John Ross will be eligible for Medicare next April, but age is all a state of mind, right?

That certainly seemed to be the case this week for Ross at the CoBank Colorado Senior Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.

By winning the tournament Friday, Ross not only earned the first-place check of $8,500, but the $1,000 payday for the top super-senior player (60 and older). In fact, the 64-year-old became the oldest champion in the 17-year history of the Colorado Senior Open.

And he did it while out-battling two-time PGA Tour winner Keith Clearwater head-to-head in Friday’s final round.

“I feel very good about this,” said the Bramwell, W.Va., resident. “Especially at 64 years of age, it’s not getting any easier. I think playing out here at this altitude where the ball goes further, it makes an old man feel a little bit better.”

A year after finishing second in his first Colorado Senior Open, Ross (left and above) landed the top prize Friday, when he was never overtaken. Ross, who has almost 100 starts between the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions to his credit, closed with a 2-under-par 70 to post a 10-under 206 total, good for a two-stroke victory.

Fifty-nine-year-old Chris Starkjohann of Oceanside, Calif., placed second and earned $5,000 after carding a final-round 68. Clearwater, a veteran of 408 PGA Tour events, finished third at 209, making $3,040 after shooting 72 on Friday.

Four Coloradans placed in the top 10: Doug Wherry of Lakewood (sixth, 213), Patrick Reidy of Lone Tree (eighth, 214), Jeff Hanson of Edwards (eighth, 214) and 2013 champion Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale (10th, 215).

Clearwater, who was paired with Ross, was the only player who caught the West Virginian on Friday. When Ross made his first bogey of the week on the sixth hole Friday, that put both players at 7 under par.

But holes 8 and 9 proved pivotal as Ross birdied 8 from 12 feet, then pulled off arguably the shot of the tournament on the par-5 ninth. There, he hit his second shot from 295 yards with a 3-wood to 3 feet, and sank the eagle putt. “Don’t ask me to do that again,” he later said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Clearwater (left) attempted to drive it over the hazard that traverses the ninth fairway, but failed to carry it and posted a bogey. That was a three-shot swing, and even though Clearwater made two strokes back on the next hole, Ross never relinquished sole possession of the lead on the back nine.

“I’m disappointed obviously, but I was grateful I was able to compete all week,” said Clearwater, who played the event without a practice round. “I’ve just got to solve the putting (problems). I played beautifully, but for three days I didn’t make a putt. I had six three-putts and 15 makeable birdie putts that I didn’t make. It would have been pretty fun — a pretty easy week — (because) I hit the ball really, really well — well enough to do about anything.”

But Ross, who estimates he’s won 30 tournaments in his professional career, didn’t show many chinks in the armor, making just two bogeys in 54 holes.

“I feel very fortunate,” said Ross, who also won the West Virginia Senior Open last month. “The golf course just suits my eye, although this was a test today. I have the utmost respect for Keith Clearwater and his track record. The battle I had all day was just making sure I was playing the golf course and didn’t get wrapped up in a match-play situation with Keith. Sometime the biggest battle is yourself rather than the golf course.

“After finishing second here last year, it feels good to break through to win.”

As for the matter of prevailing at age 64, this certainly isn’t the first time Ross hasn’t acted his age. When he first qualified for the PGA Tour in 1991, he was the oldest rookie to make it through Q-school, at age 39.

“If my health is decent, I feel like I can still compete with a 50-year-old,” he said. “But the older we get, that age difference seems to be more of an issue than when I was 39 playing against 25 year olds. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep doing this.”

Final-Hole Birdie Gives Krystyn Low-Am Honors: While the overall championship Friday didn’t have much final-hole drama, that certainly wasn’t the case for low-amateur honors. Tom Krystyn of Denver, competing in his first Colorado Senior Open, was struggling in Friday’s final round, but provided a highlight on the par-5 18th hole. There, after being in the green-front bunker in two, he hit a stellar sand shot from 35 yards, over a ridge, to within a foot of the hole. The subsequent birdie gave him a one-stroke victory in the amateur competition over Broncos general manager John Elway and 2006 and ’14 low am Kent Moore.

Krystyn finished with a 4-over-par 220 total despite a final-round 77. He tied for 25th overall.

