The fall portion of the college golf season wrapped up last week for the Division I programs based in Colorado.

There were plenty of highlights for teams and players with major connections to the Centennial State and, probably not coincidentally, many of those superlatives took place in tournaments held in Colorado.

As we enter intermission for a 2018-19 season that won’t resume in earnest until February in most cases — or late January at least — we’ll revisit some of the top local moments from the fall Division I schedule:

— The University of Colorado men’s squad claimed two team titles in September — at the season-opening Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational at the Air Force Academy, and at their own Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational in Erie.

— Not to be outdone, the Colorado State University men also won twice team-wise in the fall. The Rams claimed their fifth straight title as they hosted the Ram Masters Invitational in Fort Collins, then prevailed in winter-like conditions at the Paintbrush Invitational in Parker.

— On the women’s side, CSU accomplished a momentous feat by earning a team victory at a major invitational for the first time in over eight years. It came at the University of Denver’s Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate in Highlands Ranch, the Rams’ third tournament under new head coach Laura Cilek.

— At that same event, CSU junior Ellen Secor claimed the first individual victory of her college career. Secor subsequently was named the Mountain West Conference’s Women’s Golfer of the Month for October. And notably, one of the two players who tied for second in Highlands Ranch, a stroke behind Secor, was CSU’s Katrina Prendergast, Secor’s teammate when the two won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball national championship in May. (The two are pictured, with Secor at left.)

— Kyler Dunkle, who grew up in Colorado and won the CGA Amateur in August, had a stellar fall individually as a senior at Utah. Dunkle won the individual title at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational for the second straight year. And this time, it was his second college win in eight days. Dunkle finished the fall with three top-four finishes.

— Also at CU’s Simpson Invitational, Buffs sophomore Trevor Olkowski technically tied for the individual title — and it will go down as a victory — though Dunkle beat him in a playoff by making a 6-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. (Below, Olkowski is pictured with Dunkle, in the red shirt.)

— Junior Daniel O’Loughlin, a CU teammate of Olkowski, recorded an outright individual victory at the season opener at the Air Force Academy. O’Loughlin notched four top-10 finishes in five fall tournaments.

— One of the more remarkable performances of the fall was by CSU freshman Oscar Teiffel, from Sweden. In a final round of the Paintbrush Invitational in which temperatures hovered in the mid-30s and it was snowing more than a little, Teiffel carded a stellar 5-under-par 67 at Colorado Golf Club. The three-stroke victory was the first for Teiffel in his young college career.

Add up all of the above, and local schools recorded five team victories in the fall, and local players posted six individual wins — or, in Olkowski’s case, a tie for first.

— Junior Robyn Choi, the top player for the CU women, didn’t manage an individual victory in the fall, but certainly made a few runs at it. In all, she had three top-six finishes in three fall tournaments. And, perhaps most impressively, she earned her LPGA card for 2019 by finishing 45th in the final stage of Q-school, the Q-Series.

— Coby Welch, a junior at the University of Northern Colorado who went to the U.S. Amateur in August, had a strong fall, notching three top-five individual finishes — all coming in Colorado. He was third at both the Gene Miranda and Ram Masters, and fifth at the Paintbrush Invite.

— Freshmen had the top two stroke averages for CSU in the fall: Teiffel (70.77) and Aurora resident Davis Bryant (72.13).

— Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch, a junior at the University of Denver, shot a program-record 8-under-par 64 to close out the Golfweek Conference Challenge at the Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott. The stellar final round gave Weinstein her best individual finish — third place — since transferring from Regis to DU in the summer of 2017.

— Luke Trujillo, a freshman from Colorado Springs, leads the Air Force Academy golf team in stroke average after the fall season with a 74.4 norm.

— Beah Cruz, a sophomore from Vacaville, Calif., recorded two top-10 individual finishes for the University of Northern Colorado women in the fall — a sixth and a ninth.

— Meanwhile, in a matter not directly related to performance, this season a DU women’s player is carrying a golf bag at each tournament that honors Danny Dietz, a Navy Seal and former Littleton resident who was killed in combat in 2005 during the war in Afghanistan. Coach Lindsay Kuhle went to Heritage High School with Dietz, knows his family, and came up with the idea to pay tribute to Dietz through the Folds of Honor Foundation program. Dietz’s story was part of the book and movie “Lone Survivor”.

Below are the rankings for the Colorado-based NCAA Division I teams as of the end of the fall season (updated Nov. 14):

Men
Colorado State ( 47th Golfstat, 51st Golfweek)
Colorado (73rd Golfstat, 81st Golfweek)
Northern Colorado (118th Golfstat, 122nd Golfweek)
Denver (137th Golfstat, 149th Golfweek)
Air Force Academy (203rd Golfstat, 204th Golfweek)

Women
Colorado (36th Golfweek, 42nd Golfstat)
Colorado State (69th Golfstat, 74th Golfweek)
Denver (79th Golfweek, 81st Golfstat)
Northern Colorado (149th Golfstat, 150th Golfweek)

And here are the rankings of local players in the top 250 in the nation:

Men
91. Longtime Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah (Golfweek)
110. Daniel O’Loughlin, CU (Golfstat)
118. Oscar Teiffel, CSU (Golfweek)
120. Coby Welch, UNC (Golfstat)
189. Davis Bryant, CSU (Golfweek)
238. Trevor Olkowski, CU (Golfstat)

Women
11. Robyn Choi, CU (Golfstat)
57. Coloradan Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest (Golfweek)
72. Kirsty Hodgkins, CU (Golfweek)
87. Mary Weinstein, DU (Golfweek)
97. Former Coloradan Elizabeth Wang, Harvard (Golfweek)
192. Katrina Prendergast, CSU (Golfstat)
 

Over the last 15 days, the junior has played 11 competitive rounds against some of the best women’s competition around. Eight came in the LPGA Q-Series, in which she finished tied for 45th, earning one of the final LPGA Tour cards available for 2019.

