McGill (left in a Golf Channel photo) improved on her 35th-place performance in 2017 thanks to an impressive 2-under-par 70 on Wednesday in French Lick, Ind., which tied for the low final round of the event.

The Denver native, who won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur and ’94 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, placed 23rd on Wednesday out of a field of 80 players. With a five-birdie three-bogey day in round 3, she posted a total of 12-over-par 228, finishing 20 strokes behind champion Laura Davies, who also won the U.S. Senior Women’s Open this year. McGill’s 70 was 10 strokes better than what she carded on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sherry Andonian-Smith, the Colorado PGA’s inaugural Women’s Player of the Year in 2018, tied for 37th place on Wednesday (233 total) and World Golf Hall of Famer and part-time Coloradan Hollis Stacy tied for 67th (244).

It’s been a memorable year for Andonian-Smith, who also qualified for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, finished second at the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, won her second Colorado PGA West Chapter Championship in three years, and became one of the first two Colorado women to qualify for the 2019 national PGA Professional Championship.

Here are the round-by-round scores for the players with strong Colorado ties who competed in the Senior LPGA Championship in French Lick, Ind.:

23. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill 78-80-70–228
37. Colorado PGA member Sherry Andonian-Smith 81-73-79–233
67. Part-time Colorado resident Hollis Stacy 78-80-86–244

For all the scores, CLICK HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Part of the idea behind the yearly rotation of sites for the girls and boys Junior America’s Cup tournaments is giving the competitors a sense of place, along with a wide variety of venues.

For instance, when the Girls Junior America’s Cup was held in Cheyenne last year, there was an unmistakable cowgirl theme. This past summer in Modesto, Calif., it was American Graffiti, given that the coming-of-age movie was supposed to be set in that city.

When the CWGA serves as the host association for the GJAC in 2018, obviously a Colorado-related theme will be in order. And not many courses scream “Colorado” more than Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, which will be the site of the GJAC in 2018 from July 23-26.

After all, Hiwan is set in the Rocky Mountains, features plenty of impressive local wildlife, and hosted the Colorado Open for the first 28 years of its existence. Hiwan has also been a hub of sorts for major junior events held in the state, having hosted the 1965 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 1976 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2006 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions and the 2011 boys Junior America’s Cup.

Even though the GJAC event is more than a year and a half away, the CWGA is already gearing up for the 18-team tournament, which features many of the best female junior golfers from the western U.S., western Canada and Mexico.

“The more we talk to people who have hosted, the more energy and enthusiasm we get,” CWGA executive director Laura Robinson said recently. “We’re throwing a party for 72 of the best high school golfers west of the Mississippi, and we’re competing with others who have gone before us. We have to make it unique for Colorado, and we want it to be memorable.”

This will mark just the third time the Colorado has hosted a Girls Junior America’s Cup, with the previous two instances coming at Eisenhower Golf Club, in 1982 and 2000.

Among the CWGA’s responsibilities as a GJAC host are finding a host club, arranging for host families and rules officials and other volunteers, fundraising, organizing the opening and closing ceremonies, preparing fun activities and entertainment, purchasing gifts for participants, and general day-to-day tournament management.

The organizers for the 2014 event in Cheyenne have shared their GJAC playbook with the CWGA, which has been very helpful, according to Robinson. Now it’s a matter of putting the pieces in place and adding a distinctive Colorado touch to the proceedings.

“We look at it as very big deal,” said Robinson, herself a member at Hiwan. “People are thrilled it’s coming back, including some who have played in the event. It has a lot of visibility. The sense I’ve gotten is it’s like a reunion for a lot of women. If we do it right, it will be an opportunity to be a reunion for a lot of players and a chance to see the next generation. There’s a sense of continuity and history.”

Robinson plans to join Colorado GJAC captains Sue Elliott and Bunny Ambrose in Las Vegas this summer for the 2017 tournament, where a “hand-off ceremony” will take place and the Coloradans will receive flags from all 18 participating four-person teams.

