It was the year of the “Bryant Slam”; that a Coloradan finally won the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior; that a Coloradan qualified for the Drive Chip & Putt finals at Augusta National; that two children of Colorado PGA professionals won Colorado Junior PGA titles — and JGAC Player of the Year honors to boot; that a Coloradan placed fourth at Pebble Beach while teaming with a PGA Tour Champions player; and that a boy and a girl won every JGAC major in which they competed — along with state high school titles.

And that’s just for starters.

Those are some of the major highlights of the year in Colorado junior golf and in the second season of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado. The JGAC, founded by the CGA and Colorado PGA with the support of the CWGA, held its season-ending awards banquet on Sunday night at Cherry Hills Country Club after the conclusion of the JGAC Tour Championship.

Let’s expand a bit on the aforementioned 2017 junior highlights for Colorado:

–– Bryant Slam: No player has yet completed the JGAC Slam by winning all four Colorado junior major titles in the same year, but trophies from all four of the 2017 major tournaments will find themselves in the same house in Aurora. That’s because Davis and Emma Bryant (pictured) kept it all in the family in completing the Bryant Slam. Davis Bryant won the three JGAC majors in which he competed, but missed the third leg — the Colorado Junior Match Play — as it was held at the same time as the national Junior PGA Championship, where he finished 14th. But younger sister Emma pulled off the improbable by winning the girls title at the Junior Match Play. Then Davis finished things off for the family by earning the JGAC Tour Championship on Sunday at Cherry Hills.

— AJGA Colorado Win by a Coloradan: No Coloradan won either the boys or girls title in the first two years of the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, but the drought ended in 2017 as Hailey Schalk (left) of Erie rallied to edge fellow Coloradan Charlotte Hillary for the championship. The AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior features one of the toughest — if not the toughest — junior golf fields in the state each year as many out-of-staters compete.

–– Augusta-Bound: In the first four years of the Drive Chip & Putt Championship, only three Coloradans had qualified for the national finals that are nationally televised the Sunday before the Masters at Augusta National. All three — Luke Trujillo, Arielle Keating and Caitlyn Chin — competed in Georgia in 2016. But Kaden Ford of Colorado Springs made it four last month when he won a regional qualifier at Southern Hills in Tulsa for the right to compete in the Boys 14-15 national finals in Augusta on April 1, 2018. Ford advanced through Local, Sub-Regional and Regional Qualifying to earn a finals berth at the site of the Masters.

— Kids of Colorado PGA Pros Rise to Top: Back in June at Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy, it seemed altogether appropriate that Davis Bryant of Aurora and Hailey Schalk of Erie would win the Colorado Junior PGA Championship. After all, both are the children of Colorado PGA professionals — Matt Bryant, the general manager at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, and Matt Schalk, the GM at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, respectively.

— Nothing But Wins in Majors: Following up on the item above, Bryant and Schalk won the boys and girls JGAC Player of the Year honors, respectively, after seasons in which they prevailed at every major in which they competed. We detailed earlier how Bryant went 3-for-3 in claiming titles at the Colorado Junior PGA, Colorado Junior Amateur and JGAC Tour Championhip. And Schalk came out on top in the two majors in which she played, the Colorado Junior PGA and the JGAC Tour Championship, after having won the 2016 Colorado Junior Match Play. They’re the only two players to have won three junior majors since the JGAC debuted for the 2016 season. And, for good measure, both Bryant and Schalk claimed state high school titles in 2017, with Schalk being the first freshman since 2002 to win a Colorado girls state high school championship.

–– Weekend to Remember at Pebble: Last month, Denver resident Mateo Manzanares not only had the pleasure of playing one of the best courses in the world — Pebble Beach Golf Links — but to do it while competing in the pro-junior portion of a PGA Tour Champions event, the PURE Insurance Championship. The First Tee of Denver representative not only played, but a couple of his shots were aired by the Golf Channel and — best of all — he and Champions player Scott McCarron were in the running for the pro-junior title, finishing fourth out of more than 80 teams.