Then the two-time U.S. Women’s Open qualifier flew from Pinehurst, N.C., to Hawaii to compete for CU in the Nanea Pac-12 Preview, which started less than 48 hours after the eight-round Q-Series concluded.

Not only did Choi (left in an LPGA photo) make it in time, she finished fifth individually in the 60-player event, joining fellow Australian Kirsty Hodgkins in posting top-five showings on Wednesday.

Hodgkins’ third-place performance marked her second top-five in eight days and the seventh of her career. Hogdkins recorded rounds of 76-69-70 for a 4-under-par 215 total, which left her two strokes behind co-champions Yu-Sang Hou of Arizona and Tze-Han Lin of Oregon.

As for Choi, she’s finished no worse than sixth in her three fall college starts this season, going sixth, third and fifth. This week, she carded scores of 70-74-72 for a 3-under 216 total.

As a team, CU tied for third, accounting for its best team showing of the fall season, which concluded for the Buffs on Wednesday. Colorado finished with a three-day total of even-par 876, two strokes behind champion Arizona and tied with nationally top-ranked Southern California.

Dunkle Notches Another Top-Five Finish; CSU Fifth as Team: Elsewhere, 2018 CGA Amateur champion Kyler Dunkle of Utah posted a top-five finish on Wednesday at the Saint Mary’s Invitational in Pebble Beach, Calif., where Colorado State University placed fifth in the 18-team tournament.

Dunkle notched two wins in the fall college season, including one at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, and three top-five individual finishes in five fall events.

CSU recorded a stellar 5-under-par 279 — the second-best round on Wednesday — to check in at 853, 22 strokes behind team champion Southern California. Freshman Oscar Teiffel, who won the Paintbrush Invitational last month, placed 12th individually on Wednesday to lead the Rams.

Nanea Pac-12 Preview

Nov. 5-7, 2018 (final) in Kailua Kona, Hawaii
3. (out of 12 teams) Colorado 290-293-293–876
3. Kirsty Hodgkins 76-69-70–215
5. Robyn Choi 70-74-72–216
18. Haley Nist 70-76-74–220
31. Malak Bouraeda 74-74-77–225
53. Gillian Vance 76-81-78–235

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Saint Mary’s Invitational
Nov. 5-7, 2018 (final) in Pebble Beach, Calif.
5. (out of 18 teams) Colorado State 284-290-279–853
12. Oscar Teiffel 69-72-70–211
15. Davis Bryant 72-72-68–212
30. AJ Ott 71-72-73–216
39. Jack Ainscough 72-76-70–218
56. Jake Staiano 78-74-71–223

Also
4. Former Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah 71-68-69–208

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

The Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational has proven to be a college tournament where teams and individuals from the Centennial State have thrived over the years.

From 2010 through ’17, a Colorado-based school won or tied for the team title six times, while a Colorado resident claimed the individual championship on five occasions.

The ninth edition of the event, which wrapped up Tuesday at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, took that to another level.

Let’s count the way:

— The host University of Colorado won the team title — for the seventh time, but the fourth time outright. The Buffs have tied for the top spot three times, including last year, which is technically considered a shared title though Utah won a team playoff. But on Tuesday, it was CU who edged the Utes by two strokes.

— And for the second straight year, the top two individual finishers were golfers who grew up in Colorado. University of Utah senior Kyler Dunkle, who lived in Colorado until his parents moved to San Francisco just after Kyler won the CGA Amateur last month, captured the Simpson title for the second straight year, becoming the first two-time individual champion at the event.

“This is a golf course that sets up really well for me,” said the 22-year-old senior. “I’ve played here a lot over the years, including in high school when they let some high school players come compete out here (against one another on the Simpson tournament setup). I love this place and I’ve had success here. So it’s an incredible feeling.”

Dunkle and CU sophomore Trevor Olkowski, who grew up in Grand Junction, were tied for the top spot at the end of regulation. And technically, each will be able to claim the individual victory, though Dunkle sank a 6-foot birdie to win the playoff over Olkowski, who lipped out a 7-foot birdie attempt. (The two are pictured above, with Dunkle in red.)

It’s the first time Olkowski has a first-place showing on his college golf resume.

— And while all that is impressive enough from a Colorado angle, Tuesday marked CU’s second team title in three tournaments to start the season as the Buffs also won the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational at the Air Force Academy. It’s the first time in Roy Edwards’ 13 seasons as CU’s head coach that the Buffs have recorded two outright team victories in the same month, though in 2011 CU tied for first at Air Force, losing in a playoff, and won the Simpson Invite outright. (Edwards is pictured at left with his team.)

— As for Dunkle, he’s not only won this event for two straight seasons, but he’s claimed individual titles two weeks in a row. On Sept. 18, he prevailed at the Showdown in the Rockies tournament in Driggs, Idaho. Dunkle, who transferred to Utah from Colorado State, now owns three individual college victories for his career.

In the team race, CU came into the final round with a three-stroke lead and shot a 6-under-par 282 on Tuesday, leaving the Buffs at 14-under 850 for the three rounds. That was two strokes better than fellow Pac-12 team Utah,
which had beaten CU by 38 strokes in Idaho last week.

“We’re really pleased,” Edwards said. “We played poorly, especially the second round, last Monday (in Idaho), but the guys responded really well (this week). It’s a pretty young team, so to see them do that was what we were hoping. The credit goes to those (CU players).

