Also scheduled to compete are Broncos Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway, who will be making his fourth Senior Open appearance, and 10 former CSO champions.

Here’s the rundown of longtime tour players who have committed to the 19th Colorado Senior Open:

— Guy Boros (253 PGA Tour starts, with one win; 32 PGA Tour Champions starts)

— Jim Carter (461 PGA Tour starts, with one win; 70 PGA Tour Champions starts)

— Keith Clearwater (411 PGA Tour starts, with two wins; 36 PGA Tour Champions starts)

— Former University of Northern Colorado athlete R.W. Eaks (77 PGA Tour starts; 176 PGA Tour Champions starts, with four wins)

— Donnie Hammond (497 PGA Tour stars, with two wins; 36 PGA Tour Champions starts)

— Skip Kendall (423 PGA Tour starts; 36 PGA Tour Champions starts)

— John Riegger (224 PGA Tour starts; 67 PGA Tour Champions starts, with one win)

— Larry Rinker (525 PGA Tour starts; 2 PGA Tour Champions starts)

Add it up and for those eight players, that’s 2,871 PGA Tour starts with six victories, and 419 PGA Tour Champions starts with five wins.

In addition, 2017 CSO winner Jeff Gallagher played in 134 PGA Tour events in his career, and many others in the field have competed in some major tour tournaments in their careers.

As for Elway, in addition to his Senior Open appearances, he’s competed in four CoBank Colorado Opens, making one cut.

His Senior Open finishes have been 52nd in 2010, 19th in 2014 and 29th in 2016. In those last two events, he placed second among amateurs.

A lifelong golf amateur, Elway has placed in the top 10 14 times in the nationally televised American Century Championships celebrity tournament in the Lake Tahoe area. He and Tom Hart won the 2009 Trans-Miss Four-Ball at Cherry Hills Country Club and tied for second in the 2010 CGA Four-Ball.

Elway is scheduled to tee off at 1 p.m. on Wednesday off No. 10 and at 8:05 a.m. on Thursday off No. 1. Fans are welcome and admission is free.

As for former CSO champions entered, besides Eaks and Gallagher, there’s Bill Loeffler, Doug Rohrbaugh, Mike Zaremba, Dave Arbuckle, Perry Arthur, Greg Bruckner (a two-time champ), John Ross and Ron Schroeder. Rohrbaugh played in last week’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and on Monday he earned medalist honors in U.S. Senior Open qualifying at The Broadmoor.

The low pro in this week’s tournament will earn $8,500.

For Wednesday and Thursday’s pairings, CLICK HERE.

For more information on the Colorado Senior Open, CLICK HERE. 

Keffer (pictured), from the Greater Golfer Development Center at Park Hill, is tied for the top spot after Tuesday’s second round with former PGA Tour player Larry Rinker of Red Sky and Derek Rush from Cherry Hills Country Club. All three sit at 3-under-par 141 through 36 holes at the Fazio Course.

But plenty of players still have a chance at the title as 19 contestants are either leading or within five strokes of the top spot going into Wednesday’s final round.

Keffer, the 2016 champion, fired a 1-under-par 71 while making five birdies on Tuesday.

Rinker, a 60-year-old who has made 525 starts on the PGA Tour, shot a second-round 70 at his home facility, chalking up four birdies on Tuesday.

And Rush, the first-round leader, posted a second-round 74, also after making four birdies.

John Ogden, Rush’s boss at Cherry Hills, sits in fourth place, a stroke back of the leaders, after a 70 on Tuesday.

Three-time champion Bill Loeffler from The Links Golf Course, at 61 years old remains very much in the hunt at 1-under 143, along with Barry Milstead of Valley Country Club, Kirk Trowbridge of the MetaGolf Learning Center and Mike Swan of Crested Butte. Swan had the best score of round 2, a 67.

Three-time winner Doug Rohrbaugh of Ironbridge and fellow former champ Mike Northern share ninth place at even-par 144.

The field was cut to the low 51 players and ties after round 2, with everyone at 154 or better advancing to Wednesday.

Eight players will earn spots in the 2018 national PGA Professional Championship based on their performance at Red Sky.

For scores from the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, CLICK HERE.

Edwards has won five times on the PGA Tour and Clearwater three. Rinker’s best Tour showings were two runner-up finishes.

Clearwater (pictured) placed third at least year’s CSO, three strokes behind champion John Ross of Bramwell, W.Va., who will defend his title.

Ten past champions are entered into the Senior Open, including Coloradans Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale (2013), Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Bill Loeffler of Castle Rock (2009), Dave Arbuckle of Colorado Springs (2007), Mike Zaremba of Pueblo West (2005). Rohrbaugh, a three-time winner of the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, was the last Coloradan to win the tournament.

Also scheduled to play at GVR are two-time champion Greg Bruckner of Phoenix; Mike Northern of Colorado Springs, fresh off competing in the Senior PGA Championship; Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore, who just won the CGA Super-Senior Match Play; Utahn Steve Schneiter, winner of the national Senior PGA Professional Championship in November; Dale Smigelsky, the Colorado PGA Senior Player of the Year in 2015; and 2016 U.S. Senior Open qualifier Ron Vlosich of Lakewood.

