I’m nervous for the tournament and it’s a month away. This is very special to play in the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open. It’s the biggest (USGA event) I’ve played in.

“My friend Ellen Port (a seven-time USGA champ) is exempt. And she said, ‘Janet, I want you to come out and watch.’ I said, ‘Ellen, I’m going to try to play.’ She’s like, ‘I’m sorry. I forgot.’ I’m anxious to text her and say, ‘Hey, I’m playing too.'”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe, on returning to the state to play the U.S. Senior Open:

“This has always been home so it’s nice to come back. I’ve got nephews and nieces that have never even seen me play golf. That will be kind of cool.”

— Jobe, on finishing fifth at the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor:

“It would have been so cool” to win in his old home state. “That was my goal. Two unbelievable chances (this and the 2005 International). It was out there for me. … I guess it wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t my day.”

— Fred Couples, on playing the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor:

“These greens, I think they’re (tougher) than Oakmont and Oakmont’s are the hardest greens I’ve ever seen. I think they’re brutal (here).”

Added Bernhard Langer, regarding the Broadmoor greens:

“They’re as severe as they get. Fred and I played in many Masters over the years. And they’re pretty severe and tough (at Augusta National). But these probably are another level still.”

— Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Hale Irwin, on possibly playing his final U.S. Senior Open in the Centennial State:

“If it was (my last) — and we’re not saying that — being here around family and friends and the old stomping grounds, sure there’s a great deal of nostalgia here. Going into the clubhouse and seeing the old 1967 Broadmoor Invitation (a tournament that Irwin won), that brings back a lot of fond memories. At the same time, I’m not one that gets hung up in the history and what used to be. I’m more, ‘what can I do today?’ That’s kind of what drives my life now. I have a lot of history and a lot of it is great, but I don’t live my life in the past. I want to live my life in the present and the future.”

— Irwin, on the 15-over-par 85 he shot in the second round of the Senior Open at The Broadmoor:

It was “the worst round I’ve ever had as a professional.”

— Colorado PGA professionals Doug Rohrbaugh, on having the honor to hit the first tee shot at the 2018 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs:

“That was on my mind, it was. That’s kind of a cool deal to kick the thing off. I had my mom and dad sitting there, and a bunch of friends. I’m not going to lie — it kind of got to me a little. I got a little emotional about it.”

— U.S. Senior Open competitor Jerry Kelly, on jokingly being asked by fellow University of Hartford alum Tim Petrovic if he attended the school:

“I went to the school. I just didn’t go to class.”

— Russ Miller, director of golf at The Broadmoor, on the U.S. Senior Open there attracting 134,500 fans for the week:

“It’s amazing how well Colorado supports these things. It’s been proven over and over and over. That’s exciting.”

— AJ Ott of Fort Collins, on qualifying for the U.S. Amateur that was hosted by Pebble Beach:

“We grew up playing Pebble on the Wii and the Tiger Woods (video games) and stuff like that. That was always everyone’s favorite course. It will be really fun.”

— Tiffany Maurycy, after needing 20 holes in the title match to win the CGA Women’s Senior Match Play:

“I’m over the moon. I’ve now won state championships in New York, Vermont and Colorado. It’s a real feather in my cap. My dad is a golf pro and I come from a golfing family. This is a big deal, there’s no doubt. … This is it. I can’t believe that I won.”

— Guy Mertz, on rallying to qualify for the U.S. Senior Amateur for a second straight year:

“I guess it proves last year wasn’t a fluke. Two years in a row; it can’t be a fluke, can it? Maybe I’m decent.”

— Georgene McGonagle, who captained the Colorado Girls Junior Americas Cup team for four straight years in the 1980s, on the importance of the event, which this year was held at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen:

“I think this is probably one of the most wonderful things for young girls for their development. It’s something they’re going to remember the rest of their lives. They have to work with lots of other people. They learn the pressure of competition, which will suit them for any realm the rest of their life. (The GJAC) has to go on forever because it’s so meaningful and important for the development of those kids.”

— Dru Love, on what his father, World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III, told him over the phone before Dru won the CoBank Colorado Open in a playoff:

“He gave me some advice. He’s been in a lot of playoffs. He’s won a lot of them and lost a lot of them so he knows what he’s doing. He gave me some good advice. He just told me to get back my contact, get some confidence back and go beat ’em. Take ’em down. I went to the range and did what he told me. And under that much pressure I didn’t hit a single bad shot in the playoff.”

— Kyler Dunkle, on winning the CGA Amateur:

“To have my name on the trophy with a lot of other really good players (including Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman and Wyndham Clark), that will be a cool thing. Growing up in Colorado, this is the tournament that a lot of people want to win. This is where all the best players in the state play.”

— Kristine Franklin after winning the CGA Women’s Senior Stroke Play while her dad George Hoos was battling leukemia:

“I really wanted to do this for my dad. 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.”

— World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, on playing a round of golf at The Broadmoor with First Tee members from around the nation:

“The thing I do with my foundation is I tell people there’s no other sport like golf where you have great ambassadors like these young kids. These are the next generation of leaders or influencers — or whatever you want to call them. It’s so cool that they play golf. I think we really need to take advantage of these opportunities. I love being part of it — to see how focused these young kids are. I think they inspire me as much as hopefully I inspire them.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Janet Moore, on qualifying for her 28th USGA national championship:

“Which is really impressive until you hear Carol Semple Thompson’s 100-plus. Then it’s like, ‘Oh.’ I remember somebody said, ‘Janet, that’s so good.’ Then you go to the players’ dinner (at USGA events) and there’s 70, 80 and (Semple Thompson’s 100-plus). It’s a different league. There’s a whole different realm out there.”

— Patrick Reidy, on winning the Colorado PGA Professional Chamionship:

“Other than playing golf at (the University of Colorado in the mid-1980s), this is hands down the greatest thing I’ve ever accomplished in my golfing career. It’s great, seriously. It’s unexpected to be even having this conversation to be honest with you. To actually hold this (trophy) right now is absolutely crazy. It’s bringing tears to my eyes.”

— Robert Polk, chairman of the CGA Tournament Committee, on winning the CGA Senior Amateur at age 63:

“I’ve handed out trophies way too many times. I wanted to win. That was always painful. The older I get, the winning is wonderful but it means you didn’t lose. I take losing so much harder now, and I lose obviously a lot more than I win. It takes me a while to get over it. I think, ‘I left so many shots out there.’ You’d think I wouldn’t take it so hard. But to get it done is very exciting.”

— Sandra Young, on teaming with Louise Lyle to win the CGA Women’s Dunham Chapman Championship:

“It’s amazing. I’ve won a few smaller things, but not a state event. … I’m ready to pass out.”

— Kyle Danford, on pairing with David Johnson to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship:

“My wife is happy because the other three USGA events I’ve qualified for, she’s been pregnant. Now we’ve broken that little schneid so she doesn’t have to get pregnant any more for me to go to a USGA event.”

— Coloradan Jim Knous on qualifying for the PGA Tour by earning the last available card through the Web.com Tour Finals:

“It was a brutal day emotionally. I wasn’t quite sure how much my performance would affect the overall outcome. It kind of just depended on what everybody else did. That’s pretty terrifying. So I really just kind of did my best to stay calm and inside I was really freaking out and just super psyched that at the end of the day finished right there on No. 25.”

— Jack Nicklaus on Colorado Sports Hall of Famer and International founder Jack Vickers, who passed away in September:

“Jack was someone who cared deeply about the history and the traditions of the game of golf, and wanted to protect them for the future. Jack was always a huge supporter of the game — whether it was in Colorado or nationwide; whether it was the game played at the highest level or his support of grassroots programs. Simply put, Jack Vickers was very good for the game of golf. Jack was a good man, and very well-liked by all. Jack always handled himself incredibly well, and always with integrity. He was a very good man, and I”™m blessed to say he was my friend.”

— Fifteen-year-old Armando Duarte, a caddie for the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy:

“Before I started (caddying), I never knew anything about golf. I thought golf was the most boring sport ever. Now, I’m back to playing it. I tried out for my high school team. I didn’t make it but I’m still playing. I think it’s a great thing to do. I got all that from caddying.”

— 2018 CGA Mid-Amateur champion Jared Reid, on being paired in the final round with Jon Lindstrom and Chris Thayer, who have won the championship five times between them:

“Teeing off with those two and they’re announcing all the times they’ve won the championship and runner-ups and everything like that. I’m like, ‘Geez, how am I going to do this today? Hopefully I get out of their way most of the time.'”

