Following up from last week, when we started our two-part retrospective on the top Colorado golf stories of 2017 (CLICK HERE for the first installment), we continue our countdown with the top dozen stories of the year — in reverse order. And at the end, included is a list of honorable-mention selections.

12. USGA’s Passey Calls It a Career: Mark Passey spent 27 1/2 years as a director of regional affairs for the USGA, including the last 11 based in the Denver metro area. Passey was very highly regarded in the region, but in June at age 70, he retired, leaving big shoes to fill. (Kyle Nuss, based in Dallas, has taken over as the USGA’s director of regional affairs for the nine-state Central Region, which includes Colorado.) READ MORE

11. Workman’s Stellar Summer: Glenn Workman had a summer to remember in state and regional tournaments in 2017. The Pueblo West resident became the first player in history to win the CGA Amateur and Wyoming State Amateur in the same year. The University of Wyoming golfer also scored low-amateur honors at the Rocky Mountain Open and the Wyoming State Open. READ MORE”¨

“¨10. Big-Name Clinics for The First Tee in Colorado: Ever since CoBank took over as title sponsor of the Colorado Open Championships, some big-name tour players have been coming to Colorado to put on exhibitions, primarily aimed at the kids participating in The First Tee programs. Last year, Hale Irwin, Ryan Palmer and Paula Creamer did the honors. This year, David Duval, Lexi Thompson and Mark O’Meara came to First Tee sites, most notably the one at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, which hosts the Colorado Open tournaments. That’s quite a run, considering those six players account for eight major championship victories.

9. Jobe’s Champions Breakthrough: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe came very close to winning on the PGA Tour during his time on that circuit, four times placing second, including at the 2005 International at Castle Pines. Then on the PGA Tour Champions, he finished third three times leading up to this past summer. But in June in Des Moines, Iowa, Jobe scored a breakthrough victory, prevailing in the PGA Tour Champions’ Principal Charity Classic. Jobe, who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99 before moving to Texas, also had a very strong record in senior majors in 2017, finishing second in the Senior Players, third in the U.S. Senior Open and eighth in the Senior PGA. He also matched the tournament record with a round of 62 at the U.S. Senior Open. READ MORE

8. $50K for CoBank Colorado Women’s Open Champ: As soon as the CoBank Colorado Open drastically raised its purse in 2016, a similar hike was virtually inevitable for the Colorado Women’s Open. You could take it to the (Co)Bank. Almost exactly a year after the purse for the men’s Open jumped to $250,000 — with an amazing $100,000 going to the winner — Colorado Open Golf Foundation officials announced a comparable increase, percentage-wise, for the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. Not coincidentally, CoBank has been the title sponsor for the Colorado Open championships since the beginning of 2016. For the 2017 women’s tournament, first prize more than quadrupled — to $50,000 from $11,000 — and the overall purse doubled — to $150,000. In both cases, those are records for a women’s state/regional open and the $50,000 is considerably more than the winner received for any 2017 event on the Symetra Tour, the LPGA’s development circuit. Liz Breed of Waynesboro, Pa., claimed the first $50,000 winning prize, holding off amateur Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, who finished runner-up for the second straight time in the CWO.

7. Kaye Wins 2nd Colorado Open, 21 Years After His First: Part-time Boulder resident Jonathan Kaye (left) hadn’t competed in a tournament in three months, but that didn’t stop the former University of Colorado golfer from winning the CoBank Colorado Open shortly before his 47th birthday. Kaye, a two-time PGA Tour winner who plays little tournament golf anymore, sank a 9-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Green Valley Ranch to post a one-stroke victory and earn the $100,000 first prize. Kaye, the runner-up in 2016, finished at 23-under par, which tied the tournament’s scoring record, relative to par. He became just the seventh golfer to win at least two Colorado Open titles. For the record, the 21 years between Colorado Open victories by Kaye is a record, bettering the 14 years between Brian Guetz’s wins (1994 and 2008). READ MORE

