But earlier this week, Woods relayed a rather amazing story — and it did indeed have a big link to Colorado.

Considering all he’s accomplished — 80 PGA Tour victories, including 14 major championship titles — it was astonishing to hear Woods indicate that while he made 19 holes-in-one before age 23, he hadn’t had one for over two decades — at least until this month.

In a casual round last week with Fred Couples in La Quinta, Calif. — and with his son Charlie also on hand — Woods aced the 210-yard second hole at The Madison Club, using a 5-iron.

And here’s the Colorado part of the story: Woods’ last hole-in-one prior to this month came at The 1998 Sprint International — specifically, on Saturday, Aug. 22, 1998. I was fortunate to have covered all 21 Internationals ever held, so that prompted me to dig a little deeper regarding the one Tiger made at Castle Pines Golf Club.

Combing through some stories I wrote that year and since then — along with other material — this is what I pieced together regarding the third and last ace Woods has made in PGA Tour competition.

It came at the seventh hole at Castle Pines, which was playing 185 yards that day. He took an 8-iron and holed it on the fly. Years later, when writing a retrospective on The International, I referred to the subsequent fan reaction as “one of the biggest crowd roars in tournament history.”

One of the most amazing things about it was that the ace wasn’t caught on TV — live or on tape.

As Woods (pictured with Nick Price at the 1998 International) said three years ago when recalling some of his more notable holes-in-one: “TV crews here have to take a mandatory union break, and it was on No. 7 at Castle Pines. I hooped it. They showed me on the sixth green, take the union break. I hoop it on 7. They catch me up on the eighth fairway, par-5 up the hill. So that was probably one of the more funny ones, because it went in the hole on the fly and tore up the cup.”

That was one of two eagles Woods made in round 3 and one of four for the week — two each in rounds 1 and 3 — which tied for the tournament record. Tiger, whose eagles were worth 5 points apiece in The International’s modified Stableford scoring format, finished fourth that year at The International, behind winner Vijay Singh, Willie Wood and Phil Mickelson.

Woods returned to Castle Pines in 1999, and barely missed advancing to Sunday. He never came back to The International, which was last played in 2006. His absence was considered one of the reasons the tournament ended its run — along with the lack of a title sponsor.

Tiger himself certainly found it amazing that he went 20 years without an ace, until ending the drought last week.

“Some of the best years of my career and I never made one,” Woods told ESPN’s Bob Harig.

Woods’ only other holes-in-one during official PGA Tour events came at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open in his pro debut and by far the most famous one — at the wild and crazy 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale in the 1997 Phoenix Open.
 

On Tuesday, when Furyk chose Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau as three of his captain’s picks for the Sept. 28-30 matches in suburban Paris, he also named Duval (left) as one of his vice captains.

Duval, once the top-ranked player in the world, now is primarily known for his work as a golf analyst on the Golf Channel.

“He brings a lot to the table,” Furyk said of Duval, with whom he teamed in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April. “One, he comes from a different perspective. Two, he doesn’t sugarcoat things. David’s a good friend but he’s blunt and he’s honest, and I want him to be that way. I don’t want him to be the yes man.

“He has a significantly good relationship with a number of guys on the team, Tiger being one of them, that I felt like he was going to be really good as a vice captain. And it’s gone over really well.”

Other vice captains named on Tuesday were Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar. Woods was once a vice captain, but played his way onto the team, opening an assistant’s spot for Furyk.

When Duval was offered the role last month, “I was shocked,” he said. “I really didn’t expect that. It’s something I would have wanted to do and glad to be doing, but I just felt like it was something that was too far down the road. It was hard to see how (Woods) wasn’t going to be playing, and (Furyk) wanted to bring somebody in that knows Tiger well and everybody’s comfortable with and can alleviate him of some of those extra duties he would have to have been shouldering.”

Duval, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, has lived in Colorado almost continuously since late 2003, with the exception being a brief move he made back to his longtime home state of Florida, before returning to the Centennial State within the last year.

The anniversaries may draw little fanfare, but they shouldn’t pass unrecognized.

Thirty years ago this week, The International PGA Tour event debuted at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Castle Pines Golf Club. And 10 years ago, on Aug. 13, 2006, the final round of the final International was conducted, ending the longest-running and most successful tour event in Colorado golf history.

The tournament didn’t formally go by the wayside until early February 2007, when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and International founder Jack Vickers announced the event’s demise at a Denver-based news conference after a 21-year run. The end came due in large part to the lack of a title sponsor, with Tiger Woods’ often bypassing the event being another significant issue. But after some of golf’s all-time greats claimed the title over the years — including Greg Norman, Davis Love III (twice), Phil Mickelson (twice), Vijay Singh and Ernie Els — Dean Wilson will go down as The International’s last champion after hoisting the trophy 10 years and three days ago. When Wilson defeated Tom Lehman in a playoff, it proved to be the only PGA Tour victory of his career. (Wilson is pictured below at the trophy ceremony alongside Vickers.)

And just like that, after two decades of having a big-time PGA Tour event visit Colorado each summer, local sports fans were left with a void.

As Keith Schneider, the general manager at Castle Pines Golf Club, noted when the news was announced in 2007, “I think the community will miss this event. The Colorado PGA and the (CGA) will suffer with the way the tournament supported the local golf community. The Colorado Open winner would get a spot in The International field. Now that’s gone. It’s too bad.”

As Schneider pointed out, the impact The International made went beyond its considerable entertainment value. After all, as of 2007 The International’s non-profit arm, along with Castle Pines Golf Club, had donated about $14 million over the years to charities in Colorado and elsewhere.

“It’s a sad day in Colorado sports,” said 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones, now a Colorado Sports Hall of Famer. “I’m sorry to see it go. It’s a favorite of all the players.”