In recent months, Robinson and other CWGA leaders have been making a point to remind other major players in the Colorado golf industry that the GJAC is coming to Colorado in 2018.

“What we’re doing right now is spreading word to the Colorado golf community,” Robinson said. “We know we want it to be a collaborative effort.”

A team representing the CWGA has competed in the Girls Junior America’s Cup since the late 1970s. The 1993 Colorado team (left) — Heather Stock, Jennifer Kern, Ann Grooms and Jennifer McCormick, along with captain Sally Lou Schultz — captured the team title in the prestigious event, with Kern earning the individual championship that year. And as recently as 2013, the Coloradans finished third in the team race.

(It should be noted that when Hiwan and the CGA hosted the boys Junior America’s Cup tournament in 2011, the Coloradans matched their best finish ever by placing third. Robinson served as a volunteer during that event.)

Some of the best girls players in Colorado history have competed for the CWGA in the Junior America’s Cup. That includes Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill, along with Jennifer Kupcho, Ashley Tait, Becca Huffer, Kelly Jacques, Hannah Wood, Somin Lee and Paige Spiranac.

Among the longest-serving non-playing captains for Colorado over the years have been Schultz (1990 through 2000), Lynn Zmistowski (the earliest captain, in the late 1970s and early ’80s), Georgene McGonagle (mid to late 1980s); and then-CWGA staffers LindaSue Chenoweth (starting in 2000) and Kim Nissen (2006 to 2011 and ’13).

Generally speaking, among the most prominent Girls Junior America’s Cup champions over the years have been impending World Golf Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa from Mexico (a three-time winner), and fellow LPGA Tour veterans Brandie Burton, Pat Hurst and Dawn Coe-Jones, who recently passed away.

This year, those reflections have particularly come into focus.

With the CGA celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, there’s been a concerted look back on the past century of golf in Colorado. That includes a 10-part series of stories on notable people and events from the last hundred years.

Writing that series was illuminating, which brings us back to Thanksgiving. A better understanding of the past can lead to increased appreciation for all we have to be thankful for in Colorado golf.

To wit, here are 10 things that come to mind:

— Rich History of Golf. The Century of Golf Gala held recently at The Broadmoor particulary brought this home, with Jack Nicklaus reminiscing about his strong links to Colorado over the last 60 years. Nicklaus is one of golf’s all-time pantheon to have won significant tournaments in the state, with others being Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Kathy Whitworth, Babe Zaharias, Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson. For much more about Colorado golf history, CLICK HERE.

— Teamwork. Another thing that the Century of Golf Gala — 1,250 attendees strong — and related activities reinforced is that big things can happen when the Colorado golf community joins forces. Teaming up with the CGA in making it all a major success were the CWGA, Colorado PGA and the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association.

— Great Venues. The day of the Century of Golf Gala, a golf outing held at The Broadmoor (pictured) demonstrated yet again what stellar golf courses Colorado has produced. On a mid-November day, temperatures reached the mid-60s, and the setting was enough to make any golfer take pause. The same can be said for countless other courses in the state — Sanctuary, Arrowhead, Castle Pines, Ballyneal, Red Sky, Eisenhower, etc., etc. Golfers in Colorado are indeed fortunate.

— Good of the Game Partnerships. The recent creation of a partnership between the CGA and the Colorado PGA will result in a new Colorado Junior Tour and many other advantages for all levels of junior golfers in Colorado (READ MORE). It’s yet another example of how the game can be well served by constructive cooperation.

— Local Players Who Excel. Colorado has a long history of homegrown players hitting it big — with Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Dale Douglass, Jill McGill, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman, Kevin Stadler, Shane Bertsch, Bill Loeffler and to some extent Mike Reid, to name some. It’s always fun for Coloradans to have one of their own to root for on the national or international level. And we also have some very promising young players potentially in a similar pipleline with the likes of Mark Hubbard, Jennifer Kupcho, Wyndham Clark and Hannah Wood.