Krystyn’s not-so-secret weapon for the week was having Bill Loeffler — winner of three Colorado Opens and one Colorado Senior Open — as his caddie. Loeffler had to skip playing this week as he underwent back surgery earlier this year. (The two are pictured at left.)

“He’s a great friend (and) he knows the course probably better than anybody who’s playing in the field, and that was a huge help,” said Krystyn, a FootJoy representive in Colorado and nearby states. “When I read a putt and he sees the same (line), it gives you confidence you read it correctly, so it helps a lot. It was just fun to have him out there.”

And it was at Loeffler’s urging that Krystyn entered the Senior Open for the first time.

“I had been playing well. I won the Ute Creek Invitational in the senior division and the Twin Peaks Invitational,” noted Krystyn. “He said, ‘You’re playing good, why don’t you play in the Colorado Senior Open?’ I said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to sign up.’ He said, ‘If you sign up I’ll caddie for you.’ He was the one who pushed me to sign up.”

The 52-year-old Krystyn has had a strong amateur career, having qualified for four USGA championships — a U.S. Amateur, two U.S. Mid-Ams and a U.S. Amateur Public Links. And he won two college tournaments while at Florida State. But the one thing he failed at, golf-wise, was in a very brief stint as a professional golfer, in 1987.

“I turned pro for a couple of months,” he said. “I made $600 in six tournaments (cashing twice) and I said, ‘This isn’t for me.'”

Elway 2nd Among Ams Despite First-Hole Woes: There probably wasn’t a player in the field at the Colorado Senior Open who can’t point to a hole or two they wish they had the chance to player over. In John Elway’s case, he can point to at least four instances — a triple bogey and three doubles that made the difference between a 29th-place finish and perhaps something in the top 10.

Especially troublesome for the Pro Football Hall of Famer was the par-4 first hole, where he went double bogey, par, triple bogey. On both Wednesday and Friday, he hit low liners that didn’t clear the 230 yards necessary to avoid the hazard in front of the tee.

Bottom line: Elway (above) finished 5 over par for the week, and was 5 over par on the first hole.

“If it was 16 holes each day, I’d have been right in the hunt, but I had a couple of bad holes each day, which made it a little tougher,” he said. “I struggled with the driver getting it in the air all week.

“I played a lot of good holes; I played 16 holes a day, then had two bad holes each day. That’s the difference. You have to be able to eliminate the bad holes, and I wasn’t able to do that. But I was really happy with the way I putted. Coming back off the way I started each day, I was happy to be able to do that.”

Despite the occasional big numbers, Elway finished runner-up in the amateur competition for the second straight time (2014 and ’16).

Rules Official Langston Receives Kirchner Award: Rich Langston, a highly respected volunteer rules official who worked his craft for 23 years while based in Colorado before moving to Oklahoma in November, on Friday was surprised to receive a prestigious honor following the conclusion of the Colorado Senior Open.

Langston (left) earned the Robert M. Kirchner Award for contributing greatly to amateur golf, professional golf, and/or tournament golf in the state of Colorado. It is named for the founder of the Colorado Open.

Appropriately, Langston was serving as the chief rules official for the Colorado Senior Open.

“I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t enjoy it. I’ve had 25 seasons of a lot of fun,” he told the assembled crowd.

Later, Langston added, “(The award) was a total surprise. The Colorado Open Golf Foundation, the (Colorado PGA) Section, the state assocation (CGA), they’ve been great to me. They have really treated me so well. I just thank all of them.”

For more about Langston and all he has contributed, CLICK HERE.
 

For all the Colorado Senior Open scores, CLICK HERE.

This year, those reflections have particularly come into focus.

With the CGA celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, there’s been a concerted look back on the past century of golf in Colorado. That includes a 10-part series of stories on notable people and events from the last hundred years.

Writing that series was illuminating, which brings us back to Thanksgiving. A better understanding of the past can lead to increased appreciation for all we have to be thankful for in Colorado golf.

To wit, here are 10 things that come to mind:

— Rich History of Golf. The Century of Golf Gala held recently at The Broadmoor particulary brought this home, with Jack Nicklaus reminiscing about his strong links to Colorado over the last 60 years. Nicklaus is one of golf’s all-time pantheon to have won significant tournaments in the state, with others being Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Kathy Whitworth, Babe Zaharias, Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson. For much more about Colorado golf history, CLICK HERE.