Certainly, life goes on, and there have been many great golf tournaments held in Colorado over the last decade. The list includes a BMW Championship, a U.S. Women’s Open, a Solheim Cup, a U.S. Senior Open, a Senior PGA Championship and a U.S. Amateur, among others. But The International — with its stellar hospitality, great fields and a unique format in which a birdie and a bogey were worth more than two pars — left an indelible mark on the local sports scene. 

Perhaps the PGA Tour will return to Colorado in the not-too-distant future. Certainly another BMW Championship could be a possibility at a site like Castle Pines or Cherry Hills. But with this being the 30th anniversary of the first International and the 10th of the last, it’s worth remembering some of the highlights from Castle Pines. As one of very few media types to have reported from all 21 Internationals — and all seven days of tournament week every year but one — I had the pleasure of covering everyone from Arnold Palmer to Nicklaus to Woods to Tom Watson to Lee Trevino to Johnny Miller to Hale Irwin to Nick Faldo — along with all the aforementioned International champions — when they competed at Castle Pines.

Here are some of my favorite moments (in descending order), as I recalled in a column in the (Boulder) Daily Camera newspaper 11 years ago:

10. Weathering Weather Delays: You’d think that out of the 21 Internationals that once, just once, they’d have gotten through a tournament week without weather interrupting play. But nooooooo. Much to the dismay of the players — and plenty of other folks at Castle Pines — lightning strikes more often in the Castle Rock area than just about anywhere else in the country. And the 2004 tournament was especially a sight to behold, with a couple of inches of hail covering the course at one point, then rain and melting hail forming streams in the fairways at Castle Pines.

9. Big John: As big as Woods has been for golf, John Daly took a back seat to no one in popularity in his prime. And Daly’s first appearance at Castle Pines, in 1991, came directly on the heels of his victory in the PGA Championship. With his “grip it and rip it” mantra, people at Castle Pines couldn’t wait to see how far Big John hit it at a mile-high altitude. And he didn’t disappoint with 400-yard-plus drives.

8. Unlikely Champ Beats Major Winners: Clarence Rose in 1996 became the most improbable winner in the history of The International, edging out Wilson (2006). Rose made eagle twice Sunday on the par-5 17th hole, including once in a playoff against Brad Faxon, to post the only PGA Tour victory of his career. Rose beat a field that included the winners of all four major championships that year — Faldo, Jones, Lehman and Mark Brooks.

7. Doubling Up: Double eagles are a big-time rarity, even on the PGA Tour. But two were recorded on the same day during the 1990 International. Steve Pate holed a 2-iron on the par-5 eighth hole and Jim Gallagher Jr. matched the feat by draining a 5-iron approach on the par-5 17th.

6. Heavy Hitters: In 1986, the first year of The International, the tournament drew a field hard to beat for any event outside a major championship. Playing Castle Pines that year were Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson, Miller, Norman, Irwin, Ray Floyd, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, Payne Stewart and Bernhard Langer. Just that group accounts for more than 50 victories in major championships.

5. Cover Your Ears: This is one few other people witnessed, but it’s a personal favorite. One year I ventured down to the CBS compound to try to interview Gary McCord. And while I was waiting — and waiting and waiting — a scene played out that I’ll never forget. Someone drove off in the personal golf cart of CBS analyst Ken Venturi, and to say Venturi was livid about it would be the understatement of the century. When Venturi located the culprit, he spewed more four-letter words than I’ve heard strung together in my life, and my late dad once had a very rich vocabulary. Suffice it to say that the person who took the cart got the message loud and clear.

4. One for the Senses: A not-so-sterling performance by Tom Pernice Jr. in the final round in 2001 was punctuated by one of the most poignant moments in the tournament’s history. After winning, Pernice was embraced by his two daughters. One of the girls, Brooke, who has a disease that causes blindness, put her hand on her father’s face, trying to feel the emotion of the moment. The scene was caught by CBS cameras and became an indelible image for many onlookers.

3. Big Easy Wins … Finally: Els had long been one of the most popular players for folks at The International, which in 1991 marked just the second PGA Tour event ever in the U.S. for the South African. He had been a regular competitor ever since at Castle Pines. But in 2000, after four top-seven finishes at The International without a win, Els broke through for a victory. In a year in which Mickelson finished second and Norman fourth, Els tied the tournament record for points with 48.

2. Tiger Soars With Eagles: Woods played only twice at The International, but the first time was quite memorable. In 1998, he made a hole-in-one at No. 7 at Castle Pines, resulting in one of the biggest crowd roars in tournament history. For the week, Woods made four eagles (two each in rounds 1 and 3), which tied for the tournament record. Tiger finished fourth, behind Singh, Willie Wood and Mickelson.

1. Beem Me Up: Sunday’s back nine of the 2002 tournament will go down as one of the most exciting stretches in PGA Tour history. Facing a 10-point deficit with five holes remaining, Steve Lowery threw the scare of a lifetime into Rich Beem, who seemingly had the tournament wrapped up. Starting on the 14th hole, Lowery posted the best four-hole stretch in tournament history, going birdie-eagle-bogey-double eagle. Lowery holed out twice from the fairway during the run, which was worth 14 points. Only an eagle by Beem on No. 17 and a missed birdie putt by Lowery at No. 18 kept Beem from having a full-scale nervous breakdown. Beem ended up winning the tournament by one point.
 

Also scheduled to participate in the by-invitation-only event at Fossil Trace are instructors Trent Wearner of Colorado and Sandy LaBauve. The clinic at Fossil Trace is scheduled for 5-6 p.m. MT on Wednesday.

The PGA of America and Golf Channel are partnering to present the first National Instruction Day.

Golf Channel is devoting most of Wednesday — on and off from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. — to live programming in association with National Instruction Day. Other sites around the U.S. at which clinics will be held are Baltusrol in Springfield Township, N.J.; Ibis in West Palm Beach, Fla.; Keeton Park in Dallas; Cog Hill in Lemont, Ill.; TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, plus Golf Channel studios in Orlando, Fla.

