This week, Q-school begins for two of the major U.S.-based tours — the LPGA and Web.com circuits.

Stage I of LPGA qualifying runs Thursday through Sunday (Aug. 23-26) in Rancho Mirage, Calif. And the first of six Pre-Qualifying tournaments for for Web Q-school runs Wednesday through Friday (Aug. 22-24), with the others being Aug. 29-31 and Sept. 5-7. No players with strong Colorado connections are competing until next week in the Web qualifiers.

The LPGA qualifying procession has been tweaked for this year, with Stage I and Stage II (in Venice, Fla., Oct. 15-18) leading to an LPGA Q-Series, which replaces the final stage. There, a maximum of 108 players will compete in two 72-hole stroke-play tournaments held on consecutive weeks Oct. 22-Nov. 3 at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. Scores will be cumulative over the two weeks.

Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, the No. 1-ranked amateur in women’s golf who will soon be starting her senior season at Wake Forest, is exempt into the Q-Series, where at least the top 45 finishers and ties will earn LPGA Tour status in 2019. Amateurs who earn their cards can defer their acceptance of LPGA membership until July 1, 2019.

Among the 340 contestants in Stage I are at least 10 players with strong Colorado ties:

University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi
Paige Crawford of Colorado Springs
Former CU golfer Brittany Fan
Amateur Emily Gilbreth, a former Denver resident
Samantha Stancato of Colorado Springs
Ashley Tait of Littleton
Amateur Jaylee Tait of Littleton
Hannah Wood of Highlands Ranch
Amateur Elizabeth Wang, who grew up in Colorado
Former CU golfer Natalie Vivaldi

A minimum of the top 60 finishers and ties at Stage I will advance to Stage II.

As for Web.com Tour qualifying, there’s a maximum of four stages to negotiate. Fields haven’t been released for all six Pre-Qualifying tournaments, but the three in the western half of the U.S. are likely to draw local players: Lincoln, Neb., and Lantana, Texas, Aug. 29-31, and Woodland, Calif., Sept. 5-7.

Twelve First Stage tournaments are set for various dates from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9. There are five Second Stage events from Oct. 30-Nov. 9. Then the Final Stage is Dec. 6-9 in Chandler, Ariz.
 

We’re well into the Q-school process for the LPGA, Web.com and European Tours, with the initial stages behind us. That being the case, the stakes go up from here on out and the competition is considerably tougher.

Elsewhere, PGA Tour Champions qualifying starts the week before Thanksgiving at two Regional Sites, with the Finals set for the week after the holiday. And pre-qualifying for the Ladies European Tour will be held at three sites (two in Morocco and one in Cambodia) between Oct. 18-Dec. 9, with the final final stage scheduled for Dec. 16-20 in Morocco.

Here’s a rundown of where players with strong Colorado connections stand in the Q-school process for various major tours:

— LPGA Tour: Stage II of the three-stage qualifying will be held Thursday through Sunday (Oct. 19-22) in Venice, Fla. The top 80 finishers and ties after 72 holes — out of an original field of 190 — will advance to the third and final stage of Q-school, Nov. 27-Dec. 3 in Daytona Beach, Fla., where LPGA Tour cards will be awarded. Last year, the top 45 finishers and ties at the Q-school finals earned at least conditional status on the LPGA circuit.

Among the competitors this week at Stage II will be four who played the majority of their college golf in Colorado — former University of Colorado golfers Esther Lee, Kristin Coleman and Natalie Vivaldi, along with former University of Northern Colorado player Carleigh Silvers. Also set to compete is Liz Breed, who won the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open in early September.

Players who don’t advance to Stage III will receive Symetra Tour cards for 2018. Coleman, whose twin sister Jennifer played part-time on the LPGA Tour this year, has been a regular on the Symetra Tour, along with Silvers and Breed.

— Web.com Tour: Seven players with strong Colorado ties successfully negotiated the First Stage of the three-stage Q-school process: Wyndham Clark and Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch, Parker Edens of Greeley, Riley Arp of Fort Collins, Jimmy Makloski of Pueblo, A.J. Morris of Aspen and former University of Colorado golfer Justin Bardgett.

Several other local players figure to join the aforementioned in the Second Stage, but fields for the five tournaments that will be held between Oct. 31-Nov. 10 haven’t yet be announced. The top finishers there will move to to the Final Stage, set for Dec. 7-10 in Chandler, Ariz.

