Northern (pictured), 53, shot back-to-back 5-under-par 67s to prevail by one over Lobato at Indian Peaks Golf Course in Lafayette. Both players went bogey-free on Tuesday, with Northern chalking up five birdies and Lobato four.

Northern finished particularly strong, gong 4 under par in his last seven holes to post a 10-under 134 total. He won $1,275.

Lobato closed with a 68 to check in at 135.

Tying for third place, at 138, were Jeff Hanson of Red Sky Golf Club and Doug Wherry of Jake’s Academy.

The top seven finishers, in addition to 2007 national champion Bill Loeffler, landed spots in the 2016 Senior PGA Professional Championship, set for Nov. 17- 20 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Joining Northern, Lobato, Hanson, Wherry and Loeffler in advancing to the national tournament were Don Hurter of Castle Pines (139), Mike Zaremba of Desert Hawk (139) and Steve Crane of Hiwan (139).

Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship
Aug. 15-16, 2016 (final) at Par-72 Indian Peaks GC in Lafayette
Top 10 Finishers — 1. Mike Northern 67-67–134; 2. Paul Lobato 67-68–135; 3. (tie) Jeff Hanson 69-69–138; Doug Wherry 70-68–138; 5. (tie) Don Hurter 72-67–139; Mike Zaremba 72-67–139; Steve Crane 69-70–139; 8. (tie) Scott Hart 72-69–141; C.J. Parry 72-69–141; Dale Smigelsky 71-70–141; Vance Pollock 69-72–141.
For all the scores, CLICK HERE.

Life may not start at 50, but you wouldn’t know it from the case of Doug Rohrbaugh and his born-again golf career.

On Wednesday, the director of golf from Ironbridge Golf Club in Glenwood Springs added another chapter to the stellar playing career he’s put together since reaching the big 5-0.

Not only did Rohrbaugh match a record by winning his third consecutive Colorado PGA Professional Championship, but he continues to break the standard he’s previously set by claiming the title at unprecedented ages.

The 53-year-old did it again Wednesday at Meridian Golf Club in Englewood, though this one was more of a challenge than the previous two victories in the event. This time around, he fended off a late charge from Valley Country Club head professional Barry Milstead by draining a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to post a two-stroke victory.

The win, worth $8,000, made Rohrbaugh the first player since Ken Krieger (1996-98) to claim three straight Colorado PGA Professional Championships. Ron Vlosich (1991-93) is believed to be the only other player to three-peat in the 58-year history of the tournament. (Rohrbaugh is pictured at left and above with runner-up Milstead.)

“That was everything,” Rohrbaugh said of his quest for three straight victories. “To be honest, that was my goal coming in. Yes, you’re trying to win, but knowing the three-peat hadn’t been done much, I was definitely thinking about it. To want a three-peat and do it, that makes it sweeter. It means a lot. It was more than just a win.”

Besides claiming three straight Colorado PGA Professional Championships since turning 50, Rohrbaugh has also captured the 2013 HealthOne Colorado Senior Open title, finished third at the 2013 HealthOne Colorado Open as a 51-year-old, won the 2012 and ’13 Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship, and has earned conditional status on the 2015 Champions Tour.

“I don’t get it,” he admits of his status as a late bloomer. “I still can’t answer the question people ask me: Why? I think it’s a lot of things. I always thought I could play the Tour but I tried the regular Q-school twice and didn’t even get past first stage. It was a bit letdown. Then when 50 was coming it was like, ‘Here’s my second chance.’ So it got me excited, fired me up. That was a big part of it, knowing there was another chance.”

After winning the Colorado PGA Professional Championship by five each of the past two years, this one wasn’t settled until the final green. With Milstead one-putting for birdie and par, respectively on the final two par-3s (Nos. 15 and 17) while Rohrbaugh made bogeys, Milstead picked up three shots, leaving the margin at one going into the par-4 18th. There, both players had birdie putts of about 20 feet, and Milstead had his attempt online, but left it short.

“I did a lot of that today,” said Milstead (left and below). “I left a lot of putts short. (The one on 18) may or may not have gone in the hole, but I probably left four or five or six putts short and going in the right direction.”

Rohrbaugh, who said he hadn’t been nervous on his previous two shots on 18, got a few butterflies over his birdie putt.

“I realized I just had to two-putt,” the Carbondale resident said. “I wasn’t even trying to make it. I was just trying to get it up as close as I could. When it was about 3 feet out, I started to walk because I had a feeling it had a chance. Sure enough (it went in), and that certainly makes it a little sweeter.”

Rohrbaugh, who took a two-stroke lead into the final round, shot a 1-over-par 73 on Wednesday, the same as Milstead. Rohrbaugh finished at 5-under-par 211 overall, while Milstead (213) was the only other player who ended up under par.

Those two, along with the next six finishers, qualified for the 2016 PGA Professional National Championship, set for June 26-29 in Verona, N.Y. The other PNC qualifiers were Ari Papadopoulos (216), two-time CPGA Professional Championship winner Rob Hunt (217), University of Denver men’s golf coach Erik Billinger (218), Jeff Hanson (218), 2013 PGA Championship competitor Caine Fitzgerald (219) and Doug Wherry (219). Fitzgerald and Wherry each birdied the second hole of a sudden-death qualifying playoff that featured six competitors.

The battle for the CPGA Professional Championship title was largely a two-man affair on Wednesday, though Papadoupolos was 3 under for the tournament through 51 holes before finishing with three consecutive bogeys.

After Rohrbaugh (left) began the day with a bogey, Milstead earned a tie for the lead with a birdie on No. 2. But after the pro from Valley went bogey-double bogey on Nos. 4 and 5, Rohrbaugh never lost the outright lead again.

Though Milstead hit a few errant tee shots on the back nine Wednesday, he scrambled well enough to leave himself just one down going into 18.

“Down the stretch, I figured if I could hang around and make a few putts or make a birdie or two to get closer to him, we’d see what happened,” Milstead said. “I got within one going into 18, but I couldn’t quite catch him. Doug played great and hung in there. He’s a deserving champion.

“I played really well yesterday (67), which got me into position. I wish I had hit the ball as well as I did the first two days because I hit it great. I couldn’t quite hit it as well today.”

But overall, while he was disappointed in not landing the win, Milstead took some satisfaction in his best finish ever at the CPGA Professional Championship.

“I haven’t played a whole lot this year, so it’s good to see I’ve still got a lot of good shots in me,” the 48-year-old said. “We’ll take a lot of good things out of this week.”

As for Rohrbaugh, he wasn’t at his best either on Wednesday, which he attributes to having three-peat-itis on his mind.

“My golf today reflected that,” he said. “I did not play well today. My irons were off. I was nervous; there’s no question I was nervous. This one was harder than the first two because of that, but I managed to scrape it in there.”

Rohrbaugh, whose best finish out of six Champions Tour events this year is a 15th place, will take some momentum into his last four attempts at Monday qualifying for tournaments. If he can climb from 103rd to inside the top 75 on the final 2015 money list, he’ll earn an automatic spot in the final stage of Champions Tour Q-school.

“This is exactly what I needed heading out to the next four qualifiers,” he said. “I’m certainly feeling more confident and more excited about these four coming up after the way I’ve played the last two weeks.”

Colorado PGA Professional Championship
Sept. 14-16, 2015 (final) at Par-72 Meridian GC in Englewood

Top 10 Finishers (note: top eight qualify for 2016 PGA Professional National Championship) — 1. Doug Rohrbaugh 69-69-73–211; 2. Barry Milstead 73-67-73–213; 3. Ari Papadopoulos 72-72-72–216; 4. Rob Hunt 70-74-73–217; 5. (tie) Erik Billinger 73-74-71–218; Jeff Hanson 71-73-74–218; 7. (tie, with Fitzgerald and Wherry winning playoff) Caine Fitzgerald 69-75-75–219; Doug Wherry 75-73-71–219; Kyle Voska 74-76-69–219; Don Hurter 74-76-69–219; Mike Northern 74-74-71–219; Dustin Miller 75-73-71–219. For all the scores, CLICK HERE.

Doug Rohrbaugh has made improbable accomplishments seem almost commonplace over the last couple of years.

And the head professional at Ironbridge Golf Club in Glenwood Springs did it again on Wednesday at the Colorado PGA Professional Championship.

This time around, these were the two new notches on Rohrbaugh’s belt:

— The Carbondale resident became the first player in the 21st century to win two consecutive CPGA Professional Championships. Ken Krieger was the last to manage the feat, winning three in a row from 1996 through ’98.

— At age 52, Rohrbaugh is believed to be the oldest winner of the Colorado PGA Section’s championship. In fact, he was thought to be the oldest last year when he won.

“I was so thrilled last year,” he said. “Now to do it again — man! It feels good, boy. It really feels good.”

Rohrbaugh made it all look relatively easy on Wednesday, cruising to a five-stroke victory at Todd Creek Golf Club in Thornton. He shot a 3-under-par 69 in the final round, giving him a 12-under 204 total. The victory was worth $8,000 out of the $55,000 purse.

Matt Schalk (pictured above in green congratulating Rohrbaugh) finished runner-up for the second time in three years. This time, the director of golf at Colorado National Golf Club and the Fox Hill Club closed with a 72 for a 209 total. Mike Zaremba of Desert Hawk, winner of the 1987 and ’99 championships, ended with a 68 to place third at 211.

Those three, along with the next five on the leaderboard, qualified for the 2015 PGA Professional National Championship, scheduled for June 28-July 1 in Philadelphia. Joining Rohrbaugh, Schalk and Zaremba in earning those berths were Geoff Keffer of Murphy Creek (212), Rob Hunt of The Links (213), Kyle Voska of The Links (214), three-time HealthOne Colorado Open champion Bill Loeffler of The Links (214) and Doug Wherry of Jake’s Academy (214).

This week’s performance was an extension of the stellar play demonstrated by Rohrbaugh (left) since 2012. In that two-plus year period, he’s won the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open, the Colorado PGA Professional Championship and the Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship (all in 2013), qualified for the U.S. Senior Open in both 2012 and ’13, and then won the Section title again on Wednesday.

“It’s amazing what the confidence level has been after the (2013) Colorado Senior Open. That just changed everything,” he said.

At Todd Creek, while the battle for the national tournament spots went on throughout the day, it quickly became a two-man competition for the championship between Rohrbaugh and Schalk.

Twice — after a Schalk birdie on the first hole and after a two-shot swing on No. 8 where Schalk birdied and Rohrbaugh made his only bogey — Schalk (left) crept within a stroke. But that was as close as it got.

“I was playing well, but I just couldn’t get any putts to fall,” said Schalk, who has posted top-eight finishes in this event for three straight years. “I had a ton of putts on the edge. And he played the same as he did the last two days — real consistent. He wasn’t going to make any mistakes. You definitely had to go win this tournament; he wasn’t going to give it to you.”

The turning point came on the stretch from holes 9 through 12. After seeing his lead dwindle to one, Rohrbaugh picked up a shot on each one of those four holes to increase his lead to five and basically put the tournament on ice. Schalk bogeyed 9, 10 and 11, then Rohrbaugh knocked in a 6-foot birdie on 12. On No. 13, Schalk made a 5-foot birdie, but only after Rohrbaugh drained a 25-footer for birdie.

“That stretch was huge,” Rohrbaugh said. “It just relaxed me a lot from that point. I didn’t have to take any chances or go pin-seeking.”

The overall key, Rohrbaugh (below) said, was a putter he only put into play during a practice round on Sunday. He had used it for the second half of last season, but it fell out of favor this year — until this week.

“This one I can definitely pin on one club — and it was the putter,” he said. “On Sunday I brought it with me for a practice round. Oh my, was that a good decision. The first day I had 24 putts. Yesterday had to be similar. And today I still putted good.

“I felt like I could make everything I looked at all week. That’s a good feeling. I putted so good the first day and it carried over every day. The 3-footer I missed on 8 today was my only missed putt inside 10 feet for the week.”

Though Schalk obviously was looking to win, he was happy with his performance under the circumstances.

“This is my first stroke-play tournament in probably 10 months, so I was a little bit uncomfortable at times,” he said. “But I was happy with how I played. My goal was to get to 12 under — that was the ultimate number — but I just didn’t get there.

“Doug is a good player. He manages the courses very well. He’s not overly long, but he hits it in the right places and he has a great short game.”

Rohrbaugh plans again this year to go through the Champions Tour qualifying process. He made it to the final stage last year, but fell short of earning any status.

Colorado PGA Professional Championship
Sept. 8-10, 2014 (final) at Par-72 Todd Creek GC in Thornton

Top 10 Finishers — 1. Doug Rohrbaugh 67-68-69–204; 2. Matt Schalk 68-69-72–209; 3. Mike Zaremba 72-71-68–211; 4. Geoff Keffer 70-71-71–212; 5. Rob Hunt 66-78-69–213; 6. (tie) Kyle Voska 72-73-69–214; Bill Loeffler 70-70-74–214; Doug Wherry 69-70-75–214; 9. Bobby Quaratino 76-69-71–216; 10. (tie) Travis Morton 71-77-70–218; Ari Papadopoulos 67-78-73–218. For complete results, CLICK HERE.