Among the instructors scheduled to participate at one site or another — besides the aforementioned — are David Leadbetter, Michael Breed, Jim McLean, Craig Harmon, Suzy Whaley, Randy Smith and Stan Utley.

National Instruction Day marks a culmination of a 100-day celebration of the PGA of America’s centennial.
 

People who can lay claim to beating Tiger Woods in his prime while playing head-to-head with him in the final round of one of golf’s top tournaments are indeed few and far between.

One of them helped kick off the Denver Golf Expo on Friday for its weekend run at the Denver Mart (I-25 and 58th Ave.).

Hal Sutton, who counts among his 14 PGA Tour victories the 2000 Players Championship, conducted an hour-long Q&A Friday with “In the Fairway” radio host Jerry Walters — and members of the audience.

To this day, Sutton counts the final 18 of the Players Championship 16 years ago — when he shot a 71 at TPC Sawgrass — as the best round of his career.

“I was head-to-head against Tiger and the whole world was saying I couldn’t beat him,” Sutton noted on Friday. “And I beat him head-to-head in the last round.”

Which was certainly no small feat at the time. After all, Woods had won a stunning 13 of his previous 21 tournaments. And this was in 2000, when Woods started the “Tiger Slam” by winning the U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA Championship before tacking on his second Masters in 2001. At the U.S. Open in 2000 at Pebble Beach, all Woods did was capture the title by 15 shots.

But less than three months earlier, Sutton took down Goliath by one stroke in arguably the fifth-most-important tournament in men’s golf.

At the time, “The media began to believe that Tiger was unbeatable,” Sutton recounted on Friday. “Whether he beat you or you beat yourself, the outcome was the same. Tiger was going to win and you were going to lose.

“When I went to TPC that week I knew I was playing great and I didn’t think there was anybody in the field that could beat me, including Tiger. I led the tournament from start to finish.

“Whenever I’d go into the media center when I’d get through playing, they’d tell me why I was supposed to lose. ‘You’re not going to win. Tiger is lurking back there and we all know he’s coming.’ It got to be old and I got tired listening to it. Finally the last day I got up (and said), ‘I began buying into what you guys are talking to me about until this morning when I got up off my knees from saying my prayers and realized I wasn’t praying to Tiger Woods. I knew I’d be OK. He’s just a man, just like me, but you all make him out to be a god. And he’s not.’ I ended up beating him that day.”

Given what Sutton accomplished, he seemed like a good person to ask about the state of the PGA Tour nowadays — when Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day are battling it out for the top spots in the world, with Rickie Fowler not far behind — compared to when Woods was the indisputably “the man”. Tiger, winner of 14 major championships, was ranked No. 1 in the world for a record 683 weeks.

“I think the Tour right now is in position to be really exciting to watch with a lot of good players,” Sutton said. “The Tour is better off right now is my point. … But I’ll throw one caveat into that: What if all of a sudden Tiger Woods was back on his game (and healthy)? There’s a lot of people that really like Tiger Woods, and there’s a lot of people who don’t. But the truth of the matter is, he adds a flare into the game that I think we miss a little bit right now.

“I played right along with Tiger and I was a Tiger Woods fan. I love the way he played the game. He played the game exciting. It was fun to be in the group with him because you didn’t know what to expect. You knew he was going to have the foot on the accelerator the whole time.

“And if Tiger came back right now and threw his name in the hat with those three or four or five players, it would be an exciting year. It’s not going to happen this year, I don’t think, but maybe it will down the road.”

Sutton also had interesting things to say about a couple of other subjects:

— On equipment having rendered many classic courses obsolete: “The USGA was supposed to be the police. We didn’t have any policemen there for a long time so you can imagine what happened in the game. The criminals took over. The criminals are the manufacturers because their (business) is the almighty dollar. When they didn’t slow them down, they went for speed, and speed equates to distance. They didn’t have any perimeters put on them so they kept pushing the envelope as far as they could push it. … The kids who swung the club 120 mph, they got really long and it made a lot of the golf courses obsolete. It cost the industry billions of dollars because everybody and their brother started changing their golf courses around to try to make sure they were up to standards today. Some people were spending $5 or $6 or $7 million changing golf courses, putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa so to speak. So we have no comparison from yesterday to today. So now the game is in a big uproar.”

— On the Ryder Cup (Sutton played on four U.S. teams and captained one): “The Ryder Cup is the greatest event in golf. I never felt pressure like I did at the Ryder Cup — the reason being because the world was watching. There’s 1,500 people in the media center. There’s more people in the media center for the Ryder Cup than there is for the Super Bowl. Every country in the world is there. It’s an exciting event and I look forward to it.”

— On the difference between current Tour players and those from his day (Sutton is 57 years old): “They’re better prepared (now). We didn’t know how good we were. I’ll never forget the first time I saw my swing on video. ‘That’s what it looks like?’ Now these kids have never had a week where they haven’t seen their swing on video. They’re able to monitor their swing much easier than I was able to. You’ve got things now that can (show) everything throughout every part of your golf swing. When I was growing up, I was limited to my imagination — and that’s the truth. Now we have less imagination. I think golfers from yesterday had more vivid imaginations than golfers today because they don’t have to utilize imagination today.”

Beside Sutton’s appearance, here are some of the notable tidbits from the Denver Golf Expo:

— CWGA Centennial, Junior Alliance Featured: Several of the local golf associations are participating in the Expo as they normally do, but they have a little something extra to chat about with those in attendace.

The CWGA is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, an event that will take center stage on Feb. 27 at the association’s annual meeting at the Inverness Hotel.

(Pictured at the CWGA booth Friday are, from left, Phyllis Jensen, Kate Moore and Nancy Wilson.)

Organizers recently taped a message for the annual meeting from World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Bell of Colorado Springs, the first female president of the USGA. Bell had planned to attend the annual meeting, but a leg injury will prevent that.

