The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is doubling up on celebrations this year as the 100th anniversary of its founding coincides with the resort hosting the U.S. Senior Open at the East Course from June 28-July 1.
With that in mind, we decided to take a trip down memory lane, looking back on milestone anniversaries of big golf tournaments held in Colorado or of feats accomplished by local golfers. In other words, things that happened exactly five, 10, 20, 25 years ago, etc.
So without further ado …
— 80 Years Ago (1938): Colorado hosted a major championship for the first time as the U.S. Open came to Cherry Hills Country Club. Only six men’s majors have been contested in the Centennial State to this day, so this was no small matter.
The 1938 U.S. Open marked the first Open held west of Minneapolis. Will Nicholson Sr., a future mayor of Denver and the father of a future USGA president (Will Jr.), played a key role in luring the Open and was general chairman of the championship. He served on the USGA Executive Committee at the time.
Ralph Guldahl rallied with a final-round 69 to win by six strokes, successfully defending his title. His victory margin was the largest at the U.S. Open since 1921 and he’ll go down as the last person to win a U.S. Open while wearing a necktie. Guldahl went on to supplement his two U.S. Open victories with a win in the Masters and three titles in the Western Open, which at the time was considered a major championship of sorts.
Cherry Hills drew about 37,000 people for the week, a big success at the time.
— 70 Years Ago (1948): A PGA Tour event, the Denver Open, was held in the city on and off from 1947 to ’63. Ben Hogan was by far the biggest name to win the event when he prevailed in 1948 at Wellshire Country Club.
The victory was Bantam Ben’s sixth straight on the PGA Tour, and one of 10 he posted that year on the circuit, including the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
One oddity from that Denver Open: Hogan failed to show up for the trophy presentation. Believing his total wasn’t going to be good enough for the title, he left shortly after finishing his final round, saying, “I can’t win.”
— 70 Years Ago (1948): Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who moved to Colorado in 1943 with her Pueblo-born husband, George, won the first of her three U.S. Women’s Opens in 1948. That year’s Women’s Open, conducted in Northfield, N.J., was just the third ever held.
Zaharias, a six-time AP Female Athlete of the Year who previously excelled at track and field, cruised to an eight-stroke victory over runner-up Betty Hicks. Zaharias, sometimes dubbed “Denver’s Queen of the Fairways”, recorded an even-par 300 total.
Zaharias, a co-founder of the LPGA, won 17 consecutive tournaments in 1946 and ’47 while representing Park Hill Country Club. She also spent plenty of time at Lakewood Country Club.
In 1950, Zaharias prevailed at the Women’s Western Open, a women’s major at the time, at Cherry Hills.
— 60 Years Ago (1958): Dow Finsterwald, who would later become a fixture as the director of golf at The Broadmoor, scored his lone victory in a major, winning the PGA Championship in Havertown, Pa. That was the first PGA conducted with a stroke-play format to determine the champion, but Finsty was also the runner-up in 1957 (to Lionel Hebert) when a 36-hole match play final was held.
Finsterwald (left), the 1957 Vardon Trophy winner as the tour player with the best season-long stroke average, finished two strokes better than Billy Casper in 1958. Finsterwald closed with a 67 for a 4-under 276 total and later that year earned the PGA’s Player of the Year award.
— 40 Years Ago (1978): Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the last of its three U.S. Opens to date. Two future World Golf Hall of Famers had won the 1938 and ’60 editions (Ghezzi and Arnold Palmer), but this time around Andy North recorded the second of what would be just three PGA Tour victories, though two of them were in U.S. Opens. Few people can say they won more majors than non-majors on the PGA Tour, but North is one such person.
North tied Billy Casper’s record (set in 1966) by needing just 114 putts over 72 holes, winning with a 1-over-par 285 total. He led outright after each of the final three rounds.
Also finishing in the top 10 in a star-studded leaderboard were University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin and Tom Weiskopf (tied for fourth), and Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Johnny Miller (tied for sixth).
— 40 Years Ago (1978): The player with the most career wins on any major U.S. tour, Kathy Whitworth, earned one of her 88 LPGA Tour victories right here in the Centennial State.
Colorado hosted LPGA events for 16 consecutive years starting in 1972, and a dozen of the winners here became World Golf Hall of Famers. But none is higher on the totem pole than Whitworth, who won the 1978 National Jewish Hospital Open at Green Gables Country Club.
— 25 Years Ago (1993): Speaking of the aforementioned Nicklaus and Weiskopf, two former Ohio State golfers, they finished 1-2 when Cherry Hills hosted the U.S. Senior Open in 1993.
Nicklaus, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, prevailed for what would be his last title in a USGA championship. Coincidentally, the first of his eight USGA championships also came in Colorado, in the 1959 U.S. Amateur at The Broadmoor.
Nicklaus (pictured at top with son/caddie Jackie) fended off Weiskopf by one stroke, recording a 6-under-par 278 total. It was the Golden Bear’s second U.S. Senior Open title in three years.
— 25 Years Ago (1993): Cherry Creek High School product Jill McGill made quite a run at USGA amateur championships in the early 1990s, winning two national titles. A quarter-century ago, McGill captured the trophy at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Then in 1994, when she was runner-up to Wendy Ward in the Women’s Amateur, McGill earned the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links championship.
McGill (left) went on to a long career on the LPGA Tour, and though she never won on that circuit, she finished second three times and third twice.
Also in 1993, the Dunes Course at Riverdale in Brighton hosted the U.S. Amateur Public Links, with David Berganio taking home the title.
— 25 Years Ago (1993): Phil Mickelson, who three years earlier won the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in Colorado, claimed the first of his two International PGA Tour events at Castle Pines. He scored an eight-point victory in Stableford points over Mark Calcavecchia.