— Teamwork. Another thing that the Century of Golf Gala — 1,250 attendees strong — and related activities reinforced is that big things can happen when the Colorado golf community joins forces. Teaming up with the CGA in making it all a major success were the CWGA, Colorado PGA and the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association.

— Great Venues. The day of the Century of Golf Gala, a golf outing held at The Broadmoor (pictured) demonstrated yet again what stellar golf courses Colorado has produced. On a mid-November day, temperatures reached the mid-60s, and the setting was enough to make any golfer take pause. The same can be said for countless other courses in the state — Sanctuary, Arrowhead, Castle Pines, Ballyneal, Red Sky, Eisenhower, etc., etc. Golfers in Colorado are indeed fortunate.

— Good of the Game Partnerships. The recent creation of a partnership between the CGA and the Colorado PGA will result in a new Colorado Junior Tour and many other advantages for all levels of junior golfers in Colorado (READ MORE). It’s yet another example of how the game can be well served by constructive cooperation.

— Local Players Who Excel. Colorado has a long history of homegrown players hitting it big — with Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Dale Douglass, Jill McGill, Brandt Jobe, Bob Byman, Kevin Stadler, Shane Bertsch, Bill Loeffler and to some extent Mike Reid, to name some. It’s always fun for Coloradans to have one of their own to root for on the national or international level. And we also have some very promising young players potentially in a similar pipleline with the likes of Mark Hubbard, Jennifer Kupcho, Wyndham Clark and Hannah Wood.

— Highly Regarded PGA Professionals. There are oustanding PGA professionals throughout the country, but members of the Colorado PGA have proven to be high achievers as the Section or its members have won national PGA of America awards eight times in the last nine years. And highly respected instructor Ann Finke was recently voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, along with Colorado-based Champions Tour player Craig Stadler. And Vic Kline was honored as Colorado Golf Professional of the Century during the Century of Golf Gala.

— Foundations to Support Good Causes. Numerous golf foundations in Colorado do considerable and commendable work in bolstering good causes through the game of golf. Among them are the Colorado Golf Foundation, Colorado PGA Reach, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, and the Rocky Mountain Environmental Golf Institute.

— Volunteers. While the staffs of the major golf organizations in Colorado do yeoman’s work, those organizations would be a shell of what they are were it not for volunteers. Such volunteerism came to the forefront this past year with the passing of Joe Salvo, and the departure from the Colorado tournament golf scene of Rich Langston and Joan Scholes. Each of them made major contributions — in terms of both time and dediction — to the likes of the CGA, CWGA and Colorado PGA over the years. And many, many others do likewise each year.

— Another Senior Major on the Horizon.This year it was announced that the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at The Broadmoor the year the resort celebrates its 100th birthday. It will mark the third U.S. Senior Open held in Colorado, meaning only Ohio (with six) will have hosted more. The Centennial State also was home to another senior major, the Senior PGA Championship contested at Colorado Golf Club in 2010.

— Good People. I’ve always marveled at the number of good people you meet through the game of golf. Perhaps it’s part of the significant “self-policing” aspect of the sport that tends to attract people of high character. But whatever the case, it’s refreshing.

And yet another reason to give thanks.
 

Rich Langston has lived in Colorado for about 45 years now, but there’s no mistaking his West Texas roots.

He can regale anyone within earshot with mesmerizing tales or anecdotes, complete with that distinctive West Texas twang. And, after 23 seasons as a highly-regarded volunteer rules official in Colorado, he certainly has plenty of material.

For instance, ask him about his most unusual ruling, and he’ll recount a story from the final round of a CGA Public Links Championship in the mid-1990s. That was when he was stationed at the par-3 16th hole at Hyland Hills Golf Course.

He noted how a competitor hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker, and when he took his stance, the ball moved. The player asked Langston how to proceed, and Langston told him to replace the ball and add a stroke. The golfer replaced the ball, took his stance and … once again his ball moved.

“He turned around and I looked at him and he said, ‘What the hell?'” Langston remembers. “At that time, probably a 2-foot-diameter big greenback turtle raises up out of the bunker (from beneath the surface of the sand). Part of his stance was probably mashing that turtle and underneath the sand she was moving around and raised up out of there. I said, ‘Go to a different part of the bunker, drop your ball and forget about that one stroke we talked about.’ We got to looking and I raked some sand and I saw some eggs. I called the golf shop. Eventually 74-75 (turtle) eggs were pulled out of there.