— Highly Regarded PGA Professionals. There are oustanding PGA professionals throughout the country, but members of the Colorado PGA have proven to be high achievers as the Section or its members have won national PGA of America awards eight times in the last nine years. And highly respected instructor Ann Finke was recently voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, along with Colorado-based Champions Tour player Craig Stadler. And Vic Kline was honored as Colorado Golf Professional of the Century during the Century of Golf Gala.

— Foundations to Support Good Causes. Numerous golf foundations in Colorado do considerable and commendable work in bolstering good causes through the game of golf. Among them are the Colorado Golf Foundation, Colorado PGA Reach, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, and the Rocky Mountain Environmental Golf Institute.

— Volunteers. While the staffs of the major golf organizations in Colorado do yeoman’s work, those organizations would be a shell of what they are were it not for volunteers. Such volunteerism came to the forefront this past year with the passing of Joe Salvo, and the departure from the Colorado tournament golf scene of Rich Langston and Joan Scholes. Each of them made major contributions — in terms of both time and dediction — to the likes of the CGA, CWGA and Colorado PGA over the years. And many, many others do likewise each year.

— Another Senior Major on the Horizon.This year it was announced that the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at The Broadmoor the year the resort celebrates its 100th birthday. It will mark the third U.S. Senior Open held in Colorado, meaning only Ohio (with six) will have hosted more. The Centennial State also was home to another senior major, the Senior PGA Championship contested at Colorado Golf Club in 2010.

— Good People. I’ve always marveled at the number of good people you meet through the game of golf. Perhaps it’s part of the significant “self-policing” aspect of the sport that tends to attract people of high character. But whatever the case, it’s refreshing.

And yet another reason to give thanks.
 

This week, the focus is more on turkey than two-putts, more on pumpkin pies than pars, and more on family and fellowship than fairways and flagsticks.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to reflect on the game of golf, and reasons to be thankful for it, especially here in Colorado.

Therefore, in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, here are nine things for which to be grateful, Colorado golf-wise:

— Stellar Golf Venues: Think of the golf courses and locales that are options in the state, and it’s enough to make anyone who loves to play the game salivate as if they were sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. And not only are venues like Arrowhead (pictured above), the Broadmoor, Ballyneal, Sanctuary, Eisenhower, Perry Park and Red Sky jaw-droppingly beautiful, but the topography of the state makes for a great variety of courses.

— Diversity of Major Events: When The International PGA Tour stop took its final bow in 2006 after a 21-year run, there’s no doubt it created a big void. But looking back on the diversity of tournaments that helped fill that void is truly remarkable. Over the last seven years, Colorado has hosted the best men’s and women’s professionals in the world, the best seniors, as well as the best amateurs. There’s been the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the U.S. Amateur Public Links, the 2009 Palmer Cup, the 2010 Senior PGA Championship, the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open, the 2012 U.S. Amateur, the 2013 Solheim Cup and the 2014 BMW Championship. Suffice it to say it’s been a pretty nice lineup for Colorado golf fans.

— Relatively Inexpensive Golf: While there are plenty of golf courses in Colorado that cost a pretty penny to play, there’s also an abundance of quality, well-maintained venues that charge $40 or less for a round. And there are even some nice courses where you can walk up to the counter on a summer weekend, pay your 18-hole green fee, and get change from the $30 you hand the golf shop attendant. For those who have played much in other states, you can get some pretty good bang for your buck in Colorado.

— Outstanding Golf Associations: While your average golfer in Colorado may or may not know it, there is tireless work being done behind the scenes by local golf associations — the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents and others — to assure that the game thrives not just now, but well into the future.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore summed it up well on Sunday at the Colorado Golf Awards Brunch. While he was speaking specifically about the CGA, it’s safe to say the general notion applies as well to the other major golf associations in the state: “I’ve seen this come from a cigar box and two guys on the first tee to an incredible organization that runs championships as professional as any you’ll ever see, and now making an incredible impact in the community. It’s just fabulous.”