6. Bryant Slam: A junior golf oddity made this one of the top stories of the season in the state. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado schedule features four major championships, and the Bryant siblings won their own version of a grand slam by combining to claim all four titles. Davis Bryant won all three in which he competed — the Colorado Junior PGA, the Colorado Junior Amateur and the JGAC Tour Championship. And when he missed the Colorado Junior Match Play while he was competing in the national Junior PGA Championship — where he placed 14th — 14-year-old sister Emma pulled through for an improbable victory for the girls title. Davis Bryant went on to be named the boys JGAC Player of the Year after also winning the 5A state high school title, placing ninth individually in the Junior America’s Cup and advancing to the match play round of 64 at his second U.S. Junior Amateur.”¨

5. CGA Vets Play Key Roles in Changes to Rules of Golf: Rules issues have played a major — and controversial — role in televised golf in recent years. And in the midst of all that, Rules modernization and simplification efforts by the USGA and the R&A have taken center stage. And at the core — or near the core, anyway — of those modernization efforts is the USGA Rules of Golf Committee. In 2017, three people who have worked for the CGA in the 21st century served on the committee — current executive director Ed Mate, along with former staffers Thomas Pagel (now a USGA employee) and Pete Lis (who works for the LPGA). That’s quite a Rules pedigree for the state association. READ MORE

4. Major Changes for Several Denver-Area Courses: This year turned out to be a big one regarding some of the oldest courses in the Denver metro area. On Nov. 1, 105-year-old City Park Golf Course closed until sometime in 2019, with the course being redesigned to accommodate a stormwater detention area which the city hopes will protect at-risk neighborhoods from flooding. World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin and Broomfield-based iCon Golf Studio were picked to redesign the course. (A rendering of the new City Park GC clubhouse is at left.)  Meanwhile, plans were approved so that another City of Denver course, Overland Park, will be closed for play for five weeks each September and early October from 2018-22 to host a three-day music festival. Then it was announced that Fitzsimons Golf Course, which dates back almost 100 years, would close for good in mid-December, making way for bioscience facilities and residential units.

3. Year to Remember for Clark: Although he previously came close on many occasions, former Highlands Ranch resident Wyndham Clark (left) didn’t score his first individual college victory until early in 2017. And that opened the floodgates for the then-University of Oregon senior, who posted three victories in his final 4 1/2 months as a collegian. One of those wins was a storybook ending as he prevailed at the Pac-12 Conference Championship in his home state, at Boulder Country Club, where he also won the 2010 CGA Amateur. With that strong final half of the season, Clark was named the 2017 Player of the Year in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, the Pac-12. That goes with the 2014 Big 12 Player of the Year honors he earned while at Oklahoma State. Clark ended up being one of three finalists for the national male college player of the year. Then since turning pro in June, Clark has made two cuts on the PGA Tour, including a 17th-place finish on Oct. 29 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. This month, he secured his playing card for 2018 on the Web.com Tour with a 23rd-place finish in the final stage of Q-school.

2. The Kupcho Show: Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster continues to up her game, as this year has demonstrated. The fact that she’s currently the No. 3-ranked women’s amateur in the world says plenty. The Wake Forest golfer came ever so close to becoming the first Coloradan to win the women’s individual NCAA Division I title, leading by two with two holes left before a triple bogey resulted in a runner-up finish. She quickly rebounded from that disappointment to qualify for her second straight U.S. Women’s Open — and went on to finish 21st overall in arguably the most presigious women’s golf tournament in the world (despite taking a 9 on her 35th hole). She also won her first national title, the Canadian Women’s Amateur, by five strokes. Other victories included her third straight in the CWGA Stroke Play, and two wins this calendar year in college golf, where she was a finalist for women’s player of the year honors. She also placed second for the second straight time in the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. Recently, Kupcho was named one of the top 11 women’s amateur golfers in the world by Global Golf Post and played in a practice session leading up to the 2018 Curtis Cup, though she isn’t guaranteed a spot on the U.S. team. Kupcho is also seventh in the women’s rankings leading up to the spring selection of the inaugural 12-player U.S. women’s team that will compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup July 6-8 in France. The Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-like competition for college golfers in which Americans play an International squad. (Australians Robyn Choi and Kirsty Hodgkins, who compete for the University of Colorado, are ranked 11th and 15th among the International players.)

