After a bit of bouncing around the Denver metro area its first two years of existence, the AJGA Transamerica / Hale Irwin Colorado Junior will set down some roots for the foreseeable future.

Following a year at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora and another at Highlands Ranch Golf Club, the AJGA tournament named for the three-time U.S. Open champion who grew up in Colorado will be held at least for the next three years at The Heritage at Westmoor course in Westminster.

The 2017 event, which is expected to draw the state’s top boys and girls players along with dozens of others from elsewhere in the U.S. and internationally, will be contested June 6-8, with a qualifying round planned for June 4 and the Junior-Am and practice rounds set for June 5.

The dates for 2018 and ’19 are tentatively set for the first full week of June.

Heritage at Westmoor is no stranger to hosting significant golf tournaments in the state. This year, for instance, qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open and the U.S. Junior Amateur, and local qualifying for the U.S. Open, were all held at the City of Westminster course. Heritage at Westmoor also hosted the Colorado Senior Open three times early in the new millennium, along with the 2014 CGA Match Play.

“You have an excellent golf course that’s walkable, well-designed and championship-caliber,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA, which partners with the AJGA in conducting the Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. “It’s always in great shape.”

Indeed, Mate considers Heritage at Westmoor more than just a host facility, but as a de facto presenting sponsor because the course is being offered for the tournament at a nominal fee.

CGA staff and CGA and CWGA volunteers play major roles at the Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, which features separate tournaments for boys and girls. The Irwin event was named the AJGA’s “Newcomer of the Year” for the inaugural tournament held at CommonGround in 2015, when the event was preceded by Irwin himself conducting a clinic and Q&A for competitors and others at the site. The 2015 tournament itself was highlighted by the course-record 61 that boys champion Reese Ramsey from Texas shot in the final round — which also tied an all-time AJGA record — and by three holes-in-one on day 1.

The year 2 tournament at Highlands Ranch Golf Club had its fair share of fireworks as well as girls champion Clare Amelia Legaspi pitched in for eagle on the final hole to win by one, and two Coloradans (AJ Ott and Trevor Olkowski) tied for second place in the boys competition.

And now tournament officials, players, spectators etc., can look forward to course continuity in the coming years with Heritage at Westmoor hosting the event in 2017, ’18 and ’19.

“It’s always a challenge to move tournaments around,” Mate said. “The team that runs this tournament will get really good at it; they’ll learn all the idiosyncracies of the golf course. We’ve seen that benefit at the Colorado Open (Championships — including the Colorado Open, Women’s Open and Senior Open — all held at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club since 2004). You just get a lot better when you have the benefit of going back to the same venue. It’s nice to know we have that sewn up for the next three years.”

Transamerica has signed on as the Hale Irwin Colorado Junior’s title sponsor.
 

Given all that happened, it should come as no surprise that on Thursday the AJGA announced that the Hale Irwin Colorado Junior has been named winner of the association’s Newcomer of the Year Award for 2015. According to AJGA officials, there were about 40 new events on the 2015 AJGA schedule.

The first AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior was held in early June at CommonGround Golf Course, a facility owned and operated by the CGA, which played a major role at the tournament. Between 20 and 30 people volunteered for the event each day.

The award “validates all of the hard work and teamwork that went into planning the event,” CGA executive director Ed Mate told the AJGA. “It definitely takes a village to put on a golf tournament and our case was no different. This award is a recognition of everyone who made it possible from the planning committee, Colorado Golf Association staff and volunteer leaders and the CommonGround Golf Course team who made sure the course was presented in the best light possible.”

The tournament raised more than $21,000 for the Colorado Golf Foundation and the AJGA’s Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant.

The second annual AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior will be held June 6-9 at Highlands Ranch Golf Club. The 2015 Newcomer of the Year Award will be presented to tournament officials at that time.

(Pictured above, Irwin signs an autograph for a girl who attended the clinic he conducted at CommonGround.)
 

The AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, presented by MusclePharm, started with three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin putting on a clinic at CommonGround Golf Course. Then AJGA competitors promptly went out the next day and made three holes-in-one in a single round.

It all seemed pretty hard to top.

Yet the inaugural tournament at CommonGround seemed to do just that on Thursday.

Reese Ramsey of Austin, Texas not only set a course record at CommonGround but he tied the low round in the 37-year history of the AJGA Thursday with a 10-under-par 61 that vaulted the 16-year-old to victory. (He’s pictured above receiving the trophy from CGA executive director Ed Mate.)