“It was funny as could be. … And by this time there were about three groups backed up on the 16th tee. But it’s sort of like when you make a birdie putt on 18 — something always keeps you coming back. Well, that’s what always kept me coming back.”

But after being a mainstay as a rules official in Colorado since 1993, Langston won’t be coming back in that role — at least not on a regular basis. Langston, who turns 75 years old this week, recently sold his house in Lakewood and will be relocating on Nov. 2 or 3 with his life partner Janet to Bartlesville, Okla., just north of Tulsa.

Though he plans to return next year to work the Colorado PGA Professional Championship and possibly the CoBank Colorado Senior Open, he’ll no longer be the fixture in Colorado golf he has been. That will leave a big void, considering that he estimates he’s devoted about 1,250 tournament days over his lifetime as a rules official — not counting travel days.

“Rich is a workhorse. He carries a lot of the load,” said Mike Boster, a fellow prominent chief rules official. “It’s not going to be easy to make it up. Losing Joe (Salvo, the CGA Rules Commitee chairman who passed away) in April and Rich in the fall, we’re going to be looking for talent. Rich has just been a mainstay of our rules group. Nobody is irreplaceable but it’s not going to be easy.”

How important has Langston been to Colorado golf? Important enough that the Colorado PGA granted him honorary membership, which Langston calls “the coolest, neatest, nicest thing that I’ve ever had in my life.” (At left, Langston was presented with a flag, signed by the players, at the Colorado PGA Professional Championship by executive director Eddie Ainsworth.) And important enough that the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame gave Langston its distinguished service award.

“I’m not sure how you say thank you for all the stuff he’s done for the CGA,” executive director Ed Mate said after Langston worked his final event for the association, the Mid-Amateur, early this month at Lakewood Country Club. “It’s incredible. I’ve never met somebody who loves golf as much. What he does as a rules official is his outlet for that love of the game. He’s just as good as they come.”

Langston has run the gamut with his golf volunteerism as a rules official over the years, working events run by the CGA, CJGA, Colorado PGA, AJGA, USGA, Colorado Open championships, Colorado High School Activities Association, Junior America’s Cup, Kansas Golf Association and college events. He plans to look into helping out with selected Oklahoma Golf Association tournaments, but no longer will work anywhere close to the 70-some tournament days — with the accompanying 30-some travel days — he’s worked this year.

“Even if I didn’t have this move being planned, I would still cut back this coming year,” he said. “And it’s not because I’m an old guy. I’m still 10 foot tall and bullet-proof (said with a smile). But it’s time. When I shut my business down 11 years ago, it was time to do it. There was no other reason.”

Langston admits that his hectic rules official schedule has taken its toll.

“This last year, I think in the month of May and into June I was on the golf course or traveling to and from a golf course 26 out of 34 days,” he said. “I was tired. There were a couple of days I really wasn’t ready to be on the golf course. It wasn’t because of the event or the people or the players; it was me. I was tired. And one time during that stretch there was 13 straight days. Maybe I’d have liked to play a round or two of golf in the springtime. I mean, sometime you’ve got to take your laundry to the cleaners. Sometimes you’re hard-pressed to find time to go get the oil changed in your car.”

But there’s also a care-free reason for cutting back.

“I’m going to be 75. If you hit ‘three-quarters’, what you ought to do is just go play like Lewis and Clark,” Langston said. “You just start a brand-new adventure. And Janet is game for it. I’ve been in Denver for 45 or 47 years, and she’s been here for 24 years. Denver has been good to us, but I’m not going to miss certain things about Denver, and there’s going to be things that I will miss. But as far as taking an hour and 15 minutes to drive crosstown at 6 in the morning because of traffic, I can live without that.”

Langston, who retired 11 years ago after owning a construction business, took a shine to Bartlesville a number of years ago when he was visiting Bryan Heim, a former Cherry Hills Country Club assistant professional who had taken a job as PGA head professional at Hillcrest Country Club in the Oklahoma town. Heim has since returned to Colorado as PGA head professional at Columbine Country Club.

Langston was working the Ping Junior Invitational in Oklahoma when he made the side trip to visit with Heim and his family.