— 3A boys state high school champion Jackson Klutznick (pictured, with Bob Austin), on what his one-time tennis coach told him that led to him giving up high-level competitive tennis in favor of golf:

“He told me that when I’m playing tennis, I need to be hating the person on the other side of the net. I came down to the decision, I didn’t want to do that. That’s not me. In golf, you’re telling (your playing partners) they hit a great shot or an awesome putt. You’re not trying to bring them down. I thought that was a much more positive mindset to be in than trying to hate the person I’m playing against.”

— Colorado State University men’s golf coach Christian Newton on the 67 CSU freshman Oscar Teiffel shot at Colorado Golf Club in brutal weather conditions to win the individual title at the Paintbrush Invitational:

“That’s the best competitive round I’ve ever seen — under pressure, playing for the lead, shoot 67 in blowing snow and 35 degrees. That’s as good as I’ve ever seen.”

— Hale Irwin, a design advisor during the redesign and construction project at City Park Golf Course in Denver, after visiting the site in the fall:

“It is exciting to physically see the progress being made on the City Park Golf Course project. When completed, this will not only be a place for us all to enjoy now, it will be a place we would encourage our children to come and play golf. This project is a legacy for the future.”

— Former Waste Management Phoenix Open champion Kevin Stadler, a part-time Denver resident, on returning to the PGA Tour after a three-plus-year absence due to a hand injury:

“The whole thing was a mess. I was told it was a stress fracture. A year later I was told it was fully healed, but it kept getting worse. I stopped after having about 6-8 MRIs on it. They told me it was healed for nine months in a row and I was still having pain. They couldn’t find the answer for it. The pain finally got back to day 1 excruciating last summer (in 2017). I was told it was 75 percent broken. I’d seen six different hand surgeons — and they’re all in major league baseball. I had two out of maybe six or seven guys tell me I needed surgery initially and the other guys said not to. But it’s doing great now. I just need to figure out how to get the game back in working order.”

— Lauren Howe, on her reaction to being voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame:

“In the back of my mind, I knew it could be coming. And yet it still hit me … I’m tearing up now. It’s just so precious to me, especially having not played in a while and everything. It really hit me like a big wave.”

— Coloradan Jennifer Kupcho, on finishing second at the LPGA Q-Series and qualifying for an LPGA Tour card once she graduates from Wake Forest in May:

“I’ve been shooting for this goal for so long that it’s awesome to just be able to go back to school knowing that I have what I’m going to do after college already in the bank.”

— CGA executive director — and USGA Rules of Golf Committee member — Ed Mate, regarding the Rules changes:

“I used to say to people who were not rules experts and would say, ‘I’ve got reasonably good common sense,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s not going to help you'” understand the rules. “It doesn’t help you. There was ‘rules common sense’, and once you became a rules expert and understood the philosophy behind it then common sense in that context would work for you. But unless you understood this, it didn’t help you. Now (with the changes), if you just have common sense, they make more sense — if that makes sense.”

— Rules official Bob Austin, on how he and his wife Christie, a former chairperson of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, enjoy studying about the Rules:

“Christie and I both joke about it. When we’re both studying for rules, we both have decision books on our bedside table. That’s sort of the standard joke with our rules officials. (Christie and I) will talk about situations that come up. She’ll ask me what I learned today. We actually talk about (the rules) a reasonable amount. As a past chairman of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, she has a great knowledge also. Every time we take the test together, we have a little bit of a friendly (competition). I hope she gets 100, but we certainly have a friendly rivalry about it. She’s academically smarter than I am, and it drives me crazy because I work a lot harder at it that she does. But she can get to the same level as I am in less time. It drives me crazy, but I’m proud of her for it.”

— Tiger Woods, recalling one of his more memorable holes-in-one, at the 1998 International: “TV crews here have to take a mandatory union break, and it was on No. 7 at Castle Pines. I hooped it. They showed me on the sixth green, take the union break. I hoop it on 7. They catch me up on the eighth fairway, par-5 up the hill. So that was probably one of the more funny ones, because it went in the hole on the fly and tore up the cup.”

— Former CWGA executive director Laura Robinson, who worked for the CGA this year, on retiring from the golf business:

“This has been the most rewarding three years of my career. I had to pull knowledge from every aspect of all my experience together — from accounting and finance, employment law, human resources, marketing, customer service (and) operations in order the lead the CWGA, then to integrate the two associations (the CGA and the CWGA). I think I’ve been very, very lucky to have this as the capstone to my career. It’s been so much fun. 

— Paul Lobato, PGA head professional at Meridian Golf Club, on the retirement of longtime CGA director of course rating and handicapping Gerry Brown:

“Gerry is a golf pro’s best friend.”.

— New CGA president Janene Guzowski, on her impression of women taking more leadership roles in Colorado golf:

“It’s a phenomenon, and to me it represents what happened last year with the historic merger of the CGA and the CWGA. Women are coming forward and people are giving us a chance to show everybody what we can do with golf in Colorado. It’s not strictly a man’s world anymore with golf or anything else for that matter. For us it’s an amazing growth and coming together in Colorado golf.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee and PGA Master Professional Danny Harvanek, who was the first PGA head professional at Bear Creek Golf Club, has earned the Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year honor three times, has received an award from the CGA for outstanding contributions to amateur golf, has authored eight golf books, has earned the PGA of America’s national Junior Golf Leader award and who planted the seeds that led to the highly successful Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program:

It’s been “a Walter Mitty life.”

And now, it’s on to 2019. …

Among the long-held traditions of the holiday season for many is giving and receiving gifts.

But there are only so many socks, pajamas, ties, pullovers and the like that one can fit in the closet or dresser. Gift cards can sometimes fit the bill, as long as they don’t get lost at the bottom of some drawer.

Even in the golf realm, monogrammed balls are a fine idea — until they start really stacking up in the garage.

With that in mind, it’s time for our annual ritual of doling out things that can’t be neatly packaged. Yes, we mean our 2018 edition of Colorado golf-related holiday gift wishes.

To: Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster.
Gift Wish: That your decision to defer becoming an LPGA member will pay off with a second straight NCAA title in May.

To: Exiting CGA co-presidents Joe McCleary and Juliet Miner.
Gift Wish: Satisfaction in knowing that all the work you’ve put in as volunteer leaders of the CGA and CWGA/CGA, respectively, over the last three years has left the new-look CGA on a solid foundation for a long time to come.

To: New CGA president Janene Guzowski.
Gift Wish: Making McCleary and Miner proud in building on their accomplishments.

To: The Colorado PGA.
Gift Wish: That the good work you do as a Section, having won 10 national awards in 12 years from the PGA of America, leads to genuine growth in the game in Colorado.

To: Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado Boys Player of the Year Dillon Stewart.
Gift Wish: A spot in the five-man lineup for perennial college powerhouse Oklahoma State in your first year or two in Stillwater.

To: TPC Colorado in Berthoud.
Gift Wish: Rave reviews in your first year hosting the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes.

To: Colorado Golf Club in Parker.
Gift Wish: That the U.S. Mid-Amateur coming in September will be the first of many times the course hosts USGA championships.

To: City Park Golf Course in Denver.
Gift Wish: A redesigned layout worthy of the 100-plus-year history of the course, which is scheduled to reopen in 2019 after being closed since the fall of 2017.

To: The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado.
Gift Wish: Steady growth and innovation for a fourth straight year.

To: Colorado-raised Wyndham Clark, Jim Knous, Jennifer Kupcho and Becca Huffer.
Gift Wish: Rookie seasons on the PGA and LPGA Tours that will guarantee cards on the world’s top golf circuits again the following season.

To: Former CU golfer Robyn Choi, who has qualified in Colorado for the last two U.S. Women’s Opens.
Gift Wish: That the decision to forego your final three semesters of college golf to start your LPGA Tour career at the beginning of 2019 will prove to be the right one.

To: The USGA and the CGA.
Gift Wish: That the inevitable tweaks to the modernized Rules of Golf that will take effect Jan. 1 will be kept to a reasonable minimum, and that the Rules rollout will be relatively seamless.

To: The powers that be in golf.
Gift Wish: That the 1985 PGA Championship isn’t the last men’s major that ever will be held in Colorado.

To: Colorado’s elite golfers.
Gift Wish: That players from the Centennial State win all three of the CoBank Colorado Open Championships in 2019.

To: Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.
Gift Wish: That the academy’s model is adopted by a national organization so that teenagers country-wide can benefit.

To: Coloradans Caitlyn Chin, Chunya Boonta and Grady Ortiz.
Gift Wish: That one of you will become the first Coloradan to win a national title in the Drive, Chip & Putt Finals at Augusta National in April.

To: Colorado PGA senior players.
Gift Wish: That you take it easy on the young-uns after having won five of the last six Colorado PGA Professional Championships.

