There was Craig and Kevin Stadler in 2002, Hale and Steve Irwin in 2003, and David Duval and stepson Nick Karavites in 2016.

That translates into locals having won the championship 15 percent of the time.

And though the Stadlers and Irwins won’t be in the field for the 21st edtion of the Father/Son — the Irwins competed in the first 19, but were left out last year — and neither will Karavites, Duval and son Brady will tee it up when the 2018 Father/Son is contested Dec. 15-16 in Orlando, Fla. The event is being televised by the Golf Channel and NBC.

No one has played better at the Father/Son over the past two years than did Duval and Karavites. After winning in 2016, they finished second last year, behind only champions Angel Cabrera and son Angel Jr.

To qualify for the Father/Son Challenge, a player must have won either a major championship or The Players Championship in his career. The professional’s partner must not currently hold a PGA Tour card.

David Duval (pictured) was once the top-ranked player in the world and counts the 2001 British Open among 13 PGA Tour events he won — all during his 20s. Duval, now an analyst on the Golf Channel, has lived in Colorado almost continuously since late 2003, with the exception being a brief move he made back to his longtime home state of Florida, before returning to the Centennial State within the last year. Duval’s partner this year, Brady, was born in 2005. He caddied at the Father/Son as part of Team Duval in past years.

The 20-team field for the PNC Father/Son includes 11 World Golf Hall of Famers, including Jack Nicklaus, who will team up with grandson GT Nicklaus, along with Lee Trevino, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Vijay Singh.

This year’s purse for the event will be $1.085 million.
 

On Tuesday, when Furyk chose Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau as three of his captain’s picks for the Sept. 28-30 matches in suburban Paris, he also named Duval (left) as one of his vice captains.

Duval, once the top-ranked player in the world, now is primarily known for his work as a golf analyst on the Golf Channel.

“He brings a lot to the table,” Furyk said of Duval, with whom he teamed in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April. “One, he comes from a different perspective. Two, he doesn’t sugarcoat things. David’s a good friend but he’s blunt and he’s honest, and I want him to be that way. I don’t want him to be the yes man.

“He has a significantly good relationship with a number of guys on the team, Tiger being one of them, that I felt like he was going to be really good as a vice captain. And it’s gone over really well.”

Other vice captains named on Tuesday were Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar. Woods was once a vice captain, but played his way onto the team, opening an assistant’s spot for Furyk.

When Duval was offered the role last month, “I was shocked,” he said. “I really didn’t expect that. It’s something I would have wanted to do and glad to be doing, but I just felt like it was something that was too far down the road. It was hard to see how (Woods) wasn’t going to be playing, and (Furyk) wanted to bring somebody in that knows Tiger well and everybody’s comfortable with and can alleviate him of some of those extra duties he would have to have been shouldering.”

Duval, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, has lived in Colorado almost continuously since late 2003, with the exception being a brief move he made back to his longtime home state of Florida, before returning to the Centennial State within the last year.

On Monday, Whitney earned one of four available spots out of a field of 67 into the AT&T Byron Nelson, which begins Thursday in Dallas. In a Monday qualifier in Prosper, Texas, Whitney shot a 5-under-par 67 and birdied the second playoff hole to land the fourth and final qualifying spot.

Whitney finished with seven birdies and a double bogey in regulation.

The 28-year-old former Air Force officer, who recently moved from Colorado to Little Elm, Texas, will be making the third PGA Tour start of his career. He missed the cut in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in November and made his first PGA Tour check in January by finishing 67th in the CareerBuilder Challenge, where the 2006 graduate of La Quinta High School was given a sponsor exemption.

Whitney (pictured) spent 2017 on the Web.com Tour, competing in 15 events, with a best showing of fifth place in the Lincoln Land Charity Championship in June. He finished 89th on the Web.com season-long money list.

Also among those in the field for the Byron Nelson is Colorado resident David Duval, the former world No. 1 who will be making just his third PGA Tour start of the season. He missed the cut in both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

(May 18 Update: Both Whitney and Duval missed the 36-hole cut. Whitney posted rounds of 72-74 for a 4-over-par 146 total, while Duval went 80-73–153. A 138 total was necessary to advance to the weekend.)

When it comes to sheer candidness, there are few players who have won on the PGA Tour who are more forthright than Jonathan Kaye.

The former University of Colorado golfer seldom hesitates to voice his true opinions — good, bad or otherwise.

Last year, in the week in which he won his second CoBank Colorado Open title, Kaye was talking about the subject of money and purses on the PGA Tour. And he said something that was both illuminating and candid.