— 20 Years Years Ago (1998): Vijay Singh, like Mickelson now a World Golf Hall of Famer, beat Mickelson and Willie Wood by six points to put his name on The International trophy. All told, a half-dozen Hall of Famers won The International at least once.
— 20 Years Ago (1998): Former CU athlete Hale Irwin won three U.S. Opens from 1974-90, but that wasn’t the extent of his success in USGA championships. In 1998, the World Golf Hall of Famer won the first of his two U.S. Senior Opens, giving him five USGA championships in all.
In ’98, Irwin withstood a formidable test at Riviera Country Club outside of Los Angeles. Since 1984, just two winners of the U.S. Senior Open have finished with over-par totals, with Irwin’s 1-over tally in ’98 joining Nicklaus’ 2-over in ’91.
Earlier in 1998, Irwin also won another one of his seven career senior majors, the Senior PGA Championship — by six shots over Larry Nelson.
— 10 Years Ago (2008): It’s a rarity that Colorado hosts two USGA championships in the same year, but 2008 was such as year as the U.S. Senior Open came to The Broadmoor and the U.S. Amateur Public Links paid a visit to Murphy Creek Golf Course in Aurora.
In a U.S. Senior Open perhaps most remembered for the bear that ran across the course on national TV in the midst of play at The Broadmoor, the 2008 championship drew close to 130,000 people for tournament week. Eduardo Romero of Argentina claimed the trophy at the picturesque resort.
At Murphy Creek, Jack Newman won the title, but the field included Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel, the latter of whom would go on to win the PGA Tour’s BMW 
Championship at Cherry Hills in 2014.
— 5 Years Ago (2013): The Solheim Cup, the female version of the Ryder Cup, came to the western U.S. for the first time, with Colorado Golf Club in Parker playing host. The course proved a formidable test, with the European squad handling the conditions best.
The Euros (left) won the Solheim Cup on American soil for the first time, and the 18-10 score was the largest final victory margin in the history of the event.
— 5 Years Ago (2013): Then-Colorado resident Mark Wiebe won the first major championship of his career, claiming the title in the Senior British Open at Royal Birkdale in England.
To earn the win, Wiebe had to overcome one of the greatest senior players of all time, Bernhard Langer, beating the German in a playoff that lasted five holes. Wiebe closed with a 66, while Langer double bogeyed his final hole in regulation.
It marked the first Monday finish in Senior British Open history.
]]>Most notably, after the Ryder Cup-style competition between the top amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals in the state was limited to an open division for its first dozen years, it broadened its reach. A senior division was added in 1983 and a women’s division in 2002.
But now, the Colorado Cup will undergo changes that make the earlier tweakings pale in comparison.
By agreement of the organizations involved — the CGA, Colorado PGA and the CWGA — the event will undergo the following alterations:
— This year’s 47th annual Colorado Cup, which will be held Oct. 17 at The Broadmoor Golf Club’s East Course in Colorado Springs, will mark the last time it’s conducted on an annual basis. From here on, it will be limited to odd-numbered years — the years the Colorado PGA doesn’t hold Taylor Cup Matches against the Sun Country PGA, based in New Mexico.
— Instead of being three separate Cups being at stake — men’s open, senior and women — the Colorado Cup will now be just a single competition.
— The event also will be streamlined. Instead of each team including a dozen open, a dozen senior and six women players, it will be eight, eight and four, respectively, for each squad.
— The Colorado Cup, which normally was held in mid-season, will be moved to October. In all likelihood, that will mean fewer — if any — college players competing, given that’s in the middle of the fall portion of the college schedule. And with college golfers often being among the best players on the open and women’s amateur squads, that may be a factor in the overall results.
“I love the changes because let’s just go back to everyone working together — collaboration, one big team,” said Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s managing director of operations. “It will kind of re-energize (the matches). That was the hope we had: Let’s have some fun with it.
“When you get to the tournament you’ve got the open division ams sitting here, the open professionals on this side, the seniors separate. Let’s get everybody together to compete. We started to see that in the Junior Ryder Cup: We pulled the girls in and had a great experience with the girls and boys playing together. We pulled the 10-and-unders in last year to get more kids in. Everybody just enjoys it. I think it will revitalize (the Colorado Cup Matches) a little. It should be kind of fun.”
The Colorado PGA and the CWGA second that thought.
“We want to make it more meaningful,” CPGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth said earlier this year. “Having it every other year will add more significance — like the Ryder Cup. And instead of squeezing it in every year for a date in June when everyone is so busy, we can do it at the end of the season.”
Said Laura Robinson, executive director of the CWGA: “We are very excited about the format as I think it will be more competitive all around. We will obviously miss the presence of our college players, all of whom helped the women amateurs to win last year. It was a great experience for them to play against the pros, but we look forward to this new format on such a wonderful course as The Broadmoor.”
The Colorado Cup Matches, which feature four-ball and singles matches held on the same day, are seen by many as a matter of bragging rights between the pros and the amateurs. Last year marked the first time the amateurs have swept all three divisions, prevailing in the open division 13-5, in the senior division 9.5-8.5, and in the women’s division 6-3.
This year will mark a record 13th time the Colorado Cup Matches have been held at The Broadmoor, but the first time since 1989.
Among the players who have competed in the Colorado Cup over the decades are Dow Finsterwald, Steve Jones, Kevin Stadler, Bob Byman, Brandt Jobe and Fred Wampler, all of whom have now won on the PGA Tour and/or PGA Tour Champions.
]]>A sellout crowd of 190 people attended the 45th annual Colorado Golf Hall of Fame induction and awards dinner, held Sunday night at Sanctuary in Sedalia.