— European Tour: The First Stage of Q-school is complete, and among those who have advanced to Stage II is former University of Denver golfer Oskar Arvidsson, who placed fourth in a First-Stage tournament in Germany last month. Arvidsson qualified for the 2016 British Open.

The Second Stage is set for Nov. 3-6 at four sites in Spain, and the Final Stage Nov. 11-16, also in Spain. The top 25 finishers and ties at the Final Stage will earn European Tour cards.
 

The first stage of LPGA (and Symetra) Tour Q-school begins Thursday and continues through Sunday (Aug. 6-9) as the process of determining the most worthy golfers gets underway.

Qualifying for the LPGA is the first on the docket for the world’s major tours. With there no longer being a direct route to the PGA Tour through Q-school, the Web.com Tour is now the immediate goal of men’s Q-school participants in the U.S.

The four-stage Web.com qualifying process begins on Sept. 2. There are six “pre-qualifying” tournaments in September, 11 first-stage events in October, five second-stage tourneys in November, and the qualifying finals set for Dec. 10-15 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Making it to that final stage guarantees some Web.com Tour status for 2016, but considerable priority is given to players who finish in the top 45.

The Champions Tour holds regional qualifying in November and the finals Dec. 1-4 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The European Tour conducts three stages of qualifying, beginning Sept. 15 and concluding with the finals Nov. 14-19 in Girona, Span.

While the competitors with strong Colorado ties who are entered in Web.com, Champions and European qualifying won’t be finalized until later dates, many of the locals who will be competing in LPGA/Symetra Tour Q-school are coming into focus.

The first of three stages of LPGA qualifying will be held in Rancho Mirago, Calif., this week. A total of 288 players are entered for stage 1, and the top 60 and ties will advance to stage 2.

Among the players with major Colorado connections in the field in Rancho Mirage are former University of Denver golfer and former Pueblo resident Kimberly Kim, who won the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur at age 14; two-time CWGA Player of the Year Somin Lee, of Denver; former state high school champion Lindsay McGetrick; Colorado Springs resident Paige Crawford; and former University of Colorado golfer Kristin Coleman.

Kim (pictured) is trying to revive a career which also included playing on the LPGA Tour in 2011, and being runner-up in three USGA championships: the 2006 and 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior.

The second stage of LPGA qualifying will take place Oct. 22-25 in Venice, Fla. Assuming they don’t earn 2016 LPGA cards by finishing in the top 10 on the 2015 Symetra Tour money list, here are the players with strong Colorado ties currently exempt into stage 2: former CU golfers Jenny Coleman (who competed in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open) and Emily Childs; former CWGA Player of the Year Becca Huffer; former DU golfer Katie Kempter, who held an LPGA Tour card in 2010 and who won a Symetra Tour event this year; and Carleigh Silvers of Greeley.

The top 80 finishers and ties from stage 2 will advance to the Q-school finals, set for Dec. 2-6 in Daytota Beach, Fla. The number of LPGA Tour cards awarded there hasn’t been finalized, but last year 45 players earned some LPGA status.

In 2014, five local players made it to the LPGA Q-school finals — former CU golfer Emily Talley, former DU golfer Sue Kim, Huffer, Childs and Silvers — with Talley just missing earning her LPGA card by finishing 58th.
 

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the seventh 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 1975-84. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE. 

Over the last century — actually, just since 1938 — the USGA has held 31 of its championships in Colorado. But no decade-long period that we’re dealing with in our Century of Golf series of stories can match 1975-84 for sheer numbers.

Between national championships and the Curtis Cup matches held biennially between top women amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland, Colorado hosted eight USGA events between ’75 and ’84.

Three were conducted at Cherry Hills Country Club, and an unmatched four were held in a single year in the Centennial State (1982).

There was a U.S. Senior Amateur (1976 at Cherry Hills), a U.S. Junior Amateur (1976 at Hiwan, where Coloradan Steve Jones was a semifinalist), a U.S. Open (1978 at Cherry Hills), a U.S. Women’s Amateur (1982 at The Broadmoor), a Curtis Cup (1982 at Denver Country Club), a U.S. Girls’ Junior (1982 at Greeley CC), a U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (1982 at what was then Kissing Camels), and a U.S. Mid-Amateur (1983 at Cherry Hills).

Of course, by far the biggest of the bunch was the ’78 U.S. Open, which marked the third and final U.S. Open that’s been conducted in the state to date. Cherry Hills has hosted all three, with the previous ones coming in 1938 and ’60, when two players now in the World Golf Hall of Fame won (Ralph Guldahl and Arnold Palmer).