1. CGA/CWGA Unification: The CGA and CWGA each celebrated 100th anniversaries in recent years, and most of that time they’ve been separate — but complementary — organizations serving golf in Colorado. But they’ve now joined forces — while continuing to serve golf in the state — under the banner of the Colorado Golf Association, which will serve roughly 60,000 members. As part of efforts to streamline its relationship with state and regional golf associations, the USGA announced more than a year ago that, starting at the beginning of 2018, it will partner will just one full-service Allied Golf Association in each state or region. That directive led to this unification. The board of directors of the two associations have formed into one leadership team. Joe McCleary, the CGA president for the last two years, and Juliet Miner, who has served as the CWGA president for a similar time, will be co-presidents of the CGA for the coming year. The staff of the associations have also merged, based out of the current CGA offices in Greenwood Village.

(At top, pictured together earlier this year after formally reaching an agreement were McCleary and Miner along with CGA executive director Ed Mate and his CWGA counterpart, Laura Robinson, the new managing director of program integration for the CGA.)

As Mate, who will remain the CGA’s executive director moving forward, said earlier this year, “I’ve been working for the CGA for a long time — over 25 years in stops and starts — and to me it’s the most significant thing we’ve ever done because I think it’s going to position golf and all the things we represent for the next 100 years.” READ MORE

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Honorable Mention

— David Duval, once the top-ranked golfer in the world, moved from Cherry Hills Village to Atlantic Beach, Fla., in recent months. The 2001 British Open champion had lived in Colorado for more than a dozen years. He was born and raised in northeast Florida. Other Colorado-based tour players who have departed the Centennial State in 2016 and ’17 are Sam Saunders (also now in Atlantic Beach, Fla.) and Mark Wiebe (San Jose, Calif.), who’s now the director of instruction at San Jose Country Club. All three are returning to their roots as Duval and Saunders are native Floridians and Wiebe went to college at San Jose State.

— The drinks were on Peyton Manning — he who helped the Broncos claim their third Super Bowl title less than two years ago — after the former quarterback great made a hole-in-one at No. 12 at Cherry Hills Country Club on Nov. 25. For the record, the weapon of choice was a 5-iron from 196 yards.

— Colorado Springs resident Kaden Ford became just the fourth Coloradan in five years to qualify for the national finals of the Drive Chip & Putt Championship, hosted by Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia on the eve of the Masters. Ford will be among 80 contestants on April 1. READ MORE

— This year marked a major historical milestone in Colorado golf as it was 50 years since Columbine Country Club hosted the 1967 PGA Championship. To this day, it’s the only PGA Tour major that’s been held at a Colorado site other than Cherry Hills Country Club. READ MORE

— 2016 CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year Kyler Dunkle scored his first individual college victory — and did it in his home state — as the University of Utah junior prevailed in the University of Colorado’s Mark Simpson Invitational in Erie in late September. Dunkle closed with a 64 at Colorado National. READ MORE

— Former CU golfer Sebastian Heisele posted two top-five finishes — a third and a fourth — in his rookie year on the European Tour. Then he shot a final-round 65 in Q-school to regain his card for the 2017-18 wraparound season.

— The Mile High Showdown World Long Drive event at Park Hill produced drives of 485 yards for the men and 406 yards for the women. READ MORE

— CU teammates Esther Lee and Brittany Fan shared stroke-play medalist honors in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball before falling in the round of 16 of match play.