Included was a veritable who’s who of Colorado golf, past and present. Among the many CGHOF inductees on hand were Judy Bell, the first female president of the USGA; and longtime PGA Tour players Dale Douglass, Dow Finsterwald and Mark Wiebe, who have combined to win 17 events on the PGA Tour, 16 more on PGA Tour Champions, one major championship and two senior majors.
Inducted on Sunday was M.J. Mastalir (pictured), a former CGA president and USGA Executive Committee member, while annual awards went to the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado (Distinguished Service), Rick Polmear (Lifetime Achievement) and Jennifer Kupcho (Golf Person of the Year).
In his speech, Mastalir noted a personal bond to golf that no doubt was shared by just about everyone in the room.
“The game has provided me with a multitude of fond memories, a heck of a lot of good stories and many good friends,” he said.
For a story on some of the accomplishments of Sunday’s honorees, CLICK HERE.
Tom Green, who just wrapped up a 15-year-plus run as an anchor of Channel 2’s “Daybreak” show, served as master of ceremonies on Sunday.
Below are some photos from Sunday’s festivities: from top, representatives of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado; From left, Hall of Famers Maggie Giesenhagen, Tish Preuss, Joan Birkland and Judy Bell; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Rick Polmear; and a look at Sunday’s setting at Sanctuary.
If you don’t think that’s unusual, think again.
Prior to this current “drought”, you have to go back more than a half-century to find a Masters without at least one competitor with major Colorado ties.
With that in mind, we decided to dig into the records and highlight the Colorado “locals” who have shined at Augusta National Golf Club over the history of the Masters, which debuted in 1934.
Almost 25 players with significant connections to the Centennial State — either before, during or after their Masters heydays — have competed in what is now the first major of the season. A couple others have more tenuous ties to Colorado, but are interesting to note.
Here’s the rundown:
— Craig Stadler (current Evergreen resident): The Walrus, of course, didn’t move to Colorado until the 1990s, but he’s the one person to win the Masters who’s long resided in the state. In 1982, Stadler scored the biggest victory of his career. After posting rounds of 75-69-67-73–284, he defeated Dan Pohl in a playoff and slipped on a green jacket (pictured with ’81 champ Tom Watson). Stadler’s 75 remains the highest opening round by a champion.
He led by six with nine holes left in regulation, but lost ground with a 40 on the back nine on Sunday. A par on the first hole of sudden-death yielded the win.
“Walking down the fairway on No. 11, I said to myself, ‘This is easy,'” Stadler said at the time. “It looked like they all were playing for second and the only thing in doubt was by how much was I going to win. The National proved itself on Sunday again. I’ll take ’em any way I can.”
The victory was one of five top-seven finishes by Stadler at the Masters, including a third-place showing in 1988, when he ended up two back of champion Sandy Lyle. Stadler competed in 36 consecutive Masters, ending his run after playing in the 2014 event with son Kevin.
— Hale Irwin (Boulder High School and University of Colorado graduate): The World Golf Hall of Famer is best known for his three U.S. Open victories, but he was on the Sunday leaderboard numerous times at the Masters.
Overall, Irwin notched seven top-eight showings at Augusta National. He had an especially strong run from 1974-78, finishing fourth, fourth, fifth, fifth and eighth.
Of players with at least 50 rounds in the Masters, Irwin owns the seventh-best stroke average in history (72.18).
— Dow Finsterwald (director of golf at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs from 1963-93): Finsterwald didn’t take his job at The Broadmoor until 1963, but he was regularly in the hunt at the Masters from 1957 through ’64.
The 1958 PGA Championship winner recorded five top-10 finishes at Augusta National during that eight-year stretch, including placing second and third.
Two years particular stood out for “Finsty”. In 1960, he finished third, two strokes behind winner — and good friend — Arnold Palmer. Coincidentally, two strokes is what Finsterwald was penalized — retroactively — for taking a practice putt on the fifth green during the first round, “not realizing he had violated rules” according to a newspaper account at the time.
Two years later, Finsterwald watched Palmer beat him again, this time in an 18-hole playoff, with Dow and Gary Player tying for second place. All three players finished at 8-under-par 280. The next day in the playoff, Palmer shot 68, Player 71 and Finsterwald 77.
Finsty would end up with 11 PGA Tour victories.
— David Duval (Cherry Hills Village resident): Duval moved to Colorado after the last of his 13 PGA Tour wins, which includes the 2001 British Open. There was certainly a reason he once was the top-ranked player in the world, and his record in the Masters shows that.
In the four Masters beginning in 1998, Duval finished second, sixth, third and second. In 1998, a closing 67 left him one back of winner Mark O’Meara. And in 2001, Duval made 23 birdies and also closed with a 67, leaving him two back of champion Tiger Woods.
— Ed Dudley (director of golf at The Broadmoor Golf Club from 1941 to ’63): Before the Masters took a three-year hiatus in the final years of World War II, Dudley was one of the top performers at Augusta National, where he served as the first head professional. From 1934 (the first year of what was then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament) through ’41, he notched seven top-10 finishes. His best showing was a third place in 1937, when he ended up three strokes behind champion Byron Nelson.
Dudley, winner of 15 PGA Tour events, held jobs at The Broadmoor and Augusta National simultaneously from 1941-57 as the Augusta venue is typically open only from autumn to May.
— Paul Runyan (director of golf at Green Gables CC from 1972 to the early ’80s): The winner of two PGA Championships and 29 PGA Tour events overall, Runyan recorded four top-10 performances in the first decade of the Masters. His best showings were third place in the first Masters (1934) and in 1942, and a fourth-place in 1936.
