The USGA accepted 2,738 entries for the tournament — including 106 from Colorado — with 75 being exempt from qualifying. The entry deadline for the event was Wednesday.

Joining Irwin (20 PGA Tour victories, including three U.S. Opens) among World Golf Hall of Famers who have entered the championship at The Broadmoor’s East Course are Tom Watson (39 PGA Tour wins), Vijay Singh (34), Davis Love III (21), Tom Kite (19), Mark O’Meara (16), Fred Couples (15), Bernhard Langer (3, including two majors) and Colin Montgomerie (41 international victories).

Besides Irwin, players who grew up in Colorado and are in the field are 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones and fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe.

In all, 11 U.S. Senior Open champions have entered the event at The Broadmoor: Irwin (1998 and 2000), Kenny Perry (2013 and ’17), Langer (2010), Montgomerie (2014), Jeff Maggert (2015), Peter Jacobsen (2004), Fred Funk (2009), Gene Sauers (2016), Olin Browne (2011), Brad Bryant (2007) and Roger Chapman (2012).

Others among the exempt players who are planning to play at The Broadmoor are John Daly, Mark Calcavecchia, Steve Stricker, John Cook, Tom Lehman (who won the 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club), Corey Pavin, Lee Janzen, Billy Mayfair, Rocco Mediate, Gil Morgan, Jesper Parnevik, Tom Pernice Jr., Loren Roberts, David Frost, Jay Haas, David Toms, Scott Hoch, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Scott Verplank and Kirk Triplett.

The Broadmoor is hosting its second U.S. Senior Open and its eighth USGA championship, with winners at the resort including Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and Juli Inkster. The Broadmoor is celebrating its 100th anniversary on the Friday of the championship, June 29.

Thirty-four qualifying tournaments for the U.S. Senior Open will be held starting Monday. The Broadmoor will host a qualifier on May 28, with Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway among those competing.

In all, the U.S. Senior Open field will feature 156 players.

One golfer with strong Colorado ties who won’t be playing is Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and former Aurora resident Mark Wiebe. Wiebe said on Twitter this week that he withdrew from the exempt list due to a lingering neck injury.
 

Bernhard Langer, the second-winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history — behind former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin — will compete in a Senior Open at The Broadmoor for the second time. The German tied for sixth place in Colorado Springs in 2008.

Joining him in the exempt field for this year’s event — set for June 28-July 1 — will be fellow World Golf Hall of Famers Fred Couples and Vijay Singh. Another Hall of Famer, Davis Love III, was previously announced as a competitor, and Tom Watson has also indicated he plans to play at The Broadmoor. Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen has likewise entered.

As for the entrants announced on Monday, they have 52 PGA Tour victories among them, including six majors. Singh has 34 PGA Tour wins, with a Masters and two PGA Tour Champions titles. Langer won three times on the PGA Tour — including two Masters — plus has claimed 36 PGA Tour Champions wins. Couples owns 15 PGA Tour victories, with a Masters, plus 13 wins on PGA Tour Champions. Langer (pictured with Couples) won the U.S. Senior Open in 2010.

All three are in the field for this week’s Masters.

Online entries for the U.S. Senior Open are being accepted through May 16.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who would have thought that an event summarized in two newspaper paragraphs — fewer than 60 words — would have such a longstanding and ever-growing impact?

On Aug. 21, 1915, a small item appeared in the Denver Post under the headline, “M’LAUGHLIN HEADS GOLF ASSOCIATION”. The “short” — as it is often referred to by newsroom staffers — notes the events of Aug. 20, detailing a newly formed organization called the Colorado Golf Association and the election of its officers, including president M.A. McLaughlin.

The story further reports on the other officers elected and says, “The organization will control the state tournaments, give the cups and appoint the officers, and the winner will be the recognized champion of the association and state.”

One hundred years after that humble beginning, the CGA’s mission has expanded dramatically over the decades, and the association moves forward as a steward for the traditions and future of golf in the state. And now the CGA is gearing up to celebrate its centennial throughout 2015. That will culminate with a Century of Golf Gala, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 14. At that event, a number of Colorado golf’s all-time luminaries will be honored, and both the history and future of golf in the state will be celebrated.

During the coming year, the CGA plans to unveil a new logo along with artwork that will highlight a century of golf in Colorado. Also on the docket are a monthly series of articles — published on COgolf.org and in the first-of-each-month CGA Revision newsletters throughout the year. A decade at a time since the CGA’s founding — 1915-24, 1925-34, etc. — will be focused on in each of the series of stories, with the last article of the year being a look-ahead.

In addition, the CGA will hold a season-long fundraising event that will support the Colorado Golf Foundation and benefit its many programs that foster youth development through golf. That event will be called “100 Holes for 100 Years”, and participants will raise money through donations pledged for a personalized golf-related activity centering around the number 100. For instance, a person could play 100 holes in a day, or in another set period of time. Or participants can add any twist they’d like to the event, as long as it involves the number 100.

“The goal is to raise awareness and engage the golf community to play golf for a purpose,” said CGA executive director Ed Mate. “It will get the whole state involved.”

The CGA plans to set up an internet portal in which the financial aspects of 100 Holes for 100 Years will be handled. Details about that will be forthcoming.