To: Topgolf.
Gift Wish: That a second Colorado site — in Thornton — will be a win-win, helping business in the short term and creating additional golfers for the game over the long haul.

To: Denver Golf Expo.
Gift Wish: Attendance exceeding 10,000 for the three-day show for the first time since 2012.

To: Evans Scholarship for Caddies at the University of Colorado.
Gift Wish: That the full-tuition and housing scholarship means a much to recipients in 2019 as it did in for the first “winners” in 1930.

To: Colorado college golf programs.
Gift Wish: A spring season that lasts into the second half of May.

To: Youth on Course.
Gift Wish: That its “sophomore” season in Colorado proves to be one where the program — which allows juniors to play golf at participating facilities for no more than $5 per round — really gains traction in the state.

To: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton.
Gift Wish: That victory No. 26 — which would establish a record for CGA/CWGA women’s championships — comes your way at some tournament before you turn 60 in 2019.

To: World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder.
Gift Wish: That golf organizations in Colorado will continue to draw upon your legacy to benefit future generations of golfers in the state.

To: The many Coloradans who volunteer their time in the name of golf.
Gift Wish: A full heart, knowing the game is better because of your generosity.

To: All golfers in Colorado.
Gift Wish: The time and good fortune to be able to get your golf fix in 2019 — or at least come close.
 

The week of Thanksgiving presents a natural time to contemplate all the things for which we should be appreciative.

And for those of us in Colorado, this time of year marks the end of the golf season. That seems ideal for reflecting on why we’re grateful to be golfers in the Centennial State.

So, after scanning through the stories that have made news so far this year in Colorado golf, and just generally considering all the great things that the game gives us, it’s time for our annual look at Colorado golf-related reasons to be thankful:

— This year, I’ve had the pleasure to revisit Arrowhead Golf Club (below), Sanctuary, The Broadmoor and Perry Park, among many other courses. Taking in all the scenery at venues like these — and there are plenty of them in Colorado — never fails to provide a sense of serenity. Playing golf there is just gravy.

— Colorado golf organizations are often a proactive lot when trying to grow the game. Bringing the Youth on Course initiative to Colorado is but the latest example. YOC makes golf more affordable for youngsters, who pay no more than $5 per round at participating facilities, with the program subsidizing the initiative by giving the course a similar amount. Fifteen Colorado courses participated in the program this first season, and it’s sure to grow by leaps and bounds in coming years.

— Rarely, if ever, have so many players who grew up in Colorado been rookies at the same time on the PGA and LPGA Tours as there will be for the 2019 season. On the PGA Tour, where the wraparound season actually began this fall, there’s Wyndham Clark and Jim Knous. And on the LPGA side, there will be Jennifer Kupcho and Becca Huffer, in addition to University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi. It should be a source of pride for the Colorado golf community.

— Following up on the above, it ought to be kept in perspective that players the caliber of Kupcho don’t come around every year — or even every decade. It’s more like once in a generation when it comes to a state like Colorado. The Westminster resident has been the No. 1-ranked women’s amateur in the world for 15 weeks this year, though she recently dropped to No. 2. She became the first American woman to win the McCormack Medal that goes to the top amateur on the globe. The Wake Forest senior captured the women’s NCAA Division I individual title in May, she led three U.S. teams to international titles this year, and she earned her LPGA card by finishing second in the final stage of Q-school. Add it all up and that’s rarefied air indeed.

— A vibrant golf business — and economy in general — is paying dividends in Colorado. For instance, a second Topgolf facility in the state — this one in Thornton — broke ground this fall and is expected to open late next year. TPC Colorado in Berthoud, the first new 18-hole championship course in Colorado in a decade, opened to the general public this year. And Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, which hosts the three CoBank Colorado Open Championships, recently announced that it will be the eighth location worldwide for the Jim McLean Golf School, which is considered one of the top golf schools/academies in the country.

— Though the aforementioned strong economy no doubt will push prices a bit higher, the fact remains that there’s a lot of good golf to be had for reasonable fees in Colorado. For people who want to — or must — keep costs down, it’s not hard to find 18-hole summer green fees of $35 or less. And that’s on decent golf courses. That’s hard to beat.

— The Colorado PGA continues to be a leader among PGA of America Sections, and Colorado golfers are the beneficiaries. This year, the CPGA received a national player development award from the PGA of America for the second time since 2011. From 2007 through ’18, the Colorado PGA has now earned 10 national awards from the PGA of America.

— Speaking of the Colorado PGA, its senior players should be an inspiration to 50-and-older golfers throughout the state. This year, 56-year-old Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale became the first player from the Section to win the Colorado PGA Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year awards in the same year. Sherry Andonian-Smith of Centennial, also 56, was the Section’s inaugural Women’s Player of the Year after placing second 29th out of 264 players at the national Senior PGA Professional Championship. Five times in the last six years, players 50 or older have won the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, including 52-year-old Patrick Reidy this year. Senior golfers Rohrbaugh (three times) and John Ogden (once) have also claimed the title in recent years. And, for the record, the winner of the Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship was 64-year-old Mike Zaremba.

— The CGA and CWGA joined forces at the beginning of this year after each organization had a 100-plus year run of its own. And the integration has gone nearly seamlessly from the perspective of the members — both men and women — who are served by new-look Colorado Golf Association. In addition, the CGA and the Colorado PGA often team up for the betterment of golf in the state. A good example of that is the ever-growing Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, which just completed its third season.

— Speaking of which, it should be noted again that Joe McCleary and Juliet Miner, the presidents of the CGA and CWGA, respectively, in 2016 and ’17, selflessly agreed to serve a third year as co-presidents of the CGA in order to make the transition to one organization go smoothly. They’ll soon be stepping down from their presidential roles, but it shouldn’t be forgotten the way they’ve gone above and beyond in volunteer roles for the sake of Colorado golf.

— For Colorado golf fans who don’t get to attend major golf championships very often, the 2018 U.S. Senior Open (left) was another breath of fresh air. Not only was there great golf, but it was in a setting that’s tough to beat — The Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. And it was nice to hear that the U.S. Senior Open will be returning to The Broadmoor in 2025.

— Also on the spectator tournament front, there are a couple of events to look forward to in 2019. First up is the Web.com Tour’s TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes July 8-14. It’ll be just the third time the feeder circuit for the PGA Tour has held a tournament in Colorado as the Nike Colorado Classic was played at Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton in 1996 and ’97. Then Colorado Golf Club in Parker will host the U.S. Mid-Amateur national championship — for players 25 and older — Sept. 14-19, with CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course serving as the second course for the stroke-play portion of the event. The only previous time Colorado has hosted a U.S. Mid-Am was in 1983, when Cherry Hills Country Club did the honors.

— Amazingly, this year produced national champions from Colorado in two major events. Colorado State University teammates Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor prevailed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in early May. And later that month, Kupcho became the first Coloradan to win a Women’s NCAA Division I individual title. Other Coloradans this year won regional or age-group championships — Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins (the Junior America’s Cup) and Nicholas Pevny of Aspen (the 12-13 division of the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships). Stewart recently signed a National Letter of Intent with the No. 1 men’s college program in the nation, Oklahoma State.

— Two of the most worthwhile caddie-related development programs have strong ties to Colorado, and continue to do invaluable good. One is the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, based at CommonGround Golf Course, Meridian Golf Club, and at Lincoln Park and Tiara Rado in Grand Junction. The other is the Evans Scholarship for caddies, which has a house at the University of Colorado. Both do wonders in developing boys and girls into productive young adults.

— Two Coloradans who passed away in 2018 left strong legacies in the Colorado golf community — and beyond — that will pay dividends far into the future: Jack Vickers, founder of Castle Pines Golf Club and The International PGA Tour event that had a 21-year run; and longtime high school golf coach George Hoos, the patriarch of a well-known golf family in Colorado.

— Especially when taken as a group, it’s hard to beat the three state open championships (left) held in Colorado for which CoBank is the title sponsor. And it goes beyond the large purses — $250,000 for the CoBank Colorado Open and $150,000 for the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. I interview many competitors during the Opens, and it’s remarkable how many of them comment on how professionally the tournaments are run — sometimes even comparing them favorably with events conducted by major tours.

— The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame continues to do yeoman’s work in recognizing and preserving the history of golf in Colorado. Its museum is based at the Riverdale Golf Courses in Brighton. It’s next inductee will be longtime Coloradan Lauren Howe, who was among the best young female golfers in the nation through much of the 1970s and ’80s.

— Also on the Hall of Fame front, Colorado continues to be fortunate to call World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin one of its own. Irwin, who grew up in Boulder and attended the University of Colorado, continues to give back to the state in many ways. He lends his name to the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior tournament and to the Hale Irwin Player Program, and in recent months he’s helped out in various roles as Colorado hosted the U.S. Senior Open, and as a design advisor for Denver’s historic City Park Golf Course, which is being redesigned.

