Hale Irwin, who grew up in Boulder and played college golf and football at the University of Colorado, of course leads the way with his five USGA titles (three U.S. Opens and two U.S. Senior Opens).

Babe Zaharias, who lived in Edgewater, claimed four USGA championships during the 1940s and ’50s. Hollis Stacy won six USGA titles, though they came long before she made Lakewood her part-time residence. Orville Moody, once stationed at Fitzsimons while in the Army, has a U.S. Open and a U.S. Senior Open to his credit. And longtime Colorado Springs resident Barbara McIntire won the second of her U.S. Women’s Amateur titles 50 years ago this year, defeating JoAnne Gunderson (now Carner) for the victory.

Another local, Denver native Jill McGill, is also part of that distinguished company. Twenty years ago this summer, the Cherry Creek High School graduate won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. (She’s pictured above, in a USGA photo, with the WAPL trophy.) That win came less than a year after McGill claimed the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur title.

When The Home Course in Dupont, Wash., hosts the Women’s Publinks next week (July 14-19), it’ll mark the final time the championship is played after a 38-year run. The USGA announced last year that it is discontinuing both the women’s and men’s Publinks tournaments, and adding men’s and women’s four-ball championships.

“I have very mixed emotions” about the Publinks being discontinued, McGill said in a USGA.org Q&A earlier this year. “I believe in recent years, the U.S. Women’s Amateur has really come to the forefront and has emerged as the premier USGA event for female amateurs. But at the same time … public golf is such an important part of the sport of golf in general. There’s also the historical element of it. Winning the WAPL is a great feat and a lot of those champions have gone on to tremendous careers professionally. Anyone who has won an event would be sad to see it go. It’s fun to relive the memory of the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.”

McGill, who won the 1988 CWGA Junior Match Play and the first sanctioned Colorado girls state high school tournament (1990), went on to earn more than $2.3 million on the LPGA Tour, posting 24 top-10 finishes along the way. She’s now a longtime southern California resident.

When McGill defeated her USC teammate, Heidi Voorhees, 6 and 4 in the Publinks final in 1994 in Canton, Ohio, she became just the third player in history to simultaneously hold the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Publinks titles. McGill also was the stroke-play medalist at the ’94 Publinks.

“Both championships are very close to my heart,” McGill told USGA.org. “One was played on a public course and one was played on a private course (San Diego Country Club for the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur), but in terms of the level of competition, I think they both were tremendous.”

McGill was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2009, and her two USGA titles were definitely among the highlights of her career, along with five top-three finishes on the LPGA Tour, being a two-time All-American at USC, and placing second in the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur and fourth in the 1994 NCAA Championships.

The U.S. Women’s Publinks victory two decades ago “is an important event in my life,” she said. “It’s a USGA title and any time you can hold a USGA title, I think it’s a great marker for your success in golf. It’s an honor to be known as a Women’s Public Links champion.”

McGill does note, however, that there was one bit of ignominy that went with her Women’s Publinks victory in 1994.

That “was the first place where I recorded a whiff in competition,” she said. “That’s one thing I remember for sure. I gladly held up my finger when I was trying to hit the ball from under a tree and said, ‘That’s one.’

“And I played in the finals against Heidi Voorhees, who was actually my college teammate at the University of Southern California, which was sweet sorrow. I wanted to see her do well, but I wanted to beat her like a drum at the same time.”
 

Last week was a national coming-out party for CommonGround Golf Course, and the event certainly attracted many dignitaries.

Jack Nicklaus was on hand to watch his son, Gary, play a stroke-play round in the U.S. Amateur. Former USGA president Will Nicholson Jr., was likewise there, along with USGA Executive Committee member Christie Austin and course architect Tom Doak.

And, of course, there were the U.S. Amateur competitors, including most of the biggest names in amateur golf: U.S. Open low amateur Jordan Spieth; Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old who led the U.S. Open during round 2; and the world’s No. 1-ranked amateur Chris Williams. (Spieth is pictured in orange above at CommonGround with No. 2-ranked Justin Thomas.)

CommonGround, just 39 months after opening, put its best foot forward to all. And now we’ll see if being the second stroke-play course for the U.S. Amateur leads to a sole hosting role for another USGA championship in the next five or 10 years.

As for how CommonGround — which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA — fared in the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Am, several officials came away impressed.

“I think it held up exceedingly well,” said Nicholson, a member of the CommonGround Board of Directors as long as there’s been such a board. “And I have heard nothing but compliments about the golf course from players and officials. One of the (USGA) Executive Committee members played out there (a couple days after the stroke-play rounds) and said, ‘I wasn’t impressed when I drove up, but when I played the golf course I walked away impressed.'”

Added USGA executive director Mike Davis: “In full disclosure, I didn’t get here until we started match play, but based on everything I heard (CommonGround) was a wonderful, wonderful venue. It couldn’t have been a better companion course for stroke play.

“It’s got so many great storylines that go with it beyond just being a marvelous architectural, fun course that’s well-conditioned. I think the thing that’s so appealing is it’s a great story. Very affordable golf, it focuses on junior golf and now it has a great caddie program (the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy). And it’s close to the city. It’s a model we’d love to see in a lot of other cities around the country.”

CommonGround was certainly a stark contrast to Cherry Hills Country Club, the primary host of the U.S. Amateur. And not every player liked the public layout, but many thought it was a worthy venue.

“It was good. I really like it actually,” Hossler said. “The greens are really good and firm and pretty fast. You have to definitely drive it well because of the fescue and everything off the fairway. It’s a good track. This is definitely a challenge, especially if it gets windy.”

Thomas, who advanced to the semifinals of the Amateur, concurred.

“I liked (CommonGround). It was really cool,” he said. “It’s very similar to the other course we played for the U.S. Am two years ago (the Home Course in Washington, which will host the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links). It’s really firm and fast and it’s in perfect shape. It’s just a good course.”

Probably no one would have expected it, but the lowest round of the stroke play came from Cherry Hills, not CommonGround, as medalist Bobby Wyatt fired a 7-under-par 64 on Day 1. But that was certainly the exception rather than the norm. Overall, CommonGround’s stroke average for the two days of stroke play was 72.3. Meanwhile, Cherry Hills yielded 76.2.

“A lot of people say, ‘No one will remember the companion course,’ but we will,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “The other thing that’s kind of neat, comparing and contrasting, (Cherry Hills) is not a golf course that yields driver. But at CommonGround, that opportunity was there. I think it produced a more well-rounded 36-hole qualifier because the two courses complemented each other pretty well. And the green complexes are every bit as challenging at CommonGround as they are at Cherry Hills.”

Most importantly, when looking ahead, the movers and shakers at the USGA thought CommonGround stood up well as a USGA championship test.

“I think it was a wonderful choice for our companion course,” said Austin, who as a member of the Executive Committee has plenty of pull in deciding on future USGA venues. “Not only is it a good story, but it’s a good track. It’s a good test of golf. I thought it played hard but fair for a lot of the field, The course was in perfect condition considering our heat this summer. So we were very pleased — really really pleased.”

So the time might come in the not-too-distant future that CommonGround hosts a USGA championship on its own. A U.S. Public Links Championship has been mentioned, but a U.S. Women’s Amateur or a U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links might be more likely.

“Assuming that CommonGround wants us and invites us, I can’t imagine the committee wouldn’t look favorably on that,” Davis said.

As a longtime resident of Colorado — and an at-large member of the CWGA Board of Directors — Austin knows CommonGround’s story well and is a big supporter of the course and all the “for the good of the game” initiatives that take place there.

“I hope someday we can have one of our championships there — the WAPL or a Publinks,” she said. “I think the CGA and CWGA are open to that idea. We’ll have to talk to them about it and get a letter in. That’s really what initiates our interest is the course saying, ‘We’d be interested’. They need to show some interest — and I think verbally they have. We’ve already been out there, so that helps, but we’d need to do a little bit more work on which (championship) would be appropriate.

“But (the USGA) loves coming to Colorado. If you were out there (Sunday at Cherry Hills, where 4,500 people attended the final of the U.S. Amateur) you saw the support. This is a great sports town, and they just don’t see enough national ranked amateur golf here.”

Mate, for one, is certainly interested in CommonGround hosting a future USGA championship, but there are financial aspects to be considered.

“We built the golf course to host championships, and that’s high on the priority list,” he said. “But we have to weigh all the other things we’re trying to accomplish there, including cash flow. Hosting USGA championships is great and wonderful, and it’s great to see the best players play on your golf course, but it also costs you a lot of money. The USGA doesn’t pay you a course fee, so you’re displacing a lot of rounds and revenue, not to mention some of your out-of-pocket expenses like trailers and roping and transportation and all the things that go into it. If money weren’t an object, we’d be hosting something right away. But we have to consider the whole thing.”

That said, Mate makes it clear he would love to see a future USGA championship at CommonGround, and if he had his druthers, it would be a women’s championship of some sort.

“We could do so many more things with the course from a set-up standpoint,” he said. “We had to build five new tees for (the U.S. Amateur) to make some of the strategy of the bunkering be relevant. For the women, we could do all kinds of things.”

For the record, sites for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Women’s Publinks and men’s Publinks are set through 2014.
 

Kimberly Kim, who later would play golf for the University of Denver, made history by winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur at age 14 in 2006.

What Morgan Sahm of Centennial accomplished on Monday certainly isn’t in that league, but when a 14-year-old even qualifies for a USGA championship that’s open to all ages, it’s still quite a feat.