One player who won’t be in the field is Denver Broncos general manager John Elway, who has competed three Colorado Senior Opens, including last year’s, and the Colorado Open.

The tournament will feature a $50,000 purse, with $8,500 going to the winner. The champion will also get a spot in the $250,000 CoBank Colorado Open.

For more information on the Colorado Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
 

It was an eventful opening round Wednesday in the Colorado Senior Open, the first day of competition with CoBank as the the title sponsor of the Colorado Open championships:

— Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway (left) was known as the king of the comebacks during his playing days, and Wednesday apparently that carried over to his golf. The Broncos general manager hit a low liner into a hazard off the heel of his driver on his first tee shot at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and needed to make a 7-foot putt for a double bogey.

“I don’t know what happened there. I haven’t done that for a while,” he said later.

But he immediately bounced back with two consecutive birdies and ended up shooting an even-par 72. He received a very good break on the 18th hole when his second shot on the par-5 hit a 6-inch-wide wooden crossbar bordering a hazard and his ball stayed in play. After a stellar third shot off an awkward lie, he left his 12-foot birdie attempt just short, making par.

“I haven’t been playing as much as I’d like, so the expectations weren’t real high,” said Elway, who placed 19th in the Colorado Senior Open two years ago. “I haven’t played as much as normal. The weather hasn’t been great, so I haven’t been able to practice, and I like to practice. So I was really happy to get in at even.”

— Three players who between them have competed in 1,349 PGA Tour events were in the field, with 58-year-old Larry Rinker gaining a share of the lead at 5-under-par 67. Two-time PGA Tour winner Keith Clearwater posted a 69 in his first round at GVR, and five-time PGA Tour winner Danny Edwards shot a 75.

Rinker serves as the director of instruction at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott during the summer, hosts a Sirius XM radio show on weekends, and said this will be his only three-day (or more) tournament this year.

“It’s fun to do what I did today,” he said of the bogey-free round. “It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this. If I do what I did today more often, I might be tempted (to compete more).”

Rinker finished 45th at the Senior Open last year.

— A winner of three Colorado Opens and the 2009 Colorado Senior Open was on the golf course Wednesday — but just as a caddie. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Bill Loeffler (left) looped for amateur Tom Krystyn of Denver, who shot a 72. Loeffler underwent back surgery earlier this year and thus couldn’t compete. He anticipates being able to play again sometime next month.

— Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale, who finished first and second in his last two Colorado Senior Opens before skipping last year’s tournament to compete in a PGA Tour Champions event, picked up pretty much where he left off, shooting a 3-under-par 69 on Wednesday.

“You always miss playing in tournaments where you know everybody and all your friends,” said Rohrbaugh, winner of the last three Colorado PGA Professional Championships. “I like this golf course. I’ve been looking forward to this. This is my first event of the year — not (counting) a one-day pro-am or something. I’ve been anxious. I’ve been practicing getting ready for this because I want to do it again (win). I’m hitting it good right now.”

— Then, of course, there were the guys who vaulted to the top of the leaderboard after Wednesday. Sharing the top spot with Rinker at 67 after round 1 was Ben Sauls of Austin, Texas, who said he’s won more than 100 titles on various mini-tours during his career.

“I’ve had a lot of success on mini-tours, but I’m ready to graduate. I would like to,” said the 56-year-old Sauls, who played his first competitive round at GVR on Wednesday.

Patrick Reidy (left) of Lone Tree, fresh off becoming eligible by turning 50 in March, shot a 68 in the first group off Wednesday morning and is tied for third place with Steve Jurgensen of Houston, who played on the PGA Tour for three years and is a newcomer to GVR.

Reidy admitted he hadn’t been playing well, but he posted the 68 despite taking a double bogey on arguably the easiest hole on the course, the 326-yard, par-4 fourth.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “I’m a box of chocolates. I don’t know who’s showing up (day to day), so we’ll see tomorrow. I have the capability; it’s just a matter of getting it done. That’s all it is. It’s just about confidence.”

Reidy, who instructs at Inverness Golf Club and does some technology consulting, finished the day with seven birdies, including one at the 18th hole, where he drained a 22-foot putt.

On a day that lift, clean and place rules were in effect after about a half-inch of rain fell very early Wednesday morning at GVR, 24 players broke par.

Notable: Former champion R.W. Eaks, a four-time winner on PGA Tour Champions, withdrew on Tuesday, citing an injury. … The chief rules official for the Colorado Senior Open is a familiar face to many in Colorado golf: Rich Langston. Langston moved to Bartlesville, Okla., late last year after a 23-year run as a highly respected volunteer rules official based in Colorado. Langston also plans to officiate at the Colorado PGA Professional Championship in September. … The field will be cut to the low 55 players and ties after 36 holes on Thursday. … The low amateur after the first round is Randy Reeves of Lubbock, Texas, who carded a 2-under-par 70. Elway shares second place among the amateurs at 72.

For all the Colorado Senior Open scores, CLICK HERE.