With the 36-hole cut on Monday reducing the field from its original 312 to 90 and ties, the five-time Colorado PGA Player of the Year advanced on the number.

Keffer (left), the 2016 Colorado PGA Professional Champion, was the top Colorado finisher after two rounds, standing in 85th place. Keffer shot a 3-over-par 75 on Monday, leaving him at 5-over-par 149. He was even par for the day through 10 holes, but went 3 over in his last eight holes and bogeyed his final hole of the day. At first, it looked like that might cost him, but he later made it inside the top 90.

There will be another cut after Tuesday’s third round, to the top 70 and ties.

All of the Coloradans who competed in Seaside earned their spots in the national tournament through their performances last September in the Colorado PGA Professional Championship at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott.

The top 20 finishers after Wednesday’s final round will earn spots in the PGA Championship Aug. 9-12 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. If the tournament ended Monday, golfers at even-par would be the final ones to advance.

Here are the scores for all the Coloradan who played in the national championship:

Advances to Round 3
85. Geoff Keffer, Greater Golf Development 74-75–149
Missed 36-Hole Cut
142. Jordan Gibbs, Denver CC 75-77–152
142. Jack Allen, Cherry Hills CC 77-75–152
142. Micah Rudosky, Conquistador GC 74-78–152
225. John Ogden, Cherry Hills CC 81-75–156
248. Rick Cole, Eaton CC 82-76–158
269. Barry Milstead, Valley CC 77-84–161
304. Derek Rush, Cherry Hills CC 87-81–168
ALSO
Advances to Round 3
51. Former Coloradan Marty Jertson 75-72–147

For all the scores, CLICK HERE.

Marty Jertson doesn’t readily remember many of the details of his win in the CGA Amateur. But that’s understandable considering it occurred 16 years ago, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since.

“That was a long time ago,” Jertson noted in a recent phone interview. “Kevin Stadler was in the field (and finished seventh). That was always a fun thing. He went on to win the Phoenix Open and all that stuff.”

With the 2017 CGA Amateur coming up next week — Aug. 3-6 at the Sonnenalp Club in Edwards, where Stadler won the 2002 Colorado Open — we thought we’d catch up with Jertson, who is still a fine golfer but has made quite a name for himself in a related realm.

Jertson only lived in Colorado for four years of his life (1998-2002), but it was in the Centennial State that the seeds were planted for what he’s become — the director of product development at one of the top golf equipment companies in the world, Ping. In other words, he heads up the design of new clubs for the brand that is currently used by Bubba Watson, Lee Westwood, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Louis Oosthuizen, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan and Harris English, among others.

Golf equipment product development and design is nice mixture of what Jertson learned and cultivated in his college years as a mechanical engineering student and golfer at Colorado School of Mines, where he was both an NCAA All-American and an NCAA Academic All-American as a senior in 2002.

“That same summer I won the Colorado state am (at Saddle Rock Golf Course), I think I qualified for the USGA Public Links,” Jertson remembers. “I won a handful of college tournaments. I graduated and decided to turn pro, go to Q-school and do that whole deal. I did that for about a year and a half after college. I quickly wised up that it was an uphill battle and that the odds were kind of against you no matter how good you are.

“I had a mini-tour friend, and one of his friends he grew up with went to CU and worked at Ping and he kind of got me an ‘in’ as an intern. When I decided to quit playing full-time, the company hired me full-time as a designer, and I’ve been doing product design ever since. I gradually got a little more experience and (four years ago) got the role I’m in now, where I kind of lead all the design efforts.”

When Jertson was at the School of Mines, he certainly didn’t envision this career path, even though it’s turned out to be a near-ideal occuption for him.

“Ironically, I didn’t,” the 36-year-old Phoenix resident said. “I just thought, ‘How would you even get into that?’ There’s no schooling for golf club design so it was never even seriously on my radar. I figured I’d do what a lot of the students at the School of Mines do and go into the oil and gas industry or petroleum or automotive or aerospace or something like that.

“I didn’t have my mind set on that or ever even really consider it. But in hindsight it’s obviously been an amazing fit for me.”

