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.
 

Who knew they’d hold the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, and a Hartford Hawks reunion event would break out?

On the day The Broadmoor turned 100 years old, two former University of Hartford golf teammates celebrated by both being among the top three players on the leaderboard after 36 holes of the Senior Open at the resort.

Jerry Kelly continues to lead the way at the championship, and Tim Petrovic, his teammate for three years at Hartford, is in third place, with Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez sandwiched in between.

“Yeah, I kind of know him,” a smiling Petrovic said of Kelly.

Asked if there were any good Jerry Kelly stories, Petrovic noted, “We’ve got plenty of those stories. But we better talk about golf today.”

OK, if you insist.

Kelly, the leading money winner on PGA Tour Champions this year, sat atop the leaderboard on Thursday night and didn’t move as the Senior Open moved to its halfway point. The 51-year-old has gone 66-69 for a 5-under-par 135 total at the East Course, good for a one-stroke lead over Jimenez and a two-shot margin over Petrovic.

It should be noted that Kelly and Jimenez played the first two rounds together and will do so again for Saturday’s third round (1:50 p.m. tee time).

“Always it’s nice when you play with people who are playing good,” said Jimenez, a five-time winner on PGA Tour Champions. “It’s like a transmit, you know.”

And, of course, the Hartford boys like to see each other do well. Both were relatively late bloomers to PGA Tour-level golf — Kelly first played a full schedule on Tour at age 28 and Petrovic at 34 — but they’re in contention now for arguably the top title in senior golf.

“He’s always been an extremely good player,” Kelly said of Petrovic. “It’s tough to make it out there. It’s easier to make it once you get out there than it is to get out there. It took me until I was 28. It just took him a hair longer. And then once he got there, he knew he could do it — especially after watching me.”

Kelly has won three times each on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, while Petrovic has claimed one PGA Tour title.

Kelly made four birdies, including via chip-in on the 18th hole (his ninth), and three bogeys on Friday. (He’s pictured above celebrating his chip-in in a USGA photo.)

Jimenez (below in a USGA photo) did something that’s proving very difficult — putting together a bogey-free round at The Broadmoor — to shoot a 68 and trail Kelly by one. He hit 17 greens in regulation on Friday.

Petrovic carded the low round of the championship so far — a 5-under-par 65 — to vault into third place at 137. The 51-year-old has had quite a journey in golf, to say the least.

“I always joke around: I say the book is coming out some day,” said Petrovic, who in the middle of his pro career sold cell phones, delivered pizzas and worked at the YMCA. “If I could tell you where I started, and to end up on the PGA Tour … To get out there and be able to have the career I did from here I came from, it’s pretty much an uphill climb. But I never gave up and I always kind of saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”

On Friday, Petrovic shot a 6-under-par 30 on his final nine (the front) and the only blemish on his card was a bogey on No. 13 (his fourth hole).

Among the five players who share fourth place at 1-under 139 is World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III, who is playing his first senior major this week. He’s only competed once since early May, but is still in contention after matching Jimenez’s bogey-free 68.

“I’m still a little jumpy and get a little quick every once in a while,” the 54-year-old said. “I hit some really, really good ones and then once in a while I’ll hit one that’s really bad.

“It’s a little bit of anxiousness. When you put USGA in front of an event, the nerves go up a little bit.”

One of the most unique rounds of the day from among the leaders came from Paul Goydos. Starting on the ninth hole, he went birdie, bogey, double bogey, par, birdie, eagle, birdie en route to a 67 and a 139 total. His eagle on the 418-yard, par-4 14th came via a 9-iron hole-out.

“Those are the scorecards that when you’re checking it to sign it, you check it 27 times because you’re not sure it’s right.”

Jobe Lone Local Player to Make Cut; Rohrbaugh, Johnson Miss By 2, Rohrbaugh Despite Spectacular Finish: Just one of the golfers with strong Colorado ties competing in the U.S. Senior Open will be around to play the weekend.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe shot a 3-over-par 73 on Friday and shares 17th place at 3-over 143, trailing leader Jerry Kelly by eight.