And the CGA and Colorado PGA, which this year are launching the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado in partnership with the CWGA, are rolling out the alliance publicly this week. Registration for the 70-plus events on the alliance schedule opened on Tuesday.

It’s been a busy week for all the state’s major associations this week, particularly the Colorado PGA, which co-hosted the G4 Summit at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs on Tuesday, then the Teaching and Coaching Summit Wednesday (also at The Broadmoor) before three days at the Denver Golf Expo Friday through Sunday.

— Rohrbaugh Taking Aim at 4 Straight: Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale no longer has any status on the PGA Tour Champions after competing in six events last year, but he still has big plans for 2016.

On Friday at the Expo, Rohrbaugh was helping man the booth for Ironbridge Golf Club, where he serves as director of golf.

Rohrbaugh plans to play a more Colorado-based tournament schedule this year, and the main event circled on his calendar is the Colorado PGA Professional Championship set for Sept. 12-14 at Cherry Creek Country Club.

Rohrbaugh has won the event the last three years, and one more this year will break a tie with Ken Krieger and Ron Vlosich as Rohrbaugh would become the first to “four-peat” in the Section’s top tournament.

“That’s my goal — four of those,” he said Friday. “That’s not been done.”

— On the Air: Among those on hand at the Expo on Friday was one of the radio sports talk shows from 760 AM. Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Dave Logan and Susie Wargin hosted the program. Among their guests was Colorado PGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth (above).

——————————————————————————————————-

DENVER GOLF EXPO HIGHLIGHTS, ESSENTIALS

What: 23rd annual Denver Golf Expo.

When: Friday through Sunday (Feb. 19-21).
 Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
 Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Denver Mart (58th Ave., just east of I-25).

Tickets:
Adults, $13; Seniors, $11; Military/Vets with I.D., $11; Kids 16 and Under, $3.
Available by CLICKING HERE, or at King Soopers or the Denver Mart during Expo days.

Scheduled Educational Seminars:
— Target-Proof Your Wedges 80 Yards and In (Stan Sayers, Colorado GC), Saturday 10-10:30 a.m.
— Key Changes in 2016 Rules of Golf (Alex Crall, CGA), Saturday noon-12:30 p.m.
— Move Well, Play Well (Dee Tidwell, Colorado Golf Fitness Club), Saturday 1-1:30 p.m.
— Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Putting (Jerry Walters, Trent Wearner Golf Academy), Saturday 2-2:30 p.m.
— Key Changes in 2016 Rules of Golf (Alex Crall, CGA), Sunday 10:15-10:45 a.m.
— Unlocking the Secrets to Successful Putting (Jerry Walters, Trent Wearner Golf Academy), Sunday 11-11:30 a.m.
— Target-Proof Your Wedges 80 Yards and In (Stan Sayers, Colorado GC), Sunday noon-12:30 p.m.
— How to Hit It Farther (Kelly Plaisier, Trent Wearner Golf Academy, Sunday 1-1:30 p.m.

CGA Used Club Sale: The CGA will hold its annual Used Club Sale (located just to the right of the entry area), with all the proceeds benefiting youth golf programs and initiatives in Colorado. The Used Club Sale has netted almost $60,000 for junior golf over the last four years combined.

Major Colorado Golf Organization Booths: CGA #1215; CWGA #1218; Colorado Golf Hall of Fame #1308; the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado #1330.

Junior Golf Central, including the Drive Chip & Putt activities, will be located at the west end of the Expo. The area where Colorado PGA professionals will give free 10-minute lessons to all interested Expo attendees is adjacent to Junior Golf Central.

For a full list of exhibitors, CLICK HERE. 

For more information: CLICK HERE. 

“Be the right club today. … Yes!!!”

For most longtime golf fans, that quote is immediately identifiable.

Hal Sutton, 72nd hole of The Players Championship, fairway of the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass, in 2000.

Playing head-to-head with Tiger Woods in his prime, Sutton hit a stellar 6-iron approach shot under pressure on the intimidating 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass. While the ball was in the air, Sutton’s words — uttered with his southern accent — were caught on TV and forever immortalized. The ball finished 8 feet from the flag.

Seventeen years after he’d won his first Players Championship, Sutton captured his second, this time outdueling Tiger, who had won an outstanding 13 of his previous 21 tournaments.

While many other players seemed intimidated by Woods, Sutton wasn’t among them.

“I will tell you this: Praising Tiger all the time is certainly (creating) a defeatist attitude,” Sutton said that week. “There are a lot of people who don’t think they can beat him right now down the stretch on Sunday. There’s a lot of doubt in their minds.”

But, Sutton noted, “I am not going to roll over and play dead.”

And he backed up his talk by beating Tiger in one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

“The other night I was lying in bed, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m not praying to him. He’s not a god. He’s human just like I am, so we can do this!'”

With that as a backdrop, it was recently announced that Sutton, now 57 years old, will be a headliner at the 2016 Denver Golf Expo, which runs Feb. 19-21 at the Denver Mart (I-25 and 58th Ave.). Mark Cramer, who operates the event along with Lynn Cramer, said Sutton will participate in a main-stage Q&A with longtime “In the Fairway” radio host Jerry Walters on Feb. 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with the audience also being allowed to throw a few questions Sutton’s way. Mark Cramer also said that Sutton is expected to be on hand in the Stryker Orthopaedics booth at the Expo for the hour prior to his Q&A.

Sutton is a paid spokesperson for Stryker, which arranged for his appearance at the Expo, and he has had hip replacements with Styker products in 2012 and ’13.

The Denver Golf Expo has featured big-name tour players at the show on other occasions — most notably Patty Sheehan, Meg Mallon, Dottie Pepper and Hollis Stacy leading up to the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club. (Pepper, by the way, is scheduled to be among the speakers at the G4 Summit that will take place Feb. 16 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.)

