For the fourth time since late May, the Colorado golf community lost one of its most notable members as Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Bill Bisdorf passed away last Monday (Sept. 19) in Denver at the age of 87.

Ironically, the man who was born exactly four months before Arnold Palmer in 1929 died just six days before The King did on Sunday.

In winning three of the first four Colorado Opens at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, Bisdorf is one of just three players who have captured that title at least three times, along with Dave Hill (four wins) and Bill Loeffler (three).

Bisdorf (pictured) was runner-up to Bob Pratt in the 1966 Colorado Open, meaning his first four finishes in the tournament were first, first, second, first. He was also second in 1975 (placing just in front of Peter Jacobsen), third in 1971 and fifth in ’72.

Add it up and that’s seven top-five finishes in the first dozen Colorado Opens. He also won the the 1959 and ’66 Colorado Section PGA Championships, the 1960 Wyoming Open and the 1965 Mile High Open.

Ronn Spargur, a former longtime executive director of the Colorado Open, noted that Rocky Mountain News golf writer Dave Nelson — who’s also in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame — had a nickname for Bisdorf back in his prime.

“He called him ‘the blacksmith’ because (Bisdorf) could hit the ball two or three miles,” Spargur said. “He was really strong.”

Indeed, it’s said that Bisdorf out-drove Jack Nicklaus during practice leading up to the 1967 PGA Championship at Columbine Country Club.

Not surprisingly, Bisdorf was named the Colorado PGA’s Player of the Year following his first two Colorado Open victories (1964 and ’65). He also claimed the championship in 1967. Interestingly, Bisdorf didn’t receive any official prize money for winning the first Colorado Open as there was no purse that year. And it’s notable that the runner-up that first year, amateur Jim English, also passed away in the summer of 2016. In ’65 and ’67, Bisdorf won $1,000 and $1,200, respectively, for his Colorado Open victories.

Bisdorf competed in 46 events on the PGA Tour from 1956 to ’71, including a career-high 14 in 1957. He posted two top-10 finishes, including a third place in 1956.

Bisdorf played 16 major championships over the years — 10 PGA Championships and six U.S. Opens. He finished tied for 20th — along with Raymond Floyd — in the 1967 PGA Championship at Columbine.

And after the creation of the Senior Tour — now known as PGA Tour Champions — Bisdorf competed in nine events on that circuit from 1980 to ’86, recording three top-25 finishes.

A member of the PGA of America since 1955, Bisdorf served as the head professional at Green Gables Country Club from 1959 through ’67. He later owned Denver Capitol Golf, where golfers could receive year-round lessons, then was head professional at Twilight Golf Course from 1979 to ’89.

Bisdorf was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. Since May, fellow Hall of Famers Will Nicholson Jr., English and Ed Nosewicz have also passed away.

Norma Bisdorf, Bill’s wife, said there will be no services, but half of his ashes will be placed at Fort Logan Cemetary. Bill Bisdorf served in the Navy and played on Naval Championship teams along with Billy Casper and Gene Littler during the early 1950s. 

Bisdorf is survived by Norma, five children, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
 

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the fourth monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1945-54. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE.

When it comes to the first decade after World War II, golf in Colorado received a nice boost from a pair of Babes, along with Bantam Ben. Even Bing and Bob played a role.

Alliteration aside, in some ways the period from 1945-54 was a golden era of sorts for the game in the Centennial State.

Though two major championships had come to Colorado in the previous decade — Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the 1938 U.S. Open and the 1941 PGA Championship — Denver landed a regular PGA Tour event in the post-war era. The Denver Open was held on and off from 1947 to ’63, with Cherry Hills, Wellshire, Meadow Hills and Denver Country Club playing host at one time or another.

Ben Hogan — the aforementioned Bantam Ben — was by far the biggest name to win the event, prevailing in 1948 at Wellshire, marking his sixth consecutive victory on the PGA Tour. The Denver Open was one of 10 PGA Tour wins Hogan posted that year, including both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. But Hogan didn’t make any points with event organizers as he failed to show up for the trophy presentation. Apparently, he didn’t feel his 18-under-par 270 total was going to be good enough for victory, so he departed immediately after completing his final round, saying, “I can’t win.”

Though Hogan would come back to compete in Colorado on several other occasions — including the 1952 “Hillsdilly” at Cherry Hills — an even bigger name made her mark in Colorado during this time, one Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias. (The two are pictured together at left in the early 1950s. Zaharias is also pictured above.)

Zaharias was six times AP’s Female Athlete of the Year, and several of those awards were won while Babe and her Pueblo-born husband, George, lived in the Denver area. They moved to Colorado in 1943. Zaharias went on to win the 1946 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open three times from 1948 through ’54. And in 1947, she traveled to Scotland and became the first American to win the British Ladies Amateur.

