Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the third monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1935-44. For a list of all the installments to date, CLICK HERE.

The decade from 1935 to ’44 was certainly a tumultuous time in the country, with the Great Depression lasting through the ’30s and then World War II posing one of the biggest challenges the U.S. has ever faced.

Ironically, it was during this same period that Colorado golf burst onto the national scene.

Twice in a remarkably short timespan of less than three years, Cherry Hills Country Club hosted major championships — the first two of what is now a half-dozen men’s majors that have come to the state. Five of those six have been held at Cherry Hills.

The club was the site of the 1938 U.S. Open — the first Open staged west of Minneapolis — and the 1941 PGA Championship, the first PGA held in the Mountain Time Zone.

Will Nicholson Sr. (left), a future Denver mayor, was a member of the USGA Executive Committee from 1937-41. He served as general chairman of the ’38 Open after playing an integral role, with prominent local insurance man Clarence Daly, in bringing the tournament to Colorado.

With the Great Depression still plaguing the country, and with the U.S. Open never having ventured west of Minneapolis, the USGA was concerned about ticket sales and therefore required Cherry Hills to raise money for a $10,000 bond to assure profitability. Nicholson and Daly took the lead in that effort so the championship could go on.

“It was the first time that (major) championship golf had ever come to Colorado, and it wouldn’t have come to Colorado if it wasn’t for one person, and that person is Will Nicholson Sr.,” current Cherry Hills head professional John Ogden noted in a 2013 speech. “He had the vision and the determination to bring championship golf not just to Cherry Hills but to Colorado. Since then, we know what has happened. Cherry Hills has had numerous championships, the Broadmoor, Columbine (and) The International kind of sprung from that. Without the vision of Mr. Nicholson, none of this would be possible.”

At the ’38 Open, Ralph Guldahl (pictured at top) rallied with a final-round 69 and won by six strokes — the largest margin at the U.S. Open since 1921 — in successfully defending his national title. He holds the distinction of being the last U.S. Open champ to win while wearing a necktie. Ironically, shortly after prevailing at the U.S. Open, Guldahl lost by three strokes at his home course in the New Jersey State Open.

The 1938 U.S. Open also will be remembered for the tournament’s single-hole-record 19 that competitor Ray Ainsley recorded on the par-4 16th hole, where he kept whacking at his ball in the creek near the green.

Guldahl was one of the top golfers in the world in the late ’40s, supplementing his two U.S. Open victories with a Masters title and three straight wins in the Western Open, which then was considered a major championship of sorts.

Overall, the ’38 Open proved a big success, drawing about 37,000 spectators for the week to Cherry Hills.

Three years later, another of the current Grand Slam events visited Cherry Hills. Through 1957, the PGA Championship was a match-play event, and the ’41 version was the last time the 36-hole final went extra holes.

At Cherry Hills, defending champion Byron Nelson defeated Guldahl, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen to reach the final, but Vic Ghezzi foiled Nelson’s run to the title by outlasting him in 38 holes. Nelson missed a 30-inch putt on the second green. It would be the only major championship for Ghezzi, who rallied after being 3 down after 27 holes in the final match.

Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights from the period 1935-44:

— In 1936, the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association was founded, with the goal of improving golf course management practices through education, sharing knowledge and networking.

— Starting in 1937, the Denver District Golf Association conducted a stroke-play championship. For more than two decades, what are now known as the CGA Match Play and Stroke Play championships were conducted by separate organizations. Nate Grimes won the first Stroke Play title in 1937. Babe Lind captured two of his three Stroke Plays during World War II (1941 and ’42), sparking a career that would culminate with his being inducted in the inaugural class of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1943, Claude Wright won the first of his four Stroke Plays. He also claimed two Match Play titles (1944 and ’56).

— In 1939, the first Rocky Mountain Open is played in Grand Junction. The event has been held each year since, making it the oldest continuously-conducted golf championship in Colorado that is open to both professionals and amateurs.

— In 1942, a group of African-American golfers based at City Park Golf Course formed the East Denver Golf Club. East Denver GC, which wasn’t allowed membership in the CGA until the early 1960s, became a member of the Central States Golf Association, a group of golf clubs with primarily African-American members.

— Several of the nation’s top amateur championships were held in Colorado in the decade beginning in 1935. The Western Amateur was hosted by the Broadmoor in 1935 and ’41, the latter being one of three Western Ams won by Bud Ward in the 1940s. The Broadmoor was also the site of the 1939 Trans Miss — won by Chick Harbert, who would go on to earn seven titles on the PGA Tour — while Cherry Hills hosted the ’37 Trans Miss. And the Women’s Trans National came to Denver Country Club in 1936.