Runyan ended up two behind winner Horton Smith in the first Masters — then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.
— Lawson Little: Little wasn’t a resident of Colorado, but it’s worth noting that in the summer of 1933 he made himself at home in the Centennial State. That year, the golfer from Stanford won the CGA Match Play (9 and 7 over Frank English in the final) and The Broadmoor Invitation, and finished runner-up in the Trans-Miss that The Broadmoor also hosted.
At the Masters, Little notched six top-10 showings from 1935 through ’51. His best finish was third place in 1939, when he ended up three back of winner Ralph Guldahl.
— Charlie Coe (a member at Castle Pines Golf Club late in his life): Coe, a two-time U.S. Amateur champion, posted three top-10 finishes in the Masters as an amateur. In 1961, he tied for second with Palmer, one behind winner Gary Player. Coe’s 7-under-par 281 total remains a Masters record for an amateur.
— Dave Hill (a longtime Colorado resident starting in the 1960s): At the same general time period Hill was winning a record four Colorado Opens, he posted a couple of top-10 showings at Augusta National. In 1970, he was a career-best fifth, ending up four shots behind winner Billy Casper, and five years later he placed seventh.
— Gary Hallberg (Colorado resident): Hallberg notched a top-10 in 1985 as his 2-under-par 286 total left him in sixth place, four back of winner Bernhard Langer.
— Mike Reid (attended Cherry Creek High School for one year): Like Hallberg, Reid’s best performance at Augusta National left him in sixth place at 286, in his case three behind champion Nick Faldo in 1989.
— Justin Leonard (Aspen resident): Long before moving to Aspen, Leonard notched back-to-back top-10s at the Masters, placing seventh in 1997 and eighth in ’98.
— Kevin Stadler (part-time Denver resident): Stadler posted a top-10 finish in his Masters debut in 2014, placing eighth as his dad, Craig, played in his final Masters. It’s one of two times Kevin has competed at Augusta National.
— Dale Douglass (former longtime Colorado resident and former CU golfer): The three-time PGA Tour winner had a best Masters finish of 19th in 1969.
— Steve Jones (grew up in Colorado and former CU golfer): The best Masters showing by the 1996 U.S. Open champion was 20th in 1990.
— Brandt Jobe (Colorado resident from 1970 to ’99): Among his appearances at Augusta National, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer had a best finish of 14th in 1999.
Other players with strong Colorado connections who have made the cut at the Masters are one-time Fitzsimons resident Orville Moody (best: 18th place), former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird (best: 20th), former Boulder resident Bob Byman (best: 34th), Colorado resident Mark Wiebe (best: 35th), and Denver native and former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye (best: 43rd). There was no cut at the Masters in 1947, but Denver’s Babe Lind, who was inducted into the first class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1973, finished 46th as the first Colorado native to compete in the tournament. Davis Love Jr., winner of the CGA Junior Match Play in 1953 and ’54 (and the father of Davis Love III), earned a 34th-place finish at Augusta National in 1964.
Another Colorado resident who competed in the Masters — but in his case failed to make the cut — was 1986 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Bill Loeffler in 1988. Denver native Tommy Armour III also missed a cut in the Masters, in 1990.
While no “locals” will compete in this year’s Masters, at least a couple of Coloradans will play a role at Augusta National Golf Club. On Wednesday, Craig Stadler is expected to compete in the Par-3 Contest a year after tying for second in that event. And CGA executive director Ed Mate, who serves on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, will be a rules official at the Masters for the second consecutive year.
This summer, there’s an opportunity to both play a stellar golf course which isn’t easy to get on, and to help honor three of Colorado’s all-time golf greats.
The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will hold its annual tournament on June 29 at a very popular, picturesque venue — Santuary Golf Course in Sedalia — with first-come, first-served registration opening on Friday (Feb. 10) at 9 a.m.
And following the round of golf, three of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s most notable inductees will be recognized — Judy Bell, Dale Douglass and Dow Finsterwald.
Bell was the first female president of the USGA. Douglass won three times on the PGA Tour and 11 on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, including the 1986 U.S. Senior Open. And Finsterwald claimed a dozen PGA Tour wins, with the 1958 PGA Championship being the most notable.
The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame tournament on June 29, which will feature a “shamble” format, will begin with an 11:30 a.m. shotgun start. The cost is $1,000 per foursome. To register for the event beginning Friday at 9 a.m., CLICK HERE.
The reception where Bell, Douglass and Finsterwald will be recognized will follow the golf.
Also this year, the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame will be holding its induction dinner on May 21, also at Sanctuary. Inducted that night will be M.J. Mastalir of Denver, with annual awards going to the new Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, and Rick Polmear of Greenwood Village.
For more information on either the induction dinner or the golf tournament, contact CGHOF executive director Sammie Chergo at sammiechergo@gmail.com or 303-594-9159. To visit the CGHOF website, CLICK HERE.
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That was apparent long before Wednesday, when Saint John’s Cathedral in Denver was at near capacity for the service for Nicholson, one of just three Coloradans to have served as a president of the USGA.
Nicholson, a former chairman of the Rules and Competitions Committees at the Masters and for the last 43 years a board member for the CGA, passed away on May 28 at the age of 87.
In the wake of Nicholson’s death, CBS’ Jim Nantz paid tribute to him during the network’s coverage of Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament on Sunday.