“We’ve had some exceptional female pros (at the Expo), but I think this is the first time we’ve had a PGA Tour veteran,” Mark Cramer said. “That’s kind of neat. … Hal Sutton is a big thing.”

Indeed, he’s won 14 times overall on the PGA Tour, including the 1983 PGA Championship, two Players Championships and the 1998 Tour Championship. He’s earned more than $15.2 million on the PGA Tour and $1.8 million on the Champions circuit.

Major Junior Golf Presence: While Sutton no doubt will be popular among middle-aged-and-older attendees of the Denver Golf Expo, juniors will once again be a major focus of the show. Earlier that week, at the G4 Summit at The Broadmoor, the CGA and Colorado PGA plan to publicly unveil the name and website for the new junior golf collaboration which they’re launching this year with help from the CWGA. And the associations plan to build on the momentum at the Expo with a significant junior golf presence at the Denver Mart.

In addition, the CGA will hold its annual Used Club Sale, with all the proceeds benefiting youth golf programs and initiatives in Colorado. The Used Club Sale has netted almost $60,000 for junior golf over the last four years combined.

People interested in donating quality used clubs and equipment can drop them off — by Feb. 15 — at the CGA offices (5990 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., #102, in Greenwood Village) or the PGA Tour Superstore (9451 East Arapahoe Road, also in Greenwood Village) during normal business hours. Contact Dustin Jensen, the CGA’s managing director of operations, at 303-974-2106 or at djensen@coloradogolf.org for more information.

In addition, the Drive, Chip & Putt area for juniors — which picks up on the theme of the DC&P junior skills championship conducted by the USGA, PGA of America and the Masters — is situated adjacent to the Colorado PGA area at the Expo, where Section professionals provide free 10-minute lessons to all interested Expo attendees. Admission for kids, age 16 and under, is $3 apiece at the Expo.

The CGA, CWGA, CPGA and Colorado Golf Hall of Fame all plan on having significant presences at the Expo once again this year. The CWGA is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016.

Short and Sweet: At least 13 seminars are planned over the three days of the Expo, ranging from the Sutton Q&A to swing, putting, scoring and fitness tips to updates on the Rules of Golf. … Cramer said the popular Topgolf, which opened a 65,000-square-foot, multi-level golf entertainment complex in Centennial in August, will have an exhibit presence at the Expo for the first time next month. Cramer also said Denver-based GolfTEC will be an exhibitor — he believes for the first time since the Cramers started running the show in 2000. … Cramer indicated that a month prior to the show’s open, there are just 12 exhibitor spots remaining for the Expo. “Exhibit sales have gone through the roof this year,” he said. … Cramer said that the grand prize for this year’s show — available to attendees who fill out a survey upon entering the Expo — will be a trip to the Bandon Dunes Resort worth an estimated $9,000 retail. It’s for four people, 12 rounds in all, and three nights accommodations.

“With the blizzard we had last year (during the Expo), I think this year will be record-setting,” Cramer said. “I think there’s pent-up demand.”

For more information about the Denver Golf Expo, CLICK HERE.

After the BMW Championship — and the other three tournaments in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoffs — received a 1-2 punch the last couple of weeks, the PGA Championship produced some very welcome positive news for the Tour stop coming to Cherry Hills Country Club Sept. 4-7.

After all, the BMW Championship will feature the winner of two consecutive major championships — the last two majors of 2014. And so if Tiger Woods didn’t qualify for the playoffs and Dustin Johnson is out after announcing a “leave of absence”, having a phenom like Rory McIlroy (left) in the field softens the blow considerably.

McIlroy on Sunday won the PGA Championship, making him the first player since Padraig Harrington in 2008 to claim consecutive men’s major titles. And, if that weren’t enough, the 25-year-old McIlroy became the third-youngest player — behind Woods and Jack Nicklaus — to have won at least four majors as the Grand Slam events are currently configured. In addition, McIlroy is a very likable character.

That adds up to some serious star power, whether Woods is on hand or not.

“The excitement level has just multiplied by 100,” Cherry Hills head professional John Ogden said Monday as the BMW Championship held its annual media day. “Obviously, you don’t see this kind of golf come around very often. Personally I can’t wait for (McIlroy) to come here and compete at Cherry Hills and in Colorado. As they keep saying on the television and in the media, it’s a passing of the torch (among golf’s all-time greats). You’re seeing something we didn’t think we’d see again in our lifetime. So I can’t be more excited.”

And it should be noted, of course, that one of McIlroy’s nine PGA Tour victories came at the 2012 BMW Championship. That event was named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year. The top 10 that week featured McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Woods, Johnson, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Lee Westwood.

“We’ve been busy preparing for those top 70 players in the world, and now we’re starting to get a feel for who they are and what they look like,” 2014 BMW Championship general chairman George Solich said Monday. “We’re super excited about what this field looks like.”

The top 125 players in the FedExCup season-long point standings following this week’s Wyndham Cup will qualify for the The Barclays in Paramus, N.J., Aug. 21-24. The top 100 after The Barclays will go to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton Mass., Aug. 29-Sept. 1. The top 70 after that advance to Cherry Hills, and the top 30 following the BMW Championship make the Tour Championship Sept. 11-14.

Through the PGA Championship, the top five players on the FedExCup points list are McIlroy (2,582 points), Jimmy Walker (2,493), Masters champion Bubba Watson (2,172), Matt Kuchar (1,921) and Jim Furyk (1,851).

Other notables in the top 70 currently are Sergio Garcia (seventh, 1,699), Jordan Spieth (eighth, 1,692), U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer (13th, 1,525), Scott (14th, 1,479), Rickie Fowler (15th, 1,471), Kent Denver graduate Kevin Stadler (30th, 1,066), Mickelson (42nd, 921) and Henrik Stenson (67th, 720).

Walker led the FedExCup standings for 30 consecutive weeks, but McIlroy took over the top spot with his victory Sunday at the PGA Championship.