— And last but far from least, we should be thankful for the many volunteers that make golf what it is in Colorado. They help lead many of the major golf organizations in the state, officiate at tournaments, rate courses, play many roles when major championships comes to Colorado, and on and on. The game would be a shell of itself without them.

All told, it’s quite a Thanksgiving smorgasbord on which Colorado golfers can feast.
 

Amateur Emily Gilbreth, who represented Colorado in the final playing of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship, finished second in the Western Skies tournament on The Cactus Tour in Gilbert, Ariz. And Colorado Springs resident Samantha Stancato tied for fifth in the same event.

And former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney ended up fourth in the weather-shortened Northwest Mississippi Championship on the Adams Pro Tour.

Whitney, who recently moved from Fort Collins to Texas, carded rounds of 69-69-71 for a 7-under-par 209 total, which left him four strokes behind champion Edward Olson. Whitney, who made the cut in the CareerBuilder Challenge on the PGA Tour earlier this year, earned $6,530. He finished with 15 birdies and an eagle in three rounds.

In the Western Skies tournament, Gilbreth, the 2017 CWGA Match Play champion, ended up tied for second, three strokes behind winner Sirene Blair of South Jordan, Utah, after taking a double bogey on the final round of the event. Gilbreth went 65-72-74 for a 5-under 211 total.

Stancato, meanwhile, posted scores of 71-72-71 to check in at 214.
 

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

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

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

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

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

Among the G4 highlights in previous years:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you’re a fan of variety, of the new and different, you should like what awaits in Colorado golf in 2018.

There’s a return of major tour-level tournament golf to the Centennial State for the first time since 2014. There’s a joining of forces by two of the biggest golf associations in the state. Colorado will take its turn hosting many of the best girls players in the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. And, for the first time in nine years, a new 18-hole course will open in the state.

And those are just the highlights of what the new year will bring for the Colorado golf community.

Let’s take a closer look at all of the aforementioned and more:

— U.S. Senior Open: It’s been a while since Colorado hosted a big-time golf tournament — the kind that draws 100,000 people-plus over the course of a week. To be precise, the last one was in September 2014 when the BMW Championship — a FedExCup Playoff event on the PGA Tour — came to Cherry Hills Country Club. That tournament culminated quite a run for major golf events in Colorado in the wake of the demise of The International PGA Tour event that was conducted from 1986 through 2006. That run included:

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

But it’s been a bit of a drought since, though tournaments like the men’s Pac-12 Conference Championships have paid a visit.

Suffice it to say the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be a welcome change of pace for Colorado golf fans. The event, set for the week of June 25-July 1 at the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, will be the highlight for a year in which the resort will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. The tournament itself is scheduled for June 28-July 1.

The Senior Open will be the fourth tour major to have been hosted by The Broadmoor in the last 25 years, with the previous ones being the 1995 and 2011 U.S. Women’s Opens and the 2008 U.S. Senior Open. Overall, after the completion of this year’s championship, only Ohio (with six) will have hosted the U.S. Senior Open more times than Colorado (three, including the 1993 edition at Cherry Hills).

When The Broadmoor hosted the 2008 Senior Open, the event drew an announced 128,714 spectators for the week.

Among the players who will likely compete at The Broadmoor this year are World Golf Hall of Famers Bernhard Langer, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Vijay Singh, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Mark O’Meara and Tom Kite.

A qualifying tournament for the Senior Open will be held on Memorial Day (May 28) at The Broadmoor’s East Course.

— CGA, CWGA Join Forces: The agreement that led to the unification of the CGA and CWGA — two organizations that were formed more than 100 years ago — was the top story in Colorado golf in 2017. This year, after the two associations formally have become one (under the Colorado Golf Association name), the practical matters of merging will play out over the course of the year. The hope is that the combined membership of about 60,000 will be well-served by the consolidated association, which will be under the leadership of a board led by co-presidents Joe McCleary and Juliet Miner, who previously served as presidents of the CGA and CWGA, respectively, along with longtime CGA executive director Ed Mate and his staff.

The CGA, along with the Colorado PGA, Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents, and course owners and operators figure to play a major role in paving the path to success for Colorado golf for decades to come.

— Girls Junior America’s Cup: The Girls Junior America’s Cup, which debuted in 1978, has long been a showcase for the best female junior players in the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. Among those who have competed in the event are World Golf Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa — a three-time champion (1997-99) — and fellow LPGA Tour veterans Brandie Burton, Pat Hurst, Dawn Coe-Jones, along with Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill.

Colorado has hosted the tournament just twice over the past 40 years — in 1982 and 2000, both at Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy — but No. 3 is coming this summer as Hiwan Golf Club (left) in Evergreen will be the site for the proceedings July 25-27, with practice rounds set for July 23-24 and the opening ceremonies on July 24. Hiwan, the site for the Colorado Open from 1964 through ’91, has had its fair share of major junior events over the years, having hosted the 1965 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 1976 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2006 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions and the 2011 boys Junior America’s Cup. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado will join Hiwan in a host role for the GJAC this year.

The Girls Junior America’s Cup features 18 four-person teams, each representing a state, country or region. The event includes both team and individual competitions. Colorado has won the GJAC team title once — in 1993 — with Heather Stock, Jennifer Kern, Ann Grooms and Jennifer McCormick playing for the victorious team and Kern earning the individual championship that year.

Some of the best girls players in Colorado history have competed for their state in the Girls Junior America’s Cup. That includes McGill, Jennifer Kupcho, Ashley Tait, Becca Huffer, Kelly Jacques, Hannah Wood, Somin Lee and Paige Spiranac.

Last year’s Colorado team finished sixth out of 18 teams, and three of the four representatives will be eligible to return: Hailey Schalk of Erie, the JGAC girls Player of the Year in 2017; Charlotte Hillary of Englewood and Lauren Lehigh of Loveland. Over the weekend in Arizona at the Silver Belle Championship, Hillary finished 22nd — out of a formidable 96-player field that included both college players and juniors. Hillary shot rounds of 75-73-72 there.

— TPC Colorado: There was a time not so long ago that a new course opening in Colorado would have been but a minor blip on the radar screen in any given year. After all, there were single years — in 1997 and ’99, for example — when 10 courses opened in the state. But that was before the Great Recession hit almost a decade ago.

Now, with the last new 18-hole course opening in Colorado being CommonGround in 2009, a new layout draws much more attention. TPC Colorado, a semi-private/high-end daily fee course in Berthoud, is expected to end the drought when it opens around June 1.

The course, which has sets of tees that range from 4,157 to 7,991 yards, has an agreement in place in which it will host a Web.com Tour event for at least five years, beginning in 2019. It will be the first time a tour-caliber event will be contested over multiple years in Colorado since The International departed after the 2006 tournament.

Meanwhile, the Colorado PGA will hold its top tournament, the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, at TPC Colorado Sept. 10-12 of this year.

While the U.S. Senior Open and the Girls Junior America’s Cup are some of the notable events set for 2018, it’s also worth mentioning one competition that won’t take place in 2018. The Colorado Cup matches, a Ryder Cup-style competiton between CGA/CWGA amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals that has been held every year since 1971, will see that annual streak end this year. The event has become biennial, meaning the next competition will be in 2019.

— Dates for Key Winter Events: While the statewide tournament golf season won’t begin in earnest until spring, there are several significant events in the interim that can serve to whet the appetite.

The Denver Golf Expo will be held Feb. 9-11 at the Denver Mart. The G4 Summit, which brings together many of the leaders in the Colorado golf industry to hear about and discuss key issues facing the game, is set for Feb. 28 at The Broadmoor. And the CGA’s Women’s Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 3 at the Inverness Hotel & Conference Center in Englewood.

— State Amateurs: Both of the top CGA men’s championships will be contested in the Denver metro area in 2018, with the CGA Match Play returning for the second straight year to the Club at Ravenna in Littleton (June 18-22) and Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver being the site for the CGA Amateur Aug. 2-5.

On the women’s side, the CGA Women’s Match Play is set for July 16-19 at The Fox Hill Club in Longmont, while the CGA Women’s Stroke Play is tentatively scheduled for June 19-21 at Black Bear Golf Club in Parker.

— CoBank Colorado Open Championships: The CoBank Colorado Open tournaments at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver fall into similar time slots as in the recent past, though the Colorado Open itself will be a week later than usual (July 26-29). The Senior Open is scheduled for May 30-June 1 and the Women’s Open for Aug. 29-31.

