The Broadmoor Invitation, which dates back to 1921 in a different iteration, crowned its 2018 champions on Thursday, and they looked remarkably similar to the 2017 winners.
Jon Lindstrom and Tom Lawrence, both Denver-area residents and Lakewood Country Club members, repeated as Invitation champions, marking the first time there have been back-to-back winners since the event was reincarnated as a four-ball team tournament in 2014. The last time someone won two straight Broadmoor Invitations when it was an individual event was 1959 and ’60, when Fred Brown prevailed. (The 2018 champions are pictured, with Lawrence at left. Photo by Mic Garofolo)
Last week also marks the third consecutive year that Lakewood CC members have claimed the title as Steve Irwin and Richard Bradsby did the honors in 2016.
After switching from an event that decided the winners by match play in 2017 and prior, to a 72-hole stroke-play tournament this year, Lindstrom and Lawrence shot gross better-ball scores of 72-67-71-72 at the Colorado Springs resort. Their 6-under-par 282 total matched that of 2015 champions Mike Allred and Brad Grogg. Then Lindstrom and Lawrence prevailed on the first hole of a playoff.
Lindstrom is a three-time CGA Mid-Amateur champion, while Lawrence is a former CGA president and the current president and CEO of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
The winners in the other flights at The Broadmoor were:
Traditions Nicklaus — Mark and John Austin of Norman, Okla.
Traditions Ross — Doug Stimple and Jack Mason Jr. of Colorado Springs.
Traditions Jones — Bill Carder of Colorado Springs and Scottsdale, Ariz., and Kyle Keefe of Denver.
Legends Gullane — Larry Phillips and Steve Cole of Midland, Texas.
For almost 75 years in the 20th century, The Broadmoor Invitation was considered one of the nation’s top amateur events. Among its winners were World Golf Hall of Famers Hale Irwin and Lawson Little, along with two-time U.S. Amateur champion Charlie Coe. But its run ended in 1995. It was resurrected in 2014 as a scratch four-ball championship for amateurs.
The Broadmoor hosted this year’s U.S. Senior Open and will do so again in 2025.
]]>A summer after LCC members Steve Irwin and Richard Bradsby captured the championship at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Jon Lindstrom and Tom Lawrence from Lakewood CC earned the victory this week.
Lindstrom, winner of three CGA Mid-Amateur titles, and Lawrence, a former CGA president and current president and CEO of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, defeated Brooks Ferring and Oliver Lewis from Lakewood CC in the final match, 2 and 1.
In the semifinals, Lindstrom and Lawrence beat the defending champs, Irwin and Bradsby, 4 and 3. (The champions are pictured, with Lawrence at left, in a photo by Mic Garofolo of Mic Clik Photography).
For 75 years in the 20th century, The Broadmoor Invitation was considered one of the nation’s top amateur events. Among its winners are World Golf Hall of Famers Hale Irwin and Lawson Little, along with two-time U.S. Amateur champion Charlie Coe. But its run ended in 1995. It was resurrected in 2014 as a scratch four-ball championship for amateurs.
The Hall of Fame, founded in 1964, designated a total of $200,000 — proceeds from its annual induction and awards banquet, Colorado state high school football “Championship Saturday”, and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Golf Classic.
The donations announced Wednesday bring the amount of cash and in-kind donations the CSHOF has made to youth sports programs and other sports organizations in Colorado to more than $1 million over the past 11 years.
“All of these organizations meet our mission of helping youth sports, education, and youth of color in Colorado, and we are happy that we can impact so many worthy programs,” said Tom Lawrence, president and CEO of the Hall of Fame. “Our goal was to have an impact on as many youth sports groups as we could, to further the goal of the Hall of Fame in improving youth sports and education in our state.”
Lawrence is a former president of the CGA.
This latest set of donations are made in partnership with Colorado Sports Hall of Fame sponsors Gatorade, King Soopers/City Market, the Denver Broncos, Sports Authority, Wells Fargo, Century Link, and El Pomar Foundation.
For all of the organizations that will benefit from the CSHOF event proceeds, CLICK HERE.
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CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora opened five years ago this month, but just in the short period since 2009 it’s gone through plenty of ups and downs.