“I passed Jack Nicklaus (in career PGA Tour earnings) my third year on the Tour,” Kaye said. “There’s no way I should ever pass Jack Nicklaus.”

With the Masters on tap this week, we decided to take a look at where the most prominent players in the history of Colorado golf stack up in a statistic seldom mentioned anymore: career money leaders on the major professional tours.

It’s not surprising that the PGA Tour competitors in the Tiger Woods era have received a disproportionate boost in money earnings compared to their earlier counterparts. What was eye-opening was just how much an effect that had.

For instance, regarding Nicklaus and Kaye, the Golden Bear may be the greatest player of all time, with 18 majors among his 73 PGA Tour victories. Kaye, meanwhile, has won twice in his PGA Tour career.

Yet look at the PGA Tour career money list and Nicklaus is No. 271 ($5.734 million) and Kaye is No. 164 ($10.585 million, just ahead of Bernhard Langer). Many people debate whether Nicklaus or Woods is the greatest golfer ever, but on the PGA Tour’s career money list the Bear is a pauper compared to Tiger, who has won more than 19 times as much money ($111.183 million).

Hale Irwin (pictured above), a Boulder High School and University of Colorado graduate, is unquestionably the most successful golfer the Centennial State has produced from an early age, with three U.S. Open victories among his 20 PGA Tour wins. But you’d never know it by looking at all-time PGA Tour money won. The World Golf Hall of Famer checks in at No. 263 ($5.966 million).

Another former CU golfer who won the U.S. Open is just a little ahead of Irwin. Steve Jones, whose eight-win career included the 1996 U.S. Open title, is No. 249 ($6.519 million).

As for other prominent players who grew up in Colorado and have had extensive PGA Tour careers, Brandt Jobe is 195th in career money at $9 million and one-time winner Kevin Stadler is 180th at $9.698 million. Both played their high school golf at Kent Denver.

Others with strong Colorado connections in the top 200 are Evergreen resident Craig Stadler (Kevin’s dad), winner of 13 PGA Tour events including a Masters (174th at $10.022 million); former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird, a three-time PGA Tour champion (91st at $16.155 million); and Colorado resident David Duval, winner of 13 PGA Tour events including a British Open (78th at $18.984 million).

And, the top PGA Tour career money winner with major Colorado ties is Aspen resident Justin Leonard, who owns a dozen Tour wins including a British Open (22nd at $33.885 million).

Other PGA Tour winners with strong Colorado ties made less than $1 million in their PGA Tour careers, including Paul Runyan (28 wins), Ed Dudley (15 wins), Dow Finsterwald (11 wins), Dale Douglass (3 wins), Bob Byman (1 win) and Fred Wampler (1 win).

Dave Hill made $1.13 million in a career that included 13 victories, and Mark Wiebe earned $4.314 million in a career that featured two wins.

On the LPGA Tour, part-time Colorado resident and World Golf Hall of Famer Hollis Stacy (left, with Annika Sorenstam) earned $2.58 million in winning 18 times on the LPGA circuit, including four majors. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill earned $2.342 million, though she didn’t win a tournament on that circuit. World Golf Hall of Famer Babe Zaharias, a Denver-area resident in the 1940s, won 41 times on the LPGA Tour but earned just $66,237. Sharon Miller, like Zaharias and McGill a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, won $164,274 on the LPGA circuit, on which she posted two victories. Lauren Howe racked up $236,084 in career LPGA money after winning once. Sorenstam, who won the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, leads the LPGA career money list, with $22.573 million.

As for PGA Tour Champions, Irwin was a check-cashing machine for many years. The former Buff, winner of a career-record 45 PGA Tour Champions events, has won a remarkable $27.089 million on the 50-and-over circuit, putting him No. 1 all-time.

Also ranking among the top 100 in what was once know as the Senior Tour are Craig Stadler (35th at $8.979 million with nine wins); Douglass (56th at $7.019 million with 11 wins), Wiebe (73rd at $5.69 million with five wins) and R.W. Eaks (91st at $4.693 million with four wins). 

Two players with major Colorado ties — Shane Bertsch of Parker and David Duval, who just moved back to the Centennial State after a brief stay in Florida — are scheduled to make their first PGA Tour starts of the season this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Bertsch (pictured) last played on the PGA Tour in August and faces a formidable task if he wants to play many more events on the world’s top circuit. He has just two events remaining on a medical extension — the result of a shoulder injury — to earn $597,069 in order to keep PGA Tour status moving forward.

The 47-year-old, winner of the 1998 Colorado Open, has played 192 PGA Tour events in his career, with five top-10 finishes. He’s won three times on the Web.com Tour, most recently in 2015.