Sahm, who won’t be a freshman in high school until the fall, earned one of four available spots in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in qualifying held Monday at Spring Valley Golf Club in Elizabeth.

“It’s definitely awesome,” said Sahm (pictured above), who’s just in her fourth year playing golf. “This means a lot. It kind of does (surprise me), but I work really hard. I just hope I can continue playing this well this year.”

Sahm shot a 5-over-par 77 to share third place out of Monday’s qualifying field, which was reduced to 16 by three withdrawals. She’ll be joined at the national Women’s Publinks by qualifying medalist Kayla Riede of Dixon, Calif. (74), Jennifer Yang of Seattle (76) and former Coloradan Lindsay McGetrick (77).

The U.S. WAPL will be played June 18-23 in Neshanic, N.J. Riede and Yang will be going to the national tournament for the second time, while McGetrick and Sahm will be making their U.S. Women’s Publinks debut.

It should be noted that all of the other three qualifiers are college golfers — Riede (pictured at left with USGA official Bob Austin) goes to the University of Tulsa, Yang to the University of Washington and McGetrick to North Carolina State — while Sahm won’t start high school at Grandview until the fall.

On Monday, McGetrick and Sahm prevailed in a three-person playoff for the final two national berths. It looked like Sahm was going to be the odd player out when she mis-hit her opening drive in sudden death and ended up about 100 yards short of both McGetrick and Paige Crawford of Colorado Springs.

McGetrick advanced with a routine par on the hole, and when Sahm came up short with her approach on the par-4 and later missed an 8-foot par putt, it opened the door for Crawford. But the Montana State golfer couldn’t convert her 3-foot par putt and she and Sahm moved on to the par-3 second hole.

There, both players hit their tee balls into the front bunker, and Crawford’s sand shot ran 15 feet past the pin. Sahm cozied her bunker shot to within a foot, and after Crawford missed, Sahm earned the final national berth with a tap-in par.

“Every time I’m in a playoff, I lose, so I thought, ‘It’s OK, another loss,'” said Sahm, who went 2 under par in her last four holes of regulation to force a playoff. “I honestly thought I was going to lose to Paige.”

McGetrick, whose father Mike is an acclaimed golf instructor, grew up in Highlands Ranch but now lives with her family in South Carolina. However, she continues to make her mark in Colorado. During her time in the state, she won the 2010 CWGA Junior Match Play Championship and the 2011 4A state high school title, and she made it to match play at the 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior.

Monday marked a visit back to Colorado to visit friends, as well as a last week packed full of tournaments — the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open at Green Valley Ranch, the U.S. Women’s Open qualifying at the Broadmoor, and the U.S. WAPL qualifying at Spring Valley.

And while she missed the cut in the Colorado’s Women’s Open and finished in the middle of the pack in the U.S. Women’s Open qualifying, McGetrick isn’t leaving the state without another USGA championship berth.

“It was an exciting way to end things,” she said of Monday’s playoff. “I’m glad I came through and was able to make it. It’s definitely an accomplishment. I’m excited to be able to qualify.”

Riede played the same trio of Colorado tournaments as McGetrick did. In her case, it worked out nicely as a weeklong stopover in the Centennial State on her drive back home to Dixon, Calif., from Tulsa, Okla.

“I’ve been here for a while,” Riede said, noting that she also played an NCAA regional tournament at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie last month.

Yang, meanwhile, is spending the summer in Colorado with her Korean-born parents and her brother, Andy Yang, who plays golf for the University of Denver.

U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Sectional Qualifying
At Par-72 Spring Valley GC in Elizabeth

Qualified for U.S. WAPL
Kayla Riede, Dixon, Calif. 39-35–74
Jennifer Yang, Seattle, Wash. 38-38–76
Lindsay McGetrick, Highlands Ranch, Colo. 37-40–77
Morgan Sahm, Centennial, Colo. 40-37–77

Alternates (in order)
Paige Crawford, Colorado Springs, Colo. 38-39–77
Allie Johnston, Castle Rock, Colo. 41-38–79

Failed to Qualify
Katherine Scott, Cherry Hills Village, Colo. 39-40–79
Molly Dorans, Erie, Colo. 41-39–80
Katie Kim, Riverwoods, Ill. 40-40–80
Patricia Lee, Highlands Ranch, Colo. 37-44–81
Maren Scoggins, Denver, Colo. 40-42–82
Hannah Wood, Centennial, Colo. 43-39–82
Bryce Schroeder, Pueblo, Colo. 39-44–83
Jennifer Kempton, Littleton, Colo. 44-40–84
Jodie Streeter, Englewood, Colo. 45-43–88
Jennifer Hocking, Colorado Springs, Colo. 45-45–90
Taylor Buck, Littleton, Colo. WD
Tori Glenn, Castle Rock, Colo. WD