“It’s not easy playing at home a lot of times. Utah has a really good team, so to beat them and beat a lot of the other teams by quite a bit was really satisfying and hopefully a good springboard to finish off the fall.”

The team victory was CU’s 15th in major Division I tournaments in Edwards’ 13 seasons at the program’s helm. Mark Simpson, his predecessor for whom this week’s tournament is named, won 16 team titles in his 29 years as CU’s coach. (The victorious Buffs are pictured at left.)

Victories “don’t happen very often, so you enjoy them as a team,” Edwards said.

“It was a good month for us,” said Olkowski, whose family recently moved from Grand Junction to Las Vegas. “We have momentum going into the rest of the fall season and hopefully we’ll keep it up through the spring, even though that’s a long time from now.”

The only other Colorado-based team that fielded a team for the Simpson Invite, Northern Colorado, placed ninth out of the 16 teams at Colorado National. UNC had the third-lowest score of the final round, a 9-under-par 279, leaving the Bears at 889 overall.

Individually, several local players besides Dunkle and Olkowski — who finished at 9-under-par 207 — placed in the top 10 on Tuesday. That includes CU’s Daniel O’Loughlin (third at 211), Ross Macdonald (sixth at 214) and Andre Leveque (10th at 216); UNC’s Joshua Matz (sixth at 214); and Colorado State’s Oscar Teiffel (10th at 216).

But it came down to Dunkle and Olkowski for the individual title. They both shot 4-under-par 68s on Tuesday. Dunkle almost aced the 180-yard 16th with a 9-iron as his ball hit the pin and finished 5 feet away for a birdie. And he backed that up with another birdie by hitting it 30 feet past the flag with a 3-wood on the 345-yard, par-4 17th hole, then two-putting. Dunkle, who made six birdies on Tuesday, called the 3-wood he hit on 17 his best shot of the tournament.

As for Olkowski, he also made a half-dozen birdies on Tuesday, with the last come on 17, where he pitched to 3 feet.

Then in the playoff on the 18th hole, Dunkle added one more birdie, while Olkowski slightly misread his putt and his ball lipped out on the right side of the cup.

And with that, Dunkle (at left with Edwards) had his second college victory in a week.

“You can’t foresee those kinds of things because every time you show up at one of these tournaments, you’ve got to play some really good golf to beat all the good players out here,” he said.

Dunkle has been on quite a roll since his junior season at Utah ended. He won the CGA Amateur, finished second in the Utah State Amateur, qualified for the U.S. Amateur and earned low-amateur honors in the CoBank Colorado Open by placing ninth. And since starting up his senior season of college golf, he’s racked up two victories in three tournaments.

“I would definitely say my game is in a groove,” he said. “My swing feels great. Last spring I didn’t feel that comfortable with my game because I was battling some (back) injuries and trying to get over that. During the summer, I started worrying less about what my body felt like and more about enjoying the game. When I did that, I stopped paying attention to bad rounds and focused on the good rounds and the good shots. I built that memory bank of things going positively. It’s put me in a position where I am — where if I step on a golf course and stick to my game plan and stay confident, most of the time I’m going to play pretty good. Then it’s a matter of if it’s good enough that week.”

As for Olkowski, despite the playoff loss, he notched his best individual finish ever in a college tournament.

“I’m still happy,” he said. “I lost the trophy, but I still get a tie for first. Being a competitive guy, I hate losing like that. But I’m happy with the way I played all week. I fought hard and it was a good week.”

Said Edwards of Olkowski: “To me, he didn’t make any mistakes that cost him. When he does that, he hits it good enough that he’s going to be in the hunt. He’s just become a really, really solid player. And he’s a smart kid. We’re happy for him.”

Elsewhere in Local College Golf — The University of Denver women remained in fourth place in its title defense at the Golfweek Conference Challenge at the Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott.

With one round remaining, DU sits at 12 over par, 27 strokes behind leader UCLA.

Mary Weinstein of Highlands Ranch continues to lead the Pioneers as she sits in sixth place individually at 2-under-par 142, which leaves her four shots out of the lead. …

Meanwhile, at the Coeur d’Alene Collegiate in Idaho, Colorado State University sophomore Haley Greb finished a college career best fifth individually. Greg posted a 1-over-par 214 total (75-69-70) to end up three strokes behind champion Abegail Arevalo of San Jose State. As a team, CSU placed seventh in the 18-school field.

Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational
Sept. 24-25, 2018 (final) at Par-72 Colorado National GC in Erie
1. (out of 16 teams) Colorado 279-289-282–850
T1. Trevor Olkowski 68-71-68–207
3. Daniel O’Loughlin 68-71-72–211
6. Ross Macdonald 72-73-69–214
18. John Paterson 71-74-73–218
75. Cole Krantz 73-80-77–230
Competing Only As Individuals
10. Andre Leveque 70-78-69–216
14. Kristoffer Max 74-73-70–217
31. Victor Bjorlow 70-77-74–221
35. Wilson Belk 73-75-74–222

9. Northern Colorado 296-314-279–889
6. Joshua Matz 70-75-69–214
18. Coby Welch 74-77-67–218
64. Jack Castiglia 79-79-70–228
83. Marcus Tait 75-85-73–233
87. Li Chen 77-83-75–235

Also
T1. (won playoff with a birdie) Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah 66-73-68–207
Competing Only As Individuals
10. Oscar Teiffel, CSU 74-73-69–216
31. Cullen Plousha, CSU 74-75-72–221
75. Coloradan Tyler Severin, Wyoming 73-80-77–230
83. Colter Baca, Air Force 78-81-74–233
86. Luke Trujillo, Air Force 82-76-76–234