— Other Notable Events. Also on the schedule for 2018 are:

Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open is planned for May 14 at The Ranch Country Club in Westminster. The national Women’s Open itself will be held earlier than normal, May 31-June 3 at Shoal Creek in Alabama.

The fourth annual AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, which draws a formidable field from Colorado as well as players nationally and internationally, is set for June 4-7 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.

Qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open will be held June 12 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. The first national championship in this event is set for July 12-15 at Chicago Golf Club.

It’s a rare treat when Denver Country Club hosts a state championship, but it will do so this year when the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s season-ending Tour Championship is contested at the historic course Oct. 6-7.
 

Kids say the darnedest things. So do adults — and just about anyone affiliated with golf.

We’ve certainly found that to be the case in many years of covering the sport. And 2017 definitely was no exception.

Each December we go back through the year to compile some of the more notable quotables in Colorado golf, whether they be funny, insightful, profound, memorable or some combination thereof.

Here are our selections for 2017:

— Wyndham Clark, who grew up in Colorado, after earning a Web.com Tour card through Q-school, via Twitter:

“Officially have a job!”

— CGA executive director Ed Mate, on working alongside former CGA staffers Thomas Pagel and Pete Lis on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee:

“On a personal level, I take great pride in that. For a long time, Colorado has had strong representation with the USGA. And it’s nice because you can be candid with friends.”

— Peter Evans, one of the caddies on a full tuition and housing Evans Scholarship at the University of Colorado:

“It was a dream of Chick Evans. He believed in a bunch of poor caddies — and it turned out so well.”

— Coloradan Jim Knous after Monday qualifying for the Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour:

“It’s going to be incredible. My college buddies and I … we all come down here and pile on 16 (the famously raucous par-3 at TPC Scottsdale), and get there super early and go watch and get rowdy. … To be on the other side, actually hitting shots, is going to be wild. I’ve yelled at my fair share of golfers on No. 16, and now I’m going to be the guy getting yelled at.”

— Mark Cramer, owner and operator of the Denver Golf Expo, on the 2017 show drawing 9,136 people, the most since 2014:

“It feels great. I’m very happy the number got over 9,000. When I opened the last cash box and (exceeded 9,000), I let out a huge primal scream.”

— Sarah Hirshland, senior managing director of business affairs for the USGA, speaking at the G4 Summit in Colorado about the changing business of golf:

“I genuinely believe — and I’ll go to my grave saying — that we are part of a moment in time in a sport that has hundreds of years of history and will survive for hundreds of years beyond all of us. I hope everybody feels as privileged to be a part of this as I do because at some point they will look back and say that was a decade-ish where the golf world changed and evolved, and it’s a really fun thing to be a part of. I hope all of you appreciate that. You may not yet, but one day I know we all will.”

— Mate, after the USGA and R&A announced a major set of proposed changes to the Rules of Golf. Mate serves on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee:

“It’s exciting to finally have the duct tape off my mouth because I’ve been sworn to secrecy the last two years.”

— Colorado Open Golf Foundation CEO Kevin Laura on the announcement that the first prize for the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open was more than quadrupling and the overall purse doubling:

“We’re very excited that we’re a big girls’ game now.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Alan Abrams, the president of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, after receiving a $10,000 check for the organization from the CWGA:

“Our beginning year we were hoping to shoot, using a golf analogy, 1 or 2 over par. But we had an incredible sub-par round and ended up winning the tournament.”

— CWGA executive director Laura Robinson, on 2016 Volunteer of the Year Vivian Heggie:

“Vivian is the most dedicated, passionate, enthusiastic and nutsy person. She stayed out at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open qualifier for more than 10 hours in the rain and cold. We kept trying to rescue her. She is there when we ask her to be — helping the golfers and making sure everyone has a great experience.”

— CGA president Joe McCleary after a training session for the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course:

“The way I look at CommonGround is it’s a lab for a lot of different programs related to golf, and this is one of them. We also have a chapter down at Meridian and we’re now into Grand Junction. And the model has been used for other places around the country. How can anyone argue with what we’re doing? I think it’s awesome, and I love being a part of it.”

— Clark on winning the Pac-12 Conference Championship in his home state at Boulder Country Club:

“It’s probably the best win of my career and it couldn’t have been in a better spot, playing at home in front of friends and family, which to me was the coolest part, and also winning a team championship. It’s pretty awesome. I’ve done a lot of preparation to get to this moment. I’ve thought about it, dreamed about it. Sometimes it’s a little surreal when it happens.”

— University of Oregon coach — and former college teammate of Tiger Woods — Casey Martin, on Clark, one of his players:

“Wyndham has just been a monster all year. He’s only had a couple of over-par rounds all year. He came home (to Colorado for the Pac-12 tournament) with all the pressure here and played beautifully. He’s a grinder and I love him.”
 
— CU men’s golf coach Roy Edwards, asked who helped the clear the Boulder Country Club course of snow (left) to make it playable for the final round of the Pac-12 Conference Championship:

“Anybody who was breathing that had a shovel.”

— Robinson, on being part of a Colorado golf contigent participating in the Colorado Golf Alliance Day at the Capitol, where golf administrators met with state representatives and senators:

“(The lawmakers) were getting to know the golf industry on a personal level. They were able to ask us questions and we answered, but they got to meet us — and that was valuable. It’s also valuable that we get to debunk a lot of the myths that some people have about the golf industry. They think that we use water (excessively), we waste resources, we pollute through chemicals, that we are inaccessible. I hope what we shared today through all the literature and the posters was that we are actually a good member of the community. If we even educated two or three people today, it was successful.”

— Doug Moore, who teamed with Raymond Kelley and won the CGA Senior Four-Ball after a day that featured rain, cold, snow and finally sunshine:

“I looked at (the three days) like a triathlon. We got out of the pool and we were doing well. We got off the bike and we were still leading. It’s like, ‘OK, we’ve got to go run a marathon — and it was going to be a marathon in bad weather.'”

— Keoni Johnson, a participant in a Golf in Schools field trip at CommonGround Gol Course:

“It was the best. I went to this mini-golf place and (after that) I always wanted to go golfing.” Asked what he learned from Golf in Schools and the field trip, Johnson responded, “How to hold the golfing stick properly and how to hit the ball properly because if you hit it wrong, it’s going to hit somebody in the head. And watch out for the head part because if it hits somebody’s head, you have to call 9-1-1.”

— Mate, on the redesign of Denver’s City Park Golf Course so that the site can include a stormwater detention area:

“It’s bittersweet. It’s where I grew up playing. With the nostalgia and all that, obviously it’s hard to see (the existing course) go away. But you have to be realistic. There’s a way to transform public property that incorporates very-much-needed (public safety-related changes) and modernizes the course like at (CGA-owned and operated) CommonGround. It’s sad to see the old course go, but I’m glad to see it used for the greater good of the community. If it was becoming a parking lot or a high-rise, it would be a different matter, but it’s staying a golf course.”

— Valor Christian boys golf coach Jason Preeo after he joined three of his former players in advancing to the final stage of U.S. Open Qualifying:

“I’ve got to keep up with those (former Valor) guys. We’ve had three of them get through, so I couldn’t let them show me up today.”

— Westminster’s Jennifer Kupcho, on qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open two days after losing a late lead and finishing second at the NCAA Championship Finals:

“I have to get over it at some point. It’s definitely a little hard to sleep at night, just realizing I was so close. But I’m going to the Open so … Open or win the national championship? Both would have been nice, but the Open is still cool.”

— Jeff Gallagher, after winning the CoBank Colorado Senior Open, on almost missing the registration deadline for the tournament:

“I’m good friends with Tom Krystyn, who lives here, and we were on the phone. I’m like, ‘Dang, that reminds me, I’ve got to register for the tournament.’ I think I did it about two hours before the deadline, and I’m sure glad I did. I nearly air-balled it.”

— World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder, after conducting a clinic for juniors prior to the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, almost 50 years exactly after winning an NCAA title as a University of Colorado golfer:

“I’m very proud that it kind of put Colorado golf on the map, so to speak. I don’t look at it as boastful. I look at it to learn from it: use that (so) maybe these kids can learn from an example that you don’t have to live in Florida, you don’t have to live in Arizona, you don’t have to live in California to have golf and be successful at it. It can come from anywhere.”