The field was cut to 60 players after two rounds, and Colorado PGA members Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale and Chris Johnson of Castle Rock fell two shots shy of advancing to the weekend, both finishing at 10-over-par 150.

Rohrbaugh, the medalist in qualifying at The Broadmoor for this event, finished birdie-eagle to shoot a second-round 72, holing a 30-foot pitch on No. 9 for the eagle.

“You never want to miss the cut and I felt good going into this event, but (a finish like that) puts you in a much better mood, no doubt about it,” Rohrbaugh said.

Jobe, who shot 70 on Thursday, was 4 over par after five holes on Friday after running the gauntlet by starting on No. 10.

With tough pin placements — Jobe particularly wasn’t a fan of the one at the par-3 fourth — and gusting conditions, “I was hitting good shots and making bogeys,” Jobe said. “I couldn’t hit two better shots on 11 and still made bogey. It was just really difficult.”

But he played his final 13 holes in 1 under par to remain in the hunt. And don’t count Jobe out. After all, he shot a third-round 62 in this event a year ago.

“Today, I played well but didn’t get a lot out of my round,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but it’s good. So you never know. You shoot a 66 or 65, you’re back in the tournament. Jerry (Kelly) is 5 under. He’s going, ‘If I go out and shoot under par each day I win this golf tournament.’ But that’s not easy to do.

“There’s more pressure on (the leaders). I’ve got to kind of do what I did last year. I don’t know if a 62 is out there, but a good round will go a long way toward giving you a chance. If you get within five (going into the last round), you’ve got a chance.”

Johnson, the 2010 Colorado PGA Professional Champion playing in his first U.S. Senior Open, posted a second-round 76 on Friday.

“I struck the ball twice as good as I did yesterday (a 74),” he said. “I ended up three-putting three times on the front nine. That was really my undoing. You get those down in two and it’s a whole different game. You just can’t give away strokes on this golf course because they’re hard to get back.”

Rohrbaugh, the 2013 CoBank Colorado Senior Open champion, put on a big-time rally at the end of his round.

Wrapping up his day on the front nine, he hit it to 6 feet on No. 6 and to 5 feet on 7, though he missed both putts. He made a birdie from a foot on 8 and eagled 9 with the pitch-in.

“I’ll bet I had 15-plus friends and family out there watching,” he said. “My wife had all these hats made up with ‘One Putt’ on them — that’s my nickname. All my friends and family had them on, and they all flipped them backward as I’m walking down 6 (making them rally caps). So I flip mine on backward.

“I (later) thought, ‘Damn, we should have done that sooner.”

Also locally speaking, former University of Colorado golfer Mikael Hogberg and former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo — both at 156 — missed the cut, as did two-time champion and former Buff Hale Irwin (164)
 

Smoltz Improves By 8 Shots: Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who was mic’d for his first U.S. Senior Open, made some amusing comments during his two-day stay at the U.S. Senior Open.

“I feel like Mike Tyson has punched me here, here, here and here,” he said at one point.

But the former Cy Young Award winner got hit a little less on Friday than he did on Thursday. He followed up an 85 with a 77, leaving him at 22-over-par 162, 14 strokes above the 36-hole cut line.

“I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I learned my game wasn’t ready” to compete at this level. … “It took too long for me to get comfortable.”

Smoltz made two birdies on Friday, including pitching in on No. 12.

“I told them in the (FS1 TV) booth that … I want to see that in between innings” of a baseball game he broadcasts on Fox.

Locals Lend a Hand: Among those helping with rulings and scoring on Friday were more than a handful of people with strong Colorado ties.

Included were former USGA Executive Committee members Jim Bunch and Christie Austin, who along with Bob Austin and Greg With were serving as referees for round 2. Among those handling the scoring areas off holes 9 and 18 were CGA executive director Ed Mate and Colorado-based former USGA regional affairs director Mark Passey.

And former CGA staffer Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of the Rules of Golf and amateur status, was a general Rules rover and is on the Rules Committee for the championship.

