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.”
 

And, as a bonus, Wood and her father Don had their picture taken (at left) with Whitworth, a World Golf Hall of Famer and the all-time leader in LPGA Tour victories with 88.

Wood, part of the inaugural class of the CGA and CWGA’s Hale Irwin Elite Player Program, shot rounds of 70-74 for an even-par 144 total at Mira Vista Country Club in Fort Worth. That was good for a come-from-behind one-stroke victory over University of Florida-bound Samantha Wagner, a 2012 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team member.

“I knew I could play with them, but I’ve never had the opportunity,” Wood told reporters. “I went up against the best today and kept telling myself to play Hannah Wood golf.”

One of Wood’s most notable victories was last fall’s CJGA Tournament of Champions. But now she has something much bigger on her golf resume.

“This is the biggest win for sure,” the Arapahoe High School junior said.

“This is a national event, isn’t it? I’m not really sure what to think; it’s my first real event at this level, and I’m just kind of trying to breathe a little. I think it’s just started to sink in.”

Among the former winners of the Kathy Whitworth Invitational — which was being played for the 15th time — are Paula Creamer (2004), Brittany Lang (2002) and Christina Kim (2000).
 

But it’s not too soon to look at which players are likely to be competing Aug. 16-18 at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, where the biennial team competition between the best women’s players from the U.S. and Europe will take place.

As American captain Meg Mallon said late last summer in a visit to Colorado, “It’s a pretty exciting time for women’s golf. We’ve got veterans like Angela (Stanford) and Cristie Kerr playing (well), then you’ve got young players like Lexi Thompson that are coming up and trying to make the team. It’s going to be fun to see how it develops” in the months leading up to the event.

While players have been accumulating qualifying points for the Solheim Cup since 2011, 2013 tournaments will take on extra importance. European players will earn twice as many points as before, while American will receive 1.5 times as many points as before, with points doubled at major championships.

The 2013 LPGA Tour schedule begins Feb. 14 in Australia, while the Ladies European Tour debuts Feb. 1, also Down Under.

The 12-player U.S. team will consist of the top eight golfers on the points list through the Women’s British Open (Aug. 1-4), the next two highest-ranked Americans from the Rolex Rankings, and two captain’s picks divulged by Mallon in early August.

If the points were finalized now, here’s what the automatic qualifiers for the American team would look like: 1. Stacy Lewis (pictured) 518 points; 2. Kerr 294; 3. Paula Creamer 264; 4. Stanford 234; 5. Brittany Lincicome 203; 6. Brittany Lang 154; 7. Thompson 132; 8. Katie Futcher 97; and from the Rolex Rankings: 9. Morgan Pressel; 10. Michelle Wie.

The Europeans’ roster will be made up of the top four players from the Solheim Cup points list, the four next-best Europeans from the Rolex Rankings, and four captain’s picks announced by Liselotte Neumann in early August.

Here’s how the European automatic qualifiers would look like if the qualifying period ended today: 1. Caroline Masson 79.5 points; 2. Carlota Ciganda 78.2; 3. Pernilla Lindberg 60.21; 4. Giulia Sergas 58.38; and from the Rolex Rankings: 5. Suzann Pettersen; 6. Catriona Matthew; 7. Azahara Munoz; 8. Anna Nordqvist.

At least on paper, the U.S. should have a leg up with the 2012 LPGA Rolex Player of the Year on its roster. Lewis, who won four LPGA Tour events last year, was the first American to earn the Player of the Year honor since Beth Daniel in 1994.

Lewis figures to be playing in her second Solheim Cup, after the Europeans edged the U.S. 15-13 in Ireland two years ago.

“Things didn’t quite end the way we wanted them to (in 2011), and I’ve been wanting to get points every week and get back on the team (for this year) so we can take the Cup back,” Lewis said at Colorado Golf Club.

The top six players on the American Solheim Cup standings have 39 LPGA Tour victories among them, with Kerr (15) and Creamer (nine) leading the way. Thompson, the youngest LPGA Tour event winner in history (16 years, 7 months), is also a fan favorite, as is veteran Wie, winner of two LPGA events in her career. Another player who falls into the fan-favorite category, Natalie Gulbis, will need a strong year to automatically qualify for the team as she’s currently 12th on the U.S. points list with 74.

U.S. players earn points through top-20 finishes at official LPGA Tour events.

On the European side, a good bet to find a spot on the team one way or another is Laura Davies, a 25-time LPGA Tour champion who has played in every Solheim Cup since its debut in 1990.

The Americans will have 18 LPGA Tour events before the Solheim Cup, while the European will have about a dozen Ladies European Tour tournaments to earn additional points.