Arnold Palmer won only one U.S. Open, and it was 57 years ago.

But on Sunday at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, the King’s 1960 U.S. Open victory at Cherry Hills Country Club was front and center.

In the first U.S. Open since Palmer’s death last September, the USGA paid tribute to Arnie in a few noteworthy ways:

— Both the flag on the 18th green at Erin Hills and the netting that covered the foundation of the grandstands on No. 18 featured images of Palmer and the famous visor toss with which he punctuated his 1960 win at Cherry Hills.

— And players and spectators on Sunday at Erin Hills received a replica of Palmer’s 1960 contestant pin.

Of course, 57 years ago, Palmer shot a final-round 65 at Cherry Hills to rally from seven strokes back to win the U.S. Open. It’s been called “Golf’s Greatest Championship” as three generations of the game’s top players ever — Ben Hogan, Palmer and Jack Nicklaus — contended for the title down the stretch.

“I think for (the USGA) to do this little celebration on Father’s Day Sunday, the first U.S. Open we haven’t had him here, is a very important thing,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said. “It’s just the USGA’s small way of saying, ‘Arnold, thank you for all you did for golf.'”

The USGA has done similar Palmer tributes at its championships over the last year, starting with the Men’s State Team Championship in Birmingham, Ala., last fall.
 

Fifty years ago next month, Hale Irwin made a major name for himself on the national golf stage by winning the NCAA individual title as a University of Colorado senior.

Twenty-five years ago, Irwin was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

So perhaps it was appropriate timing that an hour-long Q&A with Irwin has been airing this week on the Golf Channel. David Feherty, against whom Irwin played a Ryder Cup foursomes match at Kiawah Island in 1991, does the honors on his show, interviewing the Boulder High School and CU graduate on the Big Island in Hawaii. (The two are pictured together on site.)

There’s certainly plenty of notable material for a Q&A with Irwin, who will turn 72 in a few weeks. After all, here’s a guy who:

— Played both football and golf — two sports at odds in many respects — at the NCAA Division I level at CU, and excelled in both. In addition to being a national champion in golf, he was a two-time All-Big Eight defensive back in football, intercepting nine passes in the process.

— Remains the oldest winner ever of the U.S. Open as he was 45 when he claimed the trophy in 1990 after making it into the field via a special exemption from the USGA.

— Is one of just six players who has won at least three U.S. Opens, along with Jack Nicklaus (4), Ben Hogan (4), Bobby Jones (4), Willie Anderson (4) and Tiger Woods (3).

— Played in one of the most memorable and pressure-packed Ryder Cup matches of all time, against Bernhard Langer, culminating the “War on the Shore” at Kiawah Island.

— Owns the PGA Tour Champions record for victories with 45, a whopping 15 more than the No. 2 player on the list, Langer. That’s in addition to 20 wins on the PGA Tour.

— Won the 1974 U.S. Open — the so-called “Massacre at Winged Foot” — with a 7-over-par 287 total, the highest winning score relative to par at the championship since 1963.

— Won the 1984 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am after his final-round tee shot at No. 18 at Pebble Beach miraculously bounced off the rocks and up into the fairway after Irwin had hit a big hook that was headed for the Pacific Ocean. He went on to birdie the hole and beat Jim Nelford in a playoff.

— Lost the 1983 British Open by a shot to Tom Watson after whiffing a six-inch putt in the third round, when he tried to tap it in left-handed.

You get the idea. It’s been quite a ride.

In any case, here are some of the most interesting quotes from Irwin in his “Feherty” interview, which focused on almost 50 years of professional golf — 1,124 tournaments between the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions — and beyond. (Before turning pro, Irwin won a Colorado state high school title and five CGA championships):

— On his U.S. Open success, which includes wins in 1974, ’79 and ’90:

“As a young person, I practiced to win the U.S. Open. I played at the U.S. Open as an amateur in college (in 1966). I was fortunate enough to play out in California when (Billy) Casper beat (Arnold) Palmer at Olympic Club. I just felt like that was my destiny to go in that direction.”