— Volunteerism: While there are many paid staffers that make Colorado golf special with their day-to-day work, the amount of time and energy and wholehearted effort devoted by volunteers in the game is impressive. More than 2,500 people — 90 percent coming from Colorado — volunteered in the first week of September at Cherry Hills to help make the BMW Championship the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year. Other volunteers devote countless hours year-in and year-out to the CGA, CWGA, Colorado PGA and a myriad of other organizations to make the game what it is. In yet another example, just this week it was announced that Colorado Golf Club head professional Graham Cliff will serve as a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Denver men’s golf team. Without all these volunteers — and those who donate financially to the game — golf would be a shell of what it is.

— A Game of Honor: While this one certainly isn’t limited to Colorado, it’s noteworthy that golf is a leader in the world of sports regarding sportsmanship, integrity and honesty. Seldom does more than a couple of months go by without stories coming out about how a golfer reported a costly rules violation on himself or herself that no one else was aware of. Even at this year’s BMW Championship at Cherry Hills, Keegan Bradley withdrew after having lingering doubts about an embedded-ball ruling he received early in the tournament (CLICK HERE). 

— Great Programs for Juniors: Knowing that kids are the future lifeblood of the game, there is particular emphasis in recent times in drawing youngsters to golf and exposing them to all the virtues of the game, including through caddying.

Among the many worthwhile local programs that focus on youth are the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy (left) at CommonGround Golf Course, the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program, the Evans Scholarship house for caddies at the University of Colorado, and the local First Tee chapters.

— Local Tour Players: Every golf fan has his/her favorite tour players, but many Coloradans take a special interest in those who cut their teeth in the state as junior golfers and college players, then make it to the big time. Certainly that’s true in Colorado, with players like Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Brandt Jobe, Kevin Stadler, Martin Laird and Jill McGill. And now there’s a younger group of local players who are getting their chance on golf’s big stages, golfers like Mark Hubbard, Espen Kofstad, Emily Talley and Becca Huffer, along with transplanted Coloradans like Sam Saunders. It’s always fun to see the local kid make good on a national/international level.

— The Sheer Camaraderie Achieved Through Golf: As the world gets ever faster-paced, and more and more time is devoted to gadgetry of one type or another, spending a few hours on the golf course with friends, family or random acquaintances can be remarkably refreshing.

Kind of like Thanksgiving.
 

Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder and played college golf and football at the University of Colorado, of course leads the way with his five USGA titles (three U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens).

Babe Zaharias, who lived in Edgewater, claimed four USGA championships during the 1940s and ’50s. Hollis Stacy won six USGA titles, though they came long before she made Lakewood her part-time residence. Orville Moody, once stationed at Fitzsimons while in the Army, has a U.S. Open and a U.S. Senior Open to his credit. And longtime Colorado Springs resident Barbara McIntire won the second of her U.S. Women’s Amateur titles 50 years ago this year, defeating JoAnne Gunderson (now Carner) for the victory.

Another local, Denver native Jill McGill, is also part of that distinguished company. Twenty years ago this summer, the Cherry Creek High School graduate won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. (She’s pictured above, in a USGA photo, with the WAPL trophy.) That win came less than a year after McGill claimed the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur title.

When The Home Course in Dupont, Wash., hosts the Women’s Publinks next week (July 14-19), it’ll mark the final time the championship is played after a 38-year run. The USGA announced last year that it is discontinuing both the women’s and men’s Publinks tournaments, and adding men’s and women’s four-ball championships.

“I have very mixed emotions” about the Publinks being discontinued, McGill said in a USGA.org Q&A earlier this year. “I believe in recent years, the U.S. Women’s Amateur has really come to the forefront and has emerged as the premier USGA event for female amateurs. But at the same time … public golf is such an important part of the sport of golf in general. There’s also the historical element of it. Winning the WAPL is a great feat and a lot of those champions have gone on to tremendous careers professionally. Anyone who has won an event would be sad to see it go. It’s fun to relive the memory of the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.”

McGill, who won the 1988 CWGA Junior Match Play and the first sanctioned Colorado girls state high school tournament (1990), went on to earn more than $2.3 million on the LPGA Tour, posting 24 top-10 finishes along the way. She’s now a longtime southern California resident.