In addition, Sam Snead played an exhibition at Boulder Golf Club (now the site of Flatirons Golf Course) in the late 1930s. A photo with a scoreboard from that day notes that Snead went 9 under par.

Next up: 1945-54, when legends Babe Zaharias and Ben Hogan made their mark in Colorado golf.
 

The HealthOne Colorado Open will be contested for the 50th time this year, so a recent e-mail I received particularly piqued my interest.

Dennis Lyon, the retired manager of golf for the city of Aurora, pointed out that he remembered Jimmy Walker — winner of three PGA Tour events this wraparound season, and the leader in the FedEx Cup playoff standings — playing in the Colorado Open back when it was held at Saddle Rock Golf Course in Aurora.

I’ve been fortunate enough to cover every Colorado Open since 1983, and I still have much of the year-to-year material that’s handed out. And, after poking around a little, I confirmed that Lyon’s recollections were accurate.

Walker, in the summer before his junior season at Baylor, competed in the 1999 Colorado Open, the second of the three Opens Saddle Rock hosted. Former University of Colorado golfer Bill Riddle won that year, but I had to go far down the list of results — into the “missed cut” category — to find Jimmy Walker’s name.

For the record, the four-time All-Big 12 golfer, then 20 years old, shot 77-74 and missed the 36-hole cut by two.

But it brought to mind — especially given the milestone the Colorado Open will reach this summer (July 24-27 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver) — the amazing number of golf greats who have played in the tournament since it debuted in 1964.

The great majority of the most recognizable names made their appearances at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen in the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s, but there have been a smattering since then at Inverness Golf Club, Saddle Rock, Sonnenalp Golf Club and Green Valley Ranch.

Perhaps the most notable participant, from a historical perspective, played in 1978 at Hiwan. Look at the Open’s all-time money list — starting from the bottom — and you’ll quickly come across the name of a certain Sam Snead (despite a small typo), who won a grand total of $62.50 at the Colorado Open. And, by the way, he rode a cart in the final round.

Snead (pictured at top) is one of a handful of current World Golf Hall of Famers who have been contestants in the Colorado Open. Among the others are Phil Mickelson (pictured at left), Billy Casper, Hale Irwin and Fred Couples.

Mickelson posted two top-10 finishes at Hiwan shortly after winning NCAA titles in 1989 and ’90. In ’89, he placed third and was low amateur in the Colorado Open, and in ’90 he tied for 10th shortly before winning the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club.

Irwin likewise was low amateur (fourth place overall) in the Colorado Open the same year he won the NCAA title (1967).

Casper finished second in the 1978 Colorado Open. That year, the Open field featured players who now account for more than 150 PGA Tour victories, including Snead (82), Casper (51), Dave Hill (13), Steve Jones (8), Fred Wampler (1) and Larry Mowry (1). Hill still holds the record for most Colorado Open wins, with four.

Couples only competed in the Open as an amateur as he finished fifth in 1980. The low amateur that year was another future major championship winner, Bob Tway, who placed second at Hiwan.

All told, participants in the Colorado Open have accounted for more than 35 major championship victories. The most successful in that regard are Snead (seven major wins), Mickelson (five) and Irwin (pictured at left) and Casper (three each).

Looking at it another way, there are 10 Colorado Open champions who have now won at least one PGA Tour event: Hill (Open victories in 1971, ’76, ’77 and ’81), Al Geiberger (1985), Jones (1988), Kevin Stadler (2002), Mark Wiebe (1986), Jonathan Kaye (1996), Willie Wood (1984), Bill Johnston (1973), Mowry (1979) and Dan Halldorson (1982). Stadler, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour a month ago and currently is ninth on the FedEx Cup standings, had his dad, 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler, caddying for him when he won the Colorado Open 12 years ago. Craig Stadler has also competed in the Open.

For the record, here are some of the other notable golfers who have played in the Colorado Open at some time or other: Mark O’Meara, Dave Stockton, Don January, George Archer, Dow Finsterwald, Corey Pavin, Steve Elkington, Bob Goalby, Charles Coody, Bob Murphy, former Denver-based serviceman Orville Moody, Peter Jacobsen, Bruce Devlin, Tommy Aaron, Martin Laird, Dale Douglass, Gary Hallberg, Bob Byman and 1992 Open winner Brandt Jobe. Jacobsen earned low-amateur honors in 1975, Byman in ’76, Pavin in ’82 and Elkington in ’84.

And, it should be noted, two very prominent former NFL quarterbacks — both named John — have competed in the Colorado Open as well, Brodie and Elway. And a big-time pitcher, Rick Rhoden, also gave it a go.

So Jimmy Walker is in some very good company.