— On winning the 1990 U.S. Open at age 45, punctuated by a 45-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, which led to a lap around the green high-fiving fans, then a playoff the next day which Irwin won:

“I was invited by the USGA (to compete in that U.S. Open); I didn’t otherwise qualify. My objective going in — my goal, if you wish — was not to make their pick look bad. (Regarding all the high-fiving after his 72nd-hole birdie) Maybe a bit uncharacteristic but there was so much happening and when that putt went in, knowing how much I put into it and hearing the roar from the gallery just energized me.”

— On the stretch run of his pivotal singles match against Langer at the 1991 Ryder Cup (Langer missed a 6-foot par putt on the final hole and the match was halved, giving the U.S. a 14 1/2-13 1/2 win over Europe, marking the first American victory in the event since 1983):

“It was hard to draw a breath because as a player you look over and you see your captain, then the next hole there’s one more team member, the next hole there’s another team member. Sure enough, you start counting noses and the entire team on both sides are out there watching, so you’ve got to figure this is important.”

“I tell people, the U.S. Open win in June of 1990 and the Ryder Cup win in September of ’91, I had two of the biggest highs one could ever have in their career. I was fortunate that I had two of those.”

— On Irwin’s reputation for being an intense competitor:

“I didn’t really ‘out-talent’ people. My effort was at least equal to, or greater than, the opposing team or the opposing players. I felt like if I went beyond what I expected, that’s all I could do. I always set that bar relatively high for myself. For me to go out and perform at something less — less effort … Now I may not play well, but it wouldn’t be for a lack of effort. I wanted to say, ‘You may beat me, you may out-talent me, but you won’t out-try me.'”

— On a turning point in his athletic career at CU:

“It wasn’t predestined that I was going to be a golfer, though I thought about it for a long, long time. … So I played football (at CU) — freshmen couldn’t play on the varsity then — and my sophomore season I hurt my shoulder and after the eighth game, I thought, ‘Maybe this is not for me.’ I considered giving it up. My father once told me — and probably the best advice he ever gave — was, ‘Once you start something, see it to the finish.’ I could just feel him on my shoulder telling me that. And my football career turned around. And I think my golf game really improved because of that.”

— On being successful in college at both football and golf, two markedly different sports in many respects:

“The hardest transition I had was taking the intensity of what was football — the violence, the chaos, the physical confrontation — and try to temper that down and go play this sedate game called golf. The mental preparations are similar, the effort is similar, but the physical part of it is so different. If you get upset at football you just go hit somebody that’s bigger than you, and oh boy is that over quickly. But in golf, you have to learn to accept and move on. That was the hardest part for me is to make that transition. In retrospect it’s probably something I did as best I could, but maybe could have done better. But at the same time, it’s also spurred me on. I don’t apologize for it to anyone because it’s what I did that I thought made me a better player.”

— On the influence of his parents, the late Hale Sr., and Mame:

“The parents I had were very, very loving. They were part of that great generation that had gone through the Depression, they had gone through two (World) Wars. There was nothing that wasn’t downright basic and good with those people, and that’s where I think the effort that was instilled in me came from — my mom and dad. They didn’t have anything, but they made something out of their lives. They made things work.”

— On whiffing the 6-inch putt in round 3 of the 1983 British Open that cost him a spot in what would have been a playoff with Watson:

“Even when I look at it on the replay, it doesn’t look like a stroke, but it was a stroke. … I get around to losing by a shot (the next day). Did it bother me? No. I learned a lesson. You lose an opportunity but you gain the experience. Each has its merits. I don’t think I’ve been quite as awkwardly stupid, at least with left-handed putts, since.”

— On one tournament in which his father’s advice paid major dividends:

“In 1976, I was playing a tournament in Orlando, and I opened with 74. It was a bad round and I had never withdrawn from a tournament (but) I thought it was time to go. I could feel my father’s spirit: Don’t start something you can’t finish. (I thought) ‘OK, OK. I’ll miss the cut and go home tomorrow night.’ I made all the arrangements and go out and shoot 64. Now I make the cut. I back it up with two 66s on the weekend. I ended up tying Kermit Zarley for the tournament lead. We play two holes in the dark, have to come back the next day and I win on the fourth hole (of a playoff). It shows going from nearly withdrawing to winning the tournament (to) never give up, never give up.”
 

In 2016, no players with significant Colorado ties will have the same opportunity.

