David Toms hadn’t won on the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions in more than seven years. Perhaps it was appropriate that the drought ended in a state where he earned one of his 13 PGA Tour victories.

In addition to the biggest win of his lifetime — the 2001 PGA Championship in the Atlanta area — Toms took home the trophy from the 1999 Sprint International at Castle Pines.

And as he came down the stretch of his U.S. Senior Open victory Sunday evening at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Toms thought about both those tournaments.

“I always try to draw on those positive experiences,” the 51-year-old from Louisiana said. “I thought a lot about The International this week. … In fact, what I thought about over the last putt that I had on 18 (today) was that year that I won The International. I had a two-putt to win and I had a downhill, right-to-left breaking putt just like I had (today). And I actually made it in ’99.

“I thought about both (The International and the PGA) the last two holes. So you can tell that I was always trying to draw on something positive from the past.”

And it certainly seemed to work.

Toms drained a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 16th to break out of a large tie and take the solo lead, then sank a 20-foot par putt on the par-4 17th after driving it into the lip of a fairway bunker. Then he two-putted from 15 feet on No. 18, looking up to the sky and noticeably exhaling after stroking a 2-foot par putt into the right side of the hole for the win.

“I think if it was 3 feet, it wouldn’t have gone in because I didn’t hit it in the middle,” Toms said of his final putt. “I hit it on the right side and it’s moving right. If it’s 2 1/2 feet, it probably wouldn’t have gone in. But it went in and I’m here (in the winner’s press conference), so I’m happy.”

Toms (above in a USGA photo and at left in a CGA photo) emerged from a wild day in which at least a half-dozen players seemed to be on the brink of taking control at various times.

As it was, Toms shot an even-par 70 for a 3-under-par 277 total and a one-stroke victory over three players — Jerry Kelly, who had led after each of the first three rounds; his college teammate Tim Petrovic, who had to qualify just to make the field; and Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who played his last four holes in 2 under par. Jimenez, who putted off the green and took a double bogey on No. 8, then bogeyed 9, shot a 69.

“It’s painful because I threw away the tournament there” on 8 and 9, said Jimenez (left).

Petrovic posted a 70 and Kelly a 72.

While Jimenez and Petrovic birdied 18 to finish where they did, Kelly could have forced a playoff by making a long birdie putt from in front of the green there. But he left his ball less than a foot short.

“This one is going to motivate me in a big way,” Kelly said. “We’ve got two (more) majors in a row coming up, and I’m ready to tee it up tomorrow morning. I hit fantastic shots on the back side, but the bounces did not go my way when the ball landed on the green. That’s golf.”

Sharing fifth place were two other players who were in the lead on the back nine on Sunday — Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe and playing partner Paul Goydos — along with Englishman Paul Broadhurst.

Toms earned $720,000 for the victory, but it took an unusual week to get there. On Thursday, the first day of the championship, his caddie, Scott Gneiser, had to go to the hospital because of a heart condition.

“I’m scrambling around,” Toms said. “My wife says Carter (their son and a golfer at LSU, David Tom’s alma mater), he’s ready to go, he’s going to caddie for you. He’s never caddied before in his life.

“… But he did an unbelievable job. He really kept me in there, especially on Friday where I was 3 over par early in the round. He was so positive. It was like me talking to him when he’s going to play.”

Then Gneiser returned for the weekend, when Toms went 66-70.

“I just have to figure out now what percentage (fee) each of them gets,” Toms said. “That should be interesting.”

Toms managed the confounding Broadmoor greens better than most, particularly on Sunday. He hit just eight greens in regulation in the final round, but needed just 26 putts, the lowest number for Sunday. And the ones on 16 and 17 with the tournament on the line, those were pivotal.

“If you’re going to win championships, that’s what you have to do,” Petrovic said. “You’ve got to make the big putt at the right time — and he did.”

Said Toms of the putt on 17: “Just an unbelievable putt I made for par. Certainly that was the key to victory. … To make the two putts on 16 and 17 with the greens they were late in the day, I guess it was meant to be.”

Through the final 36 holes, Toms made just two bogeys, which was no small feat as tough as the East Course was playing.

For the final scores from the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.

One streak ended for Jerry Kelly on Saturday, but another remained intact.

The 51-year-old from Madison, Wis., saw his impressive run of subpar rounds on PGA Tour Champions snapped at 16 as he shot a 1-over-par 71 at The Broadmoor’s East Course.

Nevertheless, Kelly (left in a USGA photo) finished his third straight day of the U.S. Senior Open with the outright lead.

One more and he’ll be hoisting the trophy on Sunday.

Kelly, a three-time winner on PGA Tour Champions and that circuit’s money leader in 2018, gave back three strokes on the first three holes of the back nine Saturday but steadied the ship to finish with six consecutive pars. He stands at 4-under 206 through 54 holes.

Kelly led by three strokes midway through his round, but a bogey on No. 10 and a double bogey at No. 12 — where he three-putted from 2 1/2 feet — cost him significantly.

“That one sticks in your craw a little bit,” he said, later adding, “I’m very disappointed. I could have put some distance (between himself and the next-best player), no question.

“I’m a jumpy putter. I’m a very good putter, but those types of things happen to me. I understood what I did. Pick the putter up, bang it down on the ball and it squirts in a different direction. So I know it and then I could just move on after that. Now, did it unnerve me a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So hanging in there after that, that next up-and-down was fantastic.”

Kelly will take a one-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round. Closest on his heels is David Toms, winner of the 2001 PGA Championship and the 1999 International at Castle Pines, who matched the best round of the day with a bogey-free 4-under-par 66. Sharing third place are Kirk Triplett, who lost in a playoff at this event last year, and Tim Petrovic, who was a college teammate of Kelly at the University of Hartford.

Kelly entered the media center during Petrovic’s interview on Saturday, and requested that the latter sing the University of Hartford fight song.

“Well, since the University fo Hartford does not have a football team, I don’t think we have a fight song,” Petrovic said. “Do you know the fight song? Did you have go Hartford by the way?

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

And so it went.

That wasn’t the only amusing/odd moment of the day for Petrovic. On the 17th hole, he flared his tee shot to the right, with the ball running down the cart path. Once it finished up in the rough, a youngster slid in on the grass and picked up the ball. Petrovic was later given a free drop and made bogey on the hole, part of a stretch in which he went 3 over par in his final four holes en route to a 71.

“I just found out that (the boy) actually slid like he was sliding into second base, trying to fight his brother for the golf ball and actually picked it up,” Petrovic said. “And then when I got to the ball, it looked like he was about to lose it; he was really upset. I just made a comment, ‘Hey, next time you do that, why don’t you just kick it back toward the fairway instead?’ And he thought that was pretty funny, so that kind of put the fire out. … I just wanted to make him feel like it’s not the end of the world. It’s only a major, no big deal (laugh).”

Three other players round out the seven golfers who are under par, sharing fifth place at 209. That includes Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe (See Related Story), who fired a 66 on Saturday; Miguel Angel Jimenez (73) and Paul Goydos (66).

Also still within striking distance are World Golf Hall of Famers Davis Love III (210) and Colin Montgomerie (211).

“I think there’s so many people that will have a chance tomorrow,” said Toms (left in a USGA photo). “I look forward to it.”

Added Petrovic: “It’s going to be fun tomorrow. It’s going to be a little dogfight.”

Elway Duly Impressed By Performances at Broadmoor: FS1, which is televising the Senior Open, had the tournament’s honorary chairman — and Pro Football Hall of Famer — John Elway on the air during Saturday’s telecast.

Elway, of course, tried to qualify at The Broadmoor for the Senior Open. He came up short, shooting an 80, finishing in 18th place out of a field that originally numbered 84.

“It was tough,” the former Broncos quarterback said. “I will tell you this: If I had to play golf in those conditions every day, I probably wouldn’t play golf, that’s how hard it is. That’s why you look at what these guys are doing and how impressive it is and the way that they play. So it’s fun to watch them play … You don’t appreciate it on TV nearly as much as when you get a chance to see them swing.”

Langer Thinks He’s Too Far Back: Bernhard Langer, who owns more senior major titles than anyone (10), shot a 4-under-par 66 on Saturday, but at 4-over-par 214 and eight out of the lead he doesn’t feel he has a realistic shot at the title on Sunday.

“Every place forward is better,” the 60-year-old said. “Gets more money, more Schwab Cup points, but I don’t think I’m going to have a chance to win.”

On Friday, Langer had an unusual experience of losing his ball in standard rough of an area populated by spectators. That was on his first shot of the day, which went left on the par-4 first. “There were hundreds of people around. Nobody saw it,” said Langer, who posted a double bogey on the hole. “Pretty weird.”

Notable: Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, Calif., the low amateur in the U.S. Open in 2000, is going for the career Open/Senior Open low-am sweep, trying to become the second to manage the feat, joining Vinny Giles. Wilson shot an even-par 70 on Saturday to check in at 7-over 217, one better than fellow am Mike Finster. “If I was to be the low amateur, that would be awesome,” Wilson said. … Tee times for Sunday’s final round will start at 9:41 a.m., with the top two players after three rounds — Jerry Kelly and David Toms — going off at 2:45 p.m.

For scores from the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.

For Sunday’s pairings at The Broadmoor, CLICK HERE.
 

It includes Opening Day in baseball and the Final Four in college basketball.

And golf also fits nicely into the theme, with the first major championships of the men’s and women’s season on tap.

Next week’s Masters and this week’s Kraft Nabisco Championship always draw plenty of attention and generate lots of excitement. But if you’re looking for competitors with strong Colorado connections, the pickings are slim this year.

None of the “local” players who currently hold LPGA Tour cards — former University of Denver golfers Stephanie Sherlock and Sue Kim, and two-time Colorado state high school champion Kelly Jacques — are in the field for the Kraft Nabisco.

And, barring a victory by a local at this week’s Valero Texas Open, the only golfer with major Colorado ties at next week’s Masters will be Evergreen resident Craig Stadler, who earned an annual invitation by winning the 1982 title at Augusta National (pictured).

Stadler, who will turn 60 on June 2, will be making his 37th Masters appearance this year. He played in his first one in 1974 after earning a spot by winning the 1973 U.S. Amateur. He’s competed in every Masters since 1979, making the cut a total of 21 times. The 13-time PGA Tour winner last qualified for the final two rounds at Augusta in 2007, when he finished 49th. Last year, he struggled in posting scores of 81-82 while battling a bulging disc in his back.

Stadler greatly enjoys his annual rite of spring in returning to Augusta, Ga.

“I love coming back here,” he told the U-T San Diego newspaper last year. “I come back a couple of times a year. It never gets old. I’ve probably played here 150 times, and each time I turn in that gate, it is still pretty cool — mystical almost.”

Thirty-one years ago, Stadler overcame 40s on his first and last nine holes of the week to earn his Masters green jacket. “I played pretty good in the middle,” he said of his scores of 75-69-67-73.

After losing the four-stroke lead he held after 11 holes in the final round, Stadler clinched the title by beating Dan Pohl in a one-hole playoff for his only major championship title.

While current and former Coloradans will be in short supply at this year’s Masters and the Kraft Nabisco, the fields for both of those majors will include golfers who have won significant tournaments in the Centennial State. And with the Solheim Cup coming to Colorado in August, the Kraft Nabisco should be of particular interest as U.S. players will earn double the normal number of Solheim Cup points during this week’s tournament.

Here’s a rundown of Masters or Kraft Nabisco participants who have won in Colorado:

— Paige Mackenzie (Kraft Nabisco) is the only amateur ever to win the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open (2006).

— South Korean So Yeon Ryu (Kraft Nabisco) claimed the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open title at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

— Phil Mickelson (Masters) won the International at Castle Pines in 1993 and ’97, the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in 1990, and the CU Fox Acres Invitational in Red Feather Lakes.

— Ernie Els (Masters) earned the 2000 title at the International.

— Stewart Cink (Masters) prevailed in the 1996 Nike Colorado Classic at Riverdale Dunes in Brighton.

— Jose Maria Olazabal (Masters) won the International in 1991.

— Steven Fox (Masters) claimed the title at last year’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.

— Vijay Singh (Masters) was victorious at the 1998 International.

— David Toms (Masters) followed that up by winning the 1999 International title at Castle Pines.