The list of 2017 Colorado junior golf highlights could go on and on, but let’s cut to the chase: Here are some of the award winners that were named at Sunday night’s JGAC awards banquet at Cherry Hills:

PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
— Hailey Schalk of Erie: Notched JGAC major victories at the Colorado Junior PGA and JGAC Tour Championship, along with wins at the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, 3A state high school championship, and a JGAC Tour event. The 15-year-old also finished 14th individually while competing for Colorado at the Girls Junior America’s Cup.
— Davis Bryant of Aurora: Won three JGAC majors — the Colorado Junior PGA, Colorado Junior Amateur and JGAC Tour Championship. The 17-year-old also captured titles at two other JGAC Tour events and the 5A state high school meet. The Colorado State University-bound golfer finished ninth individually while playing for Colorado at the Junior America’s Cup and 14th at the national Boys Junior PGA Championship. He also advanced to the match play round of 64 at his second U.S. Junior Amateur.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYERS
— Blake Schneiter of Grand Junction: Scoring average went from 87.5 in 2016 JGAC events to 80.2 this year.
— Timbre Shehee of Mead: Scoring average dropped from 96.3 in 2016 JGAC tournaments to 85.4 this year.

14-18 POINTS CHASE CHAMPIONS
Boys: Mario Dino of Denver
Girls: Katelyn Lehigh of Loveland

11-13 POINTS CHASE CHAMPIONS
Boys: Maxwell Lange of Golden
Girls: Kaylee Chen of Highlands Ranch

10 & UNDER POINTS CHASE CHAMPIONS
Boys: Andre Dumonteil of Centennial
Girls: Ashleigh Wilson of Highlands Ranch

TOUR ALL-STAR TEAM (left)
Barrett Jones of Eagle
Julia Baroth of Denver
Cal McCoy of Highlands Ranch
Charlotte Hillary of Englewood
Jackson Solem of Longmont
Caroline Jordaan of Denver
Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch
Lauren Lehigh of Loveland
Davis Bryant of Aurora
Hailey Schalk of Erie

14-18 SERIES ALL-STAR TEAM (second left)
Tyler Tyson of Arvada
Brooke Kramer of Aurora
Beam Boonta of Centennial
Maxine Choi of Colorado Springs
Zachary Snow of Denver
Merielle Gojo of Cherry Hills Village
Wes Weber of Johnstown
Alyssa Chin of Greenwood Village
Mario Dino of Denver
Katelyn Lehigh of Loveland

11-13 ALL-STAR TEAM (third left)
Blake Sullivan of Castle Pines
Gisella Lagrimas of Castle Rock
Jake Chesler of Firestone
Hadley Ashton of Erie
Hunter Swanson of Denver
Abigail Aeschleman of Highlands Ranch
Traejan Andrews of Windsor
Sofia Choi of Littleton
Maxwell Lange of Golden
Kaylee Chen of Highlands Ranch

10 & UNDER ALL-STAR TEAM (fourth left)
Tyler Long of Evergreen
Addison Hines of Arvada
Kaden Devenport of Windsor
Taylor Wilson of Highlands Ranch
Landon Houska of Fort Collins
Maddie Makino of Parker
Frank Lockwood of Meridian in Englewood
Caitlyn Chin of Greenwood Village
Andre Dumonteil of Centennial
Ashleigh Wilson of Highlands Ranch