“I just really liked what I saw in Bartlesville,” he said. “It’s a town of 35,000 but the feel of the town is more like a town of 300,000 or 400,000. … They’ve always taken care of the town. So many smaller communities anymore — especially those outside a metro area — have experienced some decay. I hate it; it’s not what I grew up with. In Bartlesville, they’ve taken care of it nicely. And it’s an affordable town.

“Bartlesville felt right. (But) I don’t know anybody there; I don’t know a soul.”

After getting in only four rounds of golf so far in 2015, Langston is looking forward to playing more, rather than just observing others playing. (Though he didn’t do it this year, Langston has shot his age — or better — about a half-dozen times.) And Hillcrest CC in Bartlesville is a Perry Maxwell design, and Langston loves courses designed by Maxwell.

Without a doubt, though, many golfers in Colorado will miss the thin Texan who has long made the Centennial state his home. That’s especially true for the thousands of junior players — and former junior players — Langston has impacted over the years.

“If you find (tournament players) who are in their 20s, 30s, even 40s, they know Rich from being a rules official and being so personal and personable,” said fellow chief rules official Greg With. “He knows every one of them.”

Langston (left, filling divots at Lakewood Country Club during the recent CGA Mid-Amateur) remembers silencing the room at a pre-tournament banquet for the 1999 Junior America’s Cup held at Perry Park Country Club.

“I said I do not enjoy being on the golf course with a bunch of kids,” he recalled. “But I love being out there with young players — and there is a difference.

“I don’t in any way, shape, fashion or form think that I have helped ‘sculpt their youth’. Hey, that’s for their mom and dad to do. But I enjoy being around young people. What I’ve always found is, you treat them with respect, and it comes right straight back to you.”

One of those instances came at the 2013 Ram Masters Invitational at Fort Collins Country Club, where a one-stroke penalty incurred on the final hole by freshman Jimmy Makloski, who was making his college debut, made the difference between host Colorado State finishing second or forcing a playoff for the team title. Langston was the rules official who dealt with the matter, one in which Makloski addressed his ball on the green and the ball subsequently changed position. When Makloski and then-assistant coach Bret Guetz acknowledged that Makloski had addressed the ball, Langston informed them it would be a one-stroke penalty.

“About two weeks later and I saw Ray (Makloski), Jimmy’s dad,” Langston said. “I said that was probably one of the toughest decisions I ever got brought into. Ray looked at me and said, ‘We were glad it was you.’ That was as big a compliment as a person could ever have. In all likelihood Jimmy would have been able to secure the (team) victory for CSU (if not for the penalty). You’ve got to remember this was his freshman year and his first (college) tournament. There’s not many people around that exhibited the class that Jimmy showed and that Bret showed. But you know what? In this business that’s what I’ve grown to expect.”

And people in Colorado golf have known what to expect from Langston (left) — nothing less than his all.

“I remember once I teed off (for a round of golf) and my phone rang,” he recalled. “I’m walking down the fairway talking to a member of the (Colorado PGA) who was on the Western Slope and he had a member-guest four-ball going on (and had a rules issue). It was important to him that he get it right. For God’s sake, if you can get something right by making a telephone call … it takes more maturity to do that than it does to make a wrong decision. I’ve always told every pro I’ve dealt with, ‘Don’t ever hesitate to call me.’ I don’t care what day of the week it is; that’s why I gave you my cell number. You owe it to your constituency: Get it right.”

And Langston can be assured as he leaves Colorado that he got it right.
 

A tweet from the Pacific Coast Golf Association put it succinctly: “Dr. Joe Salvo, RIP to one of golf’s great volunteers. We will miss you”, adding the hashtag #bestsmileinthegame.

Indeed, Salvo will long be remembered for many things, not the least of which was his amiable manner and how he gave of himself and his time.

Salvo, a member of the CGA board of governors for 16 years and one of the top volunteer rules officials in Colorado, passed away unexpectedly on April 10 at the age of 78.

A memorial service will be held for the longtime Colorado Springs resident on May 26 at 1 p.m. at the Broadmoor Community Church (315 Lake Avenue in Colorado Springs).

Salvo passed away just a day after CGA executive director Ed Mate said goodbye to him in the Portland airport after both had attended the Pacific Coast Amateur spring meeting along with USGA regional affairs director Mark Passey. The next night, Mate received an email saying that Salvo had just died, leaving a significant void in the Colorado golf community.