But there’s obviously plenty of juggling that will take place in the weeks leading up to the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills. To prove the point, McIlroy moved from 42nd place less than a month ago to first now thanks to three consecutive victories (British Open, Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship).

Officials Say BMW Championship Could Attract 140,000 Fans for the Week: Even though spectators can’t attend BMW Championship activities until a Tuesday (Sept. 2), and that ticket sales for any given day are limited to 27,000, tournament officials are hoping that the event at Cherry Hills draws more than 140,000 fans for the week.

“We do expect to see maybe over 140,000 fans for the week,” general chairman George Solich said.

Tickets are still available for the event (CLICK HERE). But as Vince Pellegrino, the senior vice president for tournaments for the WGA, which runs the BMW Championship, noted, “Especially after this past weekend (at the PGA Championship), people are buying them up left and right, which is great.”

How Cherry Hills Will be Set Up for BMW Championship: Various details about how Cherry Hills will play for the BMW Championship have been solidified. Though yardages will vary slightly day to day, the course will play about 7,352 yards for the tournament. It will be a par 34-36–70 layout, with no par-5s on the scorecard until No. 11. Holes 5 and 18 (left), which play as par-5s for members, will be par-4s for the PGA Tour players.

The rough will be 3 inches deep, albeit very thick Bluegrass. Greens will run about 11-11.5 on the Stimpmeter. And eight holes will feature fairways that are “pinched-in” compared to how they played for the U.S. Amateur in 2012: Nos. 3, 4, 5, 9, 13, 14, 16 and 18.

“Three inches (of rough) is going to present them a lot of problems,” Ogden said. “It’s just so dense. I’ve had lies out there this year where you just barely miss the fairway … I don’t care who it is — Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, whoever — you’re going to have a hard time hitting the ball anywhere out of that stuff. The ball has a tendency to go to the bottom. That’s always going to be a challenge.”

Added Solich: “With all the rain we’ve had, (the rough) has got some teeth. There’s no doubt about it.”

Ogden predicts that if weather is typical for that time of year, the winning score will be between 264 and 268, or 12-16 under par.

Hoping for Hefty Bottom Line for Evans Caddie Scholarship: The Evans Scholars Foundation, which sends needy and qualified caddies to college with full tuition and housing scholarships, is the sole charitable beneficiary of the BMW Championship. Just since 2007, when BMW became the title sponsor of the event, more than $16 million has been raised for the Evans Scholarship. Overall, the proceeds from the BMW Championship represent between 15-20 percent of the revenue raised for the Evans Scholarship, which currently has 14 scholarship houses nationwide, including one at the University of Colorado.

“So it’s a very important event from a charitable standpoint as well,” noted Solich, an Evans Scholar alum who graduated from CU in 1983.

Notable: Pellegrino said during tournament week, play will run from roughly 11:15 a.m.-6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. On each day of the event, rounds will begin off both the first and 10th tees. … With this being the BMW Championship, BMW automobile and motorcycle owners will have access to preferred parking (6145 Happy Canyon Road) and to a BMW owners tent on the course, near holes 8 and 14. … A total of almost 2,600 people have signed up as volunteers for the BMW Championship, with all openings having been filled. Ninety percent of the volunteers are from Colorado, though 40 other states and two other countries are represented. A wait-list for volunteer openings has been established at BMWChampionshipUSA.com. … Military personnel have been offered free tickets to the BMW Championship, with active duty, Reserve, military retirees and veterans able to obtain a complimentary ticket valid for any one day of the championship following advance verification of their military status. Available on a first-come, first-served basis, a total of 14,000 complimentary military tickets will be available: 5,000 for each of the practice rounds on Sept. 2-3 and 1,000 each day of the tournament rounds Sept.  4-7. The tickets may be ordered online at birdiesforthebrave.sheerid.com. The military tickets are complimentary, but a $1 verification fee does apply. 

For those golf fans who are looking forward to seeing golf’s two biggest headliners — Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson — you should hope for improved health and better results from those players over the coming 4 1/2 months. Otherwise, they won’t be making the trip to Cherry Hills Country Club for the BMW Championship, scheduled for Sept. 4-7.

The BMW Championship is the 44th points-awarding tournament of the 2013-14 wraparound season for the PGA Tour. Last week’s Masters was the 22nd event of the season, meaning a mid-season report is worth considering.

The top 70 players on the season-long FedEx Cup points list at the end of the day on Sept. 1 will qualify to compete at Cherry Hills in the third of the four Tour playoff events this year.

And the not-so-pleasant news for local golf fans is this: If the BMW Championship were held today, neither Woods nor Mickelson would be in the field. Mickelson currently stands in 84th place on the FedEx Cup points list, and Woods is 199th. For the record, at the halfway point of the FedEx Cup regular season in 2013, Woods led the FedEx Cup points list and Mickelson was sixth.

Considering there are plenty of tournaments left — including three major championships, the Players Championship and the first two playoff events prior to the BMW — normally this might not be a major concern halfway through the season. But with both Woods and Mickelson having experienced injuries and ailments — in addition to poor play — it could be more significant this year.

Woods, second only to Jack Nicklaus in major championships won (18 to 14), has only competed twice in Colorado on the PGA Tour, in 1998 and ’99 at The International. That absence of one of golf’s all-time greatest players seemed very likely to end at the BMW Championship, but now the situation is much more up in the air.

Woods (pictured above at a previous BMW Championship) has only played in three official PGA Tour events in the 2013-14 season, with a 25th-place showing in the Cadillac Championship being his best finish. But more worrisome is Tiger’s injury issues. Two weeks ago, he underwent a microdiscectomy to deal with a pinched nerve in his back. It’s unclear when he’ll return to tournament action, but on his web site, it said, “The goal is for Tiger to resume playing sometime this summer.”


Woods’ friend and former Stanford teammate Notah Begay III this week told CBS Sports Radio that he believes Tiger will still be recuperating beyond the U.S. Open in mid-June.

