Jeff Gallagher hadn’t played in a multi-day tournament yet in 2018, but you’d never have known it by the way the former PGA Tour player opened his title defense Wednesday at the CoBank Colorado Senior Open.

Gallagher, 53, made seven birdies and one bogey in a round of 6-under-par 66 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club to share the lead with two rounds remaining.

“I haven’t played in anything since Champions Tour Q-school in December except for two Monday qualifiers,” the resident of Henderson, Nev., said on Wednesday. “My competitiveness is not around. But it was today. You’ve got to figure out what you’re doing quickly, and I got off to a good start. That made it easier.”

Perhaps not coindentally, a fellow former PGA Tour veteran who was paired with Gallagher (left) on Wednesday also shares the lead at 66. That’s Skip Kendall, who has played in 423 PGA Tour events in his career.

“It was great,” Kendall (below) said of the pairing. “I was just trying to hold on to Jeff’s shirttails. He got off to a good start (with three birdies in his first four holes), and we ended up kind of feeding off each other. And we both played very well.”

Also at 66 after the first round is Mike Grob of Billings, Mont., a former PGA Tour player who surprised himself after waking up Wednesday feeling less than optimal.

“It felt great because this morning I woke up and I felt swollen and sore and stiff,” said the 54-year-old, who placed fifth in last year’s CSO. “I think it was a good thing because I wouldn’t swing too fast. It kept me slow.”

On a day when scoring conditions were near ideal, 31 players broke par on Wednesday.

Former Broncos quarterback John Elway was 2 under par through 14 holes, but bogeyed three of his last four to shoot 73. (See below for more details.)

Bill Breen of Nashville, Tenn., opened with a 67 to stand in fourth place.

Three Coloradans are in the top 10 through the first day. Rick Cole of Eaton, the runner-up in the 2017 Colorado PGA Professional Championship, had a bogey-free 68, good for a share of fifth place. Eaton finished sixth at last year’s Senior Open.

Also at 68 is Jeff Hanson of Edwards, who was part of Elway’s threesome, along with Paul Lobato. Doug Wherry of Lakewood posted a 69, leaving him in eighth place.

Gallagher shot 66 despite missing three putts of 5 feet or less, including a 2-foot birdie attempt on his first hole.

“The course kinds of suits me,” said Gallagher, who went 68-66-71 to win last year. “I drove it really well and hit some good shots at times. The golf course is nice. It’s fun to play.

“It’s so much different than when I played on Tour and on the Web.com. I have a mindset (now) that I’m going to go out and have fun. Whatever happens, happens. I think that mindset makes it a lot easier to play. It took a long time to figure that out — 53 years old and you finally figure out that this game actually is a lot of fun to play. And I still hit it really well, and that makes it a lot more fun to play.”

Gallagher and Kendall have known each other almost 30 years, back to their mini-tour days, which made for an ideal pairing on Wednesday, with Colorado amateur Guy Mertz (72 in round 1) being the third player.

“We had a good group,” Gallagher said. “It was fun. A lot of birdies.”

Kendall, who finished third at The International at Castle Pines in 1997, played his final 10 holes in 6 under par on Wednesday.

“I putted pretty well. I made eight birdies. I can’t remember the last time I did that,” said Kendall, who is playing in his first Colorado Senior Open. “Obviously I didn’t really expect to. I didn’t know what to expect because I haven’t been playing that much (one PGA Tour Champions start this year after a full schedule in 2017 but losing his card). So we’ll see what happens the next couple of days, but today was a nice day. I kept the ball in play, hit some decent irons shots and made some putts.

“It’s a good course. I’m enjoying it. It’s fun competing again.”

Elway Falters at End, Shoots 73: As for Elway, on Wednesday he made another one of those comebacks he’s famous for — only this one came on the golf course rather than the football field. Unfortunately for the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, he couldn’t close the deal on Wednesday.

Starting on his ninth hole (No. 18 at GVR), the Broncos general manager went birdie-par-birdie-birdie to get to 2 under, which put him in the top 15 overall. And he drove it over the green on the 318-yard fourth hole, but settled for a par. Then a couple of missed short putts and a ball that plugged in the bunker on his 17th hole resulted in three bogeys in his final four holes.

