The former Colorado School of Mines golfer tied for 10th place in his first tournaent as a PGA Tour rookie, at the Safeway Open in October.

Then on Sunday, in just his eighth career start on the circuit, the 29-year-old not only matched his age with a very respectable 29th place at Torrey Pines in San Diego, but he made the first hole-in-one at the Farmers Insurance Open since 2015.

The native of Basalt aced the 193-yard third hole — his 12th of the day — at the South Course, using an 8-iron. (He’s pictured signing the ball after the feat, in a photo on Twitter.)

Knous played his final 10 holes in 5 under par and shot a 3-under-par 69 on Sunday. That gave him an 8-under 280 total.

Another golfer who grew up in Colorado, Denver native Wyndham Clark, also posted a top-40 finish on Sunday, placing 35th. But after coming into the final round in 11th place, Clark struggled on his final nine holes, playing it in 4-over 40 despite two birdies. Clark closed with a 75 for a 281 total.

Justin Rose won the title on Sunday with a 267 total.

For all the scores from the Farmers Insurance Open, CLICK HERE.

Jobe, who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99 and won a Colorado Open, three CGA Match Plays and a CGA Amateur, tied for eighth on Saturday in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the Big Island in Hawaii.

Jobe (left) shot three consecutive rounds in the 60s — 69-69-68 — to post a 10-under-par 206 total, which left him seven strokes back of champion Tom Lehman, who posted back-to-back 65s to close the tourament. In Saturday’s final round, Jobe made an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys.

Jobe, 53, has now recorded 21 top-10 finishes in 65 PGA Tour Champions events, which means he hits that standard nearly a third of the time. He’s finished in the top 20 in the Schwab Cup standings each of his three full seasons on the circuit. Jobe’s lone win to date on the senior circuit came in 2017 at the Principal Charity Classic in Iowa.

For all the scores from the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, CLICK HERE.

— Second Top-20 of Clark’s PGA Tour Career: Denver native Wyndham Clark recorded the second-best finish of his young PGA Tour career on Sunday by tying for 18th place in the Desert Classic in La Quinta, Calif.

Clark, who won the 2010 CGA Amateur and the 2017 Pac-12 individual title at Boulder Country Club, posted rounds of 65-67-72-68 for a 16-under-par 272 total this week, which left him 10 strokes behind winner Adam Long.

Clark would have finished much higher, but back-to-back double bogeys on his back nine in Saturday’s third round proved costly.

Nevertheless, it was by far Clark’s best showing of the 2018-19 wraparound season. In 15 PGA Tour starts for his career, his only better finish was a 17th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October 2017. 

For scores from the Desert Classic, CLICK HERE.

This week marks the first full-field event in 2019 for any of the three major professional golf tours based in the U.S.

When the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii starts today (Jan. 10), two players who grew up in Colorado will be in the field — Wyndham Clark and Jim Knous — along with former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders.

Clark and Knous are rookies on the PGA Tour for the 2018-19 wraparound season after graduating from the Web.com circuit. Two other golfers who spent their entire youth in Colorado — Jennifer Kupcho and Becca Huffer — will be rookies on the LPGA Tour after successfully negotiating Q-school. The 2019 LPGA season begins on Jan. 17, though Kupcho has deferred becoming a member until she completes her college eligibility at Wake Forest in May. Former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi likewise will be an LPGA rookie in 2019.

The remarkable thing about this year is the number of golfers who grew up in Colorado and will be competing on the three major U.S.-based tours — PGA, LPGA and PGA Tour Champions, which starts its season on Jan. 17.

On the PGA Tour, there’s Clark, Littleton-based Knous and part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler.

On the LPGA circuit, there’s Westminster’s Kupcho and Monument’s Huffer.

And on PGA Tour Champions, there’s Hale Irwin, Brandt Jobe and Steve Jones. And depending on how you classify Mike Reid, who lived in the Denver area for a year and a half and helped Cherry Creek High School win a state team title in 1971, he might be included as well.

Add up the total for the three major circuits, and it’s an unusually high representation from Colorado. And that’s without including other major tour golfers who have lived in the state as adults or who played their college golf in the Colorado.

Some recent historical perspective may be in order.

The number of golfers who grew up in Colorado and have competed in at least 10 tournaments on one of the three major U.S.-based tours in the last decade is relatively small, indicating how tough it is to become a regular at the very highest level of golf.

Here’s the rundown:

PGA TOUR

— Kevin Stadler 159 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Mark Hubbard 84 events.

— Brandt Jobe 80 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Shane Bertsch 65 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Jonathan Kaye 28 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Leif Olson 22 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Wyndham Clark 13 events.

LPGA TOUR

— Jill McGill 38 events since the beginning of 2009.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

— Hale Irwin 159 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Mike Reid 130 events since the beginning of 2009.

— Steve Jones 68 events.