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Women’s Golfweek Conference Challenge
At Par-72 Fazio Course at Red Sky GC in Wolcott
4. (out of 18 teams) Denver 293-295–588
6. Mary Weinstein 68-74–142
19. Sophie Newlove 70-76–146
32. Alyson Bean 78-72–150
40. Camille Enright 79-73–152
82. Alison Armstrong 77-85–162
Competing Only As Individual
28. Trussy Li 77-72–149

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Coeur D’Alene Collegiate
Sept. 24-25, 2018 (final) at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
7. (out of 18 teams) Colorado State 294-288-300–882
5. Haley Greb 75-69-70–214
25. Katrina Prendergast 72-72-75–219
58. Sydney Smith 73-77-77–227
63. Jessica Sloot 74-75-79–228
68. Ellen Secor 79-72-78–229

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

The host Buffaloes stand at 8-under-par 568 for the first two rounds. Utah, which won last year’s playoff with the Buffs, trails by three going into the last day at CNGC (pictured in a CU photo).

Northern Colorado, the only other school from the Centennial State fielding a full team for this year’s event, sits in 13th place in the 16-team field, at 610.

Several local players are in contention for the individual title with one round remaining. Kyler Dunkle of Utah, a longtime Coloradan until moving away after winning last month’s CGA Amateur, shares the lead with CU’s Trevor Olkowski of Grand Junction and Daniel O’Loughlin. The three are at 5-under-par 139. Dunkle won the individual title at Colorado National last year.

Tee times for Tuesday’s final round will run 7:55 to 8:35 a.m.

For scores from the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, CLICK HERE.
 

DU’s Weinstein Tied for Lead at Red Sky: In another NCAA Division I tournament being held in Colorado, the defending champion University of Denver women are in fourth place after Monday’s first round of the 54-hole Golfweek Conference Challenge at the Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott.

The Pioneers opened with a 5-over-par 293 and trail leader UCLA by 16 strokes.

DU’s Mary Weinstein, from Highlands Ranch, shares the individual lead after making six birdies in a round of 4-under-par 68.

Also at that figure are UCLA’s Clare Legaspi and Patty Tavatanakit, and Campbell’s Stacey White.

For all the scores from the Golfweek Conference Challenge, CLICK HERE.
 

Let’s count the ways:

— The CSU men (pictured in a school photo) won their Ram Masters Invitational team title for the fifth consecutive year at Fort Collins Country Club. On Tuesday, it was by a 14-stroke margin, the third time in the last four seasons the Rams have prevailed by double digits.

— Four CSU players — Parathakorn Suyasri, Jake Staiano, Davis Bryant and AJ Ott — recorded top-10 individual finishes at the Rams Masters. Suyasri placed second, Staiano fifth for the second straight year, Bryant sixth in just his second college event, and Ott ninth.

— All, told, five Colorado residents finished in the top 10 at Fort Collins CC: Northern Colorado’s Coby Welch (third), the University of Denver’s Cal McCoy (fourth in his college debut), along with Staiano, Bryant and Ott. McCoy closed with a 66 on Tuesday.

— And Kyler Dunkle, a longtime Colorado resident until moving away in August, won the individual title on Tuesday at the Showdown in the Rockies tournament in Driggs, Idaho. Dunkle, a University of Utah senior who won the CGA Amateur last month, shot rounds of 66-70-67 for a 13-under-par 203 total, which gave him a two-stroke victory. (Utah also claimed the team championship.)

It marked the second individual college win for Dunkle, who captured the title at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational in Erie a year ago.

Speaking of the Univerisity of Colorado, the Buffs placed eighth as a team at the Showdown in the Rockies. One of CU’s players who didn’t compete in that event, senior Wilson Belk, teamed with brother-in-law Greg Carlin on Tuesday in Broomfield to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship for the second time.

At the Ram Masters Invitational, CSU finished with a winning 54-hole total of 4-under-par 836, which was 14 strokes better than runner-up Illinois State. DU, in its season debut, placed fourth out of 17 teams at 855, while UNC was fifth at 859.

CSU finished second by a stroke in the first two Ram Masters, but since then the Rams have won the event by four in 2014, by 10 in 2015, by seven in 2016, by 19 last year and by 14 on Tuesday.

While four Rams placed in the top 10 individually, the top spot went to Wyoming’s Dan Starzinkski, who won by seven with an 11-under-par 199 total.
 

RAM MASTERS INVITATIONAL
Sept. 17-18, 2018 (final) at Par-70 Fort Collins CC
1. (out of 17 teams) Colorado State 281-266-289–836
2. Parathakorn Suyasri 68-66-72–206
5. Jake Staiano 71-65-73–209
6. Davis Bryant 72-67-71–210
9. AJ Ott 72-68-73–211
31. Cullen Plousha 72-71-73–216
Competing Only as Individual
22. Jack Ainscough 71-72-71–214
47. Andrew Lafferty 74-71-75–220
62. Akedanai Ponghathaikul 74-74-75–223
95. Oscar Teiffel 75-70-NC

4. Denver 288-285-282–855
4. Cal McCoy 70-72-66–208
11. Jun Ho Won 74-69-69–212
31. Esteban Missura 72-73-71–216
54. Carson Griggs 74-71-76–221
62. Jackson Solem 72-75-76–223
Competing Only as Individual
31. Eric Hagen 73-72-71–216
54. Roy Kang 71-72-78–221
67. John Sand 75-77-73–225