“First and foremost, Joe was just a special person,” Mate said. “He collected friends everywhere he went. He had an incredible gift with people, whether it was with the CGA, the Pacific Coast, his medical practice or anywhere else. Everybody liked him because he was so sincere and so in the moment — and you can’t fake that. He touched people in a special way. We’re lucky because he was so passionate about golf and the Rules of Golf. He had a lot of passions, but golf was a focal point the last 20 years or so.”

Indeed, Salvo had been a CGA volunteer for more than 25 years, and he currently was chairman of the association’s Rules Committee. But Salvo’s golf-related volunteerism certainly didn’t stop there. He also gave of his time with the USGA, often working as a rules official at the U.S. Senior Amateur and the U.S. Senior Open; as a trustee for the Pacific Coast G.A. and its Pacific Coast Amateur; with the Arizona Golf Association as he was a part-time resident of that state; and in college golf.

In fact, Salvo was scheduled to work last week’s Pac-12 Conference Women’s Championships at Boulder Country Club. “He was looking forward to being here,” noted that tournament’s head rules official Bob Austin, while still taken aback at how Salvo passed away so abruptly.

And Salvo didn’t just volunteer a few hours here or there to golf. Indeed, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the oral and maxillofacial surgeon volunteered thousands upon thousands upon thousands of hours over the years.

Mike Boster, a fellow prominent rules official and a good friend of Salvo, estimates that Salvo — who’s held memberships at the Broadmoor, Kissing Camels and Tucson National — typically worked 70-75 days a year on the course, and that doesn’t include traveling and the like.

“Joe gave so much to the game and to every association he was with,” Boster said. “He was pretty much a year-round rules official.”

Another longtime rules official, Rich Langston, still remembers the first tournament he worked alongside Salvo — the 1994 CGA Senior Match Play at the Ranch Country Club.

“Joe was always just a super guy,” Langston said. “He enjoyed the game and always had good stories about growing up. He and I were probably the only two youngsters I know of who wore knickers when we were little — Joe because his dad was a tailor and could make a pair of knickers for a dollar, and me because that’s what my older brother had, and that’s what I wore.”

While many people knew Salvo through golf, he led an eventful life in many realms. He spent eight years in the Army, doing two tours in Vietnam; he played college golf at Tufts University in Massachusetts — where he was born; he spent 34 years in his private oral and maxillofacial practice; he was a member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America; and he was a certified pistol and personal defense instructor. And Joe and his wife, Beth, played golf in more than 35 countries on five continents.

All in all, a life well lived.
 

Indian Tree Golf Course head professional and operations manager Alan Abrams, Foothills Park & Recreation District director of golf Tom Woodard and Jimmy Vickers will be inducted on June 9 as the 41st class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame also will present annual honors to several individuals on that night. Cherry Hills Country Club head professional John Ogden, the host pro for this year’s U.S. Amateur, is Golf Person of the Year. Gail Godbey, a former executive director of the Colorado Open — and founder of the Colorado Women’s Open — as well as being a dedicated volunteer in the game, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. And Rich Langston, who donates many, many hours as a rules official, and Denver Post sports writer Tom Kensler, a respected golf reporter in the state for a couple of decades, will be honored with Distinguished Service Awards.

The three impending inductees will join the 128 people currently in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

“I’ve been in Colorado since I was 10 years old, and if I went down the list of those inducted I bet I’d know 90 percent of them,” Woodard said Wednesday. “And I (previously) served on the Hall of Fame selection committee for four or five years, so I know what it takes to get in. It’s one of the biggest accomplishments of my golfing career. To me it says, ‘Job well done’ and that’s huge. It’s outstanding news, and I can’t tell you how excited I am.

“And it’s high cotton (to be voted in with Abrams and Vickers).”

It’s been a big year from an honors standpoint for both Woodard and Abrams. In March, Woodard joined the likes of Charlie Sifford, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jim Brown and Lee Elder in the National Black Golf Hall of Fame. And on Friday, Abrams will join Danny Harvanek (1990-92) as a three-time Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year, the Section’s highest honor.

Woodard, 56, was elected based both on his playing record and for working in the game. As a tournament player, he competed for 2 1/2 years on the PGA Tour, qualified for two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship, and twice was the Colorado PGA’s Player of the Year. He also won a national professional tournament on the United Golfers Association tour in 1979.