ACADEMIC ALL-STARS
Ewan Albright
Traejan Andrews
Ty Andrews
Nick Aranez
Will Balliet
Brynn Balliet
Jamie Banghart
Julia Baroth
Katie Berrian
Caleb Blackburn
Andrew Blair
Dominick Bonfiglio
Bead Boonta
Beam Boonta
Will Branan
Davis Bryant
Emma Bryant
Logan Byler
Skylar Cain
Qwenton Caldwell
Will Chadwick
Alyssa Chin
Ben Chin
Caitlyn Chin
Ella Chism
Sophia Choi
Noah Clough
Scott Cooke
Melissa Cooke
Logan Cox
Jake Daniel
Mario Dino
Jake Dost
Ryan Falender
Nolan Farrar
Ty Findlow
Hunter Flowers
Oscar Ford
Kaden Ford
Nicholas Formby
Jaxon Franklin
Walker Franklin
Jude Gasser
Avery Gibson
Devin Gilbreath
TJ Giordano
Freddie Gluck
Merielle Gojo
Jonas Graham
Srivalli Guha
Benjamin Harding
Jack Hastings
Booth Hayes
Max Heupel
Ryder Heuston
TJ Hicks
Charlotte Hillary
Dawson Holmes
Clara Hosman
Clint Hosman
Landon Houska
Brooke Hudson
Mia Huerta
Keaton Hulen
Chris Jonell
Barrett Jones
Trey Jones
Caroline Jordaan
Marie Jordaan
Haena Kim
Cameron Kirke
Jackson Klutznick
Mac Konrad
Ashley Kozlowski
Coleson Krantz
Luke Kusserow
Drew Laake
Amalei Lagrimas
Gisella Lagrimas
John Lamb
Max Lange
Matt LeFebre
Katelyn Lehigh
Lauren Lehigh
Maddie Li
Anthony Ligrani
Frank Lockwood
Davis Long
Chase Luoma
Steel Luoma
Campbell McFadden
Sophie Miller
Tyler Mulligan
Roger  Nakagawa
Elise Nelson
Brittlyn O’Dell
Liam O’Halloran
Anju Ogi
Kota Ogi
Yusuke Ogi
Grant Oltrogge
Allison Palmer
Jacob Pendergast
Eva Pett
Livia Pett
Jack Pevny
Nicholas Pevny
Carlo Pine
Shelby Poynter
Andrew Rankin
Kailer Rundiks
Morgan Ryan
Ryan Sangchompuphen
Hailey Schalk
Helina Seyoum
TJ Shehee
Timbre Shehee
Jack Siler
Bhitchayoot Sima-Aree
Trinity Stuart
Blake Sullivan
Hunter Swanson
Ethan Tartaglia
Sam Taylor
Jack Tickle
Luke Travins
Luke Trujillo
Lauren Tucker
Taylor Tucker
Lauren Veldhuizen
Thomas Volpe
Sean Wallace
Reed Wearner
Wesley Weber
Kelsey  Webster
Avery Weil
Jake Welch
Brock Whitt
Ashleigh Wilson
Taylor Wilson
Garrett Wood
Max Zadvorny
Jessica Zapf
Ben Zimmerman
 

A total of 42 boys and 21 girls — based off the JGAC Tour points list — accepted invitations to compete at prestigious Cherry Hills Country Club on Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 7-8), which will host the event for the second straight year. The 36-hole tournaments will be followed on Sunday night by the 2017 JGAC Awards Banquet.

Among those in the boys field are Davis Bryant, winner of the first two majors of the year and this week’s 5A state high school championship. Bryant and Hailey Schalk will be trying to become the first golfers to win three majors since the JGAC debuted at the beginning of 2016. Bryant didn’t play in the third major of 2017, the Colorado Junior Match Play, because of a scheduling conflict with another event.

Other boys state high school champions scheduled to play at Cherry Hills are Darren Edwards (4A) and Davis Long (3A), along with Luke Trujillo (2016 4A).

For the girls, Schalk will be looking to build on her big year as she’s won the girls 3A state high school title as a freshman, the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior and the Colorado Junior PGA Championship. She also captured the Colorado Junior Match Play title in 2016.

Lauren Lehigh, the 4A state high school champ, is also playing. And Emma Bryant, the Colorado Junior Match Play winner, is likewise in the field.

For Saturday’s first-round tee times for the JGAC Tour Championship, CLICK HERE.

Junior Ryder Cup at CommonGround: Meanwhile, another significant JGAC event will take place this weekend as CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora hosts the Junior Ryder Cup Friday through Sunday.

The top players age 6-13 compete, with designated Team USA and Team Europe squads squaring off. After a barbecue and shootout on Friday evening, Saturday will feature four-ball and foursomes matches (each nine holes), followed by 18-hole singles on Sunday.

Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch capped off the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships with another top-10 showing by a Coloradan in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

And Davis Bryant (pictured) of Aurora, a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier in 2015, finished second Thursday in the AJGA Bass Pro Shops/Payne Stewart Junior Championship in Hollister, Mo. Bryant went 68-70-73 for a 2-under-par 211 total, which left him two strokes behind champion Cullan Brown of Eddyville, Ky.

Weinstein, winner of two Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado majors and the 5A state high school title this year, placed fifth on Thursday in the girls 15-18 division of the highly-regarded Optimist tournament.

Weinstein shot rounds of 77-72-75-69 for a 5-over-par 293 total. The Regis University-bound golfer finished four strokes behind winner Amy Matsuoka of Newport Beach, Calif.