“I think he needs to give (his back) a minimum of 90 days to make sure that scar tissue heals up appropriately and he doesn’t run the risk of re-injuring it,” Begay said. “So that would push him past the U.S. Open.”

Obviously, the later Woods returns, the less time he’ll have to earn the points necessary to qualify for the BMW Championship, an event he won in 2007 and ’09. He’s played in the tournament in five of the seven years since it became part of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Woods earned the overall FedEx Cup title in 2007 and ’09.

Mickelson likewise has dealt with back problems in 2014, but has played a relatively full schedule so far. The unusual thing is he has yet to post a top-10 finish so far in the 2013-14 season, which is why he’ll need to play better if he has plans to compete at the BMW Championship.

Mickelson, of course, has a history of success in Colorado. He won a U.S. Amateur (at Cherry Hills) and a college tournament in the state, along with The International PGA Tour event twice. He’s competed in each of the last six BMW Championships.

As things stand currently, Jimmy Walker leads the FedEx Cup points race with 2,046, with Masters champion Bubba Watson second at 1,840. All of the top 70 players as of now have at least 345 points. Mickelson is at 296 and Woods 43.

Other big names on the outside looking in as far as the top 70 goes at the halfway point of the season are Luke Donald (340 points), Lee Westwood (316), Henrik Stenson (311), Ernie Els (306) and Brandt Snedeker (293).

But the standings can change quickly, particularly if a player gets hot. Winners of most regular-season PGA Tour events are awarded 500 points, while it’s 550 for World Golf Championships and 600 for majors and the Players Championship.

The top 125 on the points list after the Wyndham Championship in mid-August will qualify for the playoffs, where each tournament winner receives 2,500 points. The top 100 players after The Barclays in Parasmus, N.J. (Aug. 21-24) advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Mass. (Aug. 29-Sept. 1). Then it’s down to 70 for the BMW Championship, after which the top 30 earn spots in the Tour Championship.
   

As Frank Sinatra noted when signing “My Way”, “Regrets, I’ve had a few.”

Then again, who hasn’t?

My biggest related to golf came in 1992. As the golf writer for the (Boulder) Daily Camera newspaper, I was sent to cover the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, primarily because Boulder High and University of Colorado graduate Hale Irwin was just two years removed from his third U.S. Open victory, and because he had an interesting history at Pebble Beach.

Irwin won the 1984 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am after watching his tee shot on the 72nd hole head for the Pacific Ocean before it bounced off the rocks and out into the fairway. He went on to make birdie, force a playoff, then win the tournament.

Anyway, on the final day of the ’92 U.S. Open that Tom Kite won (my media credential is at left), I learned that I was among the winners of a media “lottery”. That meant that I was among a lucky group of journalists that would be allowed to play Pebble Beach for free on Monday, the day following the conclusion of the Open.

That’s when I did one of the stupidest things of my adult life. I turned down the spot because I had some pressing work-related reason to get back to Colorado on that Monday morning. At this point, I can’t even remember the assignment for which I had to get back.

All I know is I’ve regretted that move ever since. I’m sure my boss at the time, Dan Creedon, would have told me to stay in Pebble Beach another day if I had explained. But I dutifully returned on time to Colorado.

Over the years, I’ve brought up this “regret” on occasion, mentally kicking myself each time. Anyway, this apparently made an impression on my oldest daughter, Laura, a former high school golfer.

With that in mind, fast forward to a couple of months ago. My wife and I were at a high school football game when we received a text from Laura seeing if I had anything pressing on my calendar Jan. 14-16 of this year. After replying that there was nothing those days that I couldn’t rearrange, I was told that I should keep those dates free.

Then on Christmas morning, Laura clearly had something up her sleeve in having her present to me being the last opened at our family gathering.

First I read the card: “Didn’t want you to live with this regret. Merry Christmas. Love, Laura” Then, with Laura videotaping, I unwrapped a sheet of paper — a tee time confirmation at Pebble Beach Golf Links for Jan. 15.

Now, having been a golf writer for quite a while, I know what green fees run at Pebble Beach, which is one of the reasons for my regret, knowing that I probably wouldn’t ever be able to justify spending that much on a round of golf.

Laura (pictured at left) graduated from the University of Colorado in the spring of 2013 and had just landed her first full-time job. But I knew the amount she was earning, and suffice it to say that paying for golf at Pebble Beach for her and me was a large portion of her monthly pay. And with her saving up for graduate school, the first words out of my mouth were something like, “Laura, you shouldn’t have done that. That’s way too expensive.”

But, realizing the thought she’d put into it and the exceeding generosity she was demonstrating, the least I could do was be grateful — and very thankful.

Fortunately, Pebble Beach didn’t require us to stay on property in order to play golf, so with an inexpensive hotel and dirt-cheap flights, the only real big expense was the green fees.

So our pilgrimage to one of golf’s meccas became reality last week.

And let me join in the chorus by saying Pebble Beach does live up to its hype, and it’s an experience that will be etched into my memory to my dying days. It was great covering the U.S. Open there 22 years ago, but playing the course takes it to an entirely different level.

I can say that despite finishing with the highest score I’ve shot since I was a beginner at the game. While a good final tally would certainly have been nice, it’s somewhat beside the point. When you’re playing nine holes right on the Pacific Ocean — and the other nine holes very close — on a course with so much history and renown, worrying much about your score seems like quibbling.

I realize plenty of Colorado-based golfers have had the pleasure of playing Pebble Beach, but for many — probably including me — this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As a guy who plays most of his golf at courses that charge $30-$35 per round, this was very tall cotton indeed.