Only two months before its grand opening, a fire swept through about 130 acres of land just west of the course, but it burned itself out just left of CommonGround’s fifth hole.
Then last September, with more than 14 inches of rain falling in just six days, the Westerly Creek Dam that borders the course did its job — flood control — by protecting land and real estate in nearby areas of eastern Denver and northwestern Aurora. But in the process, it also collected the overflowing water from Westerly Creek on the golf course for weeks on end, killing a lot of grass in the process. At one point, nearly half the course was under water, at some points 6 feet deep of it.
It took nearly a month before the water drained off the course completely, and by then eight holes were damaged severely and the turf on five greens died.
But there have been plenty of positives at CommonGround as well. The Tom Doak-designed course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, has drawn accolades to the point that it served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur. And CommonGround became the home of the highly respected — and imitated — Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, as well as the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program and many community outreach programs that have benefited both youth in the area and the game of golf. Along the way, the course received a $175,000 USGA grant that helped the associations build the nine-hole Kids Course at CommonGround.
In the grand scheme of those ups and downs, suffice it to say that Thursday most certainly fell into the “up” category. After a concerted recovery effort following the flooding, $350,000 in repairs and $750,000-$850,000 in lost revenue, CommonGround held a grand reopening of all 18 holes of the championship course during the Colorado Golf Foundation golf tournament presented by Citywide Banks. (Note: The course will fully re-open to the general public on Sunday.) In addition, the new community putting green at CommonGround (left) was dedicated — in memory of David Herlinger, a golf lover and former Lowry Redevelopment Authority chairman. And the day raised money for Colorado Golf Foundation-supported programs at CommonGround, including the Solich Academy, the Hale Irwin Program, the Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program, and CommonGround’s community partnerships.
To get the championship course back up to full speed after 8 1/2 months and so much work was gratifying to many of those in attendance.
“It’s exciting for me,” said Tom Lawrence, president of the CGA last year when the floods hit. “Since going out there in the fall, I had been holding off to really take a look. I’ve only played the nine hole (modified course) once or twice since then. I stayed away from looking at the damage. I was pointing to this day so when I got out there, I wanted to see it when it was all finished. So I’m really excited today.
“It’s like a rebirth. I think the whole community is pretty excited about it.”
Five greens — Nos. 5, 6, 11, 12 and 14 — on the west side of the course — were resodded this spring, using about 46,000 square feet of sod grown on a farm in Idaho. (The 11th green is pictured above on Thursday.) Other areas of the course affected were dormant seeded in the fall. All told, about 22 acres of the course required significant work post-flood.
“The resodded greens, you can’t believe how good they are,” said Will Nicholson, the former USGA president who serves as the manager of the CommonGround board. “The key to playing golf is the greens. There are some rough spots in the fairway, but people put up with that as long as the greens are good. And the grass has really popped in the last week now that it’s warmed up.”
CommonGround superintendent Bobby Martin has been roundly credited in helping get the course back fully on its feet, and CGA vice president Joe McCleary has been of considerable assistance given his professional background. McCleary is a former superintendent at Saddle Rock Golf Course and currently serves as a superintendent of stormwater operations for the City of Aurora. He’s also been on the CommonGround board of directors since it was formed.
“If you look at (CommonGround) every day like Bobby and the staff do, you don’t see the improvements as much,” McCleary noted. “If you come back and visit it every week — like I kind of have done — you’re pretty amazed. We’re just hoping the golfers feel the same way. You’ve got to understand it’s not going to be perfect (right away), but you had to open it sometime.”
Getting CommonGround back to operating fully after eight months of being curtailed has taken considerable effort from many individuals, including CommonGround, CGA and CWGA staff, and the CommonGround board of directors.
“Everybody put their shoulder to the wheel and it’s back where it is right now,” Nicholson said.
Lawrence remembers making multiple calls on a daily basis for a couple of months to deal with CommonGround-related matters in the wake of the flooding — to Nicholson, to CGA executive director Ed Mate, to other board members, to the CommonGround management staff.