Jertson has worked on many Ping projects over the last 14 years, but ask him to name one club with which he played a major design role and that he takes particular pride in, and he gives a direct answer.

“I would say the G30 driver (left),” he said. “That was one of the projects I worked on (in 2013) and we just brought a lot of new technology to market, including some aerodynamic technology — the things on the crown called turbulators — and that driver caught fire on the market and was the No. 1-selling driver for a good chunk of time in the marketplace.”

Some people might look at the task of Jertson and people like him and see it as a bit frustrating: always trying to out-do yourself and design something better than what you’ve done before. But there’s obviously another way of looking at that issue, and that’s how Jertson views it.

“Sometimes it is hard, but at the same time that’s the fun part,” he said. “We kind of thrive on that exact challenge. I think what makes the job unique for both me and my co-workers here at Ping that do the same thing is that we’re all very passionate golfers so we get to experience the joys but also the pains of something that we can improve. If we have a club that goes too far left or right or springs too much, we personally experience that and get to work on it and try to improve it.”

In fact, that’s the thing he likes most about golf equipment design.

“That there’s no end in sight,” he said. “It’s a never-ending challenge. I think that a lot of the golf community thinks that manufacturers are highly regulated and they can’t advance anymore, but nothing could be further from the truth. On some design and research aspects, we’re just barely scratching the surface. So I like that I can do it literally my whole career and never reach an end, because there will always been advancement and challenges to design and manufacturing that we can overcome.”

Even though Jertson has long since given up playing full-time for a living — though he’s a longtime PGA professional — that certainly doesn’t mean that he doesn’t still have game.

Most notably, since 2010 he’s competed in six PGA Tour events, including the PGA Championship in 2011 and ’12. But he’s still seeking his first made cut in The Big Show. Elsewhere, he finished fifth in the national PGA Professional Championship in 2011 and seventh in 2012. And in 2011, he represented the U.S. in the PGA Cup, a Ryder Cup-like competition for club professionals.

Jertson said his ability to play at a high level is highly beneficial when it comes to his design work.

“It helps a lot, but at the same time we kind of challenge and train ourselves to be sympathetic and observational of the 15-18 handicapper, the club golfer, and how they play the game and the sport,” Jertson said. “Club design is kind of a renaissance thing. It’s art and science combined. The engineering background gives me the science and the playing background gives me the eye for designing and what looks good and feels good.”

So how does a designer appease both a PGA Tour player and an 18-handicapper?

“It all boils down to the age-old question of what do golfers want and need — longer and straighter,” Jertson said. “Longer, straighter, feels good, looks good. Within those categories, there’s different priorities for tour players and everyday golfers. But we always try to boil it down to the very simple problem we’re trying to solve. There’s a lot of overlap because a tour player wants longer and straighter and so does the beginning golfer.”

As for his own game, Jertson relishes the time he does get to play and compete.

“I love it,” he said. “I play in a lot of the Southwest Section PGA events now. It’s usually just constraints of the summer. I think if I played any more than I do, I’d maybe get burned out and fatigued by the game and the effort it requires to put in. But I like kind of playing as a hobby and still having the competitive aspect of competing against myself and the golf course and the field obviously. It’s fun to still be able to do that. Being a member of the PGA of America is a great opportunity to still compete against a lot of really good competitors — and occasionally get in a tour event or do something fun like that.

“Playing in six Tour events and working a pretty busy, high-responsibility job at the same time is something I take pride in — just being able to balance both of those things.”
 

The PGA director of golf at Collindale Golf Course needed to place in the top 20 to earn a berth in August’s PGA Championship, but ended up one stroke out of a playoff for the final two berths.

Smigelsky (pictured) was inside the top 20 after playing his first three holes birdie, par, birdie in Wednesday’s final round. But he bogeyed No. 8, then the 15th and 16th holes proved pivotal as he went double bogey, bogey before parring out.

Smigelsky, who recently qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, ended up with a 2-over-par 74 in the final round, leaving him at 4-over 291 overall, eight behind the top finishers.

Meanwhile, Arizonan Marty Jertson, the 2001 CGA Amateur champion, finished 67th on Wednesday after a final-round 79 left him at 299.