— Brandt Jobe 64 events.

— R.W. Eaks 49 events since the beginning of 2009.

So with eight or nine Colorado-grown golfers competing on the big-three U.S.-based golf tours this year alone, it’s certainly a high-water mark for the Centennial State.

In fact, on the women’s side, just one golfer who grew up in Colorado has competed in an LPGA Tour event since the end of 2013 — Kupcho, who has played in three since 2016.

For a look at all players with strong Colorado connections on major professional tours around the world, CLICK HERE to view our weekly local pro roundup, which is updated weekly.

Following up from earlier this week, when we started our two-part retrospective on the top Colorado golf-related stories of 2018 (CLICK HERE for the first installment), we continue our countdown with the top dozen stories of the year — in reverse order. And at the end, included is a list of honorable-mention selections.

12. Stewart Signs With No. 1-Ranked College Team in Nation: It’s not often that a Colorado golfer signs a national letter of intent with the No. 1-ranked college program in the nation. But such was the case in November when Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins put his John Hancock on the dotted line with Oklahoma State. Stewart, who graduated from Fossil Ridge High School this month, will be headed to Stillwater for the fall semester next year. The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Boys Player of the Year is one of at least nine Colorado residents or JGAC members from the Class of 2019 who are headed to NCAA Division I golf programs. READ MORE

11. Another National Honor for Colorado PGA: Dating back to the late 1950s, members of the Colorado PGA or the Section itself have won 19 national awards from the PGA of America. Ten of those 19 have come since 2007, including this year’s Herb Graffis Award for player development, which the CPGA received for the second time since 2011. READ MORE

10. New CGA President Janene Guzowski Continues Trend in Colorado: The last several months of this year have proven to be a major boon for women in leadership roles in Colorado golf. Janene Guzowski is the new president of the CGA, Janet Moore is the new president of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, and Molly Greenblatt has become the new chairperson of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation. And that’s in addition to Suzy Whaley being elected the first national president of the PGA of America. READ MORE

9. Colorado, Hiwan Shine as Girls Junior Americas Cup Hosts: The Girls Junior Americas Cup — a team competition featuring players from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico — is hosted just once every 18 years by Colorado, and 2018 was the Centennial State’s turn. Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, where the Colorado Open was held from 1964 to ’91, was a fitting mountainous setting for the event. While Mexico swept the team and individual titles, Colorado posted its best finish since 2013 by placing fifth out of 18 teams. Staff and volunteers from the CGA and the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado played major roles in running this major junior event. READ MORE

8. Colorado Sweeps Team, Individual Titles at Boys Junior America’s Cup: At the same time the Girls Junior Amerias Cup was taking place at Hiwan, a Colorado team (left) was making history at the boys Junior America’s Cup in Montana. For the first time in the 44 years in which Colorado has competed in the event, its squad claimed the team title. In fact, a Colorado team had never finished better than third before this year in the competition that includes players from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico. To add to the feat, Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins won the individual title out of the 72-player field. Joining Stewart on the winning team were Cal McCoy of Highlands Ranch, Davis Bryant of Aurora and Walker Franklin of Broomfield. Former longtime CGA staffer Dustin Jensen captained the Colorado squad. READ MORE

7. 2 Coloradans Qualify for PGA Tour, 2 More for LPGA Tour: Seldom have players who grew up in Colorado enjoyed so much success in qualifying for the top men’s and women’s golf tours in the world as they did in the final half of 2018. Wyndham Clark and Jim Knous earned promotions to the PGA Tour with their performances on the Web.com Tour regular season and Finals, respectively. And Jennifer Kupcho and Becca Huffer landed spots on the LPGA Tour in 2019 by both finishing in the top 10 in the eight-round LPGA Q-Series, with Kupcho placing second and Huffer 10th. All four Coloradans will be rookies on those top circuits in 2019. In fact, the PGA Tour’s wraparound season began in October, and Knous recorded a top-10 finish in his first event as a member of that Tour. Joining Kupcho and Huffer in earning an LPGA card last month was former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi.

6. Gearing Up for Rules Changes: With the modernized Rules of Golf set to take effect on Jan. 1, the USGA and its affiliated Allied Golf Associations have been very busy trying to bring members up to speed on the changes. For the CGA, that effort has included weekly “Ready for the 2019 Rules” videos and four-hour Ready for the Rules seminars held at various locations around the state late in 2018 and also planned for the first several months of 2019. READ MORE

5. Year 1 of New-Look CGA: Our No. 1 story of 2017 in Colorado golf was the unification a year ago of the CGA and CWGA after both associations had celebrated their 100th anniversaries as separate — but complementary — organizations serving golf in Colorado. With 2018 being their first full calendar year together, things have gone, by just about any measure, extremely well. All of which is very good news, considering how many golfers the new-look CGA serves as members. There’s still work to be done, but it’s certainly been a stellar first year together.