“Will Nicholson and I got on the phone when it was raining, then I came out two days later because quite frankly you couldn’t get out here (at first),” Lawrence noted. “But once I got out here it was shock. It was just a giant lake. It was shock and it was sadness because the golf course had matured over the years it’s been open to become this gem. Then to see that happen …”
Added McCleary: “I never imagined what happened happening. It was one of those things I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. I’ve been all involved in planning of the golf course and we’d talked about the flood-control dam. (But) you never think it’s going to happen. Driving over and looking at it was pretty unbelievable.”
But, said Lawrence, “then you quickly transfer into a business mode. What do we do? How can we fix it and where do we go from here?”
That eventually brought CommonGround to the point it was on Thursday — reopening all 18 holes of the championship course five years to the month after initially opening.
As CommonGround director of golf Dave Troyer noted on Thursday, “After the first grand opening five years ago, I didn’t think we’d have to do this again.”
Besides getting the full golf course back, Thursday marked the dedication of the 21,700-square-foot community putting green, which was originally supposed to be dedicated last October.
The staff at CommonGround wasted no time utilizing the undulating putting surface. Just hours after local dignitaries and officials hit the first putts on the green toward a nine-inch-wide hole (pictured above), Big Brothers and Big Sisters were stroking putts there (pictured at left). And for good measure, Ping donated 15 putters for use on the new green.
In at least one respect, and perhaps others, Phil Lane will be that.
Lane — who is about to begin a two-year term as president of the CGA, succeeding Tom Lawrence — resides in Colorado Springs and has for most of his life, which makes him unusual for the golf association’s top volunteer position. Almost all past CGA presidents have lived in the greater Denver metro area, but Lane will be an exception.
“We’re the Colorado Golf Association, not the Denver Golf Association,” noted Lane (pictured above). “So how do we add value to (CGA) member clubs outside Denver and make them feel part of the CGA’s mission and work, and reward them for being associated with the CGA?”
That will be one of many things on the plate for Lane, the CGA Board of Governors and the association staff in 2014 and ’15 and perhaps beyond. COgolf.org discussed such matters recently with Lane as he gears up for his two-year term as CGA president. (Note: A feature story on incoming CWGA president Joanie Ott will be posted on COgolf.org next week.)
Besides the CGA bringing in a new president heading into 2014, it’ll also have four new members of the association’s Board of Governors: Carl de Rozario of Columbine Country Club and Ballyneal, Doak Jacoway of Cherry Hills Country Club, Tom Markham of Valley Country Club, and Chris McClain of Canongate Colorado. Departing the board after years of service are Steve Anderson, Rick George, Jim Hayes and Don Sall. To see brief biographies on all of the CGA’s Governors, CLICK HERE.
Lane, a 48-year-old who owns undergraduate and Masters degrees from Northwestern University, is currently a private investor and businessman. For many years he worked for Pepsi and in his family’s longstanding business as a large Pepsi franchisee in Colorado and surrounding regions. That franchisee business was sold just over five years ago.
Besides the CGA, Lane sits on the boards for the Nature Conservancy and the YMCA, and in the past he’s served on the board for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. He’s a member at the Broadmoor Golf Club and Castle Pines Golf Club.
“Phil is really engaged in civic projects,” noted Ed Mate, executive director for the CGA. “He has a very diverse background in civic and community projects. He’s helped guide other non-profits, which is a valuable asset for us. Today’s CGA is no longer your dad’s CGA. We have a far broader and deeper reach in the community.”
As for the CGA work that lies ahead for himself, the board and the staff, Lane foresees several priorities:
— Getting CommonGround Golf Course, owned by the CGA and CWGA and home to many golf-related community outreach programs, back to its former self after suffering significant damage from the September floods. CommonGround is operating as a nine-hole facility — in addition to the nine-hole Kids Course — while the eight damaged holes are restored.
CommonGround is home to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy, the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program and many other “for the good of the game” and junior development initiatives.
“Getting the course up and running full-speed is clearly a top priority for us,” Lane said. “People have been great, playing the nine-hole course, the junior course, hitting balls and supporting (the golf shop and dining facility), but we have to focus our efforts in getting that back up and running (full-bore) as soon as possible in 2014. Obviously, that was an unforeseen need. The flooding threw us a bit of a curve, but we’re working through the challenges and we’ll come back stronger on the back end.”