For someone like me, among the most enjoyable parts of playing Pebble Beach was recounting for Laura some of what’s occurred on different holes of the course — Nick Faldo climbing a tree on the 14th hole in search of his ball during the 1992 U.S. Open; the incredibly difficult 14th green that last week had the toughest pin placement I’ve ever encountered; Jack Nicklaus’ 1-iron at No. 17 in the 1972 U.S. Open and Tom Watson’s chip-in there in the 1982 Open; Irwin’s improbable lucky shot on 18; and Tiger Woods’ incredible 273-yard second shot that sliced around the fairway trees and over the ocean, hitting the green on the par-5 18th during the 2010 U.S. Open.

While there are beaches adjacent to Pebble Beach Golf Links, it was the sand on the course with which I became most familiar. Even though I was hitting my driver very good — by my standards — and my irons OK, I visited 11 bunkers. And with quite a few of them having nasty-deep faces on them, I felt like I was having a Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day” experience — reliving the same thing over and over.

Part of the reason I encountered so much sand was sheer thick-headedness. I knew my shots at sea level carried roughly 10 percent less than in Colorado, but it took a while before I could pull the trigger on an 8-iron from 130 yards slightly into the wind, when 150-155 is the norm at mile-high altitude.

The golf aside, the day was all you’d expect. With 77-degree weather, sunny skies, little wind, a jaw-dropping setting and sharing the experience with my daughter and some very nice playing partners (a German couple), a person couldn’t ask for much more. Even the inexplicable empty water jugs throughout the course didn’t mar the joy of walking Pebble Beach.

And it didn’t hurt that I hit my best drive of the day on the intimidating 18th hole, with my ball finishing just to the right of the two trees in the fairway.

The day was capped off by a little souvenir shopping, looking at the old photos of Bing Crosby in the locker room, and with visits to The Lodge and eating establishments overlooking the 18th hole as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean.

All in all, life doesn’t get much better.

And now, that old regret is long gone.
 

In 2008, there was the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor and the U.S. Amateur Publinks — featuring Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel — at Murphy Creek.

In 2009, the Palmer Cup, pitting many of the best college players from the U.S. and Europe against one another, came to Cherry Hills.

In 2010, Colorado Golf Club hosted the Senior PGA Championship.

In 2011, the U.S. Women’s Open came to the Broadmoor, marking the championship’s third appearance in the state since 1995.

In 2012, the U.S. Amateur paid a visit at Cherry Hills and CommonGround.

And last year, the best women’s players from the U.S. and Europe battled it out at the Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club.

Looking ahead, the run is guaranteed to last at least one more year. A PGA Tour event will be contested in Colorado for the first time since 2006 as Cherry Hills hosts the BMW Championship the first week of September this year.

While that event is certainly the highlight of the 2014 Colorado golf season, it’s just one of many new or notable events on the schedule for this year.

Here’s a brief rundown:

— Return of The Show: With the BMW Championship coming to Cherry Hills Sept. 1-7, it’ll mark the first time in the eight years of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs that an event has been held in the western U.S.

As the third stop of the playoffs, the BMW Championship will feature 70 of the best players in the world. That means that in all likelihood Tiger Woods (pictured above) will compete in Colorado for the first time since 1999. Also likely in the field will be Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Jordan Spieth.

After the BMW, the top 30 from the FedEx Cup standings will advance to the Tour Championship.

Proceeds from the BMW Championship benefit the Evans Caddie Scholarship, including the E.S. Scholars at the University of Colorado.

— First and Last USGA Qualifiers: With last year’s announcement by the USGA concerning changes to its championship schedule, 2014 will feature the first-ever qualifying for the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championships (which will debut in 2015), and the last qualifying for the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateur Public Links (which will be discontinued after this year).

The final qualifiers for the national Publinks will be May 27 at Saddle Rock (women) and June 17 at Twin Peaks (men).

The first Colorado-based qualifying tournaments for the national Four-Ball Championships will be Sept. 8 at Colorado Golf Club (men) and Oct. 6 at Spring Valley (women).

— Tournaments Galore: The Heritage at Westmoor will be a popular site for CGA/CWGA championships and USGA qualifiers in 2014, especially in May and July.

The Westminster course will host the CGA Match Play (July 7-11), CWGA Junior Match Play (July 14-17), U.S. Women’s Open Sectional Qualifying (May 14) and U.S. Open Local Qualifying (May 12).

— Colorado Open Championships Lineup: The dates of the HealthOne Colorado Open championships are circled on the calendars of many of the state’s top players. In 2014, here is the schedule, with all three events contested at Green Valley Ranch:

Colorado Senior Open, May 28-30; Colorado Open, July 24-27; Colorado Women’s Open, Aug. 27-29.

— Top State Amateur Championships: The schedule for the top CGA and CWGA championships goes like this: CWGA Match Play, June 23-26 at Lone Tree; CGA Match Play, July 7-11 at The Heritage at Westmoor; CWGA Stroke Play, July 21-23 at Valley Country Club; CGA Stroke Play, Aug. 7-11 at Lakewood Country Club.

— Eyeing National Championships: Qualifying tournaments for the USGA’s highest-profile national championships are always key days for the state’s elite players.

Here’s the lineup this year: U.S. Open Locals May 12 at the Broadmoor and Heritage at Westmoor, and May 13 at Collindale; U.S. Women’s Open Sectionals, May 14 at Heritage at Westmoor; and U.S. Senior Open Sectionals, June 17 at Fox Hollow.

— Return of Ron Moore College Tourney: The University of Denver women’s golf team will add an NCAA Division I tournament, the Ron Moore Women’s Intercollegiate, to the Front Range lineup in the fall.

Set for Highlands Ranch Golf Club Oct. 10-12, the Ron Moore tournament will return after last being played in 2009. In the interim, the DU women have competed in the Golfweek Women’s Conference Challenge held at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott.

The Moore Women’s Intercollegiate will be a 54-hole event, with the 2014 field including DU, Colorado State and Northern Colorado.

Moore, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, was a major supporter of DU athletics. In 2011, the Moore family donated Highlands Ranch Golf Club to the university.