Ten 36-hole Sectional Qualifying tournaments were held on Monday in the U.S., and though there were a several close calls, none of the 20 players with significant local connections earned a spot in the U.S. Open, which will be contested June 16-19 at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.

Coming the closest to advancing Monday were 2015 CGA Player of the Year David Oraee of Greeley, two-time CGA Match Play runner-up Parker Edens of Greeley and Josh Creel of Cheyenne, Wyo., who played briefly for the University of Colorado before winning the 2012 NCAA Division II individual title at Central Oklahoma.

Oraee, who survived a seven-man playoff at Collindale Golf Course in Fort Collins to make it to Sectionals, was within striking distance of a U.S. Open spot at the Daly City, Calif., Sectional. But after going birdie, par, par, birdie, eagle on his 29th-33rd holes, a bogey on hole 35 cost him a chance to earn a national berth. With a closing birdie, he ended up shooting 69-70 for a 4-under-par 139 total, which left him in 13th place and two shots out of a playoff for the final Open berth.

Edens, who was in the same seven-man playoff at Collindale as Oraee, finished a shot behind the fourth and final finisher to earn a U.S. Open berth in Springfield, Ohio. Edens shot back-to-back even-par rounds of 70 to tie for sixth place at a site where the top four advanced. PGA Tour player Tony Finau and amateur Charles Danielson of Osceola, Wis., shared fourth place at 139, then Danielson landed the U.S. Open spot via a playoff.

And Creel was in good position to advance until a double bogey on his 32nd hole of the day in Houston. At a site where the top three earned Open spots, Creel tied for fifth and was three out of third place. He carded rounds of 69-71 for a 4-under-par 140 total.

Here are the scores for all the players with major Colorado ties who were entered in one of the Sectional Qualifiers on Monday:

Daly City, Calif. (100 players for 6 spots)
13. David Oraee of Greeley 69-70–139
40. Former Durango resident Bob Kalinowski 77-67–144
57. Behrod Keshtavar of Erie 76-71–147
79. Scott Petersen of Parker 76-74–150
86. Brandon Barron of Centennial 73-79–152
92. Andrew Romano of Lone Tree 72-83–155

Rockville, Md. (55 players for 3 spots)
13. Derek Tolan of Denver 72-72–144
44. Chris Thayer of Denver 81-75–156
Former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo NS

Summit, N.J. (98 players for 6 spots)
17. Former Golden resident Andrew Svoboda 73-69–142
25. Former Durango resident Tom Kalinowski 70-73–143

Powell, Ohio (103 players for 13 spots)
35. Jim Knous of Englewood 70-73–143
74. Cameron Harrell of Colorado Springs 82-75–157

Springfield, Ohio (59 players for 4 spots)
6. Parker Edens of Greeley 70-70–140

Memphis, Tenn. (121 players for 10 spots)
34. Former CSU golfer Martin Laird 68-72–140
50. Former Denver resident Mark Hubbard 69-73–142
97. Bryan Kruse of Westminster 81-75–156

Houston (51 players for 3 spots)
5. Former CU golfer Josh Creel 69-71–140
33. A.J. Morris of Aspen 72-76–148
44. Andrew Moore of Loveland 76-77–153
 

By his best estimate, Derek Tolan of Denver thinks he’s made it to the second and final stage of U.S. Open qualifying six, seven or eight times, including the year he actually qualified for the Open, in 2002 as a 16-year-old.

But for the first time in recent years, the two-time CoBank Colorado Open champion has a good feeling going into the 36-hole U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying, for which he earned a spot on Sunday.

“I feel way better this year,” the former University of Colorado golfer said on Sunday after shooting a 1-under-par 69 at Local Qualifying at the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. “After the Colorado Open last year I started retooling some stuff. (Before that) I could fake it and shoot a couple good scores under par if you got me on a course with wide fairways and good greens. But it wasn’t anything to do any damage on a high level. I’ve been really working on it. This spring I’ve really started to turn a corner, especially of late — not only shooting good scores, but easily shooting good scores, which is when I know my game is where it needs to be. I’m a lot less stressed (during rounds). I’m really excited about that, so I like my odds much better this year — significantly.”

Tolan and two other Coloradans — co-medalists Chris Thayer of Denver and Brandon Barron of Aurora (pictured above, with Thayer at left) — were among the five players who advanced to Sectionals through Sunday’s U.S. Open Local Qualifier at The Broadmoor.

Joining them in advancing to Sectionals on Sunday were Wil Collins of Albuquerque, N.M., the 2005 Colorado Open champion, and Landon Johnson of South Pasadena, Calif.

Thayer, the 2014 CGA Mid-Amateur champion, and Barron matched 2-under-par 68s in cool conditions on the historic East Course. Tolan played his final seven holes in 3 under par to shoot 69 on Sunday, making birdies on 17 and 18 in the process. Collins, who has played in two U.S. Opens, also posted a 69, while Johnson carded a 71.

Johnson then defeated Eric Hallberg of Parker and Jeremy Lederer of Glenwood Springs, who also had 71s, in a sudden-death playoff for the fifth and final Sectional spot at stake. Johnson and Hallberg made routine pars on the first extra hole, while Lederer posted a bogey and was eliminated. Then after Hallberg, son of longtime tour professional Gary Hallberg, barely missed the green on the second playoff hole and chipped to 4 feet, Johnson drained a 6-foot birdie putt to advance.

Tolan (left) was 2 over par through 10 holes and in danger of letting a Sectional berth slip through his fingers. But he cited his rally as an example of his increased confidence in his play this year.

After going bogey-par-bogey on 8, 9 and 10, “I didn’t let it bother me and I got back to work,” said the 30-year-old, who praised the course conditions as “phenomenal.” “After that it cleaned up nicely and I played really solid.

“Normally (being 2 over after 10), that would be my stress point and I’d have to kind of force stuff because I wouldn’t know when the next firework was going off. Now my heartbeat didn’t change because I knew I would have some opportunities coming in because I have so much more control over the golf ball.”

Meanwhile, despite The Broadmoor often taking a while for golfers to master, Thayer, Collins and Johnson had solid scores in their first or second times around the East layout.

“There are just so many spots to make a bogey, and it’s (7,233) yards and par-70,” said Thayer, who made four birdies — including ones from 35, 25 and 15 feet — and two bogeys. “It’s a pretty good course.

“The greens are so good. I bought a greens-reading book online from the Opens that they’ve had here. That helped a ton.

“It’s pretty cool (to advance to Sectionals). I’ve never done it before. I felt coming in like my game was in great shape. I kind of expected that I could play well. It’ll be fun to give it a shot at Sectionals, for sure.”

Barron, a 26-year-old who turned pro last year, racked up five birdies on Sunday en route to sharing medalist honors with Thayer.

“I’m very pleased,” said Barron, who helped South Mountain Community College in Phoenix win the 2010 national junior college title. “I qualified for Sectionals once before, a long time ago (2005, when he was 15). I’m just excited to go play in that field again and have a chance to go to the U.S. Open. It’s awesome to get back.”

Collins competed in the 2005 and ’13 U.S. Opens — qualifying in 2005 at Columbine Country Club south of Denver, and played full-time on the PGA Tour in 2009. But at the beginning of this year, he was transitioning away from competitive golf, mainly due to injuries.

“I didn’t start the year playing,” he said. “I was looking another direction. I started substitute teaching and teaching some junior golf. I’ve been struggling with the right wrist and tendinitis, tennis elbow — it’s just been a nightmare. But I happened to win an event at the end of March (the Southern California Open). That kind of changed things for me a little bit.”

On Sunday, in his first visit to The Broadmoor, Collins carded four birdies and two bogeys.

“What a beautiful place. It’s pretty special,” he said.

As for Johnson, a 21-year-old who turned professional out of high school, his day ended with an emphatic fist-pump (left), which is especially satisfying considering it was in a playoff. And with that 6-foot birdie putt, he earned a trip to Sectionals for the first time.

“This was probably the best round I’ve had in five months,” he said after his 71.

Johnson, who competed in the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links as a 16-year-old, was playing at The Broadmoor only because the qualifier coincided with a family vacation.

Sunday marked the second of three U.S. Open Local Qualifiers being held in Colorado. Last Monday at Heritage at Westmoor, Coloradans Jim Knous, Bryan Kruse, Cameron Harrell, Scott Petersen and Andrew Romano earned spots in Sectionals. Next up in the Local Qualifier at Collindale Golf Course in Fort Collins on Tuesday.

The 10 U.S.-based Sectional Qualifiers will be contested on June 6. From there, the top finishers will advance to the Open itself, set for June 16-19 at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.
 

U.S. Open Local Qualifying
At Par-70 Broadmoor GC, East Course

ADVANCE TO SECTIONALS
Brandon Barron, Aurora, Colo. 32-36–68
Christopher Thayer, Denver, Colo. 34-34–68
Derek Tolan, Denver, Colo. 36-33–69
Wil Collins, Albuquerque, N.M. 35-34–69
Landon Johnson, South Pasadena, Calif. 37-34–71
ALTERNATES (In order)
Eric Hallberg, Parker, Colo. 35-36–71
Jeremy Lederer, Glenwood Springs, Colo. 37-34–71
FAILED TO QUALIFY
Dustin White, Pullman, Wash. 35-37–72
Nicholas Mason, Denver, Colo. 35-37–72
Joshua Gardella, Littleton, Colo. 35-37–72
Ryan Zetwick, Castle Rock, Colo. 36-36–72
Derek Fribbs, Thornton, Colo. 37-36–73
Taylor Stamp, Colorado Springs, Colo. 38-35–73
Sunwoo Choi, USAF Academy, Colo. 38-35–73
Steven Irwin, Arvada, Colo. 37-37–74
Ryan Schmitz, Greenwood Village, Colo. 36-38–74
Isaac Petersilie, Colorado Springs, Colo. 38-36–74
Jake Staiano, Englewood, Colo. 36-38–74
Caine Fitzgerald, Parker, Colo. 37-38–75
Christopher Good, Denver, Colo. 36-39–75
Jeff Chapman, Centennial, Colo. 39-36–75
Jimmy Makloski, Pueblo, Colo. 35-40–75
Coby Welch, Highlands Ranch, Colo. 38-37–75
Braden Bentley, Colorado Springs, Colo. 36-40–76
James Kackley, Denver, Colo. 37-39–76
George Markham, Phoenix, Ariz. 36-40–76
Luke Trujillo, Colorado Springs, Colo. 37-39–76
Alex Kephart, Colorado Springs, Colo. 39-37–76
Owen Pasvogel, Colorado Springs, Colo. 39-37–76
Will Matthews, Centennial, Colo. 38-39–77
Jordan Totten, Cayman Islands 38-39–77
Graham Cliff, Parker, Colo. 39-38–77
Luke Travins, Colorado Springs, Colo. 35-42–77
Chase Wilson, Colorado Springs, Colo. 40-38–78
Calum White, Centennial, Colo. 39-39–78
Kurtis Lucas, Colorado Springs, Colo. 41-37–78
Sam Nichamin, Avon, Colo. 41-37–78
Kyle Rademacher, Hobe Sound, Fla. 43-35–78
Clint Miller, Lone Tree, Colo. 43-36–79
Barry O’Neill, Loveland, Colo. 41-38–79
Kaleb Nichols, Peyton, Colo. 42-37–79
James Sorenson, Bloomington, Minn. 37-42–79
Douglas Wherry, Lakewood, Colo. 42-37–79
Chris Hyten, Castle Rock, Colo. 40-39–79
David Delich, Colorado Springs, Colo. 42-37–79
Nick Leibold, Littleton, Colo. 41-39–80
Mike Kerrigan, Castle Rock, Colo. 39-41–80
Eric Bradley, Eagle, Colo. 42-38–80
Nick Miller, Centennial, Colo. 38-42–80
Kevin Chan, Colorado Springs, Colo. 38-42–80
Robert Wyatt, Colorado Springs, Colo. 41-39–80
Garrett Froggatte, Colorado Springs, Colo. 43-38–81
Brett Willis, Denver, Colo. 39-42–81
Nick Zinanti, Pueblo, Colo. 40-41–81
Daniel Augustine, Castle Pines, Colo. 41-40–81
Harrison Murphy, McKinney, Texas 41-40–81
Marshall Clark, Denver, Colo. 35-46–81
Austin Hardman, Highlands Ranch, Colo. 38-43–81
Tanner Comes, Spokane, Wash. 40-41–81
Marc Hudson, Aurora, Colo. 42-40–82
Mike Swan, Crested Butte, Colo. 41-41–82
David Leede, Greenwood Village, Colo. 46-36–82
Arik Roberts, Colorado Springs, Colo. 40-42–82
Justin Mortensen, Salt Lake City, Utah 43-39–82
Conrad Smith, Golden, Colo. 39-43–82
Justin Snyder, Colorado Springs, Colo. 38-44–82
Troy Berglund, USAF Academy, Colo. 41-42–83
Chris Winter, Colorado Springs, Colo. 41-43–84
Austin Burgess, Colorado Springs, Colo. 42-42–84
Hayden Fry, Colorado Springs, Colo. 39-45–84
Mark Zbrzeznj, Edwards, Colo. 41-43–84
Chadd Vasquez, Colorado Springs, Colo. 43-42–85
Marcus Drange, Billings, Mont. 44-42–86
Devyn Solano, Aurora, Colo. 46-40–86
Marc Renjard, Colorado Springs, Colo. 43-43–86
Derek Williams, Colorado Springs, Colo. 46-40–86
Riche Moore, Aurora, Colo. 42-45–87
Jake Saliba, Colorado Springs, Colo. 41-47–88
Phil McCarthy, Denver, Colo. 46-43–89
Andrew McCormick, Denver, Colo. 44-47–91
Heikke Nielsen, Louisville, Colo. 42-51–93
Brian Harris, Woodland Park, Colo. NC
Cody Eberl, Lakewood, Colo. NS
 

Three Local Qualifying tournaments will be held again this year in Colorado: Monday (May 9) at The Heritage at Westmoor in Westminster, May 15 at the East Course at The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, and May 17 at Collindale Golf Course in Fort Collins. Collindale is serving as a Local Qualifying site for the 13th consecutive year.

At each Colorado venue, about 84 competitors will vie for five spots in the 36-hole Sectional Qualifying, set for June 6 at 10 sites in the U.S. From there, the top finishers will advance to the Open itself.

In all, 111 U.S. Open Local Qualifiers will be held. A total of 9,877 entries were sent in for this year’s championship.

At the Colorado sites, previous U.S. Open competitors in the field include Leif Olson and Jason Preeo (Heritage at Westmoor) and Derek Tolan, Steve Irwin, Nick Mason and Wil Collins (all at The Broadmoor).

Among those entered in Colorado who advanced to Sectionals last year were Nathaniel Goddard, Greg Johnson, Michael Schoolcraft, Jim Knous, Cameron Harrell and Andrew Romano (all at Heritage at Westmoor this year); Tolan, Eric Bradley and Jake Staiano (all at The Broadmoor this year); and Parker Edens (Collindale this year).

For tee times, click on the following: Heritage at Westmoor, The Broadmoor, Collindale.
 

This being Father’s Day weekend, I decided to do a little rummaging through some old newspaper clips — and I mean really old newspaper clips.

My dad — his first name was Francis but everyone called him by his middle name, Clyde — passed away a decade ago this year at the age of 86. I subsequently received some of his personal collectibles from those 8 1/2 decades. Included was a newspaper photo and story about him and a few other U.S. soldiers meeting Princess Elizabeth — now Queen Elizabeth — while on leave in Scotland in 1942. There were plenty of other military-related pictures from his days serving in North Africa, Italy, Taiwan, Vietnam and all over the U.S.; of him as a champion trap shooter; and tons of family photos.

But all that isn’t what led to my search of these personal archives. No, I was looking for a golf-related newspaper item that featured my dad as a youngster. To indicate how old it is, the newspaper it ran in, the Omaha Bee-News, folded in 1937. I’m not sure of the date of the clip I located, but based on a few snippets in the newspaper, I’m guessing 1935, during the thick of the Depression.

The paper published a large photo and caption (above, with my dad at far left in the picture) about the caddie tournament at the Omaha Field Club, which had 140 loopers at the time. For the record, my dad won the third flight, though the paper misspelled his last name as “Barnes”.

Anyway, golf turned into a longtime bond between my dad and me. Four decades after my dad caddied in Omaha, I followed a similar path by looping at Columbine Country Club and later becoming caddiemaster and working in the bag room there.

The reason all this strikes home now is threefold:

— Obviously, it’s Father’s Day weekend.

— The U.S. Open, which has concluded on Father’s Day all but once in the last 50 years — barring a playoff or weather issues — was probably my dad’s favorite tournament, though he watched PGA Tour events about every weekend after retiring.

— My dad’s favorite golfer, by far, was Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder and won his NCAA title almost exactly when we were moving to Colorado in 1967. And, of course, Irwin largely made his career on Father’s Day weekend at the U.S. Open, winning in 1974, ’79 and ’90. That last victory — which actually came in a playoff the day after Father’s Day — made Irwin the oldest U.S. Open champion ever, at age 45, a distinction he still holds.

As a sports writer, I’ve only had the pleasure of covering two major championships held outside of Colorado, and both are due to Irwin. As the golf writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder for many years, we paid a great deal of attention to PGA Tour players such as Irwin, Dale Douglass and Steve Jones, all of whom played on the University of Colorado golf team. And after Irwin made his improbable run to win the U.S. Open in 1990, the Camera’s sports editor, Dan Creedon, wanted plenty of coverage for Irwin’s U.S. Open title defense in 1991 at Hazeltine outside of Minneapolis, and in 1992 at Pebble Beach. It was eight years earlier at Pebble Beach that Irwin won the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am after bouncing a drive off the rocks bordering the Pacific Ocean and back into the fairway en route to a birdie on the 72nd hole, forcing a playoff which he won.

But the golf connection that linked my dad and me went far beyond that. I knew that he had played golf as a youngster and into middle age. But major back problems, no doubt exacerbated from many, many hours spent as a navigator/bombardier in B-52s, kept him from playing for a long time. But by the early 1980s, he recovered enough to be able to join me for a round in the Evans Scholars Father-Son tournament.

Soon, my dad was playing a lot of golf. Just about every time we’d chat, he’d note proudly that he had racked up some ungodly number of rounds that year. I remember tallies getting well over 100, which is pretty impressive for Colorado, and he normally walked during those rounds despite getting along in years. I joined my dad and his retired military buddies occasionally for rounds, almost always at his two favorite military-course haunts — Fitzsimons and the Air Force Academy. (At left, we’re at Fitzsimons in the late ’80s.)

My dad and mom also got a huge kick over the years from annually attending The International at Castle Pines. The folks at The International were nice enough to give me a couple of complimentary passes, and my parents made good use of them for about the first dozen years the PGA Tour event was held. I’d run into them in between my coverage duties at the tournament, and you couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces.

Though it’s been quite a while since last celebrating a Father’s Day with my dad, those golf-induced smiles are etched permanently in my memory. And so is the joy that golf brought my dad.
 

There aren’t too many people living today who can say they’ve personally played golf with Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

Jim English can truthfully make that claim, even though the first four out of that illustrious fivesome were born more than 100 years ago.

The longtime Denver-area resident, who will turn 88 this month, played a couple of holes with Sarazen in Omaha when English was 12 or 13. Then he played three holes with 1930 Grand Slam winner Jones during a practice round for the 1947 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, where English competed that year but Jones did not.

“When you’re around this number of years, you’re going to have a few stories,” English noted in an interview this week.

Yes, English has lived a memorable life in golf. And with U.S. Open qualifying beginning this month, it’s worth noting that 55 years ago he enjoyed one of his biggest moments in the game, earning low-amateur honors in the 1959 U.S. Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

English, who had moved from Kansas to Colorado two years earlier, remembers seeing Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady” — along with a couple of other Broadway shows — that week, making for a “pretty wonderful vacation too.” But it was English’s performance at Winged Foot that’s particularly memorable.

In the U.S. Open, he bettered the likes of then-reigning U.S. Amateur champion Charlie Coe and Jack Nicklaus, who three months later would beat Coe in the final match at the Broadmoor to win the first of his two U.S. Amateurs. Also finishing behind English at Winged Foot were defending U.S. Open champion Tommy Bolt, Bob Goalby and Ken Venturi. Billy Casper won the tournament with a 282 total.

“I played fairly steadily” that week at the U.S. Open, noted English, who shot 74-75-77-73 for a 299 total. “Nicklaus missed the cut and I beat Charlie Coe by two. I chipped in for birdie on 16 in the last round, and I guess that made the difference. That U.S. Open had a pretty good amateur field.”

Though English accomplished plenty in his amateur golf career, that U.S. Open stands out as perhaps the biggest highlight.

“That’s because it was on a national scale,” he said. “Most of the other things I did were on a regional or local basis, though they were good tournaments to win.”

Qualifying for the U.S. Open back then wasn’t quite the task it is now. For instance, there were no “Local” qualifying tournaments, just 36-hole “Sectionals”. But still, 2,385 people entered the 1959 U.S. Open, so making it in the final field of about 150 players was anything but a cakewalk.

Despite that, English said he successfully qualified for nine U.S. Opens over the years. But the odd thing is, he competed in that national championship just five times (1951, ’53, ’58, ’59 and ’60).

There were different reasons different years why he didn’t go to the U.S. Open after qualifying several times in the latter 1940s and in 1950 — he was going to summer school at Creighton a couple of years, his wife was having a difficult pregnancy another, etc. Whatever the case, the USGA apparently took notice and sent English a letter basically asking, why do you bother qualifying if you don’t intend to compete in the U.S. Open?

“After that, they made it a point to ask qualifiers if they would actually go (to the Open),” English recalls. “But one of the reasons I went to the Sectional qualifying was that it was 36 holes at good golf courses and the entry fee was only $10. I liked the competition and I liked to play good golf courses.”

But English finally did compete at the U.S. Open in 1951 at Oakland Hills in Michigan. He missed the cut there, but on a course that allowed only two sub-par scores in four rounds, he was able to follow Ben Hogan during the champion’s final-round 67. That just whet English’s appetite for more.

The 20 years after the end of World War II were a very impressive time for English and his amateur golf career. He won three tournaments with big-time national amateur reputations: the 1950 Trans-Mississippi and the Broadmoor Invitation in 1955 and ’64. In the Trans-Miss, English put together one of the most dominating performances in the history of the championship match, winning 11 and 10.

English also competed in five U.S. Amateurs between 1947 and ’61, with the first and last being at Pebble Beach.

And English really made hay in state and regional tournaments in Colorado and the surrounding states.

He’s won six CGA championships, including three Stroke Plays, two Match Plays and a Senior Stroke Play. (He’s pictured at left with fellow Colorado Match Play champion Joan Birkland in 1960.) He’s claimed two Kansas amateur titles, one in Nebraska, the Iowa Open and Iowa Masters. He even won a championship in a previous incarnation of the Colorado Open.

“For a long time, I just couldn’t get enough golf,” he said.

It’s no surprise, then, that English has been inducted into three state golf halls of fame — for Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.

In fact, English was so good, he gave some serious consideration to becoming a playing professional. Besides the U.S. Open, he finished low amateur in a PGA Tour event in Kansas City in the 1950s.

“I was sorely tempted to turn pro,” he said. “I competed with the pros successfully. I played four exhibitions with Byron Nelson in the ’40s. He told me I could make money (on the PGA Tour), but I needed to be a better putter to win. But back then, the total purse for tournaments was about $10,000-$12,000. (After learning English had a degree, Nelson) recommended I just stay amateur and enjoy it.

“Later, when Orville Moody was an amateur out at Fitzsimons, he was making a decision whether to re-app (for another Army stint) or turn pro. I told him my experience. I said I’ve got a lot of regrets that I didn’t give it a go. I think I could have made it on the pro tour, but I don’t really regret it now. If I would have (played on the tour), I wouldn’t have the large family I have now.”

English has 11 kids, 25 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

English probably could have added to his list of golf accomplishments, but an injury in the mid-1960s slowed him down. He badly hurt his right hand while hitting a shot on the sixth hole at Denver Country Club. “After that, I was never quite the same,” he said.

While English had a successful career in the insurance business, he still relishes his days as a competitive golfer. Just two years ago (pictured at top), he was among the local U.S. Amateur veterans who participated in a U.S. Amateur Alumni Day leading up to the 2012 championship coming to Colorado.