When Babe and George Zaharias subsequently returned to Denver, they were given a 250-pound, 15-foot-high key to the city. Some dubbed her “Denver’s Queen of the Fairways”.

It’s said that during the 1946 and ’47 seasons, Zaharias won 17 consecutive tournaments while representing Park Hill Country Club.

Zaharias, who was also a regular at Lakewood Country Club during her years in Colorado, captured one of her major championships in her adopted home state. She defeated Peggy Kirk in the finals of the Women’s Western Open at Cherry Hills in 1950 to claim her fourth and final title in the event, the first three having come as an amateur.

Also in 1950, the Associated Press named Zaharias its women’s athlete of the first half of the 20th century.

In addition to the Women’s Western Open, tournaments Zaharias won in Colorado include the 1946 Women’s Trans National at Denver Country Club and three consecutive Broadmoor Ladies Invitations starting in 1945.

Zaharias, one of the founders of the LPGA and a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, finished with 41 LPGA Tour victories, including 10 majors, before dying of cancer in 1956 in her native state of Texas. She’s part of the inaugural class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, being inducted in 1973.

Another inductee that year was Charles “Babe” Lind (left), who likewise made a significant mark in Colorado golf after World War II. Lind has the distinction of being the first Colorado native to compete in the Masters. That berth came thanks to outstanding performances in 1946, most notably at the Trans-Mississippi Championship held at Denver Country Club.

In the first Trans-Miss conducted since 1942 due to World War II, Lind advanced to the final in grand fashion by holing out a sand shot for birdie on the 36th hole of his semifinal match. And though Skee Riegel beat him in the final, it was quite a showing for Lind in one of the nation’s top amateur tournaments of those days.

Lind, a standout player and coach for the University of Denver golf team in the 1940s and early ’50s — he was named the AAU’s Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 1946 — also won the 1946 CGA Match Play and his third CGA Stroke Play, in 1948. He would go on to become director of golf for the city of Denver in 1955, holding that position for three decades.

As for the other folks we mentioned in the first paragraph of this story, two of the biggest celebrities of this period also happened to love golf, and they came to Colorado to play on several occasions. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope participated in the Park Hill Invitational over the years, as did Zaharias, boxer Joe Louis and Dwight Eisenhower, who also became a fixture at Cherry Hills.

Other highlights of the decade from 1945-54:

— One of the top lifelong amateurs of all time, Charlie Coe, had quite a run at the Broadmoor Golf Club. Not only did he win back-to-back Broadmoor Invitation titles in 1947 and ’48, he captured the ’49 Trans Miss at the history-laden Colorado Springs club. Coe also prevailed in the 1952 Trans-Miss, hosted by Lakewood Country Club.

— Wellshire Golf Course was the site of just the second USGA championship held in Colorado — after the 1938 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills — as the 1946 U.S. Amateur Public Links came to Denver. Smiley Quick won his lone USGA title at the course.

— Denver Country Club hosted its first USGA championship in 1950 as the third U.S. Junior Amateur ever held came to town. Mason Rudoph, runner-up the year before, captured the title. He would go on to win five times on the PGA Tour.

— Two people now in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, Jim English Sr., and Jack Vickers, squared off in the finals of the 1950 Trans-Miss in Omaha, with English winning 11 and 10 in the 36-hole title match.

— Two other significant national amateur events were held in Colorado in 1954, with Bruce Cudd winning the Western Amateur at the Broadmoor and James Jackson claiming the Trans-Miss at Cherry Hills.

— In major statewide amateur championships during the decade, Lou North won three times (CGA Match Plays in 1952 and ’53, and a Stroke Play in ’52) and Jim Vickers captured back-to-back victories in the Match Play in ’49 and ’50. Claude Wright claimed the middle two of his four CGA Stroke Play titles in 1947 and ’53, and Bob Clark Sr., won two of his own, in 1950 and ’51.

— Future longtime state legislator Les Fowler, then the golf coach at the University of Colorado, earned the first of his four major CGA championships at the 1954 Match Play.

— In women’s amateur golf, the CWGA started its Stroke Play Championship in 1948. Mrs. James Roessler was among the top players of the era, winning two CWGA Match Plays (1951 and ’52) and two Stroke Plays (1952 and ’54).
 

There aren’t too many people living today who can say they’ve personally played golf with Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

Jim English can truthfully make that claim, even though the first four out of that illustrious fivesome were born more than 100 years ago.

The longtime Denver-area resident, who will turn 88 this month, played a couple of holes with Sarazen in Omaha when English was 12 or 13. Then he played three holes with 1930 Grand Slam winner Jones during a practice round for the 1947 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, where English competed that year but Jones did not.