Here are all the scores for players with significant Colorado connections who competed in the 312-man tournament:

27. Dale Smigelsky, Fort Collins 75-69-73-74–291
67. Former CGA Amateur champion Marty Jertson, 72-74-74-79–299

Missed 54-Hole Cut
72. Ari Papadopoulos, Eagle-Vail 75-72-74–221

Missed 36-Hole Cut
190. Geoff Keffer, Lakewood 74-78–152
209. Caine Fitzgerald, Parker 78-75–153
226. Mike Northern, Colorado Springs 75-79–154
226. Eric Bradley, Parker 78-76–154
240. Kirk Trowbridge, Castle Rock 82-73–155
250. Joseph Carlton, Golden 81-75–156

For all of the scores from the PGA Professional Championship, CLICK HERE.

Smigelsky (pictured), the PGA director of golf at Collindale Golf Course, fired a 1-over-par 73 in Sunriver, Ore., putting him in 34th place heading into Wednesday’s final round. A three-birdie, four-bogey day left him at 2-over-par 217 overall, nine strokes behind leader Rod Perry of Port Orange, Fla., who posted a 70 on Tuesday.

The top 20 finishers on Wednesday will earn spots in the PGA Championship — set for Aug. 10-13 in Charlotte, N.C. — and as of the close of play on Tuesday, the competitors at even-par 215 would be playing off for PGA Championship berths.

If Smigelsky can rally to earn one of those 20 spots, he’d have berths in both the U.S. Senior Open and the PGA Championships in the summer of 2017.

Meanwhile, the other Coloradan who made the 36-hole cut, Ari Papadopoulos of Eagle-Vail, fell just short of surviving the 54-hole cut to the low 70 players and ties. Papadopoulos finished 72nd at 221 after a third-round 74 that featured an 18th-hole bogey.

Arizonan Marty Jertson, winner of the 2001 CGA Amateur, made the 54-hole cut on the number as a 74 left him at 220 and in a tie for 62nd place.

Here are all the scores for players with significant Colorado connections who competed in the 312-man tournament:

34. Dale Smigelsky, Fort Collins 75-69-73–217
62. Former CGA Amateur champion Marty Jertson, 72-74-74–220

Missed 54-Hole Cut
72. Ari Papadopoulos, Eagle-Vail 75-72-74–221

Missed 36-Hole Cut
190. Geoff Keffer, Lakewood 74-78–152
209. Caine Fitzgerald, Parker 78-75–153
226. Mike Northern, Colorado Springs 75-79–154
226. Eric Bradley, Parker 78-76–154
240. Kirk Trowbridge, Castle Rock 82-73–155
250. Joseph Carlton, Golden 81-75–156

For all of the scores from the PGA Professional Championship, CLICK HERE.

After playing his final 13 holes on Sunday in 1 under par, Smigelsky (pictured) shot a 3-under-par 69 on Monday to vault into 36th place out of 312 players at the halfway point of the tournament.

Smigelsky (pictured), who earlier this month qualified for the U.S. Senior Open, made four birdies and one bogey on Monday to check in at 1-over-par 144.

Smigelsky and Ari Papadopoulos of Eagle-Vail were the two Coloradans — out of the eight competing in the event — to make the 36-hole cut by being among the top 90 players and ties. Papadopoulos shot a 1-over-par 72 on Monday — making two birdies and three bogeys in the process — to check in at 4-over-par 147, good for 84th place.

Also making the cut was Arizonan Marty Jertson, winner of the 2001 CGA Amateur, who shares 65th spot at 146.

The next step will be to make it to Wednesday’s final round as there will be a 54-hole cut to the low 70 players and ties. Then there’s the goal of finishing in the top 20, which would qualify players for the PGA Championship, set for Aug. 10-13 in Charlotte, N.C.

Jamie Broce of Ottawa Hills, Ohio and Rich Berberian Jr., of Hooksett, N.H., lead the way after two rounds as they’re at 6-under 137.

The eight Coloradans who competed in the national tournament earned spots in the field thanks to their finishes last September in the Colorado PGA Professional Championship at Cherry Creek Country Club.

