If you don’t think that’s unusual, think again.

Prior to this current “drought”, you have to go back more than a half-century to find a Masters without at least one competitor with major Colorado ties.

With that in mind, we decided to dig into the records and highlight the Colorado “locals” who have shined at Augusta National Golf Club over the history of the Masters, which debuted in 1934.

Almost 25 players with significant connections to the Centennial State — either before, during or after their Masters heydays — have competed in what is now the first major of the season. A couple others have more tenuous ties to Colorado, but are interesting to note.

Here’s the rundown:

— Craig Stadler (current Evergreen resident): The Walrus, of course, didn’t move to Colorado until the 1990s, but he’s the one person to win the Masters who’s long resided in the state. In 1982, Stadler scored the biggest victory of his career. After posting rounds of 75-69-67-73–284, he defeated Dan Pohl in a playoff and slipped on a green jacket (pictured with ’81 champ Tom Watson). Stadler’s 75 remains the highest opening round by a champion.

He led by six with nine holes left in regulation, but lost ground with a 40 on the back nine on Sunday. A par on the first hole of sudden-death yielded the win.

“Walking down the fairway on No. 11, I said to myself, ‘This is easy,'” Stadler said at the time. “It looked like they all were playing for second and the only thing in doubt was by how much was I going to win. The National proved itself on Sunday again. I’ll take ’em any way I can.”

The victory was one of five top-seven finishes by Stadler at the Masters, including a third-place showing in 1988, when he ended up two back of champion Sandy Lyle. Stadler competed in 36 consecutive Masters, ending his run after playing in the 2014 event with son Kevin.

— Hale Irwin (Boulder High School and University of Colorado graduate): The World Golf Hall of Famer is best known for his three U.S. Open victories, but he was on the Sunday leaderboard numerous times at the Masters.

Overall, Irwin notched seven top-eight showings at Augusta National. He had an especially strong run from 1974-78, finishing fourth, fourth, fifth, fifth and eighth.

Of players with at least 50 rounds in the Masters, Irwin owns the seventh-best stroke average in history (72.18).

— Dow Finsterwald (director of golf at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs from 1963-93): Finsterwald didn’t take his job at The Broadmoor until 1963, but he was regularly in the hunt at the Masters from 1957 through ’64.

The 1958 PGA Championship winner recorded five top-10 finishes at Augusta National during that eight-year stretch, including placing second and third.

Two years particular stood out for “Finsty”. In 1960, he finished third, two strokes behind winner — and good friend — Arnold Palmer. Coincidentally, two strokes is what Finsterwald was penalized — retroactively — for taking a practice putt on the fifth green during the first round, “not realizing he had violated rules” according to a newspaper account at the time.

Two years later, Finsterwald watched Palmer beat him again, this time in an 18-hole playoff, with Dow and Gary Player tying for second place. All three players finished at 8-under-par 280. The next day in the playoff, Palmer shot 68, Player 71 and Finsterwald 77.

Finsty would end up with 11 PGA Tour victories.

— David Duval (Cherry Hills Village resident): Duval moved to Colorado after the last of his 13 PGA Tour wins, which includes the 2001 British Open. There was certainly a reason he once was the top-ranked player in the world, and his record in the Masters shows that.

In the four Masters beginning in 1998, Duval finished second, sixth, third and second. In 1998, a closing 67 left him one back of winner Mark O’Meara. And in 2001, Duval made 23 birdies and also closed with a 67, leaving him two back of champion Tiger Woods.

— Ed Dudley (director of golf at The Broadmoor Golf Club from 1941 to ’63): Before the Masters took a three-year hiatus in the final years of World War II, Dudley was one of the top performers at Augusta National, where he served as the first head professional. From 1934 (the first year of what was then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament) through ’41, he notched seven top-10 finishes. His best showing was a third place in 1937, when he ended up three strokes behind champion Byron Nelson.

Dudley, winner of 15 PGA Tour events, held jobs at The Broadmoor and Augusta National simultaneously from 1941-57 as the Augusta venue is typically open only from autumn to May.

— Paul Runyan (director of golf at Green Gables CC from 1972 to the early ’80s): The winner of two PGA Championships and 29 PGA Tour events overall, Runyan recorded four top-10 performances in the first decade of the Masters. His best showings were third place in the first Masters (1934) and in 1942, and a fourth-place in 1936.

Runyan ended up two behind winner Horton Smith in the first Masters — then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.