The 1-over-par 73 left Elway (left) in 44th place after the first round.

“I’m getting old. I can’t finish rounds,” said Elway, who has finished as high as 19th in the CSO. “I had it going so it was great, then … I don’t know if it’s age and I lack concentration late or what. But that’s golf.

“I played as good as I could play (for much of the round). I had a lot of good shots and made some good putts. For me it was a good round. You’re always disappointed if you miss a little putt or whatnot. But I hit the ball pretty well today.

“It’s always a crash course for me once the (NFL) draft is over. We’re about a month out, so it’s starting to get a little better. But I always enjoy playing out here. This is really a fun golf course to play. It’s in great shape.”

Elway was paired with Lobato, a PGA professional at Meridian Golf Club who has served as Elway’s instructor for many years.

“He can’t help you (during a tournament round),” Elway noted. “But it’s always good to play with guys you’re comfortable with. We kind of root for each other, but obviously we’re still playing in the tournament.”

Elway ranks fourth among amateurs after one round. Jon Lindstrom of Broomfield, a three-time CGA Mid-Amateur champion, leads the amateur ranks after shooting a 1-under-par 71.

The top 55 players and ties after Thursday’s second round will advance to Friday’s final round.

Hamill Surprised, Humbled by Honor: Pat Hamill, the founder of Oakwood Homes, is credited by many for bringing the Colorado Open back from the brink during tough times 15 years ago and re-establishing it as one of the top state opens in the country.

Hamill is the founder of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation and the owner of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club — where the CoBank Colorado Open, CoBank Colorado Women’s Open and the CoBank Colorado Senior Open are held. It’s also the home of The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch, a program which helps shape and impact the lives of kids.

Given the impact Hamill has had with The First Tee of GVR and with the CoBank Colorado Open championships, he recently received an unexpected honor when The First Tee Learning Center/Colorado Open Golf Foundation building at GVR was renamed the Patrick H. Hamill Learning Center.

“I was very surprised,” he said Wednesday at the Colorado Senior Open. “Had they asked for permission, I wouldn’t have let it happen. But I’m very humbled.”

For scores from the Colorado Senior Open, CLICK HERE.

You could take it to the (Co)Bank.

Almost exactly a year after the purse for the men’s Open jumped to $250,000 — with an amazing $100,000 going to the winner — Colorado Open Golf Foundation officials announced a comparable increase, percentage-wise, for the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. Not coincidentally, CoBank has been the title sponsor for the Colorado Open championships since the beginning of 2016.

For the 2017 women’s tournament, set for Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver, first prize will more than quadruple — to $50,000 from $11,000 — and the overall purse will double — to $150,000. In both cases, those are records for a women’s state/regional open and the $50,000 is considerably more than the winner receives for any 2017 event on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA’s development circuit.

“We’re very excited that we’re a big girls’ game now,” Colorado Open Golf Foundation CEO Kevin Laura said during Thursday’s announcement at Topgolf in Centennial.

Roughly $135,000 of the purse total will be devoted to the championship competition, with $15,000 (the same as in 2016) going for the pro-am.

“This is the best state open and it’s getting even better,” said Denver’s Becca Huffer, a two-time Colorado state high school champion who went on to win the 2013 Colorado Women’s Open.

“This is a huge day for women’s golf in Colorado,” said 2005 CWO champ Erin Houtsma, the tournament’s all-time money leader. “As someone who’s played in this tournament since I was about 16 years old, I love this event so much and this is long overdue. I thank everyone for their hard work and dedication to this process.”

Ironically, Houtsma is in the midst of getting her amateur status back, so even if she wins the 2017 CWO, there will be no $50,000 first prize for her. Instead, the highest-finishing professional would get that payday.

With the substantial increase in money, tournament organizers now feel there will be enough demand for a qualifying event — a first for the CWO — and have scheduled one for Aug. 28 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. Five to 10 spots will be available through qualifying. Meanwhile, exemptions will be held for select players from the LPGA and Symetra Tours.

Laura indicated the increased prize money for the Women’s Open is being funded by $75,000 in new sponsorships, with another $10,000 coming from a $100 increase in entry fees from the 100 or so championship players. It will now cost those players $400 to enter the championship alone, and $500 for the championship and the pro-am.