— University of Denver golfer Chris Korte won the CGA Match Play, completing a career sweep of major CGA titles. READ MORE

— Three Colorado courses were included among Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” — the grandaddy of all the rankings as the first and the most respected. Making the grade were Castle Pines Golf Club (No. 42), Ballyneal (No. 50), and Cherry Hills Country Club (No 73). READ MORE

— The Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy — a popular initiative which promotes the use of caddies by paying the base caddie fees through an educational grant, with participating golfers having the option of adding a tip — added a small pilot program in Grand Junction. READ MORE

— Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird surpassed $15 million in earnings after a decade on the PGA Tour.

— Coloradan Mackenzie Cohen helped Rhodes College in Memphis win the NCAA Division III women’s national title for the second straight year. READ MORE

— Denver’s Jonathan Marsico won his second straight Charlie Coe Invitational team event at Castle Pines. READ MORE

— Former Coloradan Open champion Ben Portie was named the women’s head coach in golf at the University of Northern Colorado. READ MORE

— Jackson Solem of Longmont becomes the first Coloradan since 2009 to win a match at the U.S. Junior Amateur.

— With a fourth-place showing, Colorado recorded its third top-four finish since 2011 at the Junior America’s Cup. READ MORE

— Coloradans competed for the final time as the USGA State Team Championships ended their run. READ MORE

— Littleton’s Jim Knous earned official money ($24,480) on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career by tying for 41st place after Monday qualifying for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. READ MORE

— A CU Evans Scholar alum honored the chapter’s “founding fathers” by endowing scholarships for Dick Campbell, Sonny Brinkerhoff and Homer McClintock. READ MORE
 

It’s the year-ending holiday season, which means different things to different people.

One of the things that comes with this time of year here at coloradogolf.org and coloradowomensgolf.org is a reflection on the past 12 months and compilation of the top stories of the year in Colorado golf. We’ve been doing it annually since 2009, and we’re not about to stop now.

There’s no lack of worthwhile candidates, so in recent years we’ve broken up the list into a two-part series. We go in reverse order, for the sake of preserving some suspense, and add an honorable-mention list that will be included with Part II, which will be published in the coming days.

Today, we’ll cover Nos. 25-13, so without further ado …:

25. Year 2 for Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado: The JGAC, which made quite a splash upon debuting in 2016, continued a significant upward trajectory in 2017. The Alliance — a joint effort of the CGA, Colorado PGA and CWGA — further expanded its reach by creating more tournaments, including several in western Colorado, and adding services. Junior players of all abilities can benefit from JGAC-related programs, including anything from the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy to Colorado PGA Golf in Schools to the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program to Drive Chip & Putt and PGA Junior League competitions.

24. Three Victories by DU Women’s Team: The University of Denver women’s golf team has compiled quite a record from late last season to early this one. In late April, the Pioneers won their 14th straight conference championship, an eye-opening run even if their conference isn’t particularly strong in women’s golf. Then this fall, DU won two tournaments in 11 days — both in Colorado, at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott and the Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate in Highlands Ranch. For the record, that made for three wins in the course of five tournaments spanning two seasons. Denver, ranked among the top 25 women’s teams in the nation to complete the fall (along with the University of Colorado), was given a boost in the offseason when 2017 CWGA Player of the Year Mary Weinstein transferred in from the Regis University.

23. Eaton’s March Toward CWGA Record: This year, Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton reached 24 CWGA championship victories by sweeping the Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play titles. That leaves her just one shy of Carol Flenniken’s career-record total of 25. After her third sweep of the Senior Match and Senior Stroke in the same year, Eaton earned the CWGA Senior Player of the Year honor for the eighth time. She’s also been the overall CWGA Player of the Year four times since 2004.