Since becoming a club professional in 1986, Woodard has made an impact all around the Denver metro area. He’s served as head professional at City Park (1987-89), Littleton Golf Club (1990), South Suburban (1991-95) and at Buffalo Run (where he was the first head pro in 1996). He was director of golf for the City of Denver from 1997-2006, and has been in the same position at the Foothills District since then.

During his time working for the city of Denver, Woodard co-founded The First Tee of Denver and he served on the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame board.

As a young man, Woodard was one of the first African-Americans to receive the Evans Caddie Scholarship and one of the first to earn Division I All-American status (he was an honorable mention choice at the University of Colorado).

Abrams is well known for his service to the Colorado PGA. He’s a former president of the Section and he currently serves as the chairman of the Colorado PGA Foundation.

The Colorado native, 58, has been a mainstay at Indian Tree since 1980 — initially working for current Hall of Famer Vic Kline — and he’s been head professional at the facility since 1991. During all his years at Indian Tree, Abrams has been one of the state’s leaders in the area of junior golf.

In fact, Abrams is so highly respected in the realm of junior golf development that he was voted national Junior Golf Leader by the PGA of America in 1997.

He was one of the first Colorado professionals to utilize a golf in schools programs to introduce kids to the game during physical education classes. It’s estimated that he’s taught the game to more than 10,000 elementary school students through the program.

And in 1988 his junior golf program at the course was named by Golf Digest to be the best among municipal golf facilities in the nation. Indian Tree’s junior program has been a model for many other facilities in Colorado.

In addition, Abrams was also a lead instructor at national PGA Junior Academies.

As for Vickers — the brother of Jack Vickers, founder of The International PGA Tour event held in Colorado — during the late 1940s and well into the 1960s, he was one of the finest players in the state and region.

Jimmy Vickers won the 1949 and ’50 CGA Match Play Championships while at Regis University, and he claimed the NCAA individual title and the Western Amateur Championship in 1952 while playing for the University of Oklahoma. He also won the Kansas state amateur in 1964 and competed in 15 USGA championships, including several U.S. Opens. He placed fifth in the 1965 U.S. Amateur. Vickers won the World Seniors Championship three times and claimed the pro-am team title — with Leonard Thompson — at the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am in 1977.

On the administrative side, Vickers served as a director for the Western Golf Association, the Evans Scholars Foundation and the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association.

And Vickers, now 82, also played a major role in devising the scoring system used for 21 years at The International PGA Tour event in Castle Rock.
 

Rich Langston and Mike Boster were half-a-country apart and hanging out with decidedly different age groups last week, but you can bet the two Coloradans had that same smile that comes with doing something you love and are passionate about.

Langston and Boster were both on the golf course, but their joy came not from playing, but from what has become their avocation over the years — being volunteer on-course rules officials.

Langston (pictured in white shirt above) was in his element working with junior players as the chief rules official at the Junior America’s Cup tournament that the CGA was hosting at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. And Boster was in Toledo, Ohio, handling rulings for players at the other end of the experience spectrum at the U.S. Senior Open.

“This is a great game and I’ve said for years that I’m not going to make a contribution with a club in my hands; I’ve got to do it another way,” Boster said. “So this is how I’m doing it.”

Said Langston: “I’ve been doing this for 19 years, and the bottom line is that it’s 19 years I’ve really enjoyed. It’s been fun. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. That’s the No. 1 thing — if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it.”

Langston and Boster are two of about 75 on-course rules officials the CGA and CJGA draw upon to cover the many, many tournaments the associations oversee during the spring, summer and fall. The CWGA similarly has a pool of volunteers it uses.

But in each case, there is a core group of rules officials that goes well beyond the call of duty in volunteering their time. Langston and Boster certainly fall into that category. Langston said he’s typically on course serving as a rules official between 50 and 60 days each year, while Boster (pictured at left) estimates he’ll work more than 60 days in that capacity this year. And that doesn’t even count the time they spend serving on various CGA and CJGA committees.

“We couldn’t do what we do without them; it’s that simple,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “Their knowledge of the rules and their dedication to doing the job right is exceptional. Those two guys are what a volunteer golf association is all about.”

Given that he’s been volunteering since the early 1990s — long before he shut down his construction business six years ago — Langston said he “may hit 900 days” as an on-course rules official before the year is over.

Langston is now 70 years old, but his fascination with the Rules of Golf dates back to his days as a kid.