(Entries for the Colorado Women’s Open, the CoBank Colorado Open and the CoBank Colorado Senior Open all will open on Monday, March 6. For more information, CLICK HERE.)

The money hike for the Women’s Open — which will continue to feature a format in which the championship and a pro-am are conducted simultaneously — has been on the radar since organizers first started putting a similar plan in place for the men’s Open.

“We knew when we first did the men’s purse increase that shortly thereafter we needed to figure out how to handle the women,” said Pat Hamill, the founder of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation and the owner of GVR. “Alex (Ringsby, who serves on the foundation’s board of trustees) had called me and said, ‘We thought women should come first. Isn’t that the right thing to do?'”

All three of the Colorado Open championships have always been very highly regarded among state and regional opens, but the huge purse increases for the Colorado Open and the Colorado Women’s Open since CoBank became title sponsor certainly take those tournaments’ reputation up a notch.

The Colorado Open “clearly was a premier state tournament, but … we wanted to take it to the next level,” said Bob Engel, former CEO of CoBank. “And we saw the engagement of anyone that has anything at all to do with the (tournament or course). Everyone pulled together on this. And the excitement just kind of continued to grow.

“For me what was really (eye-catching) was when we had these individual clinics with The First Tee kids last year (conducted by Hale Irwin, Ryan Palmer and Paula Creamer). And when I saw the attendance by the young ladies for that (Creamer) event, it was absolutely tremendous. And Pat (Hamill) had whispered to me at the end of the men’s tournament, ‘We’re going to get this going for the women also.’ It really is tremendous. … So (with these increases) we think it brings a whole lot more and that the community will continue to rally around it.”

Many players like the ones who attended Thursday’s announcement — Houtsma, Huffer and three-time state high school champion and veteran CWO competitor Ashley Tait — have seldom played in a tournament with a $50,000 first prize (though Huffer competed in the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open). (Pictured above, from left, sharing a laugh Thursday are Engel, Hamill, Houtsma, Huffer and Tait.)

“I’ve always looked forward to that day that I have a chance to win (the Women’s Open) — and I’ll look forward to that day even more (now),” Tait said with a laugh. “($50,000) could change your life, open up some doors, especially for us having to pay for your own expenses and travel on tour.

“Especially coming down that stretch at Green Valley and those last four holes, which can be brutal, they’ll be even more stressful now with that on the line.”

The hope from the perspective of tournament organizers is a step up in the caliber of field for the Women’s Open like that that happened for the men’s Open, which in 2016 sold out all four of its qualfiers for the first time.

“We know this is going to do for the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open what the purse increase did for the men,” said Chris Nordling, a former CGA state amateur champion who now chairs the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. “We’re excited about the better field, the lower scores and the more money for the women.”

Just how much of a draw the money increase will be should be apparent this year as both the Symetra Tour and the LPGA Tour have events directly opposite of the CWO. With the top 10 players on the final 2017 Symetra Tour money list earning spots on the 2018 LPGA Tour — and with that being the stretch run for the Symetra schedule — some players will be conflicted about whether to come to Colorado. That’s what happened with Huffer last year when she was high enough on the Symetra money list that she decided to skip the Colorado Women’s Open to further help her cause on the Symetra money list.

“I hated missing this event last year,” Huffer said. “(With the money increase) I can’t imagine people not having it on their radar. It would be a really hard decision not to come here. … I think it will bring anyone who has ever been on the fence about playing in it.

“I can see it being a star on the calendar for everyone.”

The field for the 23rd CWO will feature 104-106 championship players, including probably 18-25 amateurs. With 38-40 net amateurs competing, the total field will number 144.

Big Names Expected for 2 Clinics at GVR: A year after holding three clinics featuring two winners of major championships (Irwin and Creamer, in addition to Palmer), the folks from the Colorado Open Golf Foundation are planning to host a couple of other major winners for clinics at GVR this summer.

Laura said arrangements aren’t yet finalized, but a major champion on the men’s side and another on the women’s are expected to lead the clinics for the kids from the area’s First Tee programs, including the one at GVR.

The clinic with the men’s major champ will likely be held in mid- to late-June, with the women’s LPGA Tour player probably coming two months later.
 

Former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo tied for sixth at the PGA Tour Champions’ Allianz Championship, the event he won last year.

Meanwhile, former University of Denver women’s golfer Tonje Daffinrud posted her best showing ever on the Ladies European Tour by sharing sixth place at the season-opening Oates Vic Open in Australia.

And Pat Hamill (pictured), founder of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation and the CEO of Oakwood Homes, teamed with PGA Tour player Matt Every to likewise tie for sixth in the Pebble Peach pro-am competition. Despite Every missing the cut by 10 shots, he and Hamill carded rounds of 62-68-67-64 for a 26-under-par 261 total, which left them seven strokes behind winners Ken Duke and amateur partner Carson Daly. Hamill and Every played with former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird and his partner on Sunday.

Daffinrud, who placed 10th at the women’s NCAA finals as a DU senior in 2014, shot rounds of 70-74-70-69 for a 9-under-par 283 total at the Vic Open. In ending up seven strokes behind champion Melissa Reid, Daffinrud earned 10,290 euros.

As for Toledo, who’s won four times in his Champions career, he carded scores of 69-67-66 for a 14-under-par 202 total in Boca Raton, Fla. Scott McCarron prevailed at 17-under 199.
 

The CoBank Colorado Open made a big splash earlier this year when officials announced a doubling of the tournament purse, with first prize more than quadrupling, to $100,000.

But that certainly isn’t the only thing the Colorado Open Championships have done this year to make even more of a mark in the Colorado golf community.

On Friday, tournament organizers held the second of three junior clinics conducted by big-name professionals. In May before the CoBank Colorado Senior Open, World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin did the honors at The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch in northeast Denver.

On Friday, leading up to this month’s Colorado Open, three-time PGA Tour winner Ryan Palmer did likewise at GVR.

And on Aug. 29, the same week as the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open, 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer, a major promoter of The First Tee, will host kids clinic No. 3 at GVR. Hers most likely will be a girls-only affair.

“I think it’s a unique thing to do, and CoBank said they liked the first one (with Irwin) so much they’ll do this every year unless we come up with an even better idea,” said Kevin Laura, CEO of the CoBank Colorado Opens and of The First Tee of GVR.

The junior clinics were the result of CoBank becoming title sponsor of the Colorado Open Championships starting this year, and the company’s desire to make an impact on the local golf scene through the tournaments.

“They said, ‘We need to promote our involvement’ — what we call ‘activate their sponsorship,'” Laura said. “They said, ‘Why don’t you guys come up with some ideas?’ The first thing we thought of was bringing in some other name pros that have some ties to the Colorado Open or First Tee and use those for each of the three championships to try to get a kick-start. They loved that idea.”

So there was Palmer (pictured), ranked No. 70 in the world and winner of more than $20 million in his PGA Tour career, demonstrating his golf skills Friday at GVR in front of about six-dozen spectators, many of them kids, and answering questions about golf and relating to The First Tee’s nine core values. Before the clinic, he played about 10 holes at GVR, chipping in for eagle on the short par-4 seventh and driving it over the middle of the cross-fairway hazard from the blue tees on the ninth hole.

“There are so many things you can do from a charity standpoint for the younger generation of kids,” said Palmer, who will depart for the British Open on Sunday. “The smile you can put on these kids’ faces is unbelievable. And giving the kids a chance to play golf and a great place like (The First Tee facility and par-3 course) to practice and learn the game is neat. It’s a place where they can learn not only how to play the game, but the values of it. It’s pretty remarkable what (The First Tee and other similar organizations) are doing to teach these kids the game of golf, how to be a good person on the golf course and overall becoming a better person.

“The work they’ve done here is unbelievable. I saw the facility and it’s pretty cool what Pat (Hamill, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation founder) has done with The First Tee and here at Green Valley Ranch.”

Palmer learned some of the lessons The First Tee teaches through his dad back in Texas, a state he still calls come.

“What I learned from my dad growing up was to be the kind of person that treats people the right way and how to act on the golf course,” Palmer said. “That’s what he told me more than anything. When I’d get mad and frustrated, he was quick to bring me down. He’d get into me pretty good. ‘If you do that again, we’re done.’ You want kids to learn that. When you’re not playing well, at least they can act the right way and respect the game — and respect the people around you. The worst thing you can do is show your frustration and kind of make a fool of yourself.”