22. Variety is Spice of Life for Moore: Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Kent Moore, added to a rather remarkable feat that likely will never be matched. With his victory in the Super-Senior Match Play, Moore (pictured above) now has claimed titles in eight different CGA individual championships. Over the last 44 years, he’s won the 1973 Junior Match Play, the 1986 Amateur, the 1989 Match Play, the 1995 Mid-Amateur, the 2006 Senior Match Play, the 2014 Senior Stroke Play, the 2016 Super-Senior Stroke Play and the 2017 Super-Senior Match Play. READ MORE

21. Longmont’s Nygren Inaugural Putting Champ: Longmont’s Cole Nygren, a pro for just a couple of months, earned a nice paycheck ($15,000) and plenty of publicity with his Halloween victory in the All Pro Championship at the inaugural Major Series of Putting in Las Vegas. The most eye-catching part of the win was the fact that it came against a field that featured PGA Tour veterans Brad Faxon, John Cook, Tommy Armour III and Colt Knost. Nygren, who placed fourth in the CGA Amateur in August to conclude his amateur career, beat Knost, the 2007 U.S. Amateur champion, 3 and 2 in the match-play finale. READ MORE

20. Major Changes for Colorado Cup Matches: The Colorado Cup Matches, a Ryder Cup-style competition between CGA/CWGA amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals, have been held annually since 1971. But there were many significant changes implemented in 2017, which will be the last time the matches are conducted until 2019. With no college golfers playing for the amateur team for the first time, the Colorado PGA (left) prevailed 26-14 in the event, which now features open, senior and women players competing for a single Cup. That result came a year after the pros were swept by the ams. READ MORE

19. More National Recognition for Colorado PGA: Mark Pfingston, the PGA head professional at The Golf Club at Bear Dance, this year was named the PGA of America’s national Merchandiser of the Year for public facilities. With Pfingston’s accomplishment, Colorado PGA members continued their roll of the last decade-plus in receiving national recogntion for their work. In the last 11 years (2007 through ’17), CPGA members — or the Section as a whole — have earned nine national awards from the PGA of America. READ MORE

18. Chalk Up Another Honor for Keffer: In the last decade, Geoff Keffer has become one of the most awarded players from the Colorado PGA in the Section’s history. This year, the Lakewood resident received the Section’s Dow Finsterwald Player of the Year Award for the fourth straight season and for the fifth time in six years. To put that into perspective, only one player has been the Colorado PGA’s Finsterwald Player of the Year more times than Keffer, with two others matching his total. And all of the other three members of the five-timers club have all been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Bob Hold owns the record for most CPGA Finsterwald Player of the Year Awards, with seven earned between 1966 and ’74, including six straight starting in ’66. Other five-time Players of the Year, in addition to Keffer, are Vic Kline (1975 to 1981) and Ron Vlosich (1986 to ’91). READ MORE

17. Back to North Dakota for CGA’s Jensen: Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s highly regarded and well-liked managing director of operations, recently accepted a job as associate dean of student engagement at his alma mater, the University of Jamestown in his hometown of Jamestown, North Dakota. Jensen was a key administrator in Colorado golf, particularly playing a pivotal role in the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado getting up and running during its initial years. READ MORE

16. Age No Problem for Schalk: Hailey Schalk (left) of Erie was only 15 years old during the 2017 golf season, but that didn’t keep her from becoming the girls Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Player of the Year. In 2017, Schalk was the first Coloradan to win a title at the prestigious AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior. And in May, she was the first freshman since 2002 to win a girls state high school individual championship in Colorado. In addition, she captured the titles at both of the JGAC majors in which she competed. She also placed 14th individually while playing for Colorado at the Girls Junior America’s Cup. She and Davis Bryant were recently named “Future Famers” by the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

15. Seniors Rule at CPGA Professional Championship: The Colorado PGA Professional Championship is the top tournament of the year for the Section. But this year’s event, held at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott, turned into a showcase for the 50-and-over set as 50-year-old John Ogden prevailed in a playoff over 64-year-old Rick Cole, who was ever so close to becoming the oldest winner of this event — by far. As it was, Ogden earned the $8,000 first prize, then promptly donated half of that total to the Colorado PGA REACH Foundation. READ MORE