“When you’re around this number of years, you’re going to have a few stories,” English noted in an interview this week.

Yes, English has lived a memorable life in golf. And with U.S. Open qualifying beginning this month, it’s worth noting that 55 years ago he enjoyed one of his biggest moments in the game, earning low-amateur honors in the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

English, who had moved from Kansas to Colorado two years earlier, remembers seeing Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady” — along with a couple of other Broadway shows — that week, making for a “pretty wonderful vacation too.” But it was English’s performance at Winged Foot that’s particularly memorable.

In the U.S. Open, he bettered the likes of then-reigning U.S. Amateur champion Charlie Coe and Jack Nicklaus, who three months later would beat Coe in the final match at the Broadmoor to win the first of his two U.S. Amateurs. Also finishing behind English at Winged Foot were defending U.S. Open champion Tommy Bolt, Bob Goalby and Ken Venturi. Billy Casper won the tournament with a 282 total.

“I played fairly steadily” that week at the U.S. Open, noted English, who shot 74-75-77-73 for a 299 total. “Nicklaus missed the cut and I beat Charlie Coe by two. I chipped in for birdie on 16 in the last round, and I guess that made the difference. That U.S. Open had a pretty good amateur field.”

Though English accomplished plenty in his amateur golf career, that U.S. Open stands out as perhaps the biggest highlight.

“That’s because it was on a national scale,” he said. “Most of the other things I did were on a regional or local basis, though they were good tournaments to win.”

Qualifying for the U.S. Open back then wasn’t quite the task it is now. For instance, there were no “Local” qualifying tournaments, just 36-hole “Sectionals”. But still, 2,385 people entered the 1959 U.S. Open, so making it in the final field of about 150 players was anything but a cakewalk.

Despite that, English said he successfully qualified for nine U.S. Opens over the years. But the odd thing is, he competed in that national championship just five times (1951, ’53, ’58, ’59 and ’60).

There were different reasons different years why he didn’t go to the U.S. Open after qualifying several times in the latter 1940s and in 1950 — he was going to summer school at Creighton a couple of years, his wife was having a difficult pregnancy another, etc. Whatever the case, the USGA apparently took notice and sent English a letter basically asking, why do you bother qualifying if you don’t intend to compete in the U.S. Open?

“After that, they made it a point to ask qualifiers if they would actually go (to the Open),” English recalls. “But one of the reasons I went to the Sectional qualifying was that it was 36 holes at good golf courses and the entry fee was only $10. I liked the competition and I liked to play good golf courses.”

But English finally did compete at the U.S. Open in 1951 at Oakland Hills in Michigan. He missed the cut there, but on a course that allowed only two sub-par scores in four rounds, he was able to follow Ben Hogan during the champion’s final-round 67. That just whet English’s appetite for more.

The 20 years after the end of World War II were a very impressive time for English and his amateur golf career. He won three tournaments with big-time national amateur reputations: the 1950 Trans-Mississippi and the Broadmoor Invitation in 1955 and ’64. In the Trans-Miss, English put together one of the most dominating performances in the history of the championship match, winning 11 and 10.

English also competed in five U.S. Amateurs between 1947 and ’61, with the first and last being at Pebble Beach.

And English really made hay in state and regional tournaments in Colorado and the surrounding states.

He’s won six CGA championships, including three Stroke Plays, two Match Plays and a Senior Stroke Play. (He’s pictured at left with fellow Colorado Match Play champion Joan Birkland in 1960.) He’s claimed two Kansas amateur titles, one in Nebraska, the Iowa Open and Iowa Masters. He even won a championship in a previous incarnation of the Colorado Open.

“For a long time, I just couldn’t get enough golf,” he said.

It’s no surprise, then, that English has been inducted into three state golf halls of fame — for Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.

In fact, English was so good, he gave some serious consideration to becoming a playing professional. Besides the U.S. Open, he finished low amateur in a PGA Tour event in Kansas City in the 1950s.

“I was sorely tempted to turn pro,” he said. “I competed with the pros successfully. I played four exhibitions with Byron Nelson in the ’40s. He told me I could make money (on the PGA Tour), but I needed to be a better putter to win. But back then, the total purse for tournaments was about $10,000-$12,000. (After learning English had a degree, Nelson) recommended I just stay amateur and enjoy it.

“Later, when Orville Moody was an amateur out at Fitzsimons, he was making a decision whether to re-app (for another Army stint) or turn pro. I told him my experience. I said I’ve got a lot of regrets that I didn’t give it a go. I think I could have made it on the pro tour, but I don’t really regret it now. If I would have (played on the tour), I wouldn’t have the large family I have now.”