— Lawson Little: Little wasn’t a resident of Colorado, but it’s worth noting that in the summer of 1933 he made himself at home in the Centennial State. That year, the golfer from Stanford won the CGA Match Play (9 and 7 over Frank English in the final) and The Broadmoor Invitation, and finished runner-up in the Trans-Miss that The Broadmoor also hosted.

At the Masters, Little notched six top-10 showings from 1935 through ’51. His best finish was third place in 1939, when he ended up three back of winner Ralph Guldahl.

— Charlie Coe (a member at Castle Pines Golf Club late in his life): Coe, a two-time U.S. Amateur champion, posted three top-10 finishes in the Masters as an amateur. In 1961, he tied for second with Palmer, one behind winner Gary Player. Coe’s 7-under-par 281 total remains a Masters record for an amateur.

— Dave Hill (a longtime Colorado resident starting in the 1960s): At the same general time period Hill was winning a record four Colorado Opens, he posted a couple of top-10 showings at Augusta National. In 1970, he was a career-best fifth, ending up four shots behind winner Billy Casper, and five years later he placed seventh.

— Gary Hallberg (Colorado resident): Hallberg notched a top-10 in 1985 as his 2-under-par 286 total left him in sixth place, four back of winner Bernhard Langer.

— Mike Reid (attended Cherry Creek High School for one year): Like Hallberg, Reid’s best performance at Augusta National left him in sixth place at 286, in his case three behind champion Nick Faldo in 1989.

— Justin Leonard (Aspen resident): Long before moving to Aspen, Leonard notched back-to-back top-10s at the Masters, placing seventh in 1997 and eighth in ’98.

— Kevin Stadler (part-time Denver resident): Stadler posted a top-10 finish in his Masters debut in 2014, placing eighth as his dad, Craig, played in his final Masters. It’s one of two times Kevin has competed at Augusta National.

— Dale Douglass (former longtime Colorado resident and former CU golfer): The three-time PGA Tour winner had a best Masters finish of 19th in 1969.

— Steve Jones (grew up in Colorado and former CU golfer): The best Masters showing by the 1996 U.S. Open champion was 20th in 1990.

— Brandt Jobe (Colorado resident from 1970 to ’99): Among his appearances at Augusta National, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer had a best finish of 14th in 1999.

Other players with strong Colorado connections who have made the cut at the Masters are one-time Fitzsimons resident Orville Moody (best: 18th place), former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird (best: 20th), former Boulder resident Bob Byman (best: 34th), Colorado resident Mark Wiebe (best: 35th), and Denver native and former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye (best: 43rd). There was no cut at the Masters in 1947, but Denver’s Babe Lind, who was inducted into the first class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1973, finished 46th as the first Colorado native to compete in the tournament. Davis Love Jr., winner of the CGA Junior Match Play in 1953 and ’54 (and the father of Davis Love III), earned a 34th-place finish at Augusta National in 1964.

Another Colorado resident who competed in the Masters — but in his case failed to make the cut — was 1986 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Bill Loeffler in 1988. Denver native Tommy Armour III also missed a cut in the Masters, in 1990.

While no “locals” will compete in this year’s Masters, at least a couple of Coloradans will play a role at Augusta National Golf Club. On Wednesday, Craig Stadler is expected to compete in the Par-3 Contest a year after tying for second in that event. And CGA executive director Ed Mate, who serves on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, will be a rules official at the Masters for the second consecutive year.
 

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class 40 years ago, is taking its show on the road.

The first stop was last weekend’s Denver Golf Expo, and after flying under the radar for much of its four decades of existence, the CGHOF is hoping that’s a springboard toward taking on a higher profile in the future.

The Hall of Fame recently purchased a large touch-screen monitor, and the organization has streamlined biographies of all its 128 inductees and has added narration provided by CGA communications director Aaron Kellough — all so a Hall of Fame kiosk can easily be set up wherever it’s appropriate for golf functions around the state.

“Our whole goal here is to help us get exposure to the golf community regarding what the Golf Hall of Fame is all about,” said Keith Schneider, who serves as the volunteer president of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in addition to being the general manager at Castle Pines Golf Club, where he’s been a fixture since the early 1980s.

Schneider, himself a Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee, and several of his cohorts manned the Hall of Fame’s exhibit last weekend at its coming-out party at the Denver Golf Expo at the Denver Merchandise Mart. (Schneider is pictured above at the Expo.)

Besides the new touch-screen monitor that provided information on all the Hall’s inductees, there were placards detailing some history of the Hall, its mission, prominent members, and who’s going in this year. Also on display were Dale Douglass’ golf bag from the 1969 Ryder Cup, and one of the oldest golf trophies in the country, the 1897 Overland Cup (pictured at left).