— Nick Nosewicz, on winning the CGA Parent/Child with father Lenny a year after the death of Nick’s grandfather Ed, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer:

“If it wasn’t for grandpa, neither of us would have played golf. If if wasn’t for grandpa, I wouldn’t have dad. So the whole tournament was pretty special. Honestly, I think the only reason we came up here was because of what happened last year, losing grandpa, and trying to continue the Nosewicz legacy. At a state level, that’s cool.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Janet Moore, after teaming up with Susie Roh to win her record eighth CWGA Mashie Championship. Moore has now won Mashie titles with three different partners (Christie Austin, daughter Sarah, and Roh):

“The strength of my game in Mashies is picking great partners. And I did that really well this time.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe, on winning his first PGA Tour-sanctioned event ever by claiming the title in the PGA Tour Champions’ Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa:

Winning “is huge. I’ve been knocking on that door a long time. … To finally get a win means a lot. It’s hard. You’re out here to win, and I haven’t done as good of a job as I would have liked. This is nice. It’s a little bit of a relief.”

— Kupcho, a two-time U.S. Women’s Open qualifier, after winning her third consecutive CWGA Stroke Play title:

“It’s exciting to come out of Colorado and have everyone be super supportive of me. That’s probably a bigger deal than winning — just to know that everyone is behind me when I’m out competing on a national level.”

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton, in a year in which she won her 24th CWGA championship, leaving her one shy of the record held by Carol Flenniken:

“I’m doing it,” Eaton said of a full-bore pursuit of Flenniken’s mark. “I’m going to keep coming back. That’s my goal now.”

— LPGA Tour standout Lexi Thompson, at a First Tee kids exhibition in Denver, on the growth of golf among girls in her lifetime:

“It’s amazing. That’s what we want. We want to see little girls pick up a club early and get involved in the game because it is an amazing sport. You learn a lot about yourself. We want to grow the game, so it’s great to see. The thing I’ve noticed is the number of little girls wearing the program shirts or hats that are out following us. There’s so many little girls out following us and that’s what we want to see. We want to see smiles on their faces when we sign something for them or are giving them high-fives between holes. Knowing that they play the game as well, and we have an impact on that, it means the world to us.”

— Russ Miller, the PGA director of golf at The Broadmoor, which will host the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, the club’s eighth USGA championship:

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

— Liz Breed of Waynesboro, Pa., on winning the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and the $50,000 first prize:

“I don’t think it’s set in yet. Call me in about two hours and I’ll probably be passed out in the street somewhere. This is probably the most proud I’ve ever been. I mean, 50 grand, that changes my life. That doesn’t just change my year, that changes my career.”

— George Solich, CU Evans Scholar alum and the namesake (with brother Duffy) of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course:

“What I really love about CommonGround in particular is we’re able to take kids from walks of life that have never been on a golf course and change their lives — either through the (Evans) Scholarship or otherwise. Not even 10 percent of the kids in this program are going to get the scholarship, so the goal is to impact the kids that don’t get the scholarship AND the kids that get the scholarship. Impact their work ethic, their character, their understanding of how to communicate and deal with adults — all the stuff we all learn from caddying. It’s really cool to be able to see how much impact (the program) has. … It’s exactly what we hoped.”

— Cherry Hills Country Club head professional John Ogden, 50, after defeating Rick Cole, 64, in a playoff to claim the title in the Colorado PGA Professional Championship:

“The gray-haired guys, that was pretty good. But Rick’s got a few more years than me on the gray hairs.”

— CGA Senior Amateur champion Steve Ivan, who plays his golf with 1993 Ram Laser Fx irons — of which he owns 13 sets. And he favors Royal grips and claims to own more of those than anyone in the U.S.:

“They call that OCD. The first step in recovery is admitting you’ve got a problem.”

— Davis Bryant (pictured at top with fellow JGAC Player of the Year Hailey Schalk), on winning all three Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado majors in which he competed in 2017:

“It’s been a season to remember. … It was a cool feeling to accomplishment as much as I did.”

— Larry Collins, PGA general manager and director of golf at TPC Colorado in Berthoud, which is expected to open roughly in June 2018:

The course “is phenomenal. It’s really a stunning piece of land. It sits on 800 acres, overlooking three reservoirs (Lonetree, Welch and McNeil) with about 1,500 acres of water — with Longs Peak and a panoramic view (of the mountains) in the background. The community is just going to be loaded with amenities. It’s very, very exciting.”

— Gerry Brown, the CGA’s director of handicapping and course rating, after helping rate TPC Colorado for the first time:

“From a bogey golfer standpoint, it’s a very scary-looking course with monstrous bunkers (left) ready to gobble up errant shots. … But there are very few trees and most of the OB is away from play. The fairways are generous. And the native is thin and wispy so you can play out.”

— Mark Passey, who retired this year as a Colorado-based regional affairs director for the USGA, noting that he caddied periodically for Frank Beard on the PGA Tour in the 1960s:

“Being inside the ropes is special. I thought, ‘I’d love to work at the USGA sometime.’ The fact that it happened is a miracle.”

— Dustin Jensen, the departing CGA managing director of operations, who will be relocating back to Jamestown, North Dakota:

“It’s hard to leave the CGA. I’ve grown up here (professionally). I grew up in Jamestown, but the other half of my life has been with the CGA. Leaving is tough. It’s really, really hard to go. I’m excited to get back and be around family. But I’ve got my Jamestown family and my CGA family.”

— Jensen, who played a key role in the early development of the highly successful Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado:

“I’m really excited to see where the Junior Golf Alliance goes. Multiple entities (the CGA, Colorado PGA and CWGA) came together and put kids first. That was the biggest thing I’ve been part of (professionally). The Alliance was good in year 1 (2016). It was really good in year 2 (2017). It’s going to grow exponentially from here on. Like Ed (Mate) has said, junior golf in Colorado is a North Star for other associations. We get emails from other associations asking how we’ve done it.”

— Mate, on the CGA and CWGA joining forces as one organization:

“I’ve been working for the CGA for a long time — over 25 years in stops and starts — and to me it’s the most significant thing we’ve ever done because I think it’s going to position golf and all the things we represent for the next 100 years.” 
 

Following up from last week, when we started our two-part retrospective on the top Colorado golf stories of 2017 (CLICK HERE for the first installment), we continue our countdown with the top dozen stories of the year — in reverse order. And at the end, included is a list of honorable-mention selections.

12. USGA’s Passey Calls It a Career: Mark Passey spent 27 1/2 years as a director of regional affairs for the USGA, including the last 11 based in the Denver metro area. Passey was very highly regarded in the region, but in June at age 70, he retired, leaving big shoes to fill. (Kyle Nuss, based in Dallas, has taken over as the USGA’s director of regional affairs for the nine-state Central Region, which includes Colorado.) READ MORE

11. Workman’s Stellar Summer: Glenn Workman had a summer to remember in state and regional tournaments in 2017. The Pueblo West resident became the first player in history to win the CGA Amateur and Wyoming State Amateur in the same year. The University of Wyoming golfer also scored low-amateur honors at the Rocky Mountain Open and the Wyoming State Open. READ MORE”¨

“¨10. Big-Name Clinics for The First Tee in Colorado: Ever since CoBank took over as title sponsor of the Colorado Open Championships, some big-name tour players have been coming to Colorado to put on exhibitions, primarily aimed at the kids participating in The First Tee programs. Last year, Hale Irwin, Ryan Palmer and Paula Creamer did the honors. This year, David Duval, Lexi Thompson and Mark O’Meara came to First Tee sites, most notably the one at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, which hosts the Colorado Open tournaments. That’s quite a run, considering those six players account for eight major championship victories.

9. Jobe’s Champions Breakthrough: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe came very close to winning on the PGA Tour during his time on that circuit, four times placing second, including at the 2005 International at Castle Pines. Then on the PGA Tour Champions, he finished third three times leading up to this past summer. But in June in Des Moines, Iowa, Jobe scored a breakthrough victory, prevailing in the PGA Tour Champions’ Principal Charity Classic. Jobe, who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99 before moving to Texas, also had a very strong record in senior majors in 2017, finishing second in the Senior Players, third in the U.S. Senior Open and eighth in the Senior PGA. He also matched the tournament record with a round of 62 at the U.S. Senior Open. READ MORE

8. $50K for CoBank Colorado Women’s Open Champ: As soon as the CoBank Colorado Open drastically raised its purse in 2016, a similar hike was virtually inevitable for the Colorado Women’s Open. You could take it to the (Co)Bank. Almost exactly a year after the purse for the men’s Open jumped to $250,000 — with an amazing $100,000 going to the winner — Colorado Open Golf Foundation officials announced a comparable increase, percentage-wise, for the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. Not coincidentally, CoBank has been the title sponsor for the Colorado Open championships since the beginning of 2016. For the 2017 women’s tournament, first prize more than quadrupled — to $50,000 from $11,000 — and the overall purse doubled — to $150,000. In both cases, those are records for a women’s state/regional open and the $50,000 is considerably more than the winner received for any 2017 event on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA’s development circuit. Liz Breed of Waynesboro, Pa., claimed the first $50,000 winning prize, holding off amateur Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, who finished runner-up for the second straight time in the CWO.