4. CSU Golfers Claim USGA National Title: Golfers with strong Colorado ties don’t often get to say they’re reigning USGA national champions, but Colorado State University golfers Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor (left) earned that honor by winning the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball title in early May in Tarzana, Calif. The two never trailed in the first four matches they played at El Caballero Country Club. In the title match, they were 2 down with four holes left, but a big-time rally down the stretch netted them a 1-up victory over teenagers Yachun Chang of Chinese Taipei and Lei Ye of China — and the national championship. The victory was believed to be the first USGA national amateur championship by a person or team with strong Colorado ties since Jill McGill won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. READ MORE

3. Vickers Passes Away: There are almost 12 dozen people in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, but even in that select group, there are some that took it to the next level. A good rule of thumb as to who those people are is if they’ve also been inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. There are less than a dozen people who are members of both Halls of Fame. One of them passed away in September — 93-year-old Jack Vickers. Vickers made his mark in a variety of sports, but likely will be most remembered as the founder of Castle Pines Golf Club and The International that hosted PGA Tour events for 21 years. No less than Jack Nicklaus, who designed Castle Pines, paid tribute to Vickers the day he died. Vickers’ International ran from 1986 through 2006. It featured a unique modified Stableford scoring system, which promoted aggressive play as a birdie and a bogey were worth more than two pars. The tournament produced quite a few big-name champions, including Greg Norman, Davis Love III (twice), Phil Mickelson (twice), Vijay Singh and Ernie Els. READ MORE

2. Kupcho Phenomenon Continues: Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster may very well accomplish great things in the coming decades, but even long into the future, 2018 will be a year she’ll remember fondly. Here’s a brief rundown of what she accomplished: The Wake Forest golfer won an NCAA Division I individual title a year (left) after placing second. She became the first Colorado resident to win the prestigious individual championship on the women’s side. She helped three U.S. national teams capture international team titles in 2018 — at the Curtis Cup, the Arnold Palmer Cup and the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. In the latter event, Kupcho finished second individually out of a field of 170. She also placed second at the eight-round final stage of LPGA Q-school. After concluding her college career in May, she’ll immediately begin her LPGA career. Kupcho finished an LPGA career-best 16th this year in the LPGA Marathon Classic. Overall in 2018, she won three individual college titles. Kupcho also claimed the prestigious Mark H. McCormack Medal, becoming the first American to win the women’s McCormack honor as the top female player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings as of the conclusion of the U.S. Women’s Amateur. And she was named the world female Amateur of the Year by digital new magazine Global Golf Post. READ MORE

1. U.S. Senior Open a Hit at The Broadmoor: It had been almost four years since Colorado had hosted a big-time tour-level event — the kind that attracts 100,000-plus fans. But the drought ended this year when the U.S. Senior Open (pictured at top) was conducted at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. And the results didn’t disappoint. The announced attendance for the week was 134,500, the most for the Senior Open since the 157,126 in Omaha, Neb., in 2013. David Toms, who won the 1999 Sprint International at Castle Pines but hadn’t captured a title on the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions in seven years, captured the victory at the Senior Open by one stroke. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe placed fifth, marking his second straight top-5 performance in the U.S. Senior Open. Shortly after the conclusion of the championship, the USGA announced that the U.S. Senior Open will return to The Broadmoor in 2025.

Honorable Mention

— Lauren Howe, who grew up in Colorado, was a finalist in the U.S. Girls’ Junior as a 15-year-old and went on to win an event on the LPGA Tour, was voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

— Patrick Reidy became the fifth 50-something player in the last six years to win the Colorado PGA Professional Championship.

— Players from Texas swept the two CGA women’s major titles in 2018, giving Texans three consecutive such championships. Emily Gilbreth, a lifetime Houstonian before moving to Denver, won the 2017 CGA Women’s Match Play; Kristin Glesne of San Antonio the 2018 CGA Women’s Stroke Play; and Kennedy Swann the 2018 CGA Women’s Match Play.

— Former BYU golfer Justin Keiley won his second straight Rocky Mountain Open, defeating former Montrose resident Brandon Bingaman in a playoff after the latter shot a course-record 11-under-par 60 in the final round at Tiara Rado in Grand Junction.

— Three Colorado courses — Castle Pines, Ballyneal and Cherry Hills — are ranked among the 150 Greatest International Courses, according to Golf Digest.

— Kaden Ford of Colorado Springs finished sixth — tying the best showing ever by a Coloradan — in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta. At the 2019 National Finals, three Coloradans will compete — Caitlyn Chin of Greenwood Village, Chunya Boonta of Centennial and Grady Ortiz of Colorado.

— The University of Denver women’s golf team saw its remarkable string of league tournament championships end at 14, though the Pioneers’ Sophie Newlove claimed the individual title at Summit League Championship.

— CU’s Robyn Choