What has been reported for almost a year — a Web.com Tour event coming to the new TPC Colorado course in Berthoud starting in 2019 — became a reality on Thursday when next year’s Web tournament schedule was announced.

The TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes will be held for the first time the week of July 8-14, 2019. The event, which will feature 156 players and a $600,000 purse, will be the first of five such tournaments planned for TPC Colorado through 2023.

TPC Colorado, located just northwest of U.S. Highway 287 where the road turns east a little northwest of Berthoud, has opened in phases over the last year, with some member play taking place on selected holes in September of 2017 and general public play beginning Sept. 1 of this year.

The TPC facility, the first brand-new 18-hole regulation golf course to open in Colorado since 2009, held its first major tournament last week with the Colorado PGA Professional Championship being contested there.

“Our site is a hidden gem, but I couldn’t imagine a better location,” said TPC Colorado owner Jon Turner. “Our project is equidistant between Boulder and Fort Collins. This is our marquis development project and we think it’s the perfect stage for this event to showcase Colorado to the world.”

The TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes will mark the first Web.com Tour event held in Colorado since 1997. The Web.com Tour is one step below the PGA Tour, with the top 25 finishers on the Web’s regular-season money list each year earning PGA Tour cards, and another 25 landing priviliges through their performance in the Web.com Finals, a series of season-ending events culminating with the Web.com Tour Championship.

The Web circuit — then known as the Nike Tour — previously had a tournament in Colorado in 1996 and ’97, when Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton hosted the Nike Colorado Classic. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, claimed the title in 1996.

Of course, Colorado has also hosted annual PGA Tour stops in the state over the years, most recently The International at Castle Pines from 1986 through 2006. And the BMW Championship PGA Tour playoff event was conducted at Cherry Hills Country Club in 2014.

“We are excited to bring the Web.com Tour to Colorado in conjunction with the highly anticipated debut of TPC Colorado,” Web.com Tour president Dan Glod said in a release. “This state has historically delivered a tremendous amount of PGA Tour support, and we are confident that local businesses, fans and volunteers will enable the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes to become a great success.”

TPC Colorado, a semi-private/high-end daily fee Scottish links-style course designed by Arthur Schaupeter, can stretch to 7,991 yards from the Tour tees. Some of its most formidable features are stacked-sod-faced bunkers (below), often with sheer walls, along with scenic views of the Rocky Mountains. Course mounding often results in views of only part of the flagsticks when hitting approach shots.

The large reservoirs on site — the Lonetree, McNeil and Welch Reservoirs — rarely come into play for championship-caliber players, though seven holes are situated along the water.

A 60,000-square-foot clubhouse at TPC Colorado is currently under construction.

Drew Blass will be the tournament director for the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes. Blass, most recently director of corporate partnerships and business development for the LPGA, has served as director of operations and assistant tournament director for the last three U.S.-based Solheim Cups, including the one held at Colorado Golf Club in Parker in 2013.

“Colorado has a rich history with the game of golf and support (for it), which I witnessed firsthand during my time with the 2013 Solheim Cup,” Blass said. “We are confident the TPC Colorado Championship will become one of the region’s premier sporting events beginning in 2019 and the place to be each July.” 

Larry Collins, the PGA general manager at TPC Colorado, has worked at six TPC facilities over his career.

“It’s really a stunning piece of land,” he said last fall regarding TPC Colorado. “It sits on 800 acres, overlooking three reservoirs with about 1,500 acres of water — with Longs Peak and a panoramic view (of the mountains) in the background. The community is just going to be loaded with amenities. It’s very, very exciting.”

Blows were struck for senior golfers — once again — and for women on Wednesday in the Colorado PGA Professional Championship.

In the first major tournament hosted by TPC Colorado in Berthoud, a player in his 50s won the Section title for an amazing fifth time in the last six years.

And for the first time in the history of the event, a woman — actually two of them in this case — qualified for the national PGA Professional Championship.

Yes, it was an eventful day at the Colorado PGA’s biggest tournament of the year.

Patrick Reidy, a 52-year-old who has worked at Inverness Golf Club since he was 14, rebounded from a triple-bogey 8 on the 722-yard 13th hole — yes, you read that right — by playing his final five holes in 1 under par. That earned him the biggest victory of his career, and the $8,500 that goes with it.

“Other than playing golf at (the University of Colorado in the mid-1980s), this is hands down the greatest thing I’ve ever accomplished in my golfing career,” the left-hander said. “It’s great, seriously. It’s unexpected to be even having this conversation to be honest with you.

“To actually hold this (trophy) right now is absolutely crazy. It’s bringing tears to my eyes.”

Reidy (above and left) is just the most recent of the senior set to claim this title in recent years. Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale won three straight from 2013 through ’15 — when he was 51, 52 and 53 years old — and John Ogden prevailed last year at age 50. That means that Geoff Keffer (2016) is the only player under 50 to win the Colorado PGA Professional Championship in the last six times the tournament has been contested.

“It shows how strong our seniors are in this Section,” said Rohrbaugh, who tied for second on Wednesday with, among others, 55-year-old Sherry Andonian-Smith of Valley Country Club. “I’d take our top 10 seniors against the top 10 of any Section in the country. The results speak to that.”

The women competing this week made a statement as well. As noted, Andonian-Smith shared second place overall, while two-time Colorado PGA Women’s Champion Alexandra Braga of Denver Country Club tied for sixth place despite playing her last three holes in 3 over par.

With the top eight finishers on Wednesday earning spots in the national PGA Professional Championship, set for April 28-May 1 in Bluffton, S.C., both Andonian-Smith and Braga will be packing their bags. According to Colorado PGA executive director Eddie Ainsworth, it’ll be the first time a woman from the Colorado Section has advanced to the national tournament.

“I’ve been trying to do it since I’ve been a Colorado PGA member — so eight years — and I’ve been close a couple of times, so it’s great to get it done,” said Andonian-Smith, (left) who earlier this year qualified and played in the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open.

Joining Andonian-Smith and Braga (below) in earning berths to the national event were Reidy, Rohrbaugh, Dustin Miller and Eric Bradley from Black Bear Golf Club, Remington Post of Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks and 2012 Section champion Caine Fitzgerald of Meadow Hills.

Reidy birdied the final hole from 5 feet on Wednesday to give himself a two-stroke victory in the Section championship with a 1-over-par 217 total for three rounds. Sharing runner-up honors at 219 with Andonian-Smith (73 Wednesday) and Rohrbaugh (74) were Miller (75) and Post (80).

Braga, Fitzgerald and Bradley tied for sixth place at 221.

That Reidy ended up with the title left him a bit dumbfounded.

“I don’t know what to tell you honestly,” said Reidy, who has spent all 27 years of his PGA professional career at Inverness. “This is a complete shock.

“I win a pro-am here and there, but I don’t win anything big. Things were going well this week. A couple of putts went in. I don’t putt great, but putts went in this week. It was fun.”

As for extending that remarkable streak of 50-somethings winning this event, Reidy said, “John Ogden inspired me last year. To see Doug Rohrbaugh do what he does, that’s inspiring. It’s so comforting to see guys that can sustain their career and compete at this level. It’s such a great Section to be part of.”

Aside from his snowman on the 722-yard 13th hole, Reidy played a very strong final round on a course that measured 7,437 yards for the male competitors. On that 13th hole, he put his third shot in the bunker, failed to get it out, then after he did, he three-putt for triple bogey.

But Reidy birdied the previous hole from 5 feet and No. 18 from the same distance. And he missed three other birdie attempts inside of 15 feet in the final five holes. In the end, he seemed to hit it better than his 74 indicated.

“I could have given up right there (after No. 13),” he said. “But I came off that hole and I said, ‘Let’s man up and see what you’ve got and go do it.’ I hit great shots all the way coming in.

“I can do more mental damage to myself than anybody on the planet. Today I got out of my own way.”

However it happened, the victory left a big smile on the face of a guy who endured more than his share of adversity at a young age. His dad died when Patrick was 16, and the younger Reidy lost sight in his left eye for several years after a racquetball accident during his college days.

But Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Tom Babb, a fixture as the director of golf at Inverness from 1973 to 2000, hired Reidy at the club when he was 14 and mentored him throughout his younger days.

“My dad passed away when I was 16 years old and Tom Babb was there more for me more than any other person on the planet,” Reidy said. “At 16 years old, you’re going through a tough time. I started working for Tom when I was 14. It changed my life and my golfing career.

“Tom is rolling over in his grave right now, laughing his (butt) off.”

Meanwhile, some of the runner-ups on Wednesday were left wondering, “What if?”

Miller, who eagled two of his first three holes, was in great shape to win until playing his first five holes of the back nine in 6 over par. Post, meanwhile, was riding high until playing his final 10 holes in 7 over. And Rohrbaugh (left), the Colorado PGA Player of the Year points leader, had his sights set on his fourth title until making double bogeys on 14 and 18. On the par-4 final hole, he was 40 yards from the hole in two, but caught his wedge thin and his ball flew into the back bunker and he couldn’t get it up and down.

“It’s just disappointing, very disappointing,” he said. “I played really solid all day until (the two doubles). … I just had one goal: Win. It’s real disappointing because usually when I’m in the hunt, that’s when I’m at my best. I don’t really fold typically.”

TPC Colorado, which just within the last couple of weeks started allowing some public play, is expected to host a Web.com Tour event next summer as part of a five-year contract. But the 2019 Web.com Tour schedule has yet to be released.

Colorado PGA Professional Championship
Sept. 10-12, 2018 (final) at Par-72 TPC Colorado in Berthoud
ADVANCE TO NATIONAL PGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Patrick Reidy, Inverness 71-72-74–217
T2. Sherry Andonian-Smith, Valley 78-68-73–219
T2. Doug Rohrbaugh, Carbondale 75-70-74–219
T2. Dustin Miller, Black Bear 71-73-75–219
T2. Remington Post, Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks 70-69-80–219
T6. Alexandra Braga, Denver CC 69-75-77–221
T6. Eric Bradley, Black Bear 72-74-75–221
T6. Caine Fitzgerald, Meado Hills 72-74-75–221
ALSO
T9. Mike Zaremba, Desert Hawk 74-73-75–222
T9. Doug Wherry, Jake’s Academy 76-74-72–222
T9. Jordan Gibbs, Denver CC 73-71-78–222

For all the scores, CLICK HERE.

Though he completed just 15 holes on Tuesday before play was suspended due to darkness following weather delays, Remington Post of Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks held a four-stroke lead and is one of just two players under par through two days.

Post, a 33-year-old from Dillon, carded a 4-under 32 on the front nine and was 3 under through 15. That left him at 5 under par overall with 21 holes left to play in the tournament.

Patrick Reidy of Inverness Golf Club, a 52-year-old from Littleton, holds second place after rounds of 71-72 left him with a 1-under 143 total. He made three birdies and three bogeys in Tuesday’s second round.

First-round leader Alexandra Braga of Denver Country Club, winner of two Colorado PGA Women’s Championships, trails by five after a 75 on Tuesday. She was even-par for the day through 10 holes, but bogeyed three of her final eight. Joining her at 144 were fellow Denver Country Club professional Jordan Gibbs and Dustin Miller of Black Bear Golf Club, who carded a 71 and a 73 on Tuesday, respectively.

Meanwhile, three-time champion Doug Rohrbaugh eagled the par-4 sixth hole and posted a 2-under 70 on Tuesday to move into sixth place at 145. Also 1 over par overall is Vince Buelk of Collindale — in his case through 33 holes.

Braga isn’t the only prominent women’s player from the Section on the leaderboard. Sherry Andonian-Smith shares eighth place at 146 total after a 68 on Tuesday, which is the lowest round so far in the championship.

Joining Andonian-Smith in a tie for eighth place are past champions Caine Fitzgerald (74) and Chris Johnson (73), along with Eric Bradley (74).

TPC Colorado, a new Arthur Schaupeter-designed Scottish links-style course, is hosting its first major tournament this week.

After the final four groups complete round 2 on Wednesday morning, the field will be cut roughly in half after 36 holes, then pairings will be set for Wednesday’s final round.

The top eight finishers on Wednesday will advance to the 2019 PGA Professional Championship, set for April 28-May 1 in Bluffton, S.C.

Colorado PGA Professional Championship
Sept. 10-12, 2018 at Par-72 TPC Colorado in Berthoud
Leaders
Remington Post 70-(-3 through 15 holes in round 2)
Patrick Reidy 71-72–143
Alexandra Braga 69-75–144
Dustin Miller 71-73–144
Jordan Gibbs 73-71–144
Doug Rohrbaugh 75-70–145
Vince Buelk 75-(-2 through 15 holes of round 2)
Sherry Andonian-Smith 78-68–146
Eric Bradley 72-74–146
Caine Fitzgerald 72-74–146
Chris Johnson 73-73–146

For all the scores, CLICK HERE.

That’s when the Arthur Schaupeter-designed Scottish links-style course will host its first big-time tournament. The 54-hole Colorado PGA Professional Championship is scheduled for Monday through Wednesday (Sept. 10-12). It’ll be a worthwhile preview for what’s planned for the course (left) starting next year — a stop on the Web.com Tour, which is just one step below the PGA Tour.

The Web.com Tour — then known as the Nike Tour — previously had a tournament in Colorado in 1996 and ’97, when Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton hosted the Nike Colorado Classic. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, claimed the title in 1996.

(For more on TPC Colorado, CLICK HERE.)

The Colorado PGA Professional Championship will feature a formidable field of most of the top professionals from the Colorado Section. That includes Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale, who won this event three straight years starting in 2013. Other winners of the event in the 21st century who are in the field next week include Caine Fitzgerald (2012), Rob Hunt (2009 and ’11), Chris Johnson (2010), Mike Northern (2006), Heikke Nielsen (2005), Bill Loeffler (2000, ’02 and ’04) and Micah Rudosky (2001). Loeffler and fellow participant Ron Vlosich are members of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

Others who are entered are 2017 runner-up Rick Cole, 2018 Colorado Senior PGA Professional Champion Mike Zaremba, Ari Papadopoulos, TPC Colorado host head pro Stephen Arendt and Eric Bradley. Among the female members competing are Alexandra Braga and Sherry Andonian-Smith. Braga won the first two Colorado PGA Women’s Championships and Andonian-Smith qualified for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open this year.

But the last two winners from the Colorado PGA Professional Championship aren’t in the field this time around — John Ogden (2017) and Geoff Keffer (2016). Ogden is injured and Keffer, a five-time Colorado PGA Player of the Year, didn’t enter.

The top finishers next week will advance to the 2019 PGA Professional Championship, set for April 28-May 1 in Bluffton, S.C.

For Monday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.

If you’re a fan of variety, of the new and different, you should like what awaits in Colorado golf in 2018.

There’s a return of major tour-level tournament golf to the Centennial State for the first time since 2014. There’s a joining of forces by two of the biggest golf associations in the state. Colorado will take its turn hosting many of the best girls players in the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. And, for the first time in nine years, a new 18-hole course will open in the state.

And those are just the highlights of what the new year will bring for the Colorado golf community.

Let’s take a closer look at all of the aforementioned and more:

— U.S. Senior Open: It’s been a while since Colorado hosted a big-time golf tournament — the kind that draws 100,000 people-plus over the course of a week. To be precise, the last one was in September 2014 when the BMW Championship — a FedExCup Playoff event on the PGA Tour — came to Cherry Hills Country Club. That tournament culminated quite a run for major golf events in Colorado in the wake of the demise of The International PGA Tour event that was conducted from 1986 through 2006. That run included:

— The 2008 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Murphy Creek
— The 2009 Arnold Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills
— The 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2010 Trans-Mississippi at Denver Country Club
— The 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and CommonGround
— The 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2014 BMW Championship at Cherry Hills

But it’s been a bit of a drought since, though tournaments like the men’s Pac-12 Conference Championships have paid a visit.

Suffice it to say the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will be a welcome change of pace for Colorado golf fans. The event, set for the week of June 25-July 1 at the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, will be the highlight for a year in which the resort will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. The tournament itself is scheduled for June 28-July 1.

The Senior Open will be the fourth tour major to have been hosted by The Broadmoor in the last 25 years, with the previous ones being the 1995 and 2011 U.S. Women’s Opens and the 2008 U.S. Senior Open. Overall, after the completion of this year’s championship, only Ohio (with six) will have hosted the U.S. Senior Open more times than Colorado (three, including the 1993 edition at Cherry Hills).

When The Broadmoor hosted the 2008 Senior Open, the event drew an announced 128,714 spectators for the week.

Among the players who will likely compete at The Broadmoor this year are World Golf Hall of Famers Bernhard Langer, Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Vijay Singh, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Mark O’Meara and Tom Kite.

A qualifying tournament for the Senior Open will be held on Memorial Day (May 28) at The Broadmoor’s East Course.

— CGA, CWGA Join Forces: The agreement that led to the unification of the CGA and CWGA — two organizations that were formed more than 100 years ago — was the top story in Colorado golf in 2017. This year, after the two associations formally have become one (under the Colorado Golf Association name), the practical matters of merging will play out over the course of the year. The hope is that the combined membership of about 60,000 will be well-served by the consolidated association, which will be under the leadership of a board led by co-presidents Joe McCleary and Juliet Miner, who previously served as presidents of the CGA and CWGA, respectively, along with longtime CGA executive director Ed Mate and his staff.

The CGA, along with the Colorado PGA, Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents, and course owners and operators figure to play a major role in paving the path to success for Colorado golf for decades to come.

— Girls Junior America’s Cup: The Girls Junior America’s Cup, which debuted in 1978, has long been a showcase for the best female junior players in the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. Among those who have competed in the event are World Golf Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa — a three-time champion (1997-99) — and fellow LPGA Tour veterans Brandie Burton, Pat Hurst, Dawn Coe-Jones, along with Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill.

Colorado has hosted the tournament just twice over the past 40 years — in 1982 and 2000, both at Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy — but No. 3 is coming this summer as Hiwan Golf Club (left) in Evergreen will be the site for the proceedings July 25-27, with practice rounds set for July 23-24 and the opening ceremonies on July 24. Hiwan, the site for the Colorado Open from 1964 through ’91, has had its fair share of major junior events over the years, having hosted the 1965 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 1976 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2006 AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions and the 2011 boys Junior America’s Cup. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado will join Hiwan in a host role for the GJAC this year.

The Girls Junior America’s Cup features 18 four-person teams, each representing a state, country or region. The event includes both team and individual competitions. Colorado has won the GJAC team title once — in 1993 — with Heather Stock, Jennifer Kern, Ann Grooms and Jennifer McCormick playing for the victorious team and Kern earning the individual championship that year.

Some of the best girls players in Colorado history have competed for their state in the Girls Junior America’s Cup. That includes McGill, Jennifer Kupcho, Ashley Tait, Becca Huffer, Kelly Jacques, Hannah Wood, Somin Lee and Paige Spiranac.

Last year’s Colorado team finished sixth out of 18 teams, and three of the four representatives will be eligible to return: Hailey Schalk of Erie, the JGAC girls Player of the Year in 2017; Charlotte Hillary of Englewood and Lauren Lehigh of Loveland. Over the weekend in Arizona at the Silver Belle Championship, Hillary finished 22nd — out of a formidable 96-player field that included both college players and juniors. Hillary shot rounds of 75-73-72 there.

— TPC Colorado: There was a time not so long ago that a new course opening in Colorado would have been but a minor blip on the radar screen in any given year. After all, there were single years — in 1997 and ’99, for example — when 10 courses opened in the state. But that was before the Great Recession hit almost a decade ago.

Now, with the last new 18-hole course opening in Colorado being CommonGround in 2009, a new layout draws much more attention. TPC Colorado, a semi-private/high-end daily fee course in Berthoud, is expected to end the drought when it opens around June 1.

The course, which has sets of tees that range from 4,157 to 7,991 yards, has an agreement in place in which it will host a Web.com Tour event for at least five years, beginning in 2019. It will be the first time a tour-caliber event will be contested over multiple years in Colorado since The International departed after the 2006 tournament.

Meanwhile, the Colorado PGA will hold its top tournament, the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, at TPC Colorado Sept. 10-12 of this year.

While the U.S. Senior Open and the Girls Junior America’s Cup are some of the notable events set for 2018, it’s also worth mentioning one competition that won’t take place in 2018. The Colorado Cup matches, a Ryder Cup-style competiton between CGA/CWGA amateurs and Colorado PGA professionals that has been held every year since 1971, will see that annual streak end this year. The event has become biennial, meaning the next competition will be in 2019.

— Dates for Key Winter Events: While the statewide tournament golf season won’t begin in earnest until spring, there are several significant events in the interim that can serve to whet the appetite.

The Denver Golf Expo will be held Feb. 9-11 at the Denver Mart. The G4 Summit, which brings together many of the leaders in the Colorado golf industry to hear about and discuss key issues facing the game, is set for Feb. 28 at The Broadmoor. And the CGA’s Women’s Annual Meeting is scheduled for March 3 at the Inverness Hotel & Conference Center in Englewood.

— State Amateurs: Both of the top CGA men’s championships will be contested in the Denver metro area in 2018, with the CGA Match Play returning for the second straight year to the Club at Ravenna in Littleton (June 18-22) and Pinehurst Country Club in south Denver being the site for the CGA Amateur Aug. 2-5.

On the women’s side, the CGA Women’s Match Play is set for July 16-19 at The Fox Hill Club in Longmont, while the CGA Women’s Stroke Play is tentatively scheduled for June 19-21 at Black Bear Golf Club in Parker.

— CoBank Colorado Open Championships: The CoBank Colorado Open tournaments at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver fall into similar time slots as in the recent past, though the Colorado Open itself will be a week later than usual (July 26-29). The Senior Open is scheduled for May 30-June 1 and the Women’s Open for Aug. 29-31.

— Other Notable Events. Also on the schedule for 2018 are:

Qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open is planned for May 14 at The Ranch Country Club in Westminster. The national Women’s Open itself will be held earlier than normal, May 31-June 3 at Shoal Creek in Alabama.

The fourth annual AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, which draws a formidable field from Colorado as well as players nationally and internationally, is set for June 4-7 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.

Qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open will be held June 12 at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. The first national championship in this event is set for July 12-15 at Chicago Golf Club.

It’s a rare treat when Denver Country Club hosts a state championship, but it will do so this year when the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s season-ending Tour Championship is contested at the historic course Oct. 6-7.
 

Golfers are always in need of something, and we’re here to provide. So in the spirit of the season, it’s time to make public our annual holiday gift list for Colorado golfers.

To: Westminster resident Jennifer Kupcho.
Gift: Spots on the U.S. Curtis Cup and Arnold Palmer Cup teams in 2018, along with another run at the women’s NCAA individual title.

To: TPC Colorado.
Gift: Success to match the anticipation leading up to your opening in Berthoud in 2018.

To: The Broadmoor.
Gift: A 2018 U.S. Senior Open to rival the historical impact of the 1959 U.S. Amateur (winner: Jack Nicklaus), 1982 U.S. Women’s Amateur (winner: Juli Inkster) and 1995 U.S. Women’s Open (Annika Sorenstam) you hosted.

To: The CGA and CWGA.
Gift: A successful — and seamless — unification that pays dividends for male and female members across the state.

To: Part-time Colorado resident Kevin Stadler.
Gift: A return to the PGA Tour after battling hand problems for the last three years.

To: Dustin Jensen, the soon-departing managing director of operations for the CGA.
Gift: Happiness and peace of mind in relocating back to North Dakota, knowing you have positively impacted many in the Colorado golf community.

To: Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado.
Gift: Knowledge that imitation around the country is the sincerest form of flattery.

To: Regulars at Denver’s City Park Golf Course.
Gift: That the end product when the course re-opens in 2019 after a redesign is worth the wait.

To: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe.
Gift: A U.S. Senior Open victory in your old home state, at The Broadmoor, in 2018.

To: Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy.
Gift: That similar programs will continue to take root around the state, nation and beyond.

To: Davis Bryant, the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s 2017 male Player of the Year.
Gift: Advancing to the final four after qualifying for your third U.S. Junior Amateur in 2018.

To: Hiwan Golf Club.
Gift: That the Colorado squad will notch its second team title ever at the Girls Junior America’s Cup, when the club hosts the festivities in July.

To: Former Colorado resident Wyndham Clark.
Gift: Earning a PGA Tour card through your performance on the Web.com circuit in 2018.

To: CU Evans Scholars.
Gift: True appreciation for the opportunity you’ve been given, and that the words “life-changing” when describing the full tuition and housing scholarship for caddies aren’t just trite modifiers.

To: Colorado-based college golf programs.
Gift: Multiple berths in the national championship finals in 2018.

To: Part-time Boulder resident and two-time CoBank Colorado Open champion Jonathan Kaye.
Gift: A Web.com Tour win to go along with your two PGA Tour victories.

To: Kaden Ford of Colorado Springs.
Gift: Making a serious run at the age-group title on TV at the Drive Chip & Putt finals at Augusta National on the eve of the Masters.

To: Colorado PGA Golf in Schools Program.
Gift: That the program’s efforts will eventually pay big-time dividends in growing the game in the state.

To: World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin.
Gift: Continuing to build an enduring legacy in Colorado — and beyond — through things like the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program and the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior.

To: Colorado golf volunteers.
Gift: The satisfaction of knowing the countless hours of work you devote keep the game vibrant in our state.

To: Denver native Mark Hubbard.
Gift: A return to the PGA Tour in 2018-19 after a three-year run on that circuit ended in August.

To: Colorado PGA professionals and local golf course superintendents.
Gift: Appreciation from golfers for the enjoyment you add to the game through your work.

To: Colorado-based First Tee programs.
Gift: Another stellar lineup of tour players for Colorado-based exhibitions in 2018 to provide inspiration for young golfers in the state.

To: Hailey Schalk, the Junior Golf Alliance’s female Player of the Year in 2017.
Gift: A run at the title in the 2018 Girls Junior America’s Cup at Hiwan Golf Club.

To: All in the Colorado golf community.
Gift: Happy holidays and a great year of golf ahead.
 

When the men and women from the CGA/CWGA course rating team made the rounds and did their duty at TPC Colorado in Berthoud last month, it was a bit of an oddity given the times we’re in.

After all, while it is standard practice for the state golf associations to rate and re-rate the courses in the state, it had been many a moon — almost a decade — since the CGA or CWGA course raters had last done their thing on a new 18-hole layout in the Centennial State.

In fact, to the best recollection of longtime CGA staffer Gerry Brown, the director of course rating and handicapping for the association, the last new 18-hole course done would have been CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course, which opened in May 2009.

“With a new course, the hardest thing is there’s no yardage markers or GPS,” Brown said recently. “I won’t say it was unique or uncomfortable. Between us (the eight men from the CGA who rated TPC Colorado, along with the eight women from the CWGA), we have well over 100 years of experience rating courses. But this was best possible team of raters, reserved for captains who have five or more years of doing 10 or more rates a year.

“But it was seven sets of tees that we rated. That’s very atypical. We never anticipated people having more than six sets of tees. A lot of our formula (templates on spread sheets) broke.”

TPC Colorado, located just northwest of U.S. Highway 287 where the road turns east a little northwest of Berthoud, is tentatively scheduled to open around June 1, according to PGA general manager and director of golf Larry Collins, who’s moved into his new position after serving as director of golf at Boulder Country Club, then 18 years at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club in Broomfield.

In fact, the combination semi-private/high-end daily fee course has already been having select groups play portions of the course in recent months. Eighty-six members played a 10-hole shotgun on Sept. 18, and other groups have gone out on the course on nice weekends during the fall. The holes on the northern end of the property — 2 through 13 — are further along at this point.

But the agronomy team from the TPC Network, which is part of the PGA Tour, won’t fully open the course until it’s satisfied with the grow-in condition of the layout. Another factor will be when the initial stage of the clubhouse is ready to open.

(The top two photos come from the CGA rating team, with the bottom one courtesy of Devin Sena.)

The course “is phenomenal,” said Collins, who is now working at the sixth TPC stop of his career (including Plum Creek in Castle Rock, Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla., and Southwind in Memphis) and is involved in a new course build-out for the fifth time. “It’s really a stunning piece of land. It sits on 800 acres, overlooking three reservoirs (Lonetree, Welch and McNeil) with about 1,500 acres of water — with Longs Peak and a panoramic view (of the mountains) in the background. The community is just going to be loaded with amenities. It’s very, very exciting.”

Indeed, the Arthur Schaupeter-designed Scottish links-style course is good enough that an agreement has been reached in which a Web.com Tour event will be contested at TPC Colorado for at least five years, beginning in 2019, with course officials hoping for late-summer dates. It will be the first time a tour-caliber event will be contested over multiple years in Colorado since the PGA Tour’s International departed following its 21st and final time visiting Castle Pines Golf Club, in 2006. 

The Web.com Tour — then known as the Nike Tour — previously had a stop in Colorado in 1996 and ’97, when Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton hosted the Nike Colorado Classic. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, claimed the title in 1996.

While TPC Colorado can stretch out to 7,991 yards for events like the one planned for the Web.com Tour, it can also be played from as short as 4,157 from the front tees. And, as Brown noted, there will be a total of seven sets of tees possible.

The course can be both formidable and inviting, depending on a number of factors.

“We’ve had more female spouses closing their husbands on memberships because it’s very favorable for the bogey golfer,” Collins said. “We have seven sets of tees and you can play the course from 4,100 yards up to almost 8,000. And there’s only three potential holes where you can lose a golf ball. And (the course features) pretty expansive fairways, meaning fairly easy to hit into.”

Also, there are very few trees — indeed, those that there are are only on one hole — and out of bounds stakes seldom are a concern. Seven holes are situated along the reservoirs but Collins said the water rarely comes into play. And the fescue rough that frames holes is meant to be thin and wispy, allowing errant balls to be found and hit. 

On the other hand, there are some formidable bunkers with stacked-sod faces which most players would like to avoid like the plague. And course mounding often results in views of only part of the flagsticks when hitting approach shots.

“From a bogey golfer standpoint, it’s a very scary-looking course with monstrous bunkers ready to gobble up errant shots,” Brown said. “TPC Colorado’s biggest obstacle to protect par is bunkers. They have Scottish-style stacked sod with steep, sheer walls. They’re 2- to 15-feet deep and you don’t go in and out very easily. They’re intended to be a penalty stroke and they’re strategically placed.

“But there are very few trees and most of the OB is away from play. The fairways are generous. And the native is thin and wispy so you can play out. The greens are hard to guess on a new course.”

Individual hole-wise, a few things draw attention at TPC Colorado. 

One is the par-5 13th, which can stretch out to 762 yards from the “Tour” tee. That makes it one of the longest holes anywhere, a true three-shot par-5, even for long hitters. Adding to the difficulty of the long, sweeping dogleg left is the presence of a 110-yard-long “Hell Bunker,” which is inspired by the bunker of the same name on the 14th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. The one at TPC Colorado features three separate “hollows” with stacked-sod walls.

Another hole that draws from a famous relative is the par-3 eighth, which might bring to mind some elements of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship. No. 8 at TPC Colorado doesn’t feature a true island green, but it’s a peninsula of land that extends into Lonetree Reservoir, with water left, right and long. 

Still another hole that would like to draw upon comparisons to well-known fan favorites is the sixth, one of three risk-and-reward short par-4s. No. 6 goes by the name Riviera and hopes to emulate the 10th hole at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, one of the best risk-reward par-4s around. The sixth at TPC Colorado features plenty of bunkering and a small green of about 5,000 square feet that will nevertheless entice bigger hitters to try to drive the green. 

A hole that will also be of interest is the par-3 16th, named Center Stage, where players tee off right next to the clubhouse, potentially in front of a number of spectators. 

“Art Schaupeter did a really fabulous design,” Collins said. “Sometimes you play great courses and you kind of remember each hole because they’re each individually identified. This is one of those courses where there’s 18 (disntinctive) holes. You don’t really play one then look at another and say ‘Oh, it has a lot of similarity.’ He really did some fascinating contouring and use of the land.”

Collins said TPC Colorado has already drawn commitments from more than 100 members. But by agreement with the City of Berthoud, the course will be open to the public on an ongoing basis, albeit at a high-end price. Collins said greens fees haven’t yet been set, but he added, “probably right now, if we were to open up next June, it’s probably going to be a mid-$100 round.

“Quite honestly, if this didn’t have the TPC brand on it, I don’t think we would have ever considered selling memberships until next March. This is really about the golf course that’s being built, and the Tour’s excitement to be not only in Colorado but the Rocky Mountain Region.”

About 5,500 square feet of the planned 40,000-square-foot clubhouse will open next year, if all goes as expected, including the golf shop and cafe, with the rest opening in 2019. Also planned are a sports center, community pool, boating and fishing memberships, waterfowl hunting, a beach club, a marina and a pier.

Golf members will receive TPC Passport deals at TPC Passport Reciprocal Properties and other courses, including The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and several other facilities that host PGA Tour events.
 

With officials from RainDance National in Windsor and TPC Colorado in Berthoud saying they hope to have planned courses open in the next few years, Ballyneal announced last week an addition to its private golf club complex in Holyoke.

A new 13-hole short course — designed by Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf, as was the original 18-hole championship layout at Ballyneal — is being constructed. Officials say the short course is expected to be completed this fall, with a formal opening scheduled for July 2017.

Ballyneal opened a decade ago and is currently ranked No. 4 in Golfweek’s list of the “Best Modern Courses” in the U.S. (opened 1960-present).

Ballyneal’s short course is being built on the largest of the “chop hills” on its property in northeast Colorado, within the front-nine loop of the existing course.

“There are so many dramatic possibilities out there, we’ve got to build three or four holes that rival certain ones on the original 18,” Doak said in Ballyneal’s news release.
 

— Assuming work goes according to plan, TPC Colorado will be the first new course to open in Colorado since CommonGround in Aurora debuted in 2009. The previous year, Four Mile Ranch Golf Club in Canon City opened.

— Since those most recent openings, more than a handful of Colorado courses have closed, most notably Green Gables Country Club in 2011.

— Though it’s not scheduled to open as soon as TPC Colorado, it shouldn’t be forgotten that there’s another course in the works in the state — RainDance National Golf Club in Windsor, which was announced two years ago.

Interestingly, TPC Colorado and Raindance National are located not far from one another in northern Colorado, about 12 miles apart as the crow flies on different sides of I-25.

Harrison Minchew, who is working with PGA/Champions Tour player Fred Funk on the design of RainDance National, said last week via email that construction on the course should start next year, with the possibility of opening in the summer of 2019.

Justin Richmond, a player manager at IMG, confirmed “Fred is still very much involved in the project.”

— Assuming TPC Colorado and RainDance National open as planned, it will end an almost unprecedented stretch in which no new Colorado courses have come online. The last time there was a similar time frame with no (or very few) new course openings in Colorado was most of the 1940s into the early 1950s.

Of course, this is all a far cry from a stretch (1997-2007) sandwiched around the dawn of the new millennium, when an average of almost seven courses per year opened in Colorado.

— The addition of TPC Colorado, which will be open to the general public, marks the first time the TPC label has been placed on a Colorado course since Plum Creek Golf Club in Castle Rock was known as TPC Plum Creek. TPC Plum Creek largely made its name when it hosted Senior Tour (now PGA Tour Champions) tournaments from 1984 through ’87.

The 18-hole championship course at TPC Colorado, which will be built around the Lonetree, McNeil and Welch Reservoirs, will be able to be stretched to 7,900 yards for championship competition, or anywhere from 4,000 yards on up for recreational play or less rigorous tournaments. In Colorado, Schaupeter also designed Highland Meadows Golf Course, which, coincidentally, is not far from the RainDance National site.

The backers of the TPC Colorado project say the course will feature “panoramic views of Longs Peak and the entire Front Range and holes along the shorelines of the large reservoirs. Stacked-sod pot bunkers and fescue-lined fairways will give golfers a sense of the Scottish heritage of the sport,” according to their press release.

For more information about the TPC Colorado plans, CLICK HERE.