7. Kaye Wins 2nd Colorado Open, 21 Years After His First: Part-time Boulder resident Jonathan Kaye (left) hadn’t competed in a tournament in three months, but that didn’t stop the former University of Colorado golfer from winning the CoBank Colorado Open shortly before his 47th birthday. Kaye, a two-time PGA Tour winner who plays little tournament golf anymore, sank a 9-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Green Valley Ranch to post a one-stroke victory and earn the $100,000 first prize. Kaye, the runner-up in 2016, finished at 23-under par, which tied the tournament’s scoring record, relative to par. He became just the seventh golfer to win at least two Colorado Open titles. For the record, the 21 years between Colorado Open victories by Kaye is a record, bettering the 14 years between Brian Guetz’s wins (1994 and 2008). READ MORE

6. Bryant Slam: A junior golf oddity made this one of the top stories of the season in the state. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado schedule features four major championships, and the Bryant siblings won their own version of a grand slam by combining to claim all four titles. Davis Bryant won all three in which he competed — the Colorado Junior PGA, the Colorado Junior Amateur and the JGAC Tour Championship. And when he missed the Colorado Junior Match Play while he was competing in the national Junior PGA Championship — where he placed 14th — 14-year-old sister Emma pulled through for an improbable victory for the girls title. Davis Bryant went on to be named the boys JGAC Player of the Year after also winning the 5A state high school title, placing ninth individually in the Junior America’s Cup and advancing to the match play round of 64 at his second U.S. Junior Amateur.”¨

5. CGA Vets Play Key Roles in Changes to Rules of Golf: Rules issues have played a major — and controversial — role in televised golf in recent years. And in the midst of all that, Rules modernization and simplification efforts by the USGA and the R&A have taken center stage. And at the core — or near the core, anyway — of those modernization efforts is the USGA Rules of Golf Committee. In 2017, three people who have worked for the CGA in the 21st century served on the committee — current executive director Ed Mate, along with former staffers Thomas Pagel (now a USGA employee) and Pete Lis (who works for the LPGA). That’s quite a Rules pedigree for the state association. READ MORE

4. Major Changes for Several Denver-Area Courses: This year turned out to be a big one regarding some of the oldest courses in the Denver metro area. On Nov. 1, 105-year-old City Park Golf Course closed until sometime in 2019, with the course being redesigned to accommodate a stormwater detention area which the city hopes will protect at-risk neighborhoods from flooding. World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin and Broomfield-based iCon Golf Studio were picked to redesign the course. (A rendering of the new City Park GC clubhouse is at left.)  Meanwhile, plans were approved so that another City of Denver course, Overland Park, will be closed for play for five weeks each September and early October from 2018-22 to host a three-day music festival. Then it was announced that Fitzsimons Golf Course, which dates back almost 100 years, would close for good in mid-December, making way for bioscience facilities and residential units.

3. Year to Remember for Clark: Although he previously came close on many occasions, former Highlands Ranch resident Wyndham Clark (left) didn’t score his first individual college victory until early in 2017. And that opened the floodgates for the then-University of Oregon senior, who posted three victories in his final 4 1/2 months as a collegian. One of those wins was a storybook ending as he prevailed at the Pac-12 Conference Championship in his home state, at Boulder Country Club, where he also won the 2010 CGA Amateur. With that strong final half of the season, Clark was named the 2017 Player of the Year in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, the Pac-12. That goes with the 2014 Big 12 Player of the Year honors he earned while at Oklahoma State. Clark ended up being one of three finalists for the national male college player of the year. Then since turning pro in June, Clark has made two cuts on the PGA Tour, including a 17th-place finish on Oct. 29 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. This month, he secured his playing card for 2018 on the Web.com Tour with a 23rd-place finish in the final stage of Q-school.

2. The Kupcho Show: Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster continues to up her game, as this year has demonstrated. The fact that she’s currently the No. 3-ranked women’s amateur in the world says plenty. The Wake Forest golfer came ever so close to becoming the first Coloradan to win the women’s individual NCAA Division I title, leading by two with two holes left before a triple bogey resulted in a runner-up finish. She quickly rebounded from that disappointment to qualify for her second straight U.S. Women’s Open — and went on to finish 21st overall in arguably the most presigious women’s golf tournament in the world (despite taking a 9 on her 35th hole). She also won her first national title, the Canadian Women’s Amateur, by five strokes. Other victories included her third straight in the CWGA Stroke Play, and two wins this calendar year in college golf, where she was a finalist for women’s player of the year honors. She also placed second for the second straight time in the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. Recently, Kupcho was named one of the top 11 women’s amateur golfers in the world by Global Golf Post and played in a practice session leading up to the 2018 Curtis Cup, though she isn’t guaranteed a spot on the U.S. team. Kupcho is also seventh in the women’s rankings leading up to the spring selection of the inaugural 12-player U.S. women’s team that will compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup July 6-8 in France. The Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-like competition for college golfers in which Americans play an International squad. (Australians Robyn Choi and Kirsty Hodgkins, who compete for the University of Colorado, are ranked 11th and 15th among the International players.)

1. CGA/CWGA Unification: The CGA and CWGA each celebrated 100th anniversaries in recent years, and most of that time they’ve been separate — but complementary — organizations serving golf in Colorado. But they’ve now joined forces — while continuing to serve golf in the state — under the banner of the Colorado Golf Association, which will serve roughly 60,000 members. As part of efforts to streamline its relationship with state and regional golf associations, the USGA announced more than a year ago that, starting at the beginning of 2018, it will partner will just one full-service Allied Golf Association in each state or region. That directive led to this unification. The board of directors of the two associations have formed into one leadership team. Joe McCleary, the CGA president for the last two years, and Juliet Miner, who has served as the CWGA president for a similar time, will be co-presidents of the CGA for the coming year. The staff of the associations have also merged, based out of the current CGA offices in Greenwood Village.

(At top, pictured together earlier this year after formally reaching an agreement were McCleary and Miner along with CGA executive director Ed Mate and his CWGA counterpart, Laura Robinson, the new managing director of program integration for the CGA.)

As Mate, who will remain the CGA’s executive director moving forward, said earlier this year, “I’ve been working for the CGA for a long time — over 25 years in stops and starts — and to me it’s the most significant thing we’ve ever done because I think it’s going to position golf and all the things we represent for the next 100 years.” READ MORE

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Honorable Mention

— David Duval, once the top-ranked golfer in the world, moved from Cherry Hills Village to Atlantic Beach, Fla., in recent months. The 2001 British Open champion had lived in Colorado for more than a dozen years. He was born and raised in northeast Florida. Other Colorado-based tour players who have departed the Centennial State in 2016 and ’17 are Sam Saunders (also now in Atlantic Beach, Fla.) and Mark Wiebe (San Jose, Calif.), who’s now the director of instruction at San Jose Country Club. All three are returning to their roots as Duval and Saunders are native Floridians and Wiebe went to college at San Jose State.

— The drinks were on Peyton Manning — he who helped the Broncos claim their third Super Bowl title less than two years ago — after the former quarterback great made a hole-in-one at No. 12 at Cherry Hills Country Club on Nov. 25. For the record, the weapon of choice was a 5-iron from 196 yards.

— Colorado Springs resident Kaden Ford became just the fourth Coloradan in five years to qualify for the national finals of the Drive Chip & Putt Championship, hosted by Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia on the eve of the Masters. Ford will be among 80 contestants on April 1. READ MORE

— This year marked a major historical milestone in Colorado golf as it was 50 years since Columbine Country Club hosted the 1967 PGA Championship. To this day, it’s the only PGA Tour major that’s been held at a Colorado site other than Cherry Hills Country Club. READ MORE

— 2016 CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year Kyler Dunkle scored his first individual college victory — and did it in his home state — as the University of Utah junior prevailed in the University of Colorado’s Mark Simpson Invitational in Erie in late September. Dunkle closed with a 64 at Colorado National. READ MORE

— Former CU golfer Sebastian Heisele posted two top-five finishes — a third and a fourth — in his rookie year on the European Tour. Then he shot a final-round 65 in Q-school to regain his card for the 2017-18 wraparound season.

— The Mile High Showdown World Long Drive event at Park Hill produced drives of 485 yards for the men and 406 yards for the women. READ MORE

— CU teammates Esther Lee and Brittany Fan shared stroke-play medalist honors in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball before falling in the round of 16 of match play.