Palmer hasn’t spent a lot of time in Colorado, but he has good memories from the smattering of times he’s come to the Centennial State. He loved competing at The International at Castle Pines Golf Club and he finished fourth at the BMW Championship two years ago at Cherry Hills Country Club.

“To me The International was one of the greatest tournaments we played,” he said of the PGA Tour event that had a 21-year run, ending in 2006. “It was so much fun — the format — and Castle Pines in general is a cool spot for sure.

“I love Cherry Hills. It reminds me a lot of Colonial (Country Club in Fort Worth) where I’m a member. (Cherry Hills) was so much fun to play, the fans were unbelievable, and I had some success there, which was nice. It’s a great city, Denver. Hopefully we get to come back.”

Though Palmer has been a regular on the PGA Tour for about a dozen years, he played the mini tours for 2 1/2 years shortly after turning pro. That makes him appreciate what the Colorado Open is doing with its purse, going from $125,000 to $250,000 overall, and from $23,000 to $100,000 for the winner.

“That’s unheard of really,” he said. “The mini tours I played, your first-place check was $20,000, and that’s how it is today. It’s unheard of to have a professional event (in the U.S. other than the PGA Tour or the Web.com) have that kind of purse. That’s awesome. Once the word gets out, more and more guys will want to play.”

This year, Laura said among the players expected to compete in the Colorado Open are PGA Tour winners Jonathan Kaye (a former University of Colorado golfer), Parker McLachlin and Keith Clearwater, who finished third last month in the Colorado Senior Open.

Just as notably, the major purse increases have caught the attention of top players aspiring for Web.com and PGA Tour status.

“We’ve never sold out the (Colorado Open qualifying tournaments before) and we sold them out a month before the first one this year,” Laura noted. “The (demand) for wanting to get into this tournament has doubled, tripled, quadrupled.

“I think there’s going to be 30-40 guys who could win this year, as opposed to 20.”
 

It’s still almost five months before the Colorado Open Championship is contested under the banner of its new title sponsor, but big changes are already in place.

On Tuesday at Topgolf Centennial, tournament organizers announced that the purse for this year’s CoBank Colorado Open will double from 2015, with the winner taking home a record $100,000, more than quadruple the $23,000 check Jimmy Gunn claimed for winning last summer’s tournament at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.

The $250,000 purse this year far exceeds the previous record for the Colorado Open — the $180,000 the tournament paid out in 2000 and 2001. The winners those years, Scott Petersen and Brett Wayment, respectively, each made $32,400. In fact, the CoBank Colorado Open now has the distinction of having the largest purse among all the state opens, according to Kevin Laura, CEO of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. Some of the highest purses in comparable events are $190,000 for the Waterloo Open, $165,000 for the Long Beach Open and about $151,000 for the Texas State Open.

“Players are going to view (the Colorado Open) as one of the best — if not the best — state opens in the country,” said Petersen (left), who has a Web.com Tour victory to go with his Colorado Open win. “With the purse increase … everybody’s going to want to come now.

“Growing up here, the tournament had all these great players — Senior Tour players, PGA Tour players (including World Golf Hall of Famers Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Billy Casper, Hale Irwin and Fred Couples). We’re going to start to get back to that.”

That thought was seconded by another former University of Colorado golfer, current Metropolitan State University of Denver women’s coach Ben Portie, who won the Colorado Open in 2011. Portie sees just about anyone who isn’t exempt on the PGA Tour, Web.com Tour or PGA Tour Champions as a possibility for the Colorado Open. 

“Every good professional golfer will want to come here the end of July,” said Portie (left). “And if they’re not in the event, they’ll want to qualify. I always thought this was my major, being from Colorado. But this will make it even better.”

Last year, after four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay and other prominent PGA Tour veterans such as Shane Bertsch and Chris Riley noted how well the tournament was run and that the event could draw an even stronger field with a larger purse, his words weren’t lost on Colorado Open Golf Foundation founder Pat Hamill.

“Pat challenged me when he said he wanted to double the purse,” Laura said. “I swallowed hard. And when he said he was thinking about $100,000 for the winner, I swallowed even harder.”

But Laura put together a plan that’s become a reality.