The 2013 class of inductees will be enshrined on June 9 at Cielo at Castle Pines in Castle Rock. The following day, the Hall will hold its annual pro-am tournament, this year at the Country Club at Castle Pines.

This year’s three inductees are Colorado PGA professionals Tom Woodard (pictured below last weekend at the Expo) and Alan Abrams, and Jimmy Vickers, one of the state and region’s finest amateurs from the late 1940s into the 1960s. For more information on the impending inductees, CLICK HERE. 

“We want people to be aware of who is in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame,” Schneider said. “The response (at the Expo) has just been fabulous. It’s been a lot of fun just talking to people who come up and say, ‘Gosh, I know so and so. What year did he get in?’ And we’ll go in (on the touch-screen monitor) and pull up the name. It’s been great exposure for us.”

The CGA and CWGA’s web site, COgolf.org, has long served as the on-line site for the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s inductee biographies (CLICK HERE). And the Hall of Fame’s museum has been prominently displayed at the Riverdale golf courses in Brighton for the last decade. But the idea of the traveling kiosk is to expose the CGHOF to people who otherwise might not be aware of it.

The first class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame was inducted in 1973, with Babe Zaharias, Dave Hill and Babe Lind going in. Besides Zaharias — a co-founder of the LPGA and a three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion — the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame includes three other people also inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame: three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin, former USGA president Judy Bell and twice PGA Championship winner Paul Runyan.

In addition, more than a dozen members of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame are also Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductees: Bell, Joan Birkland, Dale Douglass, Dow Finsterwald, Irwin, Lind, Barbara McIntire, Tubb Morris, Will Nicholson Jr., Thayer Tutt, Jack Vickers, Starr Yelland and Zaharias. And 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones will join that heady company in two months when he’s enshrined into the CSHOF.

Schneider said the Hall of Fame’s new computer kiosk often will be housed at the Hall’s home at Riverdale, but “the idea is to get a second kiosk that can travel around to member-guests, to dinners, etc.; we’ll have it at our (June 9) dinner. This is kind of a road show that will give us exposure.”
 

“I never dreamed that course would close up,” said Ron Vlosich, a former longtime director of golf at the private club in west Denver. “You think of all the great times out there, and you get real sad.”

Green Gables is scheduled to close for good after this weekend, ending a run that dates back to the Roaring ’20s. The financially troubled club was sold in June to a group of investors who plan to redevelop the property at 6800 W. Jewell Ave.

According to the Colorado Golf Guide, only about 20 existing golf courses in Colorado have been around longer than Green Gables, which was established in 1928, with a nine-hole course debuting the following year.

“This is pretty sad for a golf course that old,” Green Gables director of instruction Perry Holmes said recently.

“It was a great club,” added Vlosich, who led the golf operations at the club from 1989 through 2006. “It’s been there since 1929. It’s been a mainstay in the Jewish community and the golf community.”

And few courses in Colorado have hosted more big-time professional golf tournaments than Green Gables.

Six times, the LPGA Tour played events at Green Gables (1972, ’73, ’76, ’78, ’79 and ’84), and the Senior PGA Tour paid a visit in 1983. Among the winners of those tournaments were three World Golf Hall of Famers: Kathy Whitworth, Betsy King and Sandra Haynie.

And another World Golf Hall of Famer, Paul Runyan, who won two PGA Championships and was a world-renowned golf instructor, served as the director of golf at Green Gables from 1972 until the early 1980s. Runyan was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame this year.

Recalling some of the good times, Vlosich can remember when the golf shop received a call out of the blue in the 1990s, and a guy named Phil Mickelson said he’d be coming to the club in a few days. When he showed up, he gave a little clinic and played golf with one of the members.

“The club had a great group of members — a lot of different characters and different personalities,” said Vlosich, who was given an honorary membership after departing as director of golf. “There were a lot of great times and good memories. It was always interesting and fun.”

The course at Green Gables was expanded from nine to 18 holes in 1948, according to worldgolf.com. But the course underwent a total redesign — by Arthur Hills — that started in the fall of 2003 and lasted to the spring of 2005. The total make-over cost a reported $6 million, which led to financial stress for the club.

“It was a matter of a couple of things coming together at the same time,” Vlosich said. “When they did the renovation they took on some debt, then the economy tanked in ’07 and ’08. They couldn’t at least break even anymore.”

Vlosich played one of his last — if not the last — round at the course on Monday of this week. He’s prepared himself for the end, but that still doesn’t make it easy to say goodbye.

“Anytime you lose such a good course, it’s kind of tragic,” he said.