— Enhancing the collaboration with the CWGA and other major golf organizations in the state.
Regarding the CWGA, Lane said, “We’re working better than we ever have with the CWGA. We need to continue to find ways to work more closely together and serve members better than ever before.”
— Helping the newly formed Colorado Golf Foundation get its legs.
Founded early this year, the Foundation aims to provide assistance for innovative programs that use the game of golf to instill hard work and self-reliance in young people.
“There are a lot of organizations that want to promote golf,” Lane said. “How do you find a balance between all of them and not have groups pulling on the same rope from two different ends? We want to make sure we’re all rowing together.
“The (lead) gift George Solich gave is fabulous, and under Will Nicholson’s leadership (as foundation chairman), it will take off in 2014. And the CGA will be intimately involved with how it evolves over its lifetime.”
— Celebrating the CGA’s centennial in 2015.
“That’s a huge opportunity to highlight all the great things that have happened over the last 100 years, (and) to have a year-long celebration of the game.”
The CWGA, by the way, will reach its 100-year anniversary the following year, in 2016.
Lane has served on the CGA Board of Governors for more than four years, under the presidencies of Bill Fowler, Jim Magette and Lawrence.
“They all brought great strength and passion and leadership,” Lane said. “I hope I can continue the momentum and continue to strengthen our board. There are always opportunities to find new people and to tap into the talent of the existing board. It’s a personal interest of mine to get the most out of the board. And Ed (Mate) and I also want organizational development to bring out the best in the staff.”
Lane didn’t start playing golf until well into adulthood, but he’s certainly dived head-first into the game since. He served as co-general chairman for the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor, and joined the CGA board the following year. And now becoming the CGA president is another big step in that regard.
“I love golf, and any opportunity to give back to the game in a small way gets me excited,” he said. “It should be a fun, interesting two years.”
After all, he was the product of just such a program.
Solich earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado after going to school on an Evans Caddie Scholarship, and now he’s doing his best to pay it forward.
His latest venture in that regard is one on a very large scale. With a $2 million lead gift from Solich and his wife Carol, the CGA on Monday announced the formation of the Colorado Golf Foundation, which will provide assistance “for innovative programs that use the game of golf to instill hard work and self-reliance in young people.”
For Solich, the kids are the key.
“I love golf and what it can teach kids of all socio-economic backgrounds — good lessons about character and competition,” he said. “For me, the game has affected my life in so many great ways.”
The CGA has been designated the organization that will manage the day-to-day affairs of the CGF, with guidance provided by an independent nine-person board of directors and five advisory directors who will review opportunities and distribute appropriate grants.
Former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., a lifelong Coloradan who helped structure the foundation, has been named the CGF’s chairman.
Among the programs the Colorado Golf Foundation anticipates funding are two which Solich has helped fund and support in the past: the year-old Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround Golf Course, and the CGA’s Evans Scholarship Recruiter position. Others programs that have been specified for anticipated funding are other Colorado-based caddie programs and the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround.
(Solich is pictured above congratulating a participant in the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.)
And the plan is to consider support for “other youth-based programs and initiatives that place a high value on leadership, character development and the traditions of the game of golf.”
“I think the (CGF) will make a big difference,” said Nicholson, who has a long history of volunteerism in the game. “And I think it will be great particularly for young people; that’s the emphasis. I’m delighted and honored that George asked me to be chairman.”
Like Solich, Nicholson believes golf is an especially effective vehicle for instilling key values in young men and women.
“The key is that golf is a game of self-discipline and doing what’s right when no one is looking,” said Nicholson, who last year was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Solich hopes to see the $2 million seed he’s planted blossom into something that other philanthropists support and which will grow and thrive over the long haul.
The foundation “is almost a co-op for a lot of different programs we want to support through golf, and we hope others see the benefit (and assist in the effort),” Solich said. “I hope that $2 million (grows to be) a much bigger foundation and will drive some good programs in the state of Colorado that are rooted in golf and that will have a broad effect on people’s lives.
“When we look back in five or 10 years, I hope we can say, ‘Look at what we started and how many kids we affected.'”