Notable: Due to Saturday’s weather forecast, FS1 shifted its U.S. Senior Open telecast window to 1-6 p.m., one hour earlier than originally schedule. Tee times for Saturday will run from 8:46 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. … Among the notable players to miss the 36-hole cut on Friday were World Golf Hall of Famers Mark O’Meara (149), Tom Kite (152) and Hale Irwin (164); Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz (162); plus Corey Pavin (149), Mark Calcavecchia (149) and Tom Lehman (150). … Three amateurs made the cut, with Jeff Wilson and Mike Finster being low ams so far, at 147. … Jay Haas, 64, made his 14th consecutive cut in the U.S. Senior Open and stands at 139, four out of the lead. … Friday’s scoring average was 75.28. Thursday’s was 75.78.

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

For Saturday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.
 

Three players finished under par the last time the U.S. Senior Open was contested at The Broadmoor, in 2008. Three years later, three golfers were subpar at the end of the U.S. Women’s Open at the Colorado Springs resort.

After Thursday’s first round of the 39th Senior Open at The Broadmoor, no one would be surprised if the trend continues.

Though eight golfers finished round 1 in red figures, that total is likely to go down as the championship progresses and the conditions get (even) tougher.

And on the other end of the spectrum on Thursday, roughly half the field — 76 players — posted scores of 6-over-par 76 or higher.

“It’s playing tough. It’s hard,” said Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe, who managed an even-par 70 and shares ninth place. “The (Robert Trent) Jones greens, they’re all backing up. When you go across the street, those are all bouncing 10 yards. Then you come to 18 and it plugs in the fairway and it plugs on the green. And they’re out watering it before we’re playing. It was hard to have consistency.

“Then the breeze — one minute it was in (to the players), one minute it was left to right, one minute it was right to left. It would just go in a circle. That kind of made it tough.”

But on a day with all that and temperatures approaching 100 degrees, Jerry Kelly (pictured in USGA photo) was a bit of an anomaly. The PGA Tour Champions money leader in 2018, Kelly was bogey-free going into 18 — the only player who could say that at that point — but three-putted from 47 feet to make bogey on the last. Despite that, and a 2 1/2-foot miss for birdie on No. 9, he shot a 4-under-par 66, good for an two-stroke lead.

“I was pretty disappointed with that three-putt on the last hole,” said the 51-year-old from Madison, Wis.. “I misjudged the (approach shot). But (the course) gave me a lot today.”

Indeed, Kelly birdied four of his first six holes and added another one on 13.

“I hit the ball really well today,” said Kelly, who still also has status on the PGA Tour. “My coach and brother-in-law, Jim Schuman, is playing in the tournament as well (and shot 80 Thursday). So he really helped me and got me squared away. It’s a new/old move type thing and I just kept it up all day and felt really comfortable with it. Shots were coming out where I wanted them to. So it was a fun round.”

Four players share second place at 68, including the most interesting man in golf, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who was paired with Kelly and holed out for eagle on the 331-yard second hole. Also at that figure was Rocco Mediate, who 10 years ago barely lost a playoff to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open. Joining them at 68 were Kevin Sutherland and Deane Pappas.

The only other players to break 70 were two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair and Scott Parel, who matched 69s.

“The golf course played just like we wanted it to,” Mediate said. “If you miss (a fairway), you pay. If you hit it in the fairway, you could still pay because the greens are tough. It’s a perfect U.S. Open setup, in my opinion. I love it.”

Said Sutherland: “I thought (the USGA) did a great job of setting up the course. It was tough but it was playable.”

Jobe (left), who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99, is among those in the top 10.

Jobe was 2 over par for the first five holes, but went bogey-free the rest of the way and birdied both par-3s on the back nine for his 70. His 2-under score was the best on the back nine on Thursday.

“To shoot par, I didn’t have my best stuff, so that was good,” he said. “I made some good putts and I haven’t been doing that, so I kind of ended on a positive note the way I see it.

“If you can keep it at par … there aren’t going to be a lot of guys under par at the end of the day. Look at how few there are the first day. And it’s going to get tougher tomorrow afternoon for us. Par is going to be a heck of a score, which is how it should be. I like that. It drives you crazy, trust me, but that’s how it should be.”

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

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For all the essentials regarding this week’s U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, CLICK HERE.