This time around, a far less prominent player, Andy North (pictured above), prevailed. North had won just one PGA Tour event before claiming the title at Cherry Hills — and would win just one after, though that one was another U.S. Open. North thus has the distinction of winning more majors (2) than non-majors (1) on the PGA Tour.

At Cherry Hills, North tied Billy Casper’s U.S. Open record by needing just 114 putts over the four rounds en route to a winning total of 1-over-par 285. He led outright after the second, third and final rounds.

University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin, the local favorite, was ahead after round 1 and ended up tied for fourth with Tom Weiskopf. Other all-time greats in the top 10 were Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson, who shared sixth place, four behind North.

North wasn’t the only notable winner of the Colorado-based USGA championships during this time period produced. Juli (Simpson) Inkster won her third consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Broadmoor in 1982. Jay Sigel (1983 U.S. Mid-Am at Cherry Hills), Lew Oehmig (1976 U.S. Senior Am at Cherry Hills) and Heather Farr (1982 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Greeley CC) are also multiple-time USGA champions.

But championships weren’t the only way the USGA and Colorado were linked in a substantial way during this decade. In 1980, lifelong Coloradan Will Nicholson Jr., the son of a former USGA Executive Committee member, became president of the national association for a two-year term. Nicholson (left) was just the second Coloradan to ascend to the prestigious post, and the first in more than 60 years as Frank Woodward served in 1915-16.

Also during this time, another Coloradan, Judy Bell of Colorado Springs, became the first person from the Centennial State to chair the USGA Women’s Committee. She served in that capacity from 1981 through ’84.

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the decade from 1975-84:

— The LPGA Tour event based in Denver had quite a spectacular run of champions during this decade. These are just the now-World Golf Hall of Famers who won in Colorado during this stretch: Judy Rankin (1975 at Pinehurst CC); JoAnne Carner (1977 and ’81, both at Columbine CC); Kathy Whitworth (left; 1978 at Green Gables CC); Beth Daniel (1980 and ’82, both at Columbine); Pat Bradley (1983 at Columbine, and ’85 at Lone Tree and Meridian); and Betsy King (1984 at Green Gables). For those of you keeping track, that means that in an 11-year span, nine times the Denver tournament was won by a player now in the World Golf Hall of Fame. And if you throw in Sandra Haynie (1974 at Green Gables) and Amy Alcott (1986 at Lone Tree and Glenmoor CC), you have World Golf Hall of Famers winning in Denver 11 times in a 13-year span.

— The Colorado Open, which debuted in 1964, started hitting its heyday, drawing thousands of spectators each year to Hiwan Golf Club and garnering local TV broadcast coverage. During the Hiwan days, the tournaments lured contestants which included Sam Snead, Billy Casper, Hale Irwin, Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples, among many others. And then-Colorado resident and PGA Tour player Dave Hill (left) won the Open four times — in 1971, ’76, ’77 and ’81 — which remains a record. The fourth of those victories came in a playoff over then-amateur Steve Jones, who would go on to win the 1988 Colorado Open and the 1996 U.S. Open.

— The Jerry Ford Invitational began a 20-year run in the Vail Valley in 1977. Hosted by the former U.S. President, the charity tournament drew some of the best golfers in the world, along with top-line celebrities. On the celebrity side, that included Clint Eastwood, Robert Wagner (below), Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Bob Knight, Sammy Davis Jr., Glen Campbell, Jimmy Buffet and John Denver. On the Tour pro side, there was Jack Nicklaus (the first champion), Tom Watson, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Miller, Irwin and Ray Floyd. Here are some of the funnier Jerry Ford Invitational moments over the years that I recalled in a 2007 column: CLICK HERE.

— In 1982, the Champions Tour (then called the Senior Tour) played for the first of six straight years in Colorado, with events held at Pinehurst CC, Green Gables CC and Plum Creek. Winners included all-time greats Arnold Palmer (1982) and Gary Player (1986).

— Speaking of all-time greats, some played memorable exhibitions in Colorado during this decade. There was Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Dow Finsterwald teeing it up at Pinehurst CC in 1981. And Nicklaus and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Spike Baker played at Baker’s home club, Fort Collins Country Club, in 1978. (Nicklaus is pictured below with longtime Fort Collins CC superintendent Fred Foss, who also helped construct the course.)