Here are all the scores for players with significant Colorado connections:

36. Dale Smigelsky, Fort Collins 75-69–144
65. Former CGA Amateur champion Marty Jertson, 72-74–146
84. Ari Papadopoulos, Eagle-Vail 75-72–147

Missed 36-Hole Cut
190. Geoff Keffer, Lakewood 74-78–152
209. Caine Fitzgerald, Parker 78-75–153
226. Mike Northern, Colorado Springs 75-79–154
226. Eric Bradley, Parker 78-76–154
240. Kirk Trowbridge, Castle Rock 82-73–155
250. Joseph Carlton, Golden 81-75–156

For all of the scores from the PGA Professional Championship, CLICK HERE.

Specifically, what’s on the line over the next few weeks are spots on the world’s top tours in 2013. For most of the participating players with strong Colorado ties, how they perform will make the difference whether they compete next year at the very highest level of golf, have another year of scrambling to make a living on mini-tours and state opens, or something in between.

The final stage of LPGA Tour qualifying will take place Nov. 28-Dec. 2 in Daytona Beach, Fla., but of more immediate concern is the second stage of PGA Tour Q-school and the final stage of Champions Tour qualifying, both of which will take place this week.

The PGA Tour second stage will be held at six sites, either Tuesday through Friday (Nov. 13-16) or Wednesday through Saturday (Nov. 14-17) — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in California. Ten golfers with strong Colorado connections will compete, including Highlands Ranch’s Derek Tolan (pictured above), who won his second HealthOne Colorado Open this year and missed advancing to the Q-school finals by a single stroke in 2011.

As for the finals of Champions Tour Q-school, it’s set for Tuesday through Friday in Coral Springs, Fla. Former University of Colorado golfer Steve Jones is the only major champion (1996 U.S. Open) in the field, and onetime Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo also will be competing.

At stake in the 78-player Champions Tour qualifying are five fully-exempt positions on the 2013 Champions circuit, plus seven conditional spots.

Jones, who is missing his induction into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame this week because of the tournament, is hoping to become an exempt Champions Tour player for the first time. He turned 50 on Dec. 27, 2008, but didn’t return to competition until more than two years later because of a case of tennis elbow. Jones, winner of eight PGA Tour events, was recently voted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

At the PGA Tour’s second stage, the number of players who will advance to the final stage of Q-school hasn’t yet been announced, but last year about 20 moved on from each site.

But the second stage is crucial in many respects. While most of those who fail to advance will be left with no tour status next year, the players who do move on to the final stage — set for Nov. 28-Dec. 3 in La Quinta, Calif. — will be guaranteed at least some Web.com status in 2013.

The big prize, of course, will be the PGA Tour cards which will be awarded to the top 25 finishers and ties after the final stage. But there is also a lot of money and opportunities on the Web.com Tour, so being assured a spot there is a major hurdle for many players.

Among the local golfers joining Tolan in this week’s second stage are Shane Bertsch of Parker, who lost his exempt status on the PGA Tour this year, and 2012 Web.com Tour player James Love of Denver.

David Duval of Cherry Hills Village, winner of 13 PGA Tour events in his career but none in the last 11 years, was scheduled to play in the second-stage tournament in Murrieta, Calif., this week, but he withdrew. Golfweek magazine reported it was due to a broken toe.

Here is the rundown on all the local golfers competing in the second stage, along with their site:

Nov. 13-16 in McKinney, Texas — James Love of Denver, Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch.

Nov. 13-16 in Humble, Texas — former Denver resident Mark Hubbard, former Colorado State University golfer Dustin Morris.

Nov. 14-17 in Panama City, Fla. — Shane Bertsch of Parker, Kyle McCarthy of Denver.

Nov. 14-17 in Murrieta, Calif. — former Colorado School of Mines golfer Marty Jertson, former Fort Collins resident Drew Stoltz, former University of Denver golfer Danny Wax, Gunner Wiebe of Aurora.

As for the Nov. 13-16 Champions Tour final stage in Coral Springs, Fla. — former University of Colorado golfer Steve Jones, onetime Castle Rock resident Esteban Toledo.

Meanwhile, at the recently completed second stage of European Tour qualifying, former CU golfer Sebastian Heisele failed to be one of 19 players to advance in Alicante, Spain as he finished 41st.