Duval, 46, plays very little on the PGA Tour anymore, but is a regular at the Pebble Beach stop. In fact, his last top-five finish on the Tour came in the 2010 AT&T, where he was runner-up. This week’s tournament starts on Thursday.

Duval, a Golf Channel TV analyst, hasn’t made a cut on the PGA Tour since the 2015 British Open.

Also in the AT&T field this week is Sam Saunders, who moved from Fort Collins to Florida two years ago.

Meanwhile, two-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Kaye will be making his second straight Web.com Tour start at the Club Colombia Championship in Bogata, starting Thursday.

Kaye, who won his second CoBank Colorado Open last year, withdrew in the midst of the second round at last week’s Panama Championship. Before that, he hadn’t competed in the Web.com Tour since April.

Also in the Colombia field are locals Wyndham Clark, Mark Hubbard, Jim Knous and Andrew Svoboda.

And at the PGA Tour Champions’ Boca Raton Championship, World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin will make just his third tour start in the last seven months. The former University of Colorado golfer will be joined in the Florida field — starting on Friday — by fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe and former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo.
 

And though Duval and Karavites very nearly pulled off the feat — they were tied for the lead with four holes left in Sunday’s final round in Orlando — they were turned away by Angel Cabrera and his son Angel Jr., who were late additions and first-timers to the field after Curtis and Tom Strange withdrew.

Duval and Karavites, who trailed by two going into the final round, eagled two of their first five holes on Sunday, with Duval chipping in at No. 3. But after they tied the Cabreras with a birdie on No. 14, they parred their last four, allowing the Argentines (pictured) to pull away.

Duval and Karavites shot their second straight 11-under-par 61 to finish at 22-under 122, leaving them tied for second in the 20-team field and three back of the Cabreras, who matched the tournament record at 25-under 119. The Duvals played their final 27 holes of the scramble tournament in 18 under par.

The other team with Colorado ties, Aspen resident Justin Leonard and dad Larry, finished 19th on Sunday at 10-under 134 after consecutive rounds of 67.

Last year’s victory by Duval was his first in a nationally televised tournament since 2001, the year the former world No. 1 won the British Open. Other players with strong Colorado connections who have won the PNC Father/Son Challenge are Craig and Kevin Stadler (2002) and Hale and Steve Irwin (2003).

To qualify for the Father/Son Challenge, players must have won either a major championship or The Players Championship in their careers. The professional’s partner must not currently hold a Tour card.
 

Coloradans David Duval and stepson Nick Karavites (pictured) captured the title last year in Orlando, and are in the hunt after Saturday’s first round of this December’s 36-hole event.

Duval and Karavites used a 29 on the back nine to fire an 11-under-par 61 and share third place in the scramble format, trailing leaders Angel Cabrera and Angel Cabrera Jr., by two strokes. Duval eagled the 14th hole on Saturday.

Mark and Shaun O’Meara are in second place at 60.

“I’d imagine we have to break 60 tomorrow to have a chance to win, but hey, stranger things have happened. I’ve even done it myself,” Duval said, noting the 59 he shot to win the Bob Hope Classic in 1999.

The other pair with strong Colorado ties competing this weekend, Aspen resident Justin Leonard and dad Larry, opened with a 67.

The players with strong Colorado connections to have won the Father/Son Challenge are Craig and Kevin Stadler (2002), Hale and Steve Irwin (2003) and Duval and Karavites (2016).

To qualify for the Father/Son Challenge, players must have won either a major championship or The Players Championship in their careers. The professional’s partner must not currently hold a Tour card.

For all the scores from the Father/Son, CLICK HERE.
 

But there was at least one surprising omission from the 20-team field: World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin and son Steve. Hale, who grew up in Colorado, and Steve, a longtime resident of the state, were the only team to stay intact for the first 19 Father/Son Challenges — starting in 1995 with a three-year hiatus by the tournament beginning in 2009. But this will be the first year they’re not part of the field.

Asked the reason, Steve Irwin said via email, “Your guess is as good as mine.”

The Irwins won the tournament in 2003 and have finished second three times. They’ve placed 11th the last two years. Hale Irwin has won three U.S. Opens and a record 45 tournaments on PGA Tour Champions. Steve is a former CGA Player of the Year who has competed in a U.S. Open and three U.S. Amateurs.

The Father/Son Challenge, which features a scramble format over 36 holes, will take place Dec. 16-17 in Orlando, Fla.

Two British Open champions based in Colorado — Duval of Cherry Hills Village and Justin Leonard of Aspen — will be in this year’s field.

Duval and Karavites won last year’s title by one stroke, becoming the third team with at least one Colorado resident to capture the championship, following Craig and Kevin Stadler (2002) and the Irwins (2003).