“It’s crazy that it actually happened,” he said. “I didn’t really expect that it would, but it did. It was just a special day and a special moment, so I’m going to savor it. It was a round I’ll never forget.”

Ramsey, who has verbally committed to play college golf at Texas A&M starting in 2017, came from eight strokes behind entering the final round to post his first AJGA victory. The high school junior-to-be made eight birdies to go along with an eagle on No. 11, where he sank a 15-foot putt.

Ramsey broke the course record by one at CommonGround, which opened in 2009. Nick Mason previously had the low competitive round, a 62 shot in a local mini-tour event in 2012.

As for the AJGA, it’s been around since 1978, and none of the luminaries who have played over the years — including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia — have had a better round on that junior circuit than Ramsey did on Thursday.

“Oh my gosh, that’s impressive,” AJ Ott (left) of Fort Collins said of Ramsey’s 61. “I’m going to go shake that kid’s hand. That’s pretty sweet.”

The Texan teed off more than two hours ahead of the second-round leaders and finished three-plus hours before them, considering there was a late-afternoon suspension of play for lightning. The closing 61 gave Ramsey a 9-under-par 204 total and a two-stroke victory over Sam Tidd of Meridian, Idaho.

On a day when three players shot 65 or lower, the two besides Ramsey tied for third place. Jackson Solem of Longmont, the day after posting a quintuple-bogey 9 on a hole, closed with a 65, while Joshua Gliege of Eagle, Idaho managed a 63. They shared third place at 207 with Ott (70 Thursday) and second-round leader Tripp Kinney of West Des Moines, Iowa (72).

In the girls competition, three-time Oklahoma state high school champion Sydney Youngblood, of Durant, prevailed by two strokes after being no worse than co-leader following the first two rounds.

Ramsey’s previous low round in tournament play was a 63. This week, he went 75-68-61. Does that mean if the tournament had been a four-rounder, he would have shot 54 on Friday? Just a thought.

Ramsey needed just 26 putts on Thursday and made more than his share of 10- and 15-footers. “Everything was kind of working my way,” he said.

So what does it mean to shoot a score that no one has beaten in AJGA history?

“It is just super cool,” he said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

As for the top Colorado finishers, Solem and Ott put together strong showings but each had a little feeling of “what if?”

Had Solem (left) made a par instead of a 9 on the par-4 13th hole Wednesday, he would have won by two. As it was, he lost a ball on the hole, left a shot in a bunker, then pitched out and three-putted.

“There’s nothing I can do about it now,” he said Thursday. “It was kind of a fluke thing. I haven’t had a 9 since I think I was 13. It’s been a while. It’s in the ‘would be nice’ category. But this is a good finish for my first AJGA. It’s definitely a confidence-booster going into the rest of the year.”

As for Ott, a 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier, he was on the heels of the leaders at 8 under par overall through 48 holes, but he went 2 over the rest of the way.

“I’ve been struggling a little lately, but I found something this week and it was nice to kind of feel in contention,” said the left-hander, who has committed to Colorado State. “But I’ve got to play better down the stretch.”

In the girls tournament, Youngblood (left) closed with an even-par 71 to post a 1-under-par 212 total. Placing second was a 13-year-old, Ellie Szeryk of Allen Texas, who shot a 73 Thursday for 214 overall. Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, who last month won her second straight Colorado high school championship, tied for third place with Bibilani Liu of Cupertino, Calif., at 216. Kupcho carded a 71 on Thursday and Liu a 72.

Youngblood, a 17-year-old who has committed to play college golf at the University of Oklahoma beginning in the fall of 2016, scored her first AJGA victory. She made two birdies and two bogeys in a steady final round. On Tuesday, she shot a 66, her low round ever.

“I’m really honored to be able to win an AJGA event,” said Youngblood, who ranks this win above any of her Oklahoma state high school titles. “The competition in these events is always really tough; all the players are amazing. It’s always a tight race. I’m blessed to have been able to come out on top. I’ve always had a blast playing AJGA.”

Kupcho (left) had a blemish-free scorecard through 14 holes with two birdies and a dozen pars. But her hopes of winning the first and last AJGA event she’ll play realistically ended with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 15 and 16.

“I was playing great, but couldn’t keep it going,” the 2014 CWGA Player of the Year said. “But it was a great experience to be able to play against that kind of competition in my home state.”

The 2016 AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior will be played at Highlands Ranch Golf Club, which was designed by Irwin himself. Future sites are to be determined.

For scores from this week’s tournament, CLICK HERE.