“I got an interest in the rules when I lost a tournament when I was 8 years old,” he said. “I incurred a two-stroke penalty for improving my lie, not really knowing that I was improving my lie. Afterward, I was bitching and moaning, and my dad just said, ‘I suggest you learn the rules a little better’ and he gave me a rule book.”

But it wasn’t until 19 years ago that Langston took the first step toward becoming a rules official. After a rules seminar at Riverdale Golf Club in Brighton, he sought out then-CGA executive director Warren Simmons, and that started Langston on the path.

Over the years, Langston has taken particular interest in working junior and college events, spending about 80 percent of his officiating time on those tournaments.

At the Junior America’s Cup pre-tourney dinner, “I made the comment to the players and coaches and captains and parents, ‘I do not enjoy being on the golf course with a bunch of kids, but I love being out there with young players, and there is a difference,'” said Langston, who was also the chief rules official at the 1999 JAC held in Colorado. “These players want to be here, and it’s so much fun to be out here and see these youngsters. But the real payoff comes 10-15 years later when you evidently touched some player enough to where they send you a wedding announcement or an announcement of the birth of their first child. That’s been pretty special.”

Langston’s rules-official volunteerism extends far beyond the CGA and the CJGA. He also works Colorado PGA events; several college tournaments, including the Big 12 Championships; three or four AJGA invitationals, a state high school tournament … You get the idea.

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of difference what the initials (of the organization are), I feel very honored when I get invited to something,” he said.

Langston obviously has much more free time to devote to being a rules official now that he’s retired, but he didn’t skimp when he owned his construction business in Denver.

“I had some really good people (working for him), so I could take off a day, two, three or four if I needed to,” said the former Texan. “But there were a lot of times I got to the office at 4 in the morning, got to the golf course at 6 in the morning and went back to the office at 6 in the evening and left at midnight. If you sign up to do something, you go do it.”

Boster, a CGA governor and chairman of the CGA Rules Committee, is in a similar situation. He’s retired now, but he spent many years volunteering as a rules official while his business as a lawyer was still in full swing. He started volunteering in 1999 by going to a two-days rules seminar and told former CGA director of rules and competitions Warren Wilson he’d like to get involved.

“What started me in it was I was playing in the Fox Hollow men’s club, and I was paired with a rules official named John Wood,” Boster said. “He called a penalty on himself for something I didn’t know was wrong.

“Volunteer rules officials are a great group of people. You’ll never meet a finer group. They care about what they’re doing, and they’re unselfish with their time.”

Last week at the U.S. Senior Open, Boster unknowingly was doing his job in the national limelight. During the second round, he was doing a temporary immovable obstruction ruling with Damon Green, the caddie for Zach Johnson who was competing in the national senior championship. Boster wasn’t aware of it at the time, but he was on the live national telecast of the tournament.

“If I had known, you would have heard my voice shake,” he said.

Boster has been assigned to quite a few USGA championships, including the Senior Open, U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur. While he enjoys them all, he particularly like the Women’s Amateur.

“The young women cheer for one another,” Boster said. “It’s not nearly as tense as some other events.”

Like Langston — his fellow Lakewood resident — Boster serves as a rules official at a great variety of championships. Besides CGA and USGA tournaments, Boster works events for the Colorado PGA, Big 12 and Mountain West Conference Championships and some Colorado-based college tournaments. This year, he even helped out at the new National Pro Golf Tour event at Buffalo Run.

“I’m a gun for hire,” the 68-year-old said with a chuckle.

And, yes, Boster and Langston are buddies. They may have considerably different personalities, but they share a love for what they do to help the game of golf.

“Mike is one of my best friends,” Langston said. “I was on the phone with him for almost an hour (while he was at the U.S. Senior Open). Sometimes we’ll go three or four weeks without talking, then we’ll pick up right where we left off.”

How to Volunteer: The CGA is hoping to bolster its number of volunteer on-course officials. Those interested can contact CGA director of operations Briena Goldsmith at 303-366-4653 ext. 106, or by e-mail at brienag@cogolf.org. The CGA will provide the necessary training.

“We’re not replacing the real stalwarts” of the rules officials, Mate said, “and you’ve got to start them somewhere. If we have a bigger pipeline, the Mike Bosters and Rich Langstons will find their way to the top.”