— Mark Crabtree, a University of Colorado golfer and an Evans Scholar, won the first of his four CGA Match Play titles in 1975. Two championships came in the 1970s and two in the 1990s. Two future PGA Tour players — Steve Jones (1980) and Brandt Jobe (1984, ’85 and ’87) — also won CGA Match Plays during this time period. Jones (1981) and Jobe (1985) likewise claimed CGA Stroke Play titles.

— Two members of the Colorado PGA — Jim Bailey (1976) and Paul Runyan (1977) — won the PGA of America’s national Horton Smith Award in back-to-back years. The award honors a PGA professional who has made “outstanding and continuing contributions to PGA education.”

— Twice during this decade, Colorado hosted the Pacific Coast Amateur — at Denver Country Club in 1977 and at Hiwan Golf Club in 1983. At the latter, Colorado crowned its only individual Pac Coast champion in tournament history, which dates back to 1967. Mike Mathies of Golden prevailed that year.

— In 1976, Coloradan Bill Loeffler won the first of his three Broadmoor Invitation titles (1976, ’78 and ’87). Loeffler also claimed the CGA Stroke Play championship in ’76.

— Nancy Roth Syms of Colorado Springs won the Women’s Trans National in 1978. The 1981 Women’s Trans was held at the Ranch Country Club in Westminster, where Floridian Amy Benz prevailed.

— The CGA and Colorado PGA separated their administrative functions in 1978 and the first CGA-only executive director was hired, Dave Askins.

— In 1978, Kim Eaton won the first of what would become four CWGA Stroke Play titles over the course of 27 years.

— University of Colorado graduate Hale Irwin won the second of his three U.S. Open titles, this one in 1979 at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio, as he prevailed by two over Gary Player and Jerry Pate.

— Coloradan Gregg Jones finished runner-up in the Trans Miss that Denver Country Club hosted in 1980.

— In 1982, the CGA becqme the first golf association in the nation to rate all its courses in accordance with the USGA’s new Slope rating system. A year later, the CGA joined the USGA’s Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN) to provide handicap services to its member clubs.

— Denver Country Club hosted the 1982 Curtis Cup, with the Juli (Simpson) Inkster-led U.S. squad beating Great Britain & Ireland 14.5-3.5 in the biennial matches that feature top female amateurs.

— Coloradan Lauren Howe, winner of the 1975 CWGA Stroke Play, notched a victory on the LPGA Tour, winning the 1983 Mayflower Classic in Indianapolis.

— The Colorado Junior Golf Association was created in 1984, thanks in large part to the efforts of Denver resident Gary Potter.

— Future PGA Tour player Duffy Waldorf won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1984.
 

Though, starting this year, there’s no such thing as earning a PGA Tour card directly through qualifying school anymore, the quest for spots on the LPGA Tour and the Web.com Tour begins within the next week. And that quest includes plenty of golfers with strong Colorado connections.

Due to changes announced last year, instead of 25 PGA Tour cards being available through Q-school and another 25 through the Web.com Tour, all 50 available PGA Tour spots will be awarded through Web.com Tour performance.

That leaves the Web.com Tour as the top status that can be attained through Q-school, starting this year.

But on the women’s side, LPGA Tour berths are still directly at stake through Q-school. The number of 2014 LPGA spots that will be up for grabs hasn’t been specified, but last year the top 20 finishers at the final qualifying tournament earned fully-exempt status and another 25 and ties received conditional status.

In both the cases of the LPGA and Web.com Tours, the qualifying process begins next week.

The first of three stages of LPGA Tour Q-school will be contested over 72 holes on Aug. 27-30 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. As of Thursday, 247 players were entered in the event. Among them are three-time CWGA Stroke Play champion Melissa Martin (pictured), a former University of Denver golfer from Grand Junction; two-time state high school champion and 2012 U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Becca Huffer of Denver; former DU golfer Kimberly Kim, the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and former LPGA Tour card-holder; former Big Sky Conference champion — and University of Northern Colorado golfer — Carleigh Silvers; and former University of Colorado golfer Emily Childs.

The top 100 players will advance to stage 2 — Oct. 8-11 in Venice, Fla. — with the top 80 finishers and ties there going to the final stage, set for Dec. 4-8 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

As for the men, there are four qualifying stages for the Web.com Tour. First up are the six pre-qualifiers, 54-hole tournaments that will be held between Aug. 28 and Sept. 13, with the first being next week’s events in Nebraska City and Hollister, Calif.