English has 11 kids, 25 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

English probably could have added to his list of golf accomplishments, but an injury in the mid-1960s slowed him down. He badly hurt his right hand while hitting a shot on the sixth hole at Denver Country Club. “After that, I was never quite the same,” he said.

While English had a successful career in the insurance business, he still relishes his days as a competitive golfer. Just two years ago (pictured at top), he was among the local U.S. Amateur veterans who participated in a U.S. Amateur Alumni Day leading up to the 2012 championship coming to Colorado.
 

The competitive golf season in Colorado will crank up to high gear in the coming weeks, and for one of the most notable tournament additions for this year, organizers will go back to the future.

The Broadmoor Invitation, an amateur event that built a big-time local and national reputation over a run that started shortly after World War I (1921) and continued until after the Cold War concluded (1995), will be resurrected this year.

After an absence of nearly two decades, the Broadmoor Invitation will rejoin the golf scene July 6-10, with the East Course at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs hosting the first return installment. The West Course also will probably be used in future years, according to Russ Miller, the Broadmoor’s director of golf.

“We’re trying to re-establish a historical tournament and things around the hotel,” Miller said, acknowledging that Phil Anschutz, whose corporation bought the Broadmoor in 2011, would like to tap into — and build upon — the rich history of the Broadmoor. “He’s very much that way. And we had a great Invitation here for a long time.”

Indeed, among the winners of the men’s Broadmoor Invitation over its long run as a premier amateur tournament were future U.S. Open champions Hale Irwin (winner at the Broadmoor in 1967) and Lawson Little (1933), along with Tom Purtzer (1973), Grier Jones (1968), Duffy Waldorf (1984), Bob Dickson (1966), John Fought (1977) and Willie Wood (1983) — all of whom went on to win on the PGA Tour.

Irwin, who also captured the 1967 NCAA title as a University of Colorado golfer, won 20 times on the PGA Tour (including three U.S. Opens), a record 45 times on the Champions Tour, and has been a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame since 1992. Little is also a World Golf Hall of Famer. Other Broadmoor Invitation champions include noted lifelong amateur great Charlie Coe (1947 and ’48), three-time Colorado Open champion Bill Loeffler (1976, ’78 and ’87), N.C. “Tub” Morris (for whom the CGA Stroke Play Championship Trophy is named; 1928), and Jim English (1955 and ’64). For the record, the tournament was called the Broadmoor Amateur Open during its early years.

But while the Broadmoor Invitation was an individual competition for the great majority of its run, the 21st-century version will hearken back to the format the tournament used in the final years of its previous incarnation — as a scratch four-ball championship.

Miller hopes to draw 64 two-man teams — with players with handicaps of 12 and lower — and he currently has about half the field full. After a practice round on July 6, a qualifying round will be played on July 7, then July 8 through 10 will feature match play. And regardless of how teams fare, they’ll play all the way through the 10th.

“We’re trying to get away from college golfers, and go more to seniors and mid-amateurs,” Miller said. “We’re not trying to compete with the U.S. Amateur. Most of the people in the field will be 40 or older,” though it’s open to younger golfers.

“Most of the players signed up (so far) are from Texas and Oklahoma, and a lot of them played (the Broadmoor Invitation) in the past or their dads played.”

While players from all over are welcome, the Broadmoor is hoping to get a large representation from Colorado.

Though the Broadmoor Invitation in its previous run preceded Miller’s arrival at the golf club (1998), he said the tournament went by the wayside primarily due to financial reasons, with two golf courses being used for a week during the prime season, and players not required to stay at the Broadmoor Hotel.

In the 21st-century Broadmoor Invitation, it’s a package deal. The cost — $3,950 for one player and a spouse/guest — includes accommodations at the Broadmoor Hotel, five rounds of golf, tournament registration, a variety of exclusive events and activities, selected meals and receptions for both players and their spouses/guests, and gifts and awards. Dow Finsterwald, winner of the 1958 PGA Championship and a former director of golf at the Broadmoor, will be a special guest at the closing awards dinner on July 10. For more information or to enter, contact Miller at rmiller@broadmoor.com.

With the Broadmoor featuring a five-star hotel and golf courses that have hosted seven USGA championships, the Invitation is right in the resort’s wheel-house. Earlier this year, the Broadmoor was named the top resort in North America in Golf magazine’s biennial rankings. In earning the No. 1 spot, the Broadmoor beat out the likes of The Greenbrier, Bandon Dunes, Kiawah Island, and the Pebble Beach, Pinehurst and Sea Island resorts.

(Top photo: Will Nicholson Sr., a onetime mayor of Denver, presents the Broadmoor Invitation trophies. Photo below: runner-up Walter Crooks and champion George Cornes with the trophy in 1929.)