5. Northern Colorado 288-280-291–855
3. Coby Welch 72-67-68–207
15. Joshua Matz 68-70-75–213
43. Li Chen 73-74-72–219
58. Marcus Tait 77-69-76–222
82. Jack Castiglia 75-78-77–230

Also
15. John Paterson, Colorado 74-68-71–213
62. Andre Leveque, Colorado 73-75-75–223

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

SHOWDOWN IN THE ROCKIES
Sept. 17-18, 2018 (final) in Driggs, Idaho

8. (out of 10 teams) Colorado 288-304-288–880
17. Ross Macdonald 73-78-67–218
21. Daniel O’Loughlin 70-75-74–219
32. Cole Krantz 70-78-74–220
35. Trevor Olkowski 75-75-73–223
52. Victor Bjorlow 76-76-81–233
Competing Only as Individual
58. Kristoffer Max 85-73-79–237

Also
1. Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, Utah 66-70-67–203

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

I’ve been fortunate enough to have covered golf in Colorado for 35 years, and you get to the point that not much that happens on the golf course surprises you a great deal. But what I saw earlier this month at the CGA Amateur was eye-opening, to the point that I recounted it several times — to CGA executive director Ed Mate, CGA co-president Joe McCleary and Pinehurst Country Club head golf professional Kevin Vena, among others.

Let me explain …

During my college years, I had the chance to caddie for Jack Nicklaus in an exhibition he played with Tom Watson and Dow Finsterwald on Aug. 24, 1981 at Pinehurst.

And on Aug. 4, I covered the third round of the 2018 CGA Amateur, played at the same course.

Everyone old enough knows that golf has changed an incredible amount in those 37 years — and that certainly includes someone like me who has covered a ton of tournaments over that time. But a comparison of what happened on those two days was a little jarring.

This centers around the16th hole at Pinehurst, a par-5 in which there’s a gradual hill that crests a little more than halfway between the back tee and the green. I still have a Pinehurst scorecard from 1981 — only because it was autographed by Nicklaus and Watson — and the 16th hole measured 553 yards from the back tees. For this month’s CGA Amateur, it was a 563-yard hole.

I remember — thanks in parts to reviewing columns I wrote not long after — how the hole played out for Nicklaus (pictured). Then a 41-year old, the Golden Bear was still among the longest hitters on the PGA Tour in the early 1980s, typically ranking in the top 25 in driving distance. On 16 at Pinehurst, he used his persimmon MacGregor Eye-O-Matic 945W driver and hit a good tee tee shot down the left side of the fairway, but still had more than 250 yards left to the flag. In fact, his ball didn’t make it to the top of the hill because he asked me where he should aim his second shot as the green wasn’t yet in view. I pointed out Loretto Heights College in the distance and he hit a perfect 250-yard 3-wood where directed.

“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. But Nicklaus still got up and down for birdie.

That came to mind again this month when I was following the lead group in round 3 of the CGA Amateur. On the same 16th hole, playing from a tee 10 yards further back, Kyler Dunkle (left), who would go on to win the title the next day, ripped a drive that made Nicklaus’ 37 years earlier look laughably short.

Dunkle’s ball ended up on the left edge of the fairway — and even with the 150-yard marker. I went out to check a sprinkler head in the fairway, making sure it wasn’t really a 200-yard marker. But sure enough, his ball was right at 150 to the middle of the green.

It didn’t take much figuring to see that Dunkle had just hit his tee shot 413 yards — and without the ball landing on a cart path, a sprinkler head or anything of the sort. Just as notably, his ball had traveled roughly 115 yards further than Nicklaus’ had on the same hole in 1981. That’s 115 yards past arguably the greatest golfer of all time and one of the best drivers of the ball ever.

Now I realize that Dunkle’s ball no doubt had more roll than did Nicklaus’ because it was on a downslope. But I was in the landing area for Dunkle’s shot and the amount of roll wasn’t at all unusual.

Dunkle is certainly a long hitter by the standards of top Colorado players. He was leaving drives greenside or within 40 or 50 yards of the flag on plenty of par-4s at Pinehurst that week. But Coby Welch, who was paired with Dunkle that Saturday, wasn’t that far behind his fellow player that day on No. 16. As for Nicklaus, this was no mis-hit on his part. He’d smacked a drive almost 300 yards, which may be pedestrian by today’s PGA Tour standards, but was pretty darn good back then with persimmon-headed clubs, even with some altitude adjustment.

So what is there to draw from this non-planned comparison?

Well, after realizing that I wasn’t just seeing things … it’s a mixture of awe and concern. Awe because the evolution of equipment, the golf ball and to some extent better strength and conditioning regimens, has allowed a player to hit a 400-yard-plus drive that doesn’t involve any fluke-ishness or luck. And concern because it renders a lot of great golf courses near-obsolete for many elite/tour-level players, barring making fairways 15 yards wide, growing 6-inch-deep rough, making greens extra firm and having pin placements resemble those in miniature golf. And it’s even more of an issue at the altitude we are here in Colorado.

That certainly is no revelation. Observers have been debating the issue of “distance-creep” in golf for decades. And if I had a buck for every time I’ve heard Nicklaus say the golf ball has to be rolled back, I’d be one rich golf writer. But he’s right that that would be the most manageable solution to many classic and shorter courses becoming de-facto obsolete for PGA Tour-level players — and building ever-longer golf courses, with the increased maintenance and water they require. The problem regarding Nicklaus’ solution is, there’s plenty of pushback to rolling back the ball or to variable-distance balls — from ball manufacturers, many players with lucrative ball contracts and many others in the business.

