When the Solheim Cup came to Colorado last year, it deservedly attracted much attention on a local, national and international level. After all, the Ryder Cup-like event featuring the best women’s golfers from the U.S. and Europe is a big event in the golf world.

But it was a tournament that rode the coattails of the Solheim Cup into Colorado that particularly piqued the ongoing interest of those at the CGA and CWGA. The Ping Junior Solheim Cup, a key event on the AJGA schedule that featured 24 of the best girl golfers from America and Europe, was held during Solheim Cup week, but at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood. And the CGA and CWGA staff and volunteers played significant roles at the event.

“People were saying, ‘Why don’t we have an AJGA here every year?'” recalls Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA.

Looking back now, four of the top seven golfers in the current women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings competed in that Junior Solheim Cup: Alison Lee (No. 4), Andrea Lee (No. 5), Bethany Wu (No. 6) and Linnea Strom (No. 7).

And with Coloradan John Seiple helping plant the seed with some financial support, an effort was launched that recently paid dividends in the form of Colorado landing an AJGA tournament for 2015.

The AJGA, which conducts tournaments that draw some of the best junior golfers in the nation and beyond, will bring an event to the state that will bear the name of one of Colorado’s all-time sports greats.

The AJGA Hale Irwin Junior will be contested June 2-4 at CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA.

“One of the reasons we built CommonGround was to host championships that attract the best players in the state, region and country, so this is a real good fit,” Mate said. “This will give the best junior players in the state a chance to see how they stack up (against national competition). And it was a nice tie-in with the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround.”

And CommonGround, of course, is no stranger to big-time events, having served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills Country Club hosted. (At left, CommonGround was also the site of the 2013 CGA Junior Stroke Play.)

The 54-hole no-cut Hale Irwin Junior will feature a total field of 96 players — all age 18 and under — with separate boys and girls divisions. While some competitors will be exempt into the field, a qualifying round will be held on May 31, with a Junior Am and practice rounds set for June 1.

The 2015 Hale Irwin Junior will be the first AJGA tournament held in Colorado since 2013.

Irwin, who developed his game as a junior player in Colorado in the 1960s, agreed to lend his name to the new event at CommonGround, which is already home to the three-year-old Hale Irwin Elite Player Program. Coloradan Steve Irwin, Hale’s son, is a member of the CGA Board of Governors.

Hale Irwin is the most successful golfer to have grown up in Colorado. A graduate of Boulder High School and the University of Colorado, he’s won three U.S. Opens, 20 PGA Tour events overall, and a record 45 tournaments on the Champions Tour. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.

In Colorado, Irwin claimed the 1963 state high school championship, three straight CGA Stroke Plays (1963, ’64 and ’65) and the CGA Match Play in 1966. He won the NCAA individual title in 1967 while competing for CU.

“Who better to represent what we’re hoping to accomplish — have our best players achieve their full potential?” Mate noted.

Ideally, it’s hoped that Irwin himself will play a role at the Hale Irwin Junior, but that part remains to be seen.

While there is currently a one-year commitment to hold the AJGA Hale Irwin Junior, the plan is for the tournament to be an ongoing event on the AJGA circuit.

A strong national field is expected for the inaugural AJGA Hale Irwin Junior, but there is plenty of precedent for Coloradans winning AJGA events in their home state. Since 2008, in-state players who have accomplished that feat include Josh Seiple (John Seiple’s son), Jimmy Makloski, David Oraee (twice), Wyndham Clark, Patricia Lee and Cole Nygren.

It’s anticipated that some player exemptions for the Hale Irwin Junior will likely be awarded through performance in CJGA events, which would help spur participation in those tournaments. But details about that are still in the works.

The AJGA circuit dates back to 1978, and a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, J.R. “Digger” Smith, is an AJGA founder and a longtime chairman of the board of directors. The association will end up holding 108 tournaments nationwide in 2014.

Many of the top players on the PGA and LPGA Tours in recent decades were regular competitors in AJGA events as youngsters, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer.
 

There have been U.S. Opens, PGA Championships and U.S. Women’s Opens (three of each), a couple of U.S. Senior Opens and 21 International PGA Tour events using a modified Stableford format.

But one thing golf fans haven’t had the opportunity to see in the Centennial State is either of the two premier team events in golf: the Ryder Cup or the Solheim Cup.