And on Wednesday, a who’s who of golf from Colorado and beyond bid Nicholson a fond farewell. Among the hundreds who attended the service at Saint John’s Cathedral were Judy Bell, the Colorado Springs resident who was the first female president of the USGA; 1958 PGA Championship winner Dow Finsterwald; CBS Sports golf producer Lance Barrow; Fred Ridley, the former U.S. Amateur champion and USGA president who succeeded Nicholson as chairman of the Masters Competition and Rules Committees; executive directors of the CGA (Ed Mate) and the Colorado PGA (Eddie Ainsworth), George Solich, who originally funded the Colorado Golf Foundation for which Nicholson served as the first chairman; former USGA Executive Committeeman M.J. Mastalir; CGA president Joe McCleary; numerous members of both the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (along with its president and CEO, former CGA president Tom Lawrence) and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
The list could go on and on.
Obviously, there was no shortage of people upon whom Nicholson had an impact over his 87 years. It’s little wonder why he was honored as the Colorado golf Man of the Century last fall during the Century of Golf Gala at The Broadmoor.
As Ridley noted when he eulogized Nicholson on Wednesday, “When Will spoke, everyone listened.”
(Nicholson is pictured above, at left, in a USGA photo while at the 2015 USGA Annual Meeting.)
For an earlier story about Nicholson’s life, CLICK HERE.
Wednesday evening, a couple of teams figured they’d be celebrating a victory and everyone involved thought they’d be sharing golf stories and a few laughs after the 45th edition of the Colorado Cup Matches at CommonGround Golf Course.
Little did anyone expect that, instead, the participants would be sitting in an electricity-deprived clubhouse looking out at a sight that seemed to be straight out of the Caddyshack scene where the bishop was playing the round of his life amid a violent storm.
As caddie Bill Murray told the bishop, “I’d keep playing. I don’t think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while.”
Well, the heavy stuff did come down Wednesday, and with a vengeance. The result was a first for the annual Colorado Cup Matches held between many of the best golf professionals and amateurs in the state.
With heavy rain, gale-force winds, lightning, hail, flash flooding and a tornado warning quickly turning a nice day into a batten-down-the-hatches situation, the Cup Matches were limited to a four-ball session, with the singles results being nixed in mid-session because of unplayable conditions at CommonGround Golf Course.
“We were down on No. 12 and I was getting a little nervous because it was starting to get dark,” said Steve Irwin, captain of the CGA’s open-division amateur team. “I looked up and saw the cloud spinning, and that really got all of our attention. So we were glad they called it when they did. We were ready to get out of there.”
Play was suspended due to lightning shortly after 4:30 p.m., with most players in the midst of their singles session and more than a half-dozen singles matches having been completed. But the weather deteriorated considerably from there, knocking out power in the clubhouse and buffeting a large tent nearby.
After more than an hour of suspended play, the singles session was canceled altogether, with the final result of the matches reverting to the scores that stood after the morning four-ball.
That means that the 2015 Colorado Cup Matches will go down as the CGA amateurs prevailing 4-2 in the open division.
“It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to get the whole day done,” Irwin said. “However, a win’s a win. Two in a row now. But it would have been good to get those matches in. There were some great ones. I was right smack in the middle of a very tough one with Tray Shehee. I was 2 down through 12. I had him right where I wanted him, though,” Irwin added with a smile. (Shehee and Irwin are pictured at left.)
I the senior division, the teams tied 3-3, with the Colorado PGA pros retaining that Cup because they won it last year. The Section’s pros had already won five singles matches and lost one when played was called, but those results were negated. Six matches had yet to be completed.
The Colorado PGA still leads the overall series in the open division 30-13, with two ties, though the CGA has prevailed the last two years.
The all-time senior division series is tied 15-15, with three ties, but the pros have gone 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings.
While the senior pros would like to have had the chance to post an outright victory on Wednesday, they understood and supported the decision to cancel the singles matches.
“I think that’s the way you have to do it,” said Ken Krieger, a veteran of about 40 Colorado Cup matches, including a few as an amateur. “It’s too bad, but it happens.”
Krieger, a two-time Section Player of the Year, and Robert Polk a three-time CGA Senior Player of the Year, were in the midst of a hard-fought match in which they were all square through 14 holes. (The two are pictured at left.)
“You want to see the thing completed,” said Polk, the CGA’s senior division captain. “You never know how matches can turn around. I know we had gotten beaten in some of them already. My match was even with Ken Krieger, who is such a gentleman and such a great guy. I don’t know how many times we’ve played each other, but quite a few. And it’s always fun. It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to finish it.”
Another notable match apparently going down to the wire was between 2012 CGA Player of the Year Steven Kupcho and 2008 Colorado PGA Player of the Year Erik Billinger, the men’s golf coach at the University of Denver. Those two were all square through 13.
“The weather turned quick,” Billinger said. “It’s unfortunate. I think there were some good matches going on when they called it so I’m bummed out. We wish we were playing, but I think (under the circumstances) you’ve got to call it. It’s the right thing to do. But I know the pros sure wish we could beat these young guys.”
Billinger (left) is another Colorado PGA pro who has also competed in the Colorado Cup Matches as an amateur. In fact, three times from 1999-2001, he was an amateur teammate of Kevin Stadler, who won last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour. Other longtime PGA Tour players who have competed in the Colorado Cup over the years include Steve Jones, Dow Finsterwald, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman and Fred Wampler.
“It’s fun to see the Cup Matches through the years, having been on both sides,” Billinger said. “Playing guys you looked up to … Now I’m playing the young guys and I want to see how their games are — scope it out a little bit. Kupcho is hitting it 100 (yards) by me every stinking time.”
Krieger feels similarly.
“This is a great event,” he said. “I’ve played since 1973. I love these. They’re great for golf. We get to hang out with the amateurs, we get to hang out with the pros.
“My very first Colorado Cup Match was against Clayton Cole when he was an assistant at Cherry Hills. It was 1973 at Lakewood Country Club. Clayton Cole was was a stud (of a player at the time). He was really good. I got beat 4 and 3 and I was pretty proud of that. I took him all the way to the 15th hole.”
This time around at the Cup Matches, some of the biggest highlights of the day came from amateur Alex Kephart, who along with Lamar Carlile were the only returnees from the 2014 amateur Colorado Cup team. In his 1-up four-ball victory with Chris Thayer over Geoff Keffer (the Colorado PGA’s Player of the Year two of the last three seasons) and Blake Sharamitaro. Kephart won the fifth hole for his team by holing out a 9-iron from 160 yards, then pitched in from about 40 yards on No. 8, winning another hole.
Unlike most years in the new millennium — and every year since 2008 — no women’s Colorado Cup competition was held in 2015 as the CPGA didn’t field a team. The amateurs representing the CWGA have won all 10 times women’s matches have been contested.
Colorado Cup Matches
At CommonGround GC in Aurora
OPEN DIVISION
FINAL SCORE: CGA Amateurs 4, Colorado PGA Professionals 2
Four-Ball: CGA 4, Colorado PGA 2
Chris Thayer / Alex Kephart, CGA, def. Geoff Keffer / Blake Sharamitaro, 1 up.
Lamar Carlile / Jacob Allenback, CGA, def. Caine Fitzgerald / Peter Norwood, 3 and 2.
Barry Milstead / Erik Billinger, CPGA, def. Jimmy Makloski / Cody Kent, 1 up.
Steve Irwin / Steven Kupcho, CGA, def. Doug Wherry / Will Panella, 1 up.
Tray Shehee / Dan O’Shaughnessy, CPGA, def. Adam Griffith / Braden Baer, 2 and 1.
Nick Nosewicz / Gus Lundquist, CGA, def. Vince Buelk / Jeff Carlson, 2 and 1.
SENIOR DIVISION
FINAL SCORE: Colorado PGA Professionals 3, CGA Amateurs 3
Four-Ball: Colorado PGA 3, CGA 3
Gregg Jones / Ken Krieger, CPGA, def. Kelly Crone / Larry Netherton, 7 and 6.
Frank Wilkinson / Bruce Hogg, CGA, def. Perry Holmes / Jeff Hanson, 5 and 4.
Mike Northern / Paul Lobato, CPGA, def. Steve Bell / Pat Bowe, 6 and 5.
Kent Moore / Robert Polk, CGA, def. Rick Ellefson / Zane Zwemke, 3 and 2.
Russell Aragon / Vance Pollock, CPGA, def. Harry Johnson / Robert West, 2 and 1.
Art Cudworth / Bob Chandler, CGA, def. Rick Cole / Tom Carricato, 6 and 5.
Last year, Evergreen resident Craig Stadler played in his final Masters after 38 appearances, including his victory in 1982.
This week, Stadler’s son Kevin, a part-time Denver resident, will carry on the tradition of Coloradans competing at Augusta National Golf Club. That is, assuming the stress fracture in his left hand allows it. Kevin Stadler has played a grand total of just two PGA Tour rounds — plus two holes — since mid-October because of the hand injury. He’s in the 2015 Masters field thanks to a top-12 finish in last year’s tournament — eighth place, to be exact — his best showing ever in a major championship.
Stadler said he’s about 70 percent of normal.
“Basically, I figured if my hand wasn’t detached I’d give it a go here,” he said. “I had the time of my life last year and I couldn’t miss it.”
(April 10 Update: Stadler posted rounds of 77-74 and missed the cut by five strokes.)
As has been well-chronicled, Craig Stadler was continuing to play the Masters with the hope that Kevin would earn an invitation and that they could be in the same field at Augusta. With that happening in 2014, the elder Stadler will end his streak of 36 consecutive Masters when the field tees it up on Thursday.
“For five years or so, I’d been saying under my breath to friends that the first year Kevin got in was going to be my last,” Craig Stadler recently told Golf Magazine. “And it worked out perfectly because he played really well. A couple of bogeys down the stretch on Sunday, but otherwise it was awesome to watch.
“I love the place (Augusta National). I always have, other than Thursday or Friday the past five or six years (he missed the cut his last seven times competing in the Masters). Last year, I had a blast watching Kevin over the weekend. He played well, and I loved every minute of it.”
(The Stadlers are pictured together at last year’s Masters.)
With this passing of the torch, it seems a good opportunity to look back on how players with strong Colorado ties who have played multiple times at the Masters have fared over the years:
Evergreen resident Craig Stadler — Masters appearances: 38. First Masters: 1974. Best finish: Won in 1982, beating Dan Pohl in a playoff. Top 10s: 5.
Boulder High School and CU graduate Hale Irwin — Masters appearances: 21. First Masters: 1971. Best finishes: Fourth in 1974 and ’75. Top 10s: 7. Notable: Irwin, now a three-time U.S. Open champion, finished in the top five at Augusta every year from 1974 through ’77.
Former Broadmoor director of golf Dow Finsterwald — Masters appearances: 14. First Masters: 1951. Best finishes: Third in 1960 and ’62. Top-10s: 5. Notable: Just months after being hired by the Broadmoor, Finsterwald posted his final top-10 at Augusta National, a ninth in 1964.
Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Dave Hill — Masters appearances: 12. First Masters: 1968. Best finish: fifth in 1970. Top-10s: 2.
Cherry Hills Village resident David Duval — Masters appearances: 11. First Masters: 1996. Best finish: second in 1998 and 2001. Top-10s: 4. Notable: Enjoyed his Masters success before moving to Colorado 11 years ago.
Former Yuma High School and CU golfer Steve Jones — Masters appearances: 9. First Masters: 1988. Best finish by 1996 U.S. Open champ: 20th in 1990.
Castle Rock resident Gary Hallberg — Masters appearances: 6. First Masters: 1978. Best finish: sixth in 1985.
Former Cherry Creek High School golfer Mike Reid — Masters appearances: 4. First Masters: 1981. Best finish: His only made cut was a sixth-place showing in 1989.
Former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 2001. Best finishes: 43rd in 2001 and 2005.
Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Dale Douglass — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 1969. Best finish: 19th in 1969.
Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 1999. Best finish: 14th in 1999.
Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird — Masters appearances: 3. First Masters: 2011. Best finish: 20th in 2011.
Aurora resident Mark Wiebe — Masters appearances: 2. First Masters: 1986. Best finish: 35th in 1987.
Part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler — Masters appearances: 2nd will be this week. First Masters: 2014. Best finish: Eighth in 2014. Notable: Stadler’s showing last year was his best performance in any major championship.
Two life events — coincidentally both occurring on the same day last week — prompted me to take a stroll down memory lane.
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, Jack Nicklaus celebrated his 75th birthday amid much attention. On that same day, my father-in-law, Keith Bunker, passed away in St. George, Utah.
Given that Keith was born in the same year as Arnold Palmer (1929), died on the same day Nicklaus turned 75, and had the last name of Bunker, perhaps it was inevitable that he was a huge golf fan. And so it was.
He and his wife, Donna, not only played many a round of golf over the years, but Keith marshaled at the Bob Hope Classic (now the Humana Challenge) on several occasions as they once lived near Indian Wells Country Club, one of the courses that’s been regularly used for the PGA Tour event. Keith proudly displayed numerous autographs of golf greats, including Palmer’s impeccable signature. (The two are pictured together at left.)
With Keith passing and Nicklaus hitting a milestone birthday, I had the urge to find a Ziploc bag that was stuck in a file in my closet nearly 34 years ago. That’s where I keep the mementos from one of my favorite days of my pre-adult years.
That plastic bag includes a fading photo from the Denver Post (top), a white Golden Bear golf glove, and a scorecard from Pinehurst Country Club in Denver (complete with a couple of autographs, below).
It all comes from a caddying gig I had on Aug. 24, 1981. On Nicklaus’ path to turning 75 last week, I was fortunate enough to spend five or six hours with him that day in 1981. The Golden Bear, one of my favorite sports figures as a teenager, came to Denver and Pinehurst to play a charity exhibition with Tom Watson and Dow Finsterwald. In case you’re wondering, that trio now has won a combined 27 major championships.
My good fortune in being picked to caddie for Nicklaus was due to Tony Novitsky, then the head professional at Columbine Country Club and now a well-deserved member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. I was the caddiemaster — and previously a caddie and a bag-room attendant — at Columbine under Novitsky, and he was nice enough to make my decade by one day asking me, rather nonchalantly, “Gary, how would you like to caddie for Nicklaus in that charity event coming up?”
I couldn’t spit out “That’d be great” fast enough, and I’m sure I had a silly grin on my face the rest of the day.
As it turned out, the caddie that was looping for Watson would ask me to switch bags for the exhibition, but being a huge fan of Nicklaus, I had no interest. Nothing against Watson — it would have been a great loop under any other circumstances — but I wasn’t going to miss the chance to caddie for arguably the greatest golfer of all time.
Having Nicklaus, Watson and Finsterwald play an exhibition in Colorado was a big deal back then, long before the state hosted a PGA Tour event — The International — on an annual basis. How big a deal?
Watson was driven to the event in a 1940s-era Rolls Royce, while Nicklaus came in a late-model limo. Just prior to the first tee shots, the scorecards were delivered by skydivers. About 7,000 people attended the exhibition, with some reportedly paying more than $1,000 to rub elbows with the Tour greats and get pictures taken with them.
A few things I’ll never forget from that day, good and bad:
— Getting introduced to the players in the locker room, and being a fly on the wall as Nicklaus and Watson exchanged fishing stories and swapping information about hot spots they’d frequented.
— On the practice range, Watson doing imitations of several fellow Tour standouts, including Nicklaus — complete with the long pause at address and the cock of the head just before takeaway.
— The crowd was so congested around Nicklaus at times that at one point I got caught up amid all the fans and ended up walking 50 yards past Nicklaus’ ball. Suffice it to say it was a long trek back to the ball, seeing him waiting somewhat impatiently for me to backtrack.
— One of the highlights was being recognized by some of the people in attendance. One friend came up to me between the first and second holes and said, “Not a bad loop today, huh Baines?”
— Nicklaus was gracious enough to ask me what club to hit on numerous occasions. But I didn’t always give him the best guidance. On one par-5, after hitting a perfect drive and facing a blind second shot, the Bear asked for an aiming point. I urged him to hit his ball toward Loretto Heights College in the distance.
On cue, he ripped a 3-wood about 250 yards exactly where I had directed him.
“I hope you’re right,” he said as he handed the club back to me.
“I hope so too,” I replied.
Unfortunately, as we approached the green, it became apparent the ball ended up in a greenside bunker front right of the putting surface. Nicklaus didn’t say anything to me, but joked about betting Watson $10,000 on his sand shot. Fortunately, Nicklaus saved my bacon by getting up and down for birdie — one of few he made en route to shooting an even-par 70.
— I’ve often said I certainly would have caddied for Nicklaus for nothing that day, but what happened at the end of the round took me aback — and remains puzzling to this day. Nicklaus came into the locker room after the other two caddies had left and he pulled out his billfold. I remember never having personally seen so much cash carried by one person; there were $50s and $20s galore.