While it’s an awesome sight to watch great golfers hit the ball jaw-dropping distances, at some point you have to wonder if the transformation in equipment and the ball renders it essentially a different game now for the world’s best than it was for comparable players decades ago. And equally as important, what does that progression bode for some great classic courses that once were a major challenge for the best golfers but are no longer — again, barring tricked-up setups?

For the record, in 1980 Dan Pohl led the PGA Tour in average driving distance at 274.3 yards. This year, Rory McIlroy leads at the way at 320.5 yards. If that trend continues, you’re talking a 400-yard average leading the PGA Tour by the year 2085 — if there’s still a PGA Tour then, that is.

Why does this matter to your average golf fan, particularly one in Colorado?

If you’re that golf fan, have you ever wondered why Colorado hosted six men’s major championships — meaning the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship because they’re the two held in the U.S. that change sites each year — in the 47 years from 1938 to 1985, but hasn’t held a single one in the 33 years since? (And you can tack on at least another seven years to that total as the next vacancy for a PGA Championship site is 2025 and for a U.S. Open site is 2028.)

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to surmise that the main reason a U.S. Open or PGA hasn’t returned to Colorado is significant changes in the ball and equipment technology over the last several decades, and the exacerbated effect that brings at altitude. Things like going to solid-core golf balls and from small wood-headed drivers with steel shafts to large titanium ones with graphite shafts have affected golf everywhere, but even more so at a mile-high altitude, where the ball flies 10 or 15 percent further than at sea level. That means if the longest hitters on the PGA Tour catch one particularly solid these days in the Denver area, a 400-yard drive is not only very possible, but not that big of deal — which is how Dunkle treated his 16th-hole tee shot at the CGA Amateur.

If you don’t believe that speculation, McIlroy hit a 370-yard 3-wood at Cherry Hills the week of the 2014 BMW Championship — and he’s upped his average driving distance by 10 yards since then. He said at Cherry Hills that week that with his high ball flight, a typical shot was “going a good 15 percent further than it usually does (at sea level).” Based on his 320-yard norm this season on Tour, that means that an average drive for McIlRoy in the Denver metro area would currently travel about 368 yards. And, like every PGA Tour player, he can certainly take it up a gear or two.

Also at that BMW Championship, Bubba Watson hit the green on the 555-yard 17th hole with driver-9 iron.

With driving distance having increased since then, it wouldn’t be at all surprising for players like McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka or Watson to hit driver-wedge on a similar-length par-5 in Denver now. My guess is that the USGA and the PGA of America, who run the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, respectively, would prefer not to see two of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world come to that on anything approaching a regular basis.

Even back at the 1985 PGA Championship at Cherry Hills, some observers were aghast when several contestants were hitting driver-wedge at the 491-yard 18th hole. With what’s happened since then with distance increases, returning to Colorado for another U.S. Open or PGA Championship may simply be a bridge too far for the powers that be — particularly with plenty of sea-level alternatives.

If that’s the case, it’s a sad situation for a state with such a rich history of major golf championships.

The Texas A&M golfer (left) shot a 1-over-par 73 at Spyglass Hill on Monday, which left him in 43rd place out of 312 players after one round of the 36-hole stroke-play portion of the event.

The Loveland resident, who made three birdies and four bogeys in round 1, trails co-leader Trevor Phillips of Inman, S.C. and Daniel Hillier of New Zealand by five strokes (relative to par) heading into Tuesday. After 36 holes, the top 64 players will advance to match play.

The other players with strong Colorado connections will need to rally on Tuesday if they hope to keep competing at Pebble Beach more than two days.

CGA Amateur champion Kyler Dunkle, who lived in Parker until recently, opened with a 6-over-par 78 at Spyglass, putting him in 202nd place. Dunkle struggled over the first eight holes, going 5 over par, but went 1 over for his last 10.

Austin Hardman of Highlands Ranch made three birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine at Spyglass, but also posted three double bogeys, also en route to a 78.

Colorado State University golfers Cullen Plousha and AJ Ott shot 7-over-par 78 and 8-over 79, respectively, at Pebble Beach Golf Links. And, after being even par through his first eight holes at Spyglass, Coby Welch of Highlands Ranch went 10 over for his last 10 to shoot 82.

Here are the scores for the local players at the U.S. Amateur:

43. Dan Erickson of Loveland 73 (+1, SH)
202. Kyler Dunkle of Parker 78 (+6, SH)
202. Austin Hardman of Highlands Ranch 78 (+6, SH)
236. CSU golfer Cullen Plousha 78 (+7, PB)
256. AJ Ott of Fort Collins 79 (+8, PB)
283. Coby Welch of Highlands Ranch 82 (+10, SH)

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

But Dunkle, who has long called Parker and The Club at Pradera home, certainly went out on a high note.

In the same week the family home was sold, the 21-year-old claimed the CGA Amateur title on Sunday at Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver. And within the last five weeks, despite battling back problems, he’s also qualified in Fort Collins for the U.S. Amateur and finished ninth and earned low-amateur honors in the CoBank Colorado Open in Denver.

That’s what you call a run of good play.

“This feels great,” Dunkle said of winning the CGA Amateur. “It means a lot. It’s one of the bigger tournaments in Colorado that I had yet to make a run in. It’s fun. To have my name on the trophy with a lot of other really good players (including Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman and Wyndham Clark), that will be a cool thing.

“Growing up in Colorado, this is the tournament that a lot of people want to win. This is where all the best players in the state play. So this definitely ranks up there near the top (of my golf accomplishments). I got to play with a bunch of really good players this week and it was really fun.”