When McGill defeated her USC teammate, Heidi Voorhees, 6 and 4 in the Publinks final in 1994 in Canton, Ohio, she became just the third player in history to simultaneously hold the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Publinks titles. McGill also was the stroke-play medalist at the ’94 Publinks.

“Both championships are very close to my heart,” McGill told USGA.org. “One was played on a public course and one was played on a private course (San Diego Country Club for the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur), but in terms of the level of competition, I think they both were tremendous.”

McGill was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2009, and her two USGA titles were definitely among the highlights of her career, along with five top-three finishes on the LPGA Tour, being a two-time All-American at USC, and placing second in the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur and fourth in the 1994 NCAA Championships.

The U.S. Women’s Publinks victory two decades ago “is an important event in my life,” she said. “It’s a USGA title and any time you can hold a USGA title, I think it’s a great marker for your success in golf. It’s an honor to be known as a Women’s Public Links champion.”

McGill does note, however, that there was one bit of ignominy that went with her Women’s Publinks victory in 1994.

That “was the first place where I recorded a whiff in competition,” she said. “That’s one thing I remember for sure. I gladly held up my finger when I was trying to hit the ball from under a tree and said, ‘That’s one.’

“And I played in the finals against Heidi Voorhees, who was actually my college teammate at the University of Southern California, which was sweet sorrow. I wanted to see her do well, but I wanted to beat her like a drum at the same time.”
 

Four players with strong Colorado ties have won significant tour events in the first six months of the year, one leads a 2013 tour money list, and one competed on Golf Channel’s “Big Break” series.

One Colorado Golf Hall of Famer returned to the LPGA Tour after a two-year absence, and another lost his fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour.

In short, “locals” have crammed a year’s worth of notable events into six months.

Here’s the rundown:

— Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird ended a two-year PGA Tour victory drought by shooting a course-record-tying 63 in the final round of the Valero Texas Open, where he overcame runner-up Rory McIlroy. It was the third PGA Tour win of Laird’s career.

The Scotsman, who later finished in the top five at The Players Championship for the second consecutive year, stands 23rd on the 2013 PGA Tour money list.

— Evergreen resident Craig Stadler (pictured), in the same month he turned 60, won his first Champions Tour event in eight years and nine months when he prevailed in the Encompass Championship last month.

The former Masters champion won three times in 2003 and five times in 2004 on the Champions Tour, but hadn’t hit pay-dirt again until this year. His feat marks the longest time between victories in Champions Tour history.

— Former Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo has had a stellar rookie season on the Champions Tour, capped by a victory in the Insperity Championship, where the native of Mexico prevailed in a three-man playoff on Cinco de Mayo.

With five top-10 finishes — and eight top-20s — Toledo sits seventh on the 2013 Champions Tour money list.

— Former University of Denver golfer Sue Kim likewise won a playoff for her victory this year. The Canadian posted her win last month in the Symetra Tour’s Decatur-Forsyth Classic.

Kim, who is conditionally exempt on the LPGA Tour, leads the Symetra Tour money list in 2013. She’s posted three top-three finishes this year.

— Former University of Colorado golfer Emily Talley was picked to compete in this year’s Golf Channel “Big Break Mexico”, which featured 12 professionals vying in various skills challenges for the right to play in a PGA or LPGA Tour event, plus other prizes.

But Talley, who competes on the Symetra Tour, was one of the first players eliminated from the show. At 22, she was the youngest Big Break competitor this year.

— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill has won $2.34 million in her LPGA Tour career but hadn’t competed on the circuit in two years. That changed in May when she placed 61st in the Bahamas LPGA Classic. McGill, winner of two USGA amateur championships, has played in three LPGA events so far this year, and is entered in this week’s Manulife Financial LPGA Classic.

— Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Brandt Jobe, lost his fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour in May. As part of his major medical extension, he needed to earn at least $303,178 in his first 10 Tour events of the year to keep his full status.

Jobe missed that mark, and now he’s relying on veteran members’ status and sponsor exemptions to get into tournaments.

For a weekly update on tour players with major Colorado ties, CLICK HERE.