14. Timely 59 for Sam Saunders: Former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders picked a good time for his career round. Saunders, grandson of the late Arnold Palmer, opened the Web.com Tour Championship with a 12-under-par 59 in Atlantic Beach, Fla., where he moved from Fort Collins last year. It was just the seventh round under 60 in the history of the Web.com circuit. More importantly, it led to a second-place finish in the Web Tour Championship, which secured Saunders’ fully-exempt PGA Tour card for 2017-18 after he had lost that status late in the summer.


13. Bunch, Harvanek Voted into Colorado Golf Hall of Fame: Two Coloradans whose service in golf has made an indelible impact were voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Jim Bunch of Denver and Danny Harvanek of Littleton will make up the 46th class of the Hall of Fame and will be inducted on May 20 at Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia. Bunch has served in high-powered volunteer roles at the USGA and with the Western Golf Association, including as the chairman of the USGA Rules of Golf Committee, of the WGA and of the Evans Scholars Foundation that awards full tuition and housing college scholarships to high-achieving caddies with limited financial means. Harvanek, a longtime PGA Master Professional in Colorado, has long been touted for his highly-effective instruction work with junior golfers, which helped lay the groundwork for the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools program. READ MORE
   

Any retrospective about Colorado golf in 2013 wouldn’t be complete without including significant doses of both good and bad.

After all, while there were plenty of highlights during the year — most notably the Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club — the September flooding definitely put a damper on 2013, with its effects extending into 2014 and perhaps beyond.

With that in mind, we’ll count down the top 18 stories of the Colorado golf year, in reverse order. We’ll also include an honorable mention list at the end.

Here’s the rundown:

18. Before this year, Jennifer Kupcho had never competed in a USGA championship. In 2013, the 16-year-old played in four national championships: the U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the USGA Women’s State Team. Individually, she advanced to the round of 32 at the Girls’ Junior. And, along with Hannah Wood and Melissa Martin, she helped Colorado finish sixth in the USGA Women’s State Team Championship, tying the state’s best showing ever in the event.

Also, Kupcho joined with Calli Ringsby, Wood and Sydney Merchant in leading the CWGA team to a third-place finish in the Girls Junior America’s Cup, tying the state’s second-best performance ever in that event.

Kupcho won titles in the Colorado Junior PGA and the Big I Junior Classic state tournament, and she was runner-up in the 4A state high school meet and in the girls division of the CJGA Tournament of Champions.

17. After leading the University of Denver women’s golf team to two top-six finishes in the NCAA Championship finals, Sammie Chergo resigned in February after 15 years as the head coach.

Lindsay (Hulwick) Kuhle, who served as an assistant coach under Chergo for seven seasons before departing in 2012, returned to replace Chergo.

16. Senior teammates Spencer Painton and Jake Kelley led Regis Jesuit to its fourth consecutive 5A state high school title, but their link went far beyond that.

The two both qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur, and they finished 1-2 (with Painton winning) at both the 5A state high school meet and the CJGA Tournament of Champions.

In the first round of the 5A state meet, Painton made six consecutive birdies to end a round of 66 that included a 29 on the back nine.

15. Caine Fitzgerald of Parker, an assistant professional at Murphy Creek Golf Course, qualified for the PGA Championship by finishing 14th at the PGA Professional National Championship. READ MORE. 

14. Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird out-battled Rory McIlroy with a 63 in the final round to win the Valero Texas Open in April, marking the third PGA Tour victory of his career. Any Tour victory is a big deal, but an added bonus was that it came the week before the Masters, which earned Laird a spot in the field at August National. READ MORE. 