Dunkle, who will soon be going into his final year on the University of Utah golf team, played nearly mistake-free golf on Sunday at the CGA Amateur, making just one bogey in shooting a 3-under-par 67. His 14-under 266 total for the week was good for a two-stroke victory.

“Really there wasn’t anything special about the (final) round,” Dunkle said. “It was just kind of keep plugging along and a couple of putts fell here and there. I wasn’t trying to force anything. I just stuck to my game plan. My dad(/caddie) and I talked about it every tee shot and hit driver as much as we could. We just went and found it and hit it from there.

“I had the same strategy the whole week. I was hitting driver as much as I could, trying to get as close to the green as I could (on par-4s and 5s). The thing that feels best (in my game) right now is my driver. The driver has always been a weapon because I hit the ball pretty far. Lately, I’ve been hitting it pretty straight and haven’t been getting into too much trouble. On a course like this that helped a lot because I was able to get pretty close to a lot of greens.”

It’s the third CGA championship for Dunkle, who has also won a CGA Western Chapter title and a CGA Parent/Child with dad Jason, who caddied for Kyler all this week at Pinehurst. Dunkle was also the CGA’s Les Fowler Player of the Year in 2016. (Kyler is pictured at top, and with Jason while walking off the 18th green on Sunday.)

University of Northern Colorado golfer Coby Welch, from The Links Golf Course, led by two after three rounds, and pulled even on Sunday with Dunkle with a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 15, where he very nearly holed out his approach shot.

But the par-5 16th proved pivotal. Welch’s tee shot ended up just in the right fairway bunker, but he had to stand outside of the sand, making for a somewhat-awkward approach from about 210 yards. He pulled the shot left of the green, then left his pitch short of the putting surface. His subsequent chip ran 15 feet by the hole, and when he missed that putt, he carded a bogey.

The long-hitting Dunkle, meanwhile, hit his second shot on the green, 40 feet past the flag, and two putted for birdie, accounting for a two-shot swing.

“I just got a little unlucky break (on 16),” said Welch (left). “The ball was 6 inches in the bunker right in front of the lip. I hit a decent shot out of there, then I got around the green and my short game got to me again. That’s been the case lately.

“I knew I could get that up and down (for birdie on 16). I’ve gotten (shots like that) up and down a thousand times. I didn’t have a great lie, but I hit two really bad chips. This tournament, I scored well, but my short game wasn’t very good.”

On 17, Dunkle’s tee shot finished well left of the green on the par-3, but he nestled his pitch down a slope to within two feet for par. He called that “one of the bigger moments for me.” And he made a routine par on 18 for the victory.

Welch, a former CGA Boys Junior Player of the Year, had made just one bogey combined on Friday and Saturday. But he had four on Sunday to go with three birdies, one of which was an improbable, big-breaking 60-footer on No. 10. He ended up shooting a 1-over-par 71 and finishing runner-up at 268.

“I didn’t play well. I didn’t clutch up when I needed to,” said Welch, who like Dunkle will play in the U.S. Amateur this month. “It’s unfortunate, but I just didn’t have my best today. I felt fine. To be honest I wasn’t even nervous. But I didn’t perform.

“You always want to finish first, but I’m glad Kyler won. He’s a good kid. If it wasn’t me, I’m glad it was him.”

Griffin Barela (left) of Bear Creek Golf Club made a run to get in contention, one stroke out of the lead with three holes left. But the University of Wisconsin golfer bogeyed the last three to shoot 69 and share third place at 271.

“Going into the day my goal was to try to get to 14 (under) to try to have a chance,” said Barela, who won a college tournament in April and finished 15th last Sunday at the CoBank Colorado Open. “I knew I was one back (after 15). Obviously I didn’t want to finish that way, but I’m happy with how I played this week. I wanted to give myself a chance to win, and I did that. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but it happens.”

At that 271 figure with Barela were Tyler Zhang of Lone Tree Golf Club (bogey-free final-round 66) and former Colorado State University golfer Dominic Kieffer (67 despite bogeying the last two).

Former University of Denver golfer Chris Korte of Littleton, competing in his final amateur event, encountered considerable tree trouble on Sunday, leading to a triple bogey and two doubles in his final 10 holes. Despite five birdies, he shot 74 and shared sixth place at 273 with Michael Tait of Raccoon Creek Golf Course (final-round 70).

Sunday’s win adds to Dunkle’s list of notable victories in Colorado, which also includes earning the title at the 2017 Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational college tournament and the 2012 5A state high school meet. Dunkle started his college career at CSU before transferring to Utah.
He’ll live in Salt Lake City for the time being, but plans to continue to play tournaments in Colorado in the future, ideally if plans pan out to turn pro late next spring.

But for now, he’s concentrating on making a run at the U.S. Am, which begins on Aug. 13. And why not, considering the way he’s been performing on the golf course lately?

“I’m definitely in a groove. I’ve been playing really good since the beginning of June,” Dunkle said.
For scores from the CGA Amateur, CLICK HERE.

Coby Welch came ever so close to winning the Colorado Junior Amateur several years ago, but couldn’t quite close the deal.

The 20-year-old from Highlands Ranch (left) hopes to get over the hump in the CGA Amateur, the open-age version of the same tournament.

Meanwhile, former University of Denver golfer Chris Korte will attempt to go out on a high note in his amateur finale by winning the CGA Amateur for the second time.

And 2016 CGA Player of the Year Kyler Dunkle will try to make his outstanding summer of golf that much better by capturing the CGA Am title.

Those are the main three players in the spotlight after Saturday’s third round at Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver, though given the number of rounds of 65 or lower this week, there are others potentially within reach going into Sunday’s final 18.