The nine members of the CGF board, which must include at least two members of the CGA Board of Governors, are Nicholson, George Caulkins, former Cherry Hills Country Club head professional Clayton Cole, Jim Hayes, Phil Lane, CGA president Tom Lawrence, CGA executive director Ed Mate, Geoff Solich (George’s brother and an Evans Scholars alum) and Castle Pines Golf Club general manager Keith Schneider.
The advisory board will include George Solich, World Golf Hall of Famers Hale Irwin and Judy Bell, and Colorado Sports Hall of Famers Jack Vickers and Dow Finsterwald.
For several reasons, Solich feels the CGA is the ideal organization to manage the day-to-day affairs of the foundation.
“The mission of both organizations are strongly aligned, and what the CGA has done with CommonGround (which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA) as a tool is so admirable. They have the caddie program, the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program; it’s turned out to be an incredible confluence, a great staging area to deliver all these great programs. I also believe the leadership at the CGA has never been stronger, and the mission and direction has never been stronger. So it was perfect alignment.”
Providing the lead gift and guidance for the Colorado Golf Foundation is the latest of several major endeavors Solich has taken on in the golf realm over the last several years.
He was a major force in bringing the 2014 BMW Championship PGA Tour playoff event to Cherry Hills Country Club, and he will serve as general chairman of that tournament. The BMW Championship helps fund the Evans Caddie Scholarship. And in a related matter, Solich has been a Match Play Challenge partner in an initiative in which major donors match contributions of $2,500 or more to the Evans Scholarship. And that’s all in addition to the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy — which is named in honor of brothers George and Geoff, both former Evans Scholars and prominent players in the oil and gas business — and George funding the CGA’s Evans Scholars Recruiter position.
“I’ve been blessed to be able” to give back, Solich said.
For more information on the Colorado Golf Foundation, or to support the CGF, contact Will Nicholson at 303-585-7100.
]]>“I’m very familiar with the inner workings of the CGA,” noted Irwin, who has served on the association’s tournament committee for the last seven or eight years. “So this is another area to get involved with to help give back to the game.”
That “giving back to the game” is a common theme among the Board of Governors, the big-picture guiding body of the 97-year-old non-profit CGA. The board consists of 30 members — including former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr. — who serve renewable three-year terms, plus legal counsel Ed Timmins. (A meeting of a past board is pictured, with current CGA president Tom Lawrence sitting at far left.)
Irwin, vice president of Hale Irwin Golf Services and winner of five CGA championships, is among three newcomers to the board. Joining him are Tom Gysin — a Lakewood Country Club member (like Irwin), lifelong Coloradan and an owner of Homestead Title — and Gary Albrecht, a lawyer who plays out of CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA.
“It’s often said that all great non-profits are run by volunteers, and the CGA is certainly included in that,” executive director Ed Mate said. The Board of Governors “is one of the things that makes the CGA a great organization. Some governors are from public courses, some are from private clubs, some are scratch players, some have high handicaps. But all the board members have one thing in common: They all love golf. They’re passionate about the game and want to give back.”
The board and the CGA’s paid staff meet four times a year, with the primary business meetings held in conjunction with the Colorado Golf Awards Brunch in November and the Season Tee-Off Luncheon at the Denver Golf Expo in February.
“The board isn’t going to tell the staff how to run tournaments or how to rate courses,” Mate said. “They’re involved in mission-statement stuff, big decisions.
“The staff is the ‘how’ and the board is responsible for the ‘what’.”
For example, the biggest single decision the CGA and CWGA boards made and reaffirmed in recent decades was purchasing the golf course at the former Lowry Air Force Base, and constructing and running the new CommonGround Golf Course.
In addition to attending the quarterly board meetings, governors serve on various committees that also meet regularly. For example, because he’s a regular at CommonGround and is a big advocate for youngsters, Albrecht will play a major role in overseeing the new Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy at CommonGround.
The Board of Governors’ nominating committee is always on the lookout for talented people to eventually add to the board, and the governors try to strike a balance among board members based on geography (where governors resides in the state), the type of clubs they represent (public, private, resort, etc.) and other factors.
But the bottom line is all governors have to be committed to the CGA’s mission — to represent, promote, and serve the best interests of golf in the state of Colorado — and to the association’s many developmental programs and “for the good of the game” initiatives.