Here are the local players scheduled to compete in Web.com pre-qualifying next week:

Nebraska City Aug. 28-30 — Austin Dean of Centennial, Chris Good of Denver, Alex Gutesha of Greenwood Village, Kory Harrell of Colorado Springs, former University of Denver golfer Klinton Krieger, Bryan Kruse of Westminster, former CSU golfer Ryan Peterson Beau Schoolcraft of Denver, former Coloradan Justin Spray.

The top finishers at the pre-qualifying sites will advance to the dozen 72-hole first-stage tournaments (Oct. 8-25). The six 72-hole stage 2 events are set for Nov. 12-22, and the 108-hole final stage is scheduled for Dec. 12-17 in La Quinta, Calif.

The top 45 finishers and ties at the final stage will receive priority status on the 2014 Web.com Tour, with the other finalists being conditionally exempt.

As for the Champions Tour, regional qualifying is set for mid-fall, with the final stage scheduled for Nov. 19-22 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The European Tour Q-school gears up with stage 1 starting Sept. 10 and concludes with the finals Nov. 10-15 in Girona, Spain.
 

The LPGA Tour has a long and storied history in Colorado, and the Women’s Open July 7-10 may provide another memorable chapter. If the tournament at the Broadmoor’s East Course proves similar to most of the previous LPGA events held in Colorado, it won’t soon be forgotten.

Twenty-one LPGA Tour events have been conducted in Colorado, dating back to the 1950 Women’s Western Open at Cherry Hills Country Club, where all-around athlete (and one-time Denver-area resident) Babe Zaharias defeated Peggy Kirk 5 and 3 in the match play final.

As Zaharias’ victory portended, Colorado-based LPGA tournaments have produced big-name champions far more often than not. Indeed, of the 21 tourneys in the state, a whopping 16 have had winners who are now in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame and/or the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The list in a veritable who’s who of women’s golf — Kathy Whitworth (1978 National Jewish Hospital Open at Green Gables), Annika Sorenstam (1995 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor), Pat Bradley (1983 Columbia Savings Classic at Columbine and 1985 LPGA National Pro-Am at Lone Tree and Meridian), Amy Alcott (1986 LPGA National Pro-Am at Glenmoor and Lone Tree), JoAnne Carner (1977 National Jewish Hospital Open at Columbine and 1981 Columbia Savings Classic at Columbine), Beth Daniel (1980 and “˜82 Columbia Savings Classics at Columbine), Betsy King (1984 Columbia Saving Classic at Green Gables), Sandra Haynie (1972 and “˜74 National Jewish Hospital Opens at Green Gables and Rolling Hills, respectively), Judy Rankin (1975 National Jewish Hospital Open at Pinehurst), Marlene Hagge (1956 Denver Open at Lakewood CC), Marilynn Smith (1955 Mile High Open at Lakewood CC) and Zaharias.

To put it another way, nearly half of the members of the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame won at least one Tour event in Colorado.

Of course, there’s no guarantee the Colorado Hall of Fame trend will continue. There have been several lesser-knowns who have won in the state, including Birdie Kim (2005 U.S. Women’s Open at Cherry Hills) and Chris Johnson (1987 LPGA National Pro-Am at Meridian and Lone Tree).

But at a time when the LPGA Tour needs top players who golf fans can readily identify with — especially after the retirements of Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa in recent years — the Tour and U.S. Women’s Open officials could use plenty of household names on the leaderboard this summer at the Broadmoor.

“If (the champion) is someone like Annika, it could turn a lot of people on,” said Denver’s Joan Birkland, a former chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee. “Or a player like Paula Creamer. She’s feminine, pretty and she can hit it. I think a lot of girls would say, “˜I want to be like her.'”

American golf fans who would like to see more U.S. players win top LPGA events have gotten their wish in recent major championships, which might bode well for more of the same at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open.

Three of the four reigning champions in LPGA majors are Americans — (Cristie Kerr, 2010 LPGA Championship; Creamer, 2010 U.S. Women’s Open; and Stacy Lewis (2011 Kraft Nabisco).

Before that run for the Americans, just one of the previous 10 winners of women’s majors was from the U.S. (Brittany Lincicome won the 2009 Kraft Nabisco).

“I think American golf is on an upswing,” U.S. Solheim Cup captain Rosie Jones said after Lewis’ Kraft Nabisco victory.

Whatever the reason, LPGA.com recently reported that total television viewership for the LPGA Tour is up 20 percent in 2011 compared to like events on cable in 2010.

“…We feel sports fans are embracing the LPGA Tour this season,” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said. “We know it’s early, but we feel that the Tour’s popularity is on the rise and we will do all we can to maintain this momentum throughout the season.”