Welch, the 2015 CGA Boys Junior Player of the Year from The Links Golf Course, grabbed the lead at Pinehurst on Saturday with his second straight round of 5-under-par 65, which leaves him at 13-under 197 overall.

“I’m just going to tee it up (Sunday) and play it like every other round I have,” said the University of Northern Colorado golfer. “We’ll see what happens at the end. If I play well, hopefully I’ll win. But it is golf.

“It would be very cool to be able to win this. I was close many times in the Junior Stroke and never capped it off. That would be cool to be able to do it now.”

Korte (left), who won this event in 2015 and the CGA Match Play in 2017, trails by two after a round of 68. He shot a 4-under 31 on the front nine, but went 2 over on the back despite making a 12-foot par save after being in the trees on No. 18 Saturday.

“I started out really hot and the game felt awesome,” the 21-year-old said. “The swing got a little loose on the back nine. I got out of trouble really well from behind some trees here and there, like 18 after punching out. But it was a pretty disappointing back nine. It was a grind for sure. The front nine felt super easy. Hopefully I’ll get more of that tomorrow.”

Also at 199 was 36-hole leader Dunkle, from The Club at Pradera, who three-putted twice in the final six holes to shoot 70. The University of Utah golfer went eagle-birdie-bogey on his final three holes. His 12-foot eagle on 16 came after a drive of more than 410 yards.

“I feel horrible,” said Dunkle, who made 19 birdies the first two days combined but just three on Saturday to go with the eagle. “I missed a lot of shots in really bad places. Out here, especially with some pins they had today, you had to be on the correct side the green if you weren’t going to be close. I put myself in some really tight spots and had hard chances at up and down, and my short game wasn’t where I wanted it to be.”

Both Dunkle (left) and Welch have qualified for this month’s U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, while Dunkle was low-amateur at the CoBank Colorado Open last weekend. Korte, meanwhile, will be turning pro before the Web.com Tour Q-school starts late this month.

In other words it should make for an interesting final day at Pinehurst.

Korte is trying to become the first repeat winner of the CGA Amateur since Kane Webber (2002 and ’03).

“This is my final amateur event. I’m turning pro at the end of the month for Web.com Q-school,” Korte said. “It would be amazing to go out with a bang like that.”

To this point, only three players in the field have shot in the 60s every round this week — Korte (65-66-68), former Colorado State University golfer Dominic Kieffer (67-69-68) and Welch (67-65-65).

“I hit it really well today,” said Welch, whose only bogey in the last two rounds combined was due to a three-putt from 15 feet off the fringe on No. 12 Saturday. “I scored well. I didn’t really feel like I putted great. But I scored very well for the way I putted today. I hit the ball very well, so it kind of help even it out.”

Two other players maintained some hope at the title with 6-under-par 64s at Pinehurst on Saturday. Griffin Barela (left) of Bear Creek Golf Club stands at 202, while Michael Tait of Raccoon Creek Golf Course went bogey-free and checked in at 203.

So what should we expect from Sunday’s final round?

“This course can yield a lot of really low scores,” Dunkle said. “If the three of us (in the final group — Welch, Korte and Dunkle) don’t play the way we want to and someone else throws up a number … You can be within seven shots here and have a chance. I think it’s really anyone’s game. But it will be nice to play with the same guys I did today and knowing that we’re all close. I think it’s going to be really fun, really back and forth because all three of us have been playing pretty good this week. There’s lots of birdies being made.”

Added Korte: “Coby and Kyler are great players. Kyler bombs it and he hit it next to the greens on a lot of these par-4s and reaches all the par-5s, so he’s going to make a lot of birdies regardless. And Coby is a great player, so I’ve just got to go out not make mistakes and make a few putts and I think I’ll do just fine.” 

For scores from the CGA Amateur, CLICK HERE.

For Sunday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.

The 2016 CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year made nine birdies on Friday at the CGA Amateur, giving him a remarkable 19 for two rounds at Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver. To put that into perspective, the next-highest total to this point is a dozen.

And 3s are clearly wild for the University of Utah golfer, who has carded 20 of them in 36 holes.

Most importantly, Dunkle’s 6-under-par 64 on Friday gave the 21-year-old a two-stroke lead at the midway point of the CGA Amateur, one of the oldest and most prestigious golf championships in Colorado.

Dunkle, who finished ninth and claimed low-amateur honors in the CoBank Colorado Open on Sunday, sits at 11-under-par 129. On Friday, the 2018 U.S. Amateur qualifier had a bogey and a double bogey in addition to his nine birdies.

Chris Korte of Littleton, winner of the 2015 CGA Amateur and the 2017 CGA Match Play, backed up his first-round 65 with a 66 on Friday and trails Dunkle by two. The former University of Denver golfer, who placed 22th against a formidable field last week at the Pacific Coast Amateur in San Francisco, carded an eagle, three birdies and one bogey on Friday. That one bogey — which came on No. 7 Friday — is Korte’s only one in 36 holes.

University of Northern Colorado golfer Coby Welch, from The Links Golf Course, stands at 132. Welch, who like Dunkle has qualified for the U.S. Amateur, fired a bogey-free 65 on Friday that included five birdies.

Tyler Zhang of Lone Tree Golf Club is in fourth place at 135 after a 67. Sharing fifth at 136 are first-round leader and 2016 champion Colin Prater of The Broadmoor Golf Club (73 Friday) and Dominic Kieffer of Collindale Golf Course (69).

The field was cut from 84 to the low 40 players and ties after Friday’s second round, with the 42 players at 148 or better advancing to the weekend.

The 72-hole championship will continue through Sunday.

For scores from the CGA Amateur, CLICK HERE.

For Saturday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.