“Getting first place to $100,000, it makes me want to go work on my golf game,” joked Hamill (left). “$100,000 is significant. There’s no other open in the country that has that amount. I think we’re going to get a lot of Web.com players.”

And how will Colorado Open organizers come up with the additional prize money?

Laura said two-thirds of the increase will come through new sponsorship deals with eight companies — including Oakwood Homes, where Hamill is CEO — and the remaining third through increased entry fees. The professional entry fee for the championship will increase to $600 from $400, and the fee for entering the qualfiers will jump to $250 from $175. More than a third of the 156-person field is filled through qualifying tournaments. This year’s qualifying events for the July 21-24 Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club are scheduled for July 6 at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood, July 12 at Eagle Ranch Golf Club in Eagle, and July 14 and 18 at Legacy Ridge Golf Course in Westminster.

This year’s Colorado Open will be the 52nd. It debuted in 1964 at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen and has been held every year but one since (2003).

Since the Colorado Open Golf Foundation was formed and started running the event in 2004, the tournament has consistently featured a $125,000 purse. Now the winner alone will earn six figures.

“That first place of 100 grand — that in itself is going to grab people’s attention,” Petersen said. “That can do a lot of things for you. That’s a lot of money.”

Given the dramatic increases in the purse and the winner’s portion, suffice it to say that Colorado Open officials expect some notable names to compete in July at Green Valley Ranch. More than 60 percent of the hike in the purse will go to the champion that week.

“I think we’ll be creating a lot of buzz,” Laura said.

Registration for the 2016 Colorado Open and its four qualifiers opened on Tuesday — as did registration for the CoBank Senior Open (June 1-3) and the CoBank Women’s Open (Aug. 31-Sept. 2). For more information, CLICK HERE.

Speaking of the Women’s Open, Hamill said one of the next priorities for tournament organizers will be to increase the purse for that event, which currently stands at $60,000, plus $15,000 for the pro-am.

Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the ninth 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 1995-2004. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE.

There have been many groundbreaking and pivotal moments for women in the history of golf in Colorado and beyond, but it hasn’t gotten much bigger in the Centennial State than in the mid- and late-1990s.

It started with The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs hosting the 50th U.S. Women’s Open in 1995, marking the first time arguably the top championship in women’s golf has come to Colorado — or the Mountain time zone, for that matter. And though no one realized it at the time, one of the sport’s all-time greats was to emerge, as Annika Sorenstam made that tournament the first of what would become 72 LPGA Tour victories before she unexpectedly retired in 2008.

In the first of her 10 major championship wins, Sorenstam (below) finished a stroke ahead of Meg Mallon and two in front of Pat Bradley and Betsy King at The Broadmoor’s historic East Course. That was the first year the U.S. Women’s Open featured a purse of at least $1 million.

While all that was huge from a historical perspective, the next year was even more unique.

That was when Colorado Springs resident Judy Bell was elected president of the USGA, becoming the first female to hold that post. In fact, Bell’s two-year term beginning in January 1996 remains the only one in which a woman has served as USGA president since Theodore Havemeyer became the first president of the association in 1894.

“I bet that’s the first time the incoming president kissed the outgoing president on the way to the dais,” Bell memorably joked after it was announced she would succeed Reg Murphy.

But, as former USGA president Stuart Bloch noted, “Judy’s gender, I don’t believe, was a consideration in her election. Her abilities, I think, were the consideration that caused her to be selected as the first woman president. If she were a man, she would have been elected.”

Overall, Bell was the third Coloradan to become USGA president, following Denver residents Frank Woodward (1915-16) and Will Nicholson Jr. (1980-81). (Bell is pictured at top in a USGA photo presenting the low-amateur award to Cristie Kerr at the 1996 U.S. Women’s Open.)

During Bell’s presidency, the USGA started the “For the Good of the Game” program, a $50 million initiative which aimed to increasingly spread the game to groups such as youth, minorities and the disabled.

Bell had had a long, distinguished career as both a player and a volunteer golf administrator leading up to her presidency. She had served on the USGA Women’s Committee starting in 1968 and chaired that committee from 1981 to ’84. Then in 1987, she became the first woman elected to the USGA Executive Committee.