“Why we’re doing all this is to advance golf in Colorado,” Mate said. “It’s not just a celebration, but that’s the driving force behind it all. We want to seize on the centennial to position the CGA, the community of golf and the Colorado Golf Foundation for the next 100 years. We want to make sure that the game not only will be around, but will be thriving.”

As for the upcoming series of stories focusing on the last century of Colorado golf, there is certainly no lack of history having been made in the Centennial State. Just consider this list of golf “firsts” that occurred in Colorado:

— Arnold Palmer won his only U.S. Open in Colorado, in 1960 at Cherry Hills Country Club. (Palmer is pictured at left tossing his visor in celebration on the 18th green.)

— Jack Nicklaus won the first and last of his eight USGA championships in Colorado, prevailing in the 1959 U.S. Amateur at the Broadmoor and the 1993 U.S. Senior Open at Cherry Hills.

— Phil Mickelson won his only USGA event (to date) in Colorado, the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.

— Annika Sorenstam made the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor the first of her 72 LPGA Tour victories.

— Frank Woodward of Denver, who won the first CGA championship ever in 1901, was elected the first president of the United States Golf Association from the western U.S.

— In 1959 at Wellshire Golf Course, Bill Wright became the first African-American golfer to win a USGA championship, in his case the U.S. Amateur Public Links title.

— In 1996, Judy Bell of Colorado Springs became the only female president in the history of the USGA.

— And just recently, Colorado Golf Club was the site of the first victory on U.S. soil by a European team in the Solheim Cup.

Winners of big tournaments in Colorado have included a who’s who of golf: Besides Palmer, Nicklaus, Sorenstam and Mickelson, that list features Babe Zaharias, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Kathy Whitworth, Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, JoAnne Carner, Judy Rankin, Juli Inkster, Pat Bradley, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Hubert Green, Betsy King, Amy Alcott and Davis Love.

The centennial series will explore all that and much, much more. After all, a lot has happened, golf-wise, in Colorado since that two-paragraph story appeared in the Denver Post during World War I.
 

It includes Opening Day in baseball and the Final Four in college basketball.

And golf also fits nicely into the theme, with the first major championships of the men’s and women’s season on tap.

Next week’s Masters and this week’s Kraft Nabisco Championship always draw plenty of attention and generate lots of excitement. But if you’re looking for competitors with strong Colorado connections, the pickings are slim this year.

None of the “local” players who currently hold LPGA Tour cards — former University of Denver golfers Stephanie Sherlock and Sue Kim, and two-time Colorado state high school champion Kelly Jacques — are in the field for the Kraft Nabisco.

And, barring a victory by a local at this week’s Valero Texas Open, the only golfer with major Colorado ties at next week’s Masters will be Evergreen resident Craig Stadler, who earned an annual invitation by winning the 1982 title at Augusta National (pictured).

Stadler, who will turn 60 on June 2, will be making his 37th Masters appearance this year. He played in his first one in 1974 after earning a spot by winning the 1973 U.S. Amateur. He’s competed in every Masters since 1979, making the cut a total of 21 times. The 13-time PGA Tour winner last qualified for the final two rounds at Augusta in 2007, when he finished 49th. Last year, he struggled in posting scores of 81-82 while battling a bulging disc in his back.

Stadler greatly enjoys his annual rite of spring in returning to Augusta, Ga.

“I love coming back here,” he told the U-T San Diego newspaper last year. “I come back a couple of times a year. It never gets old. I’ve probably played here 150 times, and each time I turn in that gate, it is still pretty cool — mystical almost.”

Thirty-one years ago, Stadler overcame 40s on his first and last nine holes of the week to earn his Masters green jacket. “I played pretty good in the middle,” he said of his scores of 75-69-67-73.

After losing the four-stroke lead he held after 11 holes in the final round, Stadler clinched the title by beating Dan Pohl in a one-hole playoff for his only major championship title.

While current and former Coloradans will be in short supply at this year’s Masters and the Kraft Nabisco, the fields for both of those majors will include golfers who have won significant tournaments in the Centennial State. And with the Solheim Cup coming to Colorado in August, the Kraft Nabisco should be of particular interest as U.S. players will earn double the normal number of Solheim Cup points during this week’s tournament.

Here’s a rundown of Masters or Kraft Nabisco participants who have won in Colorado:

— Paige Mackenzie (Kraft Nabisco) is the only amateur ever to win the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open (2006).

— South Korean So Yeon Ryu (Kraft Nabisco) claimed the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open title at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

— Phil Mickelson (Masters) won the International at Castle Pines in 1993 and ’97, the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in 1990, and the CU Fox Acres Invitational in Red Feather Lakes.

— Ernie Els (Masters) earned the 2000 title at the International.

— Stewart Cink (Masters) prevailed in the 1996 Nike Colorado Classic at Riverdale Dunes in Brighton.

— Jose Maria Olazabal (Masters) won the International in 1991.

— Steven Fox (Masters) claimed the title at last year’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.

— Vijay Singh (Masters) was victorious at the 1998 International.

— David Toms (Masters) followed that up by winning the 1999 International title at Castle Pines.