— University of Denver golfer Chris Korte won the CGA Match Play, completing a career sweep of major CGA titles. READ MORE

— Three Colorado courses were included among Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” — the grandaddy of all the rankings as the first and the most respected. Making the grade were Castle Pines Golf Club (No. 42), Ballyneal (No. 50), and Cherry Hills Country Club (No 73). READ MORE

— The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy — a popular initiative which promotes the use of caddies by paying the base caddie fees through an educational grant, with participating golfers having the option of adding a tip — added a small pilot program in Grand Junction. READ MORE

— Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird surpassed $15 million in earnings after a decade on the PGA Tour.

— Coloradan Mackenzie Cohen helped Rhodes College in Memphis win the NCAA Division III women’s national title for the second straight year. READ MORE

— Denver’s Jonathan Marsico won his second straight Charlie Coe Invitational team event at Castle Pines. READ MORE

— Former Coloradan Open champion Ben Portie was named the women’s head coach in golf at the University of Northern Colorado. READ MORE

— Jackson Solem of Longmont becomes the first Coloradan since 2009 to win a match at the U.S. Junior Amateur.

— With a fourth-place showing, Colorado recorded its third top-four finish since 2011 at the Junior America’s Cup. READ MORE

— Coloradans competed for the final time as the USGA State Team Championships ended their run. READ MORE

— Littleton’s Jim Knous earned official money ($24,480) on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career by tying for 41st place after Monday qualifying for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. READ MORE

— A CU Evans Scholar alum honored the chapter’s “founding fathers” by endowing scholarships for Dick Campbell, Sonny Brinkerhoff and Homer McClintock. READ MORE
 

It’s the year-ending holiday season, which means different things to different people.

One of the things that comes with this time of year here at coloradogolf.org and coloradowomensgolf.org is a reflection on the past 12 months and compilation of the top stories of the year in Colorado golf. We’ve been doing it annually since 2009, and we’re not about to stop now.

There’s no lack of worthwhile candidates, so in recent years we’ve broken up the list into a two-part series. We go in reverse order, for the sake of preserving some suspense, and add an honorable-mention list that will be included with Part II, which will be published in the coming days.

Today, we’ll cover Nos. 25-13, so without further ado …:

25. Year 2 for Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado: The JGAC, which made quite a splash upon debuting in 2016, continued a significant upward trajectory in 2017. The Alliance — a joint effort of the CGA, Colorado PGA and CWGA — further expanded its reach by creating more tournaments, including several in western Colorado, and adding services. Junior players of all abilities can benefit from JGAC-related programs, including anything from the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy to Colorado PGA Golf in Schools to the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program to Drive Chip & Putt and PGA Junior League competitions.

24. Three Victories by DU Women’s Team: The University of Denver women’s golf team has compiled quite a record from late last season to early this one. In late April, the Pioneers won their 14th straight conference championship, an eye-opening run even if their conference isn’t particularly strong in women’s golf. Then this fall, DU won two tournaments in 11 days — both in Colorado, at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott and the Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate in Highlands Ranch. For the record, that made for three wins in the course of five tournaments spanning two seasons. Denver, ranked among the top 25 women’s teams in the nation to complete the fall (along with the University of Colorado), was given a boost in the offseason when 2017 CWGA Player of the Year Mary Weinstein transferred in from the Regis University.

23. Eaton’s March Toward CWGA Record: This year, Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton reached 24 CWGA championship victories by sweeping the Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play titles. That leaves her just one shy of Carol Flenniken’s career-record total of 25. After her third sweep of the Senior Match and Senior Stroke in the same year, Eaton earned the CWGA Senior Player of the Year honor for the eighth time. She’s also been the overall CWGA Player of the Year four times since 2004.

22. Variety is Spice of Life for Moore: Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Kent Moore, added to a rather remarkable feat that likely will never be matched. With his victory in the Super-Senior Match Play, Moore (pictured above) now has claimed titles in eight different CGA individual championships. Over the last 44 years, he’s won the 1973 Junior Match Play, the 1986 Amateur, the 1989 Match Play, the 1995 Mid-Amateur, the 2006 Senior Match Play, the 2014 Senior Stroke Play, the 2016 Super-Senior Stroke Play and the 2017 Super-Senior Match Play. READ MORE

21. Longmont’s Nygren Inaugural Putting Champ: Longmont’s Cole Nygren, a pro for just a couple of months, earned a nice paycheck ($15,000) and plenty of publicity with his Halloween victory in the All Pro Championship at the inaugural Major Series of Putting in Las Vegas. The most eye-catching part of the win was the fact that it came against a field that featured PGA Tour veterans Brad Faxon, John Cook, Tommy Armour III and Colt Knost. Nygren, who placed fourth in the CGA Amateur in August to conclude his amateur career, beat Knost, the 2007 U.S. Amateur champion, 3 and 2 in the match-play finale. READ MORE

20. Major Changes for Colorado Cup Matches: The Colorado Cup Matches, a Ryder Cup-style competition between CGA/CWGA amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals, have been held annually since 1971. But there were many significant changes implemented in 2017, which will be the last time the matches are conducted until 2019. With no college golfers playing for the amateur team for the first time, the Colorado PGA (left) prevailed 26-14 in the event, which now features open, senior and women players competing for a single Cup. That result came a year after the pros were swept by the ams. READ MORE

19. More National Recognition for Colorado PGA: Mark Pfingston, the PGA head professional at The Golf Club at Bear Dance, this year was named the PGA of America’s national Merchandiser of the Year for public facilities. With Pfingston’s accomplishment, Colorado PGA members continued their roll of the last decade-plus in receiving national recogntion for their work. In the last 11 years (2007 through ’17), CPGA members — or the Section as a whole — have earned nine national awards from the PGA of America. READ MORE

18. Chalk Up Another Honor for Keffer: In the last decade, Geoff Keffer has become one of the most awarded players from the Colorado PGA in the Section’s history. This year, the Lakewood resident received the Section’s Dow Finsterwald Player of the Year Award for the fourth straight season and for the fifth time in six years. To put that into perspective, only one player has been the Colorado PGA’s Finsterwald Player of the Year more times than Keffer, with two others matching his total. And all of the other three members of the five-timers club have all been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Bob Hold owns the record for most CPGA Finsterwald Player of the Year Awards, with seven earned between 1966 and ’74, including six straight starting in ’66. Other five-time Players of the Year, in addition to Keffer, are Vic Kline (1975 to 1981) and Ron Vlosich (1986 to ’91). READ MORE

17. Back to North Dakota for CGA’s Jensen: Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s highly regarded and well-liked managing director of operations, recently accepted a job as associate dean of student engagement at his alma mater, the University of Jamestown in his hometown of Jamestown, North Dakota. Jensen was a key administrator in Colorado golf, particularly playing a pivotal role in the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado getting up and running during its initial years. READ MORE

16. Age No Problem for Schalk: Hailey Schalk (left) of Erie was only 15 years old during the 2017 golf season, but that didn’t keep her from becoming the girls Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Player of the Year. In 2017, Schalk was the first Coloradan to win a title at the prestigious AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. And in May, she was the first freshman since 2002 to win a girls state high school individual championship in Colorado. In addition, she captured the titles at both of the JGAC majors in which she competed. She also placed 14th individually while playing for Colorado at the Girls Junior America’s Cup. She and Davis Bryant were recently named “Future Famers” by the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

15. Seniors Rule at CPGA Professional Championship: The Colorado PGA Professional Championship is the top tournament of the year for the Section. But this year’s event, held at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott, turned into a showcase for the 50-and-over set as 50-year-old John Ogden prevailed in a playoff over 64-year-old Rick Cole, who was ever so close to becoming the oldest winner of this event — by far. As it was, Ogden earned the $8,000 first prize, then promptly donated half of that total to the Colorado PGA REACH Foundation. READ MORE


14. Timely 59 for Sam Saunders: Former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders picked a good time for his career round. Saunders, grandson of the late Arnold Palmer, opened the Web.com Tour Championship with a 12-under-par 59 in Atlantic Beach, Fla., where he moved from Fort Collins last year. It was just the seventh round under 60 in the history of the Web.com circuit. More importantly, it led to a second-place finish in the Web Tour Championship, which secured Saunders’ fully-exempt PGA Tour card for 2017-18 after he had lost that status late in the summer.


13. Bunch, Harvanek Voted into Colorado Golf Hall of Fame: Two Coloradans whose service in golf has made an indelible impact were voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Jim Bunch of Denver and Danny Harvanek of Littleton will make up the 46th class of the Hall of Fame and will be inducted on May 20 at Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia. Bunch has served in high-powered volunteer roles at the USGA and with the Western Golf Association, including as the chairman of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, of the WGA and of the Evans Scholars Foundation that awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means. Harvanek, a longtime PGA Master Professional in Colorado, has long been touted for his highly-effective instruction work with junior golfers, which helped lay the groundwork for the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program. READ MORE