Leonard will become the first PGA Tour player to compete in the event with his dad (Larry). Justin Leonard was part of the broadcast team for last year’s Father/Son Challenge.

“I’ve got to reacquaint myself with my golf clubs between now and then,” Leonard said on Golf Channel, where he’s an analyst. “I’m not sure how I’m going to do that in Colorado, but we’re looking forward to a fun weekend.”

Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino are among 11 World Golf Hall of Famers scheduled to compete in this year’s PNC Father/Son Challenge. For the complete field, CLICK HERE.

To qualify for the Father/Son Challenge, players must have won either a major championship or The Players Championship in their careers. The professional’s partner must not currently hold a Tour card.

The former University of Colorado golfer, who won the Colorado Open in 1996, has competed in three Web.com Tour events this year, with a best finish of 33rd in the United Leasing & Finance Championship in April.

Last year at the Colorado Open, Kaye (pictured) finished at 20-under-par 268, three strokes behind champion Neil Johnson of River Falls, Wis.

Also in the field this week at Green Valley Ranch are Steven Fox of Hendersonville, Tenn., who won the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club south of Denver.

Michael Weaver of Fresno, Calif., who lost to Fox in the title match of the U.S. Am at Cherry Hills, also is competing in the Colorado Open. The two will be paired together for the first two rounds — along with Cherry Hills PGA head professional John Ogden — and will tee off at 1:05 p.m. on No. 1 on Thursday and at 8 a.m. on No. 10 on Friday.

This will mark the second year that the Colorado Open has featured a $250,000 purse, with $100,000 going to the winner — or low professional. In 2015, the purse was $100,000, with the winner receiving $23,000.

This week’s 156-person field will include seven former champions, including Coloradans Zahkai Brown of Arvada (2013), Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch (2009 and ’12), Ben Portie of Westminster (2011), Scott Petersen of Parker (2000) and Kaye.

Among the other players entered are Nick Karavites of Cherry Hills Village, who won the PNC Father/Son Challenge with stepfather David Duval in December; former CU golfer David Oraee, who just won the Wyoming State Open; father and son Doug and Tristan Rohrbaugh; 2016 CGA Player of the Year Kyler Dunkle; 2016 Colorado PGA Professional champion Geoff Keffer; Nick Mason of Denver, who’s competed in five PGA Tour events since 2010; and 2017 CoBank Colorado Senior Open champion Jeff Gallagher.

3 Coloradans Qualify for Open Monday at Legacy Ridge; Medalists Shoot 62: The fourth and final qualifier for the CoBank Colorado Open was held on Monday at Legacy Ridge Golf Course in Westminster, and among the 15 players who earned spots in the field at GVR were three Colorado amateurs.

Dylan Wonnacott of Longmont shot a 7-under-par 64 to advance, while Cole Nygren of Longmont and Neil Tillman of Arvada each posted a 68.

Bryan Fox of Roswell, Ga., and Eric Kline of Ponca City, Okla., each fired a sizzling bogey-free 9-under-par 62 to share medalist honors on Monday.

For all the qualifying scores from Legacy Ridge on Monday, CLICK HERE.

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Here are the essentials regarding the 2017 CoBank Colorado Open:

What — 53rd CoBank Colorado Open.

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

When — Thursday through Sunday (July 20-23).

Live Scoring — CLICK HERE. 

Admission — Free.

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

Purse — $250,000, with $100,000 going to the champion (or top professional). The purse has more than doubled from 2015, with first place more than quadrupling, from $23,000 two years ago.

PGA Tour Winner Entered — Former University of Colorado golfer Jonathan Kaye (2 victories).

Former Champions in Field — Neil Johnson of River Falls, Wis. (2016), Ian Davis of Edmond, Okla. (2014), Zahkai Brown of Arvada (2013), Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch (2009 and ’12), Ben Portie of Westminster (2011), Scott Petersen of Parker (2000), Jonathan Kaye of Boulder (1996).

Thursday Tee Times — CLICK HERE.  “¨

“¨For More Information — Visit the CoBank Colorado Open website (CLICK HERE). 

When some of the kids from The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch were asking David Duval about the core values the organization teaches, the 2001 British Open champion couldn’t help but chuckle when “perseverance” was mentioned.

If any elite-level golfer knows about perseverance, it’s Duval, a Colorado resident since late 2003. After all, he was a stellar player in his 20s, winning 13 times on the PGA Tour from 1997-2001, ascending to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings and shooting a final-round 59 to claim victory in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1999.