13. Esteban Toledo, who lived in Castle Pines for several years in the last decade, had a memorable rookie season on the Champions Tour, to the point that he was seriously in the running for the Rookie of the Year award.

After going through Q-school to qualify for the circuit, Toledo won twice in his first full Champions season, both times in playoffs. The first victory for the native of Mexico came, appropriately enough, on Cinco de Mayo.

12. In a year in which the CGA announced it was discontinuing the CGA Public Links Championship, Derek Fribbs (left) sent the tournament out with a bang.

Fribbs shot an 8-under-par 62 in the final round to win by six with a 17-under-par total for 54 holes. The next day, he shot 66-65 to qualify for U.S. Publinks. That gave Fribbs a 64.8 stroke average for five tournament rounds over four days.

Fribbs went on to claim the CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year Award.

11. Former University of Colorado golfer Emily Talley competed in two of Golf Channel’s Big Break competitions, and she won the season-ender, Big Break NFL, along with Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and Isaac Sanchez.

The victory was worth $50,000 cash and a spot in the Shoprite LPGA Classic. READ MORE. 

10. Evergreen resident Craig Stadler looked as if his days of winning Champions Tour events were over. But after an 8-year, 9-month victory drought, the former Masters champion claimed a title in the Encompass Championship in June.

Stadler, who had just turned 60, set a Champions Tour record for longest time between wins. READ MORE. 

9. Vail resident Harry Johnson hadn’t won an individual CGA championship or qualified for a USGA championship before this year, but he certainly made up for lost time. At age 63, he swept the CGA’s Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play championships, becoming one of the oldest winners of both events. He also qualified for the USGA Senior Amateur.

8. It’s ironic that when Golf World magazine recently published a list of state champions in various events, it left off Keith Humerickhouse and his victory in the CGA Mid-Amateur. It was a bad one to exclude.

It was in that tournament that Humerickhouse became just the third player in history to win the same CGA championship for four consecutive years. And keep in mind that CGA championships have been contested since 1901. READ MORE. 

Beyond that, the Eagle-based golfer made it to the round of 16 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur, where he defeated two-time champion Tim Jackson in the process.

7. For the first time in history, all three Colorado Open championships were won by Coloradans. Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale prevailed in the Senior Open, Zahkai Brown of Arvada in the Open and Becca Huffer of Denver in the Women’s Open.

Huffer, a two-time state high school champion, won despite battling a severe case of tendinitis in her wrist. And Brown shot 64-64 on the weekend to claim the top spot.

6. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton retired from CWGA championships after sweeping the CWGA individual senior titles in 2013 and winning 21 times in her 41-year CWGA career.

Eaton, who won six state titles in 2013 (three in Arizona, two in Colorado and one in California), was named to Global Golf Post’s Women’s Senior Amateur first team for her performance this year. READ MORE. 

5. Doug Rohrbaugh’s 2013 season was one for the ages, at least by the standards of a Coloradan who’s 51 years old. The head professional at Ironbridge Golf Club won the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open, the Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship for the second straight year, and the Colorado PGA Professional Championship. In the case of the last of the three, he may be the oldest winner of the tournament ever.

Beyond that, he qualified for the U.S. Senior Open for the second straight year and finished third in the HealthOne Colorado Open. He also made it to the final stage of Champions Tour qualifying.

If all that weren’t enough, Rohrbaugh’s son, Tristan, won the 3A state high school title and signed a letter of intent to play college golf at Boise State.

4. Mark Wiebe of Aurora hadn’t won a Champions Tour event since 2011, but ended that drought in grand fashion. When he beat Bernhard Langer in a playoff that lasted five holes, Wiebe claimed the first major championship of his career, the Senior British Open. READ MORE. 

And that wasn’t all Wiebe accomplished in 2013. With his victory in the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship, he won twice in the course of eight weeks, and for the fifth time in his Champions Tour career.

3. In a move that should pay dividends for years to come, the Colorado Golf Foundation was launched early in 2013, thanks to a seven-figure lead gift from philanthropist George Solich.