However, that will be rectified next summer when the Solheim Cup comes to the state and highlights the 2013 Colorado golf tournament schedule. The best women’s players from the U.S. and Europe squaring off at Colorado Golf Club in Parker Aug. 16-18 will be one of several notable additions/changes that will spice up next year’s schedule.

Also on tap is a switching of dates for the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open and the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open.

As for the Solheim Cup, which is only held every two years — and every four years in the U.S. — it will be another in a series of major national and international golf events Colorado has hosted — or will host — since 2008. Also on that list: the 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Murphy Creek in Aurora, the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor, the 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills, the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club, the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor, and the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and CommonGround. And likewise upcoming is the 2014 BMW Championship, a PGA Tour playoff event at Cherry Hills.

The Solheim Cup, the women’s version of the Ryder Cup, has been held since 1990, but this will be its first stop in the western half of the U.S. The event has proven to be a fan favorite as more than 120,000 people attended the matches or practice rounds the last time they were held in the U.S., near Chicago in 2009. TV ratings likewise have been strong.

(European captain Liselotte Neumann, left, and U.S. captain Meg Mallon are pictured above at Colorado Golf Club.)

“It is one of the coolest atmospheres,” American player Angela Stanford said earlier this year in a visit to Colorado. “I was blown away in Chicago because my previous two (Solheim Cups) were both in Europe, and the European fans are amazing. They bring it, that’s for sure. That’s why it’s so tough (playing for the Cup) over there. And I wondered what was going to happen in Chicago, and they were outstanding. So (there are) high expectations here in Colorado.

“People love it. You can tee off on the second tee box and you can hear them singing on 1. So you really have to be aware when you’re taking the club back (that) they could start signing. It’s so cool.”

Meanwhile, in conjunction with the Solheim Cup coming to Colorado, the Ping Junior Solheim Cup is scheduled for Aug. 12-14 at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood. The event will feature a dozen top American female junior players (age 12-18) facing 12 European counterparts. Among the past participants in the event are Morgan Pressel and Lexi Thompson.

Colorado Women’s, Senior Open Switching Dates: In an effort to improve the fields of both tournaments, the dates for the Colorado Women’s Open and the Colorado Senior Open will be flipped in 2013.

The Women’s Open, a mainstay around Memorial Day, will be held Aug. 28-30 next year, while the Senior Open, normally contested around Labor Day, is set for May 29-31.

“The impetus was to keep the tournaments relevant and sustainable and improve the field in both championships,” said Kevin Laura, chief executive officer for the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. “This will pave the way for both to be stronger.”

Laura said the 2013 Women’s Open won’t have dates that conflict with an event from the Symetra Tour, which often draws the best American players not competing on the LPGA Tour. When there’s been such a conflict in previous years, it’s taken a toll on the Colorado Women’s Open field.

On the Senior Open side, it’s hoped that the move to the late spring will lure Broncos executive John Elway, who has played in both the Colorado Open and the Colorado Senior Open in the past, but is now very busy with his Broncos duties around Labor Day, just before the team’s season starts.

Though Elway hasn’t formally committed to play the Senior Open in 2013, Laura feels good about the possibility.

“I would say it’s very likely” he’ll compete, Laura said. “And I think the new dates will also work out well for other (prominent potential competitors).”

Meanwhile, the third of the Colorado Open golf championships, the Colorado Open itself, will remain in its usual late-July slot, with it scheduled July 25-28 next year.

Elsewhere for 2013: As for the two top events on the CGA’s 2013 schedule, the Match Play is set for Bear Creek Golf Club July 8-12 and the Stroke Play will be held Aug. 8-11 at Pinehurst Country Club. … On the CWGA side, the Stroke Play is June 26-28 at the Ranch Country Club, while the Match Play is July 15-17 at the Club at Rolling Hills. … A sectional qualifying tournament for the U.S. Women’s Open will be conducted May 29 at the Broadmoor. … The National Pro Tour, a major player among mini-tours in recent years until canceling the final tournaments of its 2012 schedule, is planning to return next year and has a couple of Colorado stops on its tentative schedule. The NPT slate includes July 10-13 and July 17-20 as tournament dates at unspecified Denver courses. Officials say purses typically will be in the $200,000-$275,000 range.

Click on the following links to access 2013 schedules for the CGA, CWGA and CJGA. Note that some dates and sites are subject to change.