Other Coloradans who posted top-10 showings at the Optimist International over the last couple of weeks were Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins (eighth in boys 14-15 division) and Jordan Jennings of Montrose (third in boys 12-13 division).

Here are the scores of Coloradans this week at the Optimist International Junior and the Big I National Championship:

Optimist International Junior Championships in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Girls 15-18
5. Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch 77-72-75-69–293
24. Jaclyn Murray of Grand Junction 76-76-77-74–303
MC. Julia Baroth of Denver 82-74-80-MC
MC. Alexis Chan of Highlands Ranch 80-82-84-MC
MC. Tabitha Diehl of Highlands Ranch 84-81-84-MC
MC. Carly Gallant of Louisville 90-79-86-MC

Boys 16-18
27. Timothy Amundson of Littleton 74-84-73-73–304
MC. Coby Welch of Highlands Ranch 78-79-76-MC
MC. Marcus Tait of Littleton 81-85-79-MC
MC. Cameron Nagel of Fort Collins 97-87-88-MC
MC. Daniel Pearson of Longmont 78-79-MC

Big I National Championship in Sacramento, Calif.
Girls
16. Erin Sargent of Longmont 72-75-75-76–298
MC. Jennifer Hankins of Thornton 80-75-MC

Boys
31. Jackson Solem of Longmont 74-73-73-70–290
MC. Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch 74-78-MC
 

The new junior golf collaboration that was announced earlier this fall continues to bear fruit with this week’s release of the 2016 Colorado junior golf schedule, including the four junior major championships.

The CGA, Colorado PGA and the CWGA joined forces to set up a schedule intended to appeal to kids of all abilities and ages.

Multi-day Junior Tour events are designed for players who aspire to be college golfers and who hold handicap indexes of 8.1 or lower for boys and 14.1 or lower for girls. The developmental Junior Series events are for “up and coming” players who hope to take the next step with their golf games.

The 2016 Junior Tour lineup will be highlighted by the four majors, tournaments that in several cases have longstanding roots with the CGA, Colorado PGA or CWGA. All of the majors will have competitions for both boys and girls. In the cases of the Colorado Junior Amateur Championship and the Colorado Junior Match Play Championship, 2016 will mark the first time boys and girls have competed at the same venues simultaneously.

Here’s the major schedule for next year:

— Colorado Junior Amateur Championship: June 13-15, Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy.

— Colorado PGA Junior Championship: July 13-15, Indian Tree Golf Club in Arvada.

— Colorado Junior Match Play Championship: Aug. 1-3, The Ridge at Castle Pines North.

— Junior Tour Championship: Oct. 8-9, Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village.

The Colorado Junior Amateur Championship is an outgrowth of the CGA and CWGA Junior Stroke Play Championships, which date back to 1977 and 1979, respectively. Exemptions will be based on a player’s previous year’s finish in the event or position on the 2015 official points list. A qualifying tournament will be held June 9 at Eisenhower GC.

The Colorado PGA Junior Championship, which also serves as a qualifier for the national PGA Junior Championship, will continue to be held at its traditional venue of Indian Tree. The 2016 national championship is set for Aug. 2-5 in Rumford, R.I. As with the Colorado Junior Amateur, exemptions will be based on a player’s previous year’s finish in the event or position on the 2015 official points list. A qualifying tournament will be held July 10 at Indian Tree.

The Colorado Junior Match Play Championship is the new incarnation of the CGA and CWGA Junior Match Play Championships, which were first contested in 1951 and 1953, respectively. The Junior Tour’s top 32 boys and girls, based on the official points list following the previous week’s Junior Tour event, will make up the field.

The inaugural Junior Tour Championship will take place at Cherry Hills, which has hosted three U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships over the years. The top 40 boys and 20 girls from the season-ending official points list will qualify for the tournament.

Qualifying tournaments are open to players of all ages, including those who compete on the Junior Series.

Among the other notable events on the 2016 Colorado Junior Tour:

— May 30-31: IMG 15-17 Junior World Qualifier, Thorncreek GC

— June 6-9: AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, Highlands Ranch GC

— June 9: IMG 11-12 & 13-14 Junior World Qualifier, Flatirons GC

— June 16: Optimist International Qualifier, Flatirons GC

— June 23-24: Trusted Choice Big I Qualifier, Highlands Hills GC

— June 27: U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier, Heritage at Westmoor

— Date TBD: U.S. Girls’ Junior Qualifier, site TBD

— June 29-July 1: PGA Junior Series, Eisenhower GC.