The foundation — chaired by former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., managed on a day-to-day basis by the CGA, and guided by a board of directors and additional advisors — will provide assistance “for innovative programs that use the game of golf to instill hard work and self-reliance in young people.”

Look for the foundation to make a major difference through worthwhile youth-oriented golf programs for a long time to come. READ MORE. 

2. The torrential rain that produced flooding in many areas of Colorado in September had a big impact on golf, as it did on many other aspects of life in the state.

Many Colorado golf courses were affected over the short term (a week or less), but a handful or so suffered more significant damage. That included Coal Creek in Louisville, CommonGround in Aurora, Mariana Butte in Loveland, Twin Peaks in Longmont and Pelican Lakes in Windsor.

In some instances, getting back to normal will take well into 2014. In the case of Coal Creek and the estimated $3.5 million in damage it suffered, the course is closed and may not reopen until 2015.

Meanwhile, a couple of other Colorado courses closed for good in 2013 for reasons unrelated to the flood. Falling into that category were Gleneagle Golf Club’s course in Colorado Springs and Centre Hills par-3 in Aurora.

1. The Solheim Cup matches between the best American and European women’s players are held in the U.S. just once every four years, and Colorado Golf Club in Parker was the first host site in the western U.S. (Nancy Lopez is pictured at top leading the cheers for the Americans behind the first tee on the final day.)

The six-day event — three practice days and three competition days — drew about 110,000 fans.

The outcome, however, wasn’t what most of the gallery wanted to see: The Europeans, with six Solheim Cup rookies, won the Cup on U.S. soil for the first time. The 18-10 margin was the biggest in the history of the event.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall became the first player to go 5-0 in a single Solheim Cup, while 17-year-old Brit Charley Hull, the youngest player in Solheim history, went 2-1 and beat Paula Creamer in singles. Hull subsequently was named the Best International Newcomer at the 2013 SJA British Sports Awards. READ MORE. 

The U.S. fared far better in the Junior Solheim Cup held at Inverness Golf Club. The Americans, led by captain Kathy Whitworth, defeated the Europeans 14.5-9.5.

Honorable Mention Selections — Former University of Colorado golfer Steve Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open champion, was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. … Two golfers from Valor Christian High School, Ross Macdonald and Jake Staiano, swept the CGA junior championship titles. … Melissa Martin became the seventh player to win three or more CWGA Stroke Play titles. … Former Grand Junction resident Monte Montgomery won his third Rocky Mountain Open. … 2011 HealthOne Colorado Open champion Ben Portie was named coach for the new Metro State women’s golf team. … The University of Denver women’s golf team won its 10th consecutive conference title, this one in the Western Athletic Conference. … Derek Tolan and Tom Glissmeyer, who each qualified for the U.S. Open as 16-year-olds, advanced from the same Local qualifier to the Sectionals, but fell short of returning to the Open. … The CWGA won a national handicap-service award for Best GHIN Service for a Medium Association.

Two Coloradans won junior tournaments with strong national fields — Castle Rock’s Josh Seiple (Jones Cup Junior Invitational) and Centennial’s Hannah Wood (Kathy Whitworth Invitational). … Former University of Denver golfer Sue Kim earned her 2014 LPGA Tour card by finishing in the top 10 on the Symetra Tour’s season-long money list. … Part-time Gunnison-area resident Marilyn Hardy advanced to match play in both the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, but in each case she lost to players who would go on to win the national championship. … Wyndham Clark of Greenwood Village qualified for the U.S. Amateur for the third time in four years and made it to the round of 64 in match play. … Former Denver resident Mark Hubbard and Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch earned Web.com Tour cards for the first time. … Former U.S. Women’s Public Links champion Annie Young was named women’s golf coach at Colorado State. … Coloradan Paige Crawford won the Big Sky Conference women’s title.