On the playing end, Bell won three Kansas women’s amateurs, starting at age 15, and three Broadmoor Ladies Invitation titles, competed in 38 USGA championships and was both a player and captain on U.S. Curtis Cup teams. And in 1964, she shot the lowest round in the history of the U.S. Women’s Open, a 6-under-par 67, a standard which stood for 14 years.

For all this and much more, Bell was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

But Bell wasn’t the only woman from Colorado in USGA volunteer leadership roles around this time. Colorado Springs’ Barbara McIntire, winner of two U.S. Women’s Amateurs and a British Ladies Amateur, served as USGA Women’s Committee chair in 1995-96, and Denver’s Joan Birkland, another accomplished athlete, followed McIntire in that role in 1997-98.

On a more local level, 1995 marked the debut of the Colorado Women’s Open.

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the period from 1995-2004:

— Steve Jones (left), who grew up in Yuma, Colo., and played golf at the University of Colorado, won the 1996 U.S. Open, overcoming runners-up Davis Love and Tom Lehman. The victory culminated a remarkable comeback after Jones was off the PGA Tour for almost three years following a dirt-bike accident in November 1991. The victory gave former CU golfers four U.S. Open titles — three for Hale Irwin and one for Jones.

— In 1996, the CGA entered into an agreement with the Lowry Redevelopment Authority to purchase the former Lowry Air Force Base golf course. The CWGA became partner with the CGA in the purchase of the course. The site is now home of CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA.

— From 1996 to ’98, Ken Krieger won three consecutive Colorado PGA Professional Championships, becoming the second player in the 1990s to do so, joining Ron Vlosich (1991-93).

— In the five-year period from 1997-2001, an amazing 42 courses opened in Colorado.

— Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the 1998 Trans Miss, won by Dan Dunkelberg. Coloradan John Olive was the runner-up.

— CU graduate Hale Irwin won two U.S. Senior Opens in three years, in 1998 and 2000. That gave the former Buff a total of five USGA championships, including his three U.S. Opens.

— In 1998, The Broadmoor hosted the biennial PGA Cup matches, which pits the top club professionals from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland. In Colorado Springs, the U.S. defeated GB&I 17-9.

— In the period from 1999 to 2002, Kevin Stadler won the CGA Match Play title twice, along with the 2002 Colorado Open championship in his pro debut. During the decade 1995-2004, Stadler and Jonathan Kaye (1996) won the Colorado Open en route to becoming PGA Tour champions.

— John Olive, winner of the 1977 CGA Match Play, became one of the top senior players in Colorado history. In addition to claiming titles in five CGA Senior Stroke Plays and four Senior Match Plays during this decade, he won the inaugural Colorado Senior Open (1999) and remains the only amateur to earn the title in that event.

— Colorado PGA members received four more PGA of America national awards in this decade: Alan Abrams (1997 Junior Golf Leader), Mike McGetrick (1999 Teacher of the Year), Charles “Vic” Kline (2000 Golf Professional of the Year) and Russ Miller (2003 Resort Merchandiser of the Year).

— In 2000, Coloradan Kaye Kessler won the PGA of America’s National Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism.

— Also in 2000, Warren Simmons retired as CGA executive director, with Ed Mate succeeding him. Mate continues in the position to this day.

— Nicki Cutler won the CWGA Stroke Play three times in a four-year period from 2000-03.

— Rick DeWitt, the 1999 CGA Stroke Play champ, won the last of his record seven CGA Mid-Amateur titles in 2002 before being inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and later turning pro. He was named CGA Player of the Year a record six times.

— With financial issues and mismanagement burdening the Colorado Open, the 2003 championship was called off during tournament week. Thanks in large part to developer Pat Hamill, the event was resurrected in 2004.

— The International at Castle Pines saw two future World Golf Hall of Famers — Phil Mickelson (1993 and ’97) and Davis Love III (1990 and 2003) win the PGA Tour event for the second time.

— Les Fowler, a Colorado Golf Hall of Fame player and a former CGA president who had a key role in the CGA acquiring the golf course at Lowry, passed away in 2003.

— In 2004, Steve Irwin, a former pro who regained his amateur status, joined his father Hale (1966) as a winner of the CGA Match Play.

— Jamie Lovemark won the prestigious 2004 Western Junior at Denver Country Club. Lovemark later became the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world.