But then a long stretch of injuries and poor play led to a dramatic downfall in his game, to the point that he’s recorded just four top-10 finishes — with no wins – in the 221 PGA Tour events he’s entered since the beginning of 2003. But if nothing else, he’s demonstrated remarkable perseverance in the face of adversity over that stretch.

“I’ve struggled in this game as much as anyone,” Duval said while conducting a First Tee GVR Kids Clinic — attended by about 200 people — that was sponsored by CoBank on Tuesday evening (see photos). As he noted, he’s a guy who’s shot 62 at Pebble Beach, as well as a person who’s posted an 85 at the same course.

But you have to hand it to Duval: In recent years, he’s found a vocation within a vocation, and he’s become pretty darn good at it. Since 2015, he’s been an analyst for the Golf Channel, and the more that he’s worked at it, the better he’s gotten. And as a former world No. 1 — and the winner of a major championship — he has some additional credibility that some other prominent golf analysts lack.

“I enjoy” the TV work, Duval said in an interview with coloradogolf.org on Tuesday. “It keeps you connected and around the game. It gives you a little bit of a voice. I think it’s fair to say I definitely prefer (broadcasting) live golf as opposed to wrapup shows. (About 30 percent of Duval’s work this year will be live golf.) But both are cool.

“There’s some type of learning curve to it, obviously, and getting comfortable and figuring out how to be concise and get your points across. I go about it trying to just maybe educate. If I can get you thinking about one thing or tell you one thing you didn’t know before each couple hours of the show, I think I’ve succeeded.”

Perhaps one of the reasons Duval has improved is that golf fans have gotten to know him better. During his years of playing full-time on the PGA Tour, he often came across as quiet and reserved, perhaps a little standoffish. But the role of TV analyst brings more of his personality — and knowledge of the game — to the forefront. In that sense, he’s not disimilar to golf analysts such as Nick Faldo or Curtis Strange — top-level players who could be testy at times while competing but have blossomed in the TV booth or studio.

“How a player chooses to compete — and how they need to compete to succeed … Some are quiet, some can’t shut up,” Duval noted. “I didn’t say much, Lee Trevino couldn’t stop talking. That’s just your makeup and what’s best for you as an individual to compete and succeed. On the other side of the camera, whether you like to talk or not, you have to. You’re in a position where you’re going to learn about a person now more.

“It wasn’t that hard” to transition to putting more of himself out there publicly on TV. “It’s one of those simple things that it is what it is. If you’re going to do it, this is what you have to do.

“Even though I may have been quiet when I was competing 20 times a year, I didn’t lack an opinion. I still had a pretty strong opinion. You just had to ask me for it. Now I just tell it to you without you asking me. That’s the difference.”

Duval tries to walk that fine line between being very critical of PGA Tour players at times — a la Johnny Miller — and losing credibility with viewers by virtually never finding fault with a golfer’s performance.

“I have certainly gotten on things (been critical), but when I do, I try to explain why,” he said. “‘This is why this was bad, this is why this was wrong.’ When I’ve done live golf, the reality is, when a guy hits an 8-iron and misses the green by 15 yards, it’s a friggin awful shot. What else are you going to call it? But I don’t think there’s reason to be mean for mean’s sake. That’s how I go about it. And I also recognize that having done it, how hard the game is.

“I also go about it that 98 percent of the time, the players are trying their best, trying to shoot the best score they can. There’s a few times they phone it in every now and again. If he’s shooting 73, he’s trying to shoot 72. I try to keep that in mind. I’ve shot 62, which is part of the course record at Pebble Beach. I’ve also posted 85 there, making sure I didn’t shoot 86 that day. I try to think of it that way.”

Duval said the approach he’s taken to being a golf analyst on TV is pretty straightforward.

“The best advice I’ve been given — and the thing I’ve been asked to do — is just be myself,” the 45-year-old said. “Give my thoughts, explain why I have those thoughts. That’s what they really want from me, both in studio work and in live golf. The rhythm of those shows are obviously different, but that’s what I’ve really tried to do.”

Duval, who met his future wife Susie while in Colorado for The International, has long lived in Cherry Hills Village with his family and plays a fair amount at Cherry Hills Country Club when he’s at home and the weather is decent. The Denver area is a far cry from his former home of Jacksonville, Fla., but despite occasional grumblings about a snowstorm, he’s taken to it quite nicely.

“We love it here. We feel like it’s home,” he said. “Like a lot of people, I sometimes wish the winter would shorten up a little bit. That snowstorm in May was quite annoying. But I love it. All you have to do is walk outside right now, and it tells you everything you need to know. It’s just spectacular. The people are wonderful. I love the culture of it — the food, the views, the mountains, the air. It’s just wonderful.”