In other words, as Mate said, they have to be passionate about golf and about giving back to the game.
For a list of all the CGA governors, including brief biographies, CLICK HERE.
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So now, as the economy has been foundering for several years and the National Golf Foundation reports that the number of golfers has dropped recently, Lawrence would seem to be a good choice to head up the volunteer leadership of the CGA as the association navigates some difficult waters ahead.
Lawrence, the CEO and president of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame for almost nine years, became president of the CGA this week, and if form holds, he’ll likely serve two consecutive one-year terms. The 57-year-old Lakewood Country Club member succeeds Jim Magette as president.
“Being involved in sports is a passion for me — especially golf,” Lawrence said Thursday. Leading the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame “is a labor of love. It’s a place where I can leave a mark and give something back to the community. The CGA is very much like that. Golf has been great to me. The friendships I’ve made and the people I’ve met have meant a great deal.”
Lawrence, a lifelong Coloradan aside from a two-year stint (2001-02) as director of golf operations and assistant general manager at Presidio Golf Course in San Francisco, is a good fit for the CGA presidency in several respects. First, he already runs a non-profit organization (the Sports Hall of Fame) and knows the ins and outs of the business and the fundraising challenges involved. He’s also been in the sports game for his entire adult life, first as a member of the Scott Wedman and Dave Logan-led University of Colorado basketball team in the 1970s, then through jobs with the Denver Nuggets, Denver Broncos, the Bonham Group, Presidio and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, among others.
“He brings a lot of skills that are valuable for us,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said of Lawrence. “He’s run a non-profit and he understands fundraising. And from my perspective, Tom oversaw the most important project the association has ever undertaken, CommonGround Golf Course (which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA). It’s the defining asset of the association. That’s his baby. He’s always been focused on that.”
Indeed, since 2006 Lawrence has chaired the boards that oversaw the total transformation of Mira Vista Golf Course to the new CommonGround Golf Course — and that now oversee CommonGround’s ongoing operations and some related real-estate. Lawrence said former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., is expected to take over chairmanship of those boards later this month, and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Gene Miranda will replace Lawrence on the boards.
Not surprisingly, one of Lawrence’s top priorities as president of the CGA relates to CommonGround — that being the course’s long-term financial viability.
“The CGA is entering into new territory because golf is flat as far as growth and the association has lost some membership,” Lawrence said. “We have to look at new sources of revenue — grants from foundations, donations and sponsorships. That’s in line with how the USGA has done it over the years — with good corporate partners. We have lots of assets sponsors are interested in. Also very important is the long-term growth of the game and what we’re doing with junior golf (and related development programs) at CommonGround. So I think my background will come in handy over the next few years.”
Lawrence is no stranger to helping guide organizations through difficult times. Most recently, he noted that when he took over at the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, it faced about $250,000 in debt. Nowadays, he said it’s well into the black and has donated about $600,000 to worthy youth sports organizations over the years.
Lawrence has been a member of the CGA Board of Governors since 2005, and he initially chaired the Colorado Junior Golf committee before moving over to the CommonGround boards. And his work at the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and the CGA have certainly overlapped at times, as the organizations have partnered on several occasions. Just last year the Sports Hall of Fame Museum at Sports Authority Field at Mile High unveiled an exhibit featuring the CGA and CWGA and how golf can benefit youngsters.
“My board (at the Hall of Fame) encourages me to get involved in other organizations, and there is synergy between” the Hall of Fame and the CGA, Lawrence said. “There’s the exhibit at the museum and the CGA has become one of our major partners.”
Lawrence didn’t take up the game of golf seriously until his college years. Growing up in Aurora, he was more into basketball. He was an all-Centennial League player for Aurora Central High School and earned a hoops scholarship to CU.
In the golf realm, Lawrence became hooked on the game while his brother was a golf professional at Heather Ridge, and Tom helped out at the club during the summer.
“I fell in love with the game,” he said. “And I love beating balls (on the practice range).”
Ironically, as he becomes president of the CGA, Lawrence isn’t playing golf these days. A herniated disc at the base of his neck led to surgery on Oct. 21, and though his rehabilitation is going well, he probably won’t be able to hit balls again until March or April.