The boys and girls state high school championships also will be key events on the Junior Tour.

For the full junior schedule, CLICK HERE.

Membership registration for the 2016 season will begin on Jan. 15, with tournament registration opening in mid-February.

To receive further updates, follow @CPGAJuniorGolf and @ColoJrGolf on Twitter and the CGA and Colorado PGA Facebook pages.

For an earlier story about the junior golf collaboration between the CGA and the Colorado PGA, CLICK HERE. 
 

Three months ago, the golfer from Centennial spent the summer solstice in memorable fashion to commemorate her 60th birthday.

Clippinger not only played at one of the top golf resorts in the country — in Bandon, Ore. — but she spent about 14 hours and 45 minutes on the resort’s courses that day, walking all the way. All told, she played four full rounds, one at each of the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort courses, all of which are ranked among the top 26 in Golfweek’s 2012 list of best modern courses in the nation: Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald and Bandon Dunes.

Besides having a day she’ll remember for the rest of her life, Clippinger did some good for the game back in her home state. Through money pledged for the event, she raised more than $3,000 for charity, with $1,550 going to Colorado junior golf through the CWGA and CGA.

“I was doing it for my 60th birthday and I said, ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it for charity,'” said Clippinger (pictured last month). “‘I might as well make money for somebody.'”

Besides Colorado junior golf, Clippinger is making a contribution to a foundation started when her mother — a schoolteacher in California — passed away. The foundation provides for a scholarship given each year to an athletic student.

Clippinger, a good enough player that she’s competed in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, was one of three women and 66 golfers overall who participated in the 2012 Bandon Dunes Summer Solstice Challenge on June 20.

With her twin sister from North Carolina caddying for her and a friend playing alongside, Clippinger started her marathon day of golf at 5:25 a.m. at Pacific Dunes and ended it at 8:10 p.m. after the final round at Bandon Dunes. All told, it’s estimated that participants walked more than 20 miles. “I could have gone on, but it was getting a little dark,” Clippinger noted.

The first three rounds flew by in anywhere from 2:50 to 3:15, but the final one at Bandon Dunes bogged down and lasted 5:10. In addition to the golf per se, there was about 15 minutes between rounds for transportation between courses. Clippinger noted that she made three birdies in 72 holes and lost five balls in the four rounds.

There were about four “Challenge” groups on each of the four courses at any given time. Among the participants was TV golf analyst Brandel Chamblee, who along with Golf Magazine executive editor Eamon Lynch tweeted during the marathon day.

In addition to traversing the four full courses at Bandon, Clippinger rounded out her experience at the resort by playing the 13-hole par-3 course, Bandon Preserve, in her practice round.

“We had a great time,” she said. “They treated us like princesses.”

Clippinger got the idea for participating in the annual Summer Solstice Challenge last year while visiting her dad, who lives in Bandon.

“They had a newspaper article about it and my dad said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to look into this,'” she said. “I went to the pro shop and said I’d really like to be considered for this. They e-mailed me in February and said, ‘Get a foursome.’ But I couldn’t get a foursome. There aren’t too many crazy people who want to walk for 15 hours.”
 

Last week, the longtime director of youth programs for the CGA oversaw his final junior tournament, the 10 & Under Junior Series Championship at Boulder Country Club. Afterward, players, parents, tournament officials and bystanders all joined in giving Jensen a round of applause as his many years of helping out junior golfers drew to a close.

After 10 years of working for the CGA — seven as the director of youth programs — Jensen departed a week ago to become the associate director of alumni relations and the booster club at his alma mater, Jamestown College in Jamestown, North Dakota.

Jensen (pictured) said he made the move primarily to get closer to his family in North Dakota, but stepping away tugs at his heart after being a very popular mentor to many hundreds of young golfers in Colorado.

“That’s going to be so difficult,” he said shortly before leaving. “The kids graduating high school now, I met them 10 years ago when they were 7 or 8 years old. Now they’re walking out of here going all over to college. It’s crazy to have met these guys when they were 3 feet tall and 45 pounds and hardly able to swing a golf club, and now they’re some of the top players in the country as juniors.

“And even the players that aren’t the best, they all love the game, and they’re fun to work with.”

Whether you’re Ed Mate, the CGA’s executive director who hired Jensen in 2002 after he served as a CGA summer intern in 2001, or one of the youngsters who plays in CJGA events, Jensen has made a deep and lasting impression.

“Dustin has been here so many years, and he’s done probably the best job out of anybody,” said AJ Ott of Fort Collins, winner of the boys division of the CJGA 11-13 Junior Series Championship. “He’s just been great. He’s so supportive and he’s run the tournaments just top-notch.”

That, and much more. Under Jensen’s guidance not only have the number of junior tournaments increased several fold, but junior outreach programs and fundraising efforts have expanded considerably, especially with CommonGround Golf Course and its Kids Course opening up so many opportunities since debuting in 2009. Jensen also played a key role in creating the Junior Golf Experience interactive exhibit at the Denver Golf Expo, as well as the one-stop coloradojuniorgolf.org web site, and he came up with the idea of giving out Academic All-Star Awards to complement recognition of on-course accomplishments for junior golfers.

Jensen also spearheaded the CGA hosting the 2011 boys Junior America’s Cup after the tournament was moved from Mexico to Colorado because of safety concerns south of the border. The CGA team subsequently posted its best finish ever in the JAC, third place.

“The organization is so fortunate that we had somebody with Dustin’s passion for kids working for us for the last decade,” Mate said. “It’s a great example of putting the right guy in the right place for the right job. And we’re going to really miss him a lot. But the fortunate thing for us is he raised the bar. We’re so much further down the road because of what’s he done.”

In fact, Jensen raised that bar so much that his duties will be handled by two CGA staffers. Erin Bessey, the Eisenhower-Evans Scholarship Recruiter the last several years, will be the CGA director of youth programs, managing the association’s outreach programs and some fundraising efforts, handling the CGA’s community partnerships with schools and non-profit organizations, as well as still being very involved with Evans Scholars-related work. She’ll also oversee the junior competitive program.

Meanwhile, Eric Wilkinson, who has been manager of member services for the CGA, is becoming director of junior competitions.

“The (director of youth programs) job has evolved over the last decade,” Mate said. “Youth programs is really too big a job for one person. So we have done what we needed to do for some time and separated junior development — which is outreach programming and giving kids a chance who wouldn’t otherwise have one — and junior competitions.

“The good news is, Dustin did such a great job with both, and now we’re going to be able to focus two individual people separately on that. It will allow us to be very focused on those two distinct programs, because they are different.”

Jensen believes the youth programs will be in good hands with Bessey and Wilkinson.

“I’m real excited for Erin Bessey,” he said. “I don’t think I could have taken the (Jamestown College job) if she wouldn’t have been working here. Knowing her and how good she is at what she does, it feels like handing it over to a young running back almost. I’m handing it off to someone who you know is going to do a better job than you do.

“And now with Eric coming from the other side to run a lot of the tournaments, the two of them have been around for a long time, they know everything, they know the kids, so I just see it getting better and better.”

Jensen said he expected to work at the CGA “forever. I didn’t plan to leave. I love what I do, but that one right opportunity came along and (my wife and I) just had to do it.”

After Jensen expressed interest in the Jamestown College position, “The next thing you know the president (of the college) was calling, saying we want to get you up here,” Jensen said. “It gave us an opportunity to go back to family. So I don’t want to leave, but it’s the perfect time. My brother is expecting a child at the end of the month and we have four nieces and nephews up there. We’ve got some family friends who are extremely successful and they said the one thing they regret is that they didn’t give up their careers to move closer to family. And that really resonated with us.

“This also gives me a chance to go back and kind of give back to the school that really helped me. So it’s exciting and yet it’s a double-edged sword. I’m giving up something great to do something that I’m excited about.”

Jensen grew up in North Dakota, then attended Jamestown College, competing in both track & field and golf at the NAIA school. After doing a summer internship at the CGA in 2001, then completing college, Jensen was hired full-time by Mate in 2002.

“Who gets lucky enough to get an internship, and get hired to run golf tournaments in Colorado?” Jensen said. “It was a dream come true. Ten years later I owe a lot to Ed and the CGA staff. … The CGA is such a great family. I’m not leaving co-workers. I’m leaving family.”

Jensen said he’ll return to Colorado for the CGA/CWGA annual awards brunch, which will be held Nov. 20 at Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver. A reception for Jensen is planned for immediately after the brunch.