Nicklaus then proceeded to pull out two $20s and ask me if I had $10 in change. A bit stunned, I said that I did, and handed him the bill. Apparently knowing an explanation seemed necessary, he noted that $30 was the amount the other players had paid their caddies.
I fully admit, the exchange left me a little deflated on an otherwise great day. It wasn’t the amount I was paid that bothered me so much, but I can honestly say that I’d rather have been left empty-handed than have been asked for change.
But that was a mere footnote to one of the best days of my life as a then-19-year-old. I soon became a sports writer and covered Nicklaus at quite a few tour events, including his win at the 1993 U.S. Senior Open at Cherry Hills Country Club — the last of his eight USGA championships. Through those experiences and others, I’ve come to respect Nicklaus in many ways other than strictly his considerable golf ability. His graciousness in dealing with the fans and the media, his strong sense of sportsmanship, being an outstanding family man — the list goes on and on.
But as a teenager, simply being able to spend half a day with one of my favorite sports figures ever was the experience of a lifetime. And as Nicklaus approaches his twilight years, I cherish it all the more.
I still get a big smile when I look at that Denver Post photo with Nicklaus signing autographs during the exhibition and me walking alongside with his bag and umbrella. And it still brings back memories seeing that old wrinkled white Golden Bear glove (left), and the Pinehurst Country Club scorecard with the side-by-side autographs of Nicklaus and Watson.
I’m sure it was the same way for my father-in-law Keith when he gazed at that Arnold Palmer autograph or thought back fondly to marshaling at the Bob Hope Classic.
Time marches on, but golf gives us memories worth cherishing.
After all, he was the product of just such a program.
Solich earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado after going to school on an Evans Caddie Scholarship, and now he’s doing his best to pay it forward.
His latest venture in that regard is one on a very large scale. With a $2 million lead gift from Solich and his wife Carol, the CGA on Monday announced the formation of the Colorado Golf Foundation, which will provide assistance “for innovative programs that use the game of golf to instill hard work and self-reliance in young people.”
For Solich, the kids are the key.
“I love golf and what it can teach kids of all socio-economic backgrounds — good lessons about character and competition,” he said. “For me, the game has affected my life in so many great ways.”
The CGA has been designated the organization that will manage the day-to-day affairs of the CGF, with guidance provided by an independent nine-person board of directors and five advisory directors who will review opportunities and distribute appropriate grants.
Former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., a lifelong Coloradan who helped structure the foundation, has been named the CGF’s chairman.
Among the programs the Colorado Golf Foundation anticipates funding are two which Solich has helped fund and support in the past: the year-old Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course, and the CGA’s Evans Scholarship Recruiter position. Others programs that have been specified for anticipated funding are other Colorado-based caddie programs and the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround.
(Solich is pictured above congratulating a participant in the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.)
And the plan is to consider support for “other youth-based programs and initiatives that place a high value on leadership, character development and the traditions of the game of golf.”
“I think the (CGF) will make a big difference,” said Nicholson, who has a long history of volunteerism in the game. “And I think it will be great particularly for young people; that’s the emphasis. I’m delighted and honored that George asked me to be chairman.”
Like Solich, Nicholson believes golf is an especially effective vehicle for instilling key values in young men and women.
“The key is that golf is a game of self-discipline and doing what’s right when no one is looking,” said Nicholson, who last year was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Solich hopes to see the $2 million seed he’s planted blossom into something that other philanthropists support and which will grow and thrive over the long haul.
The foundation “is almost a co-op for a lot of different programs we want to support through golf, and we hope others see the benefit (and assist in the effort),” Solich said. “I hope that $2 million (grows to be) a much bigger foundation and will drive some good programs in the state of Colorado that are rooted in golf and that will have a broad effect on people’s lives.
“When we look back in five or 10 years, I hope we can say, ‘Look at what we started and how many kids we affected.'”
The nine members of the CGF board, which must include at least two members of the CGA Board of Governors, are Nicholson, George Caulkins, former Cherry Hills Country Club head professional Clayton Cole, Jim Hayes, Phil Lane, CGA president Tom Lawrence, CGA executive director Ed Mate, Geoff Solich (George’s brother and an Evans Scholars alum) and Castle Pines Golf Club general manager Keith Schneider.
The advisory board will include George Solich, World Golf Hall of Famers Hale Irwin and Judy Bell, and Colorado Sports Hall of Famers Jack Vickers and Dow Finsterwald.
For several reasons, Solich feels the CGA is the ideal organization to manage the day-to-day affairs of the foundation.
“The mission of both organizations are strongly aligned, and what the CGA has done with CommonGround (which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA) as a tool is so admirable. They have the caddie program, the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program; it’s turned out to be an incredible confluence, a great staging area to deliver all these great programs. I also believe the leadership at the CGA has never been stronger, and the mission and direction has never been stronger. So it was perfect alignment.”
Providing the lead gift and guidance for the Colorado Golf Foundation is the latest of several major endeavors Solich has taken on in the golf realm over the last several years.
He was a major force in bringing the 2014 BMW Championship PGA Tour playoff event to Cherry Hills Country Club, and he will serve as general chairman of that tournament. The BMW Championship helps fund the Evans Caddie Scholarship. And in a related matter, Solich has been a Match Play Challenge partner in an initiative in which major donors match contributions of $2,500 or more to the Evans Scholarship. And that’s all in addition to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy — which is named in honor of brothers George and Geoff, both former Evans Scholars and prominent players in the oil and gas business — and George funding the CGA’s Evans Scholars Recruiter position.
“I’ve been blessed to be able” to give back, Solich said.
For more information on the Colorado Golf Foundation, or to support the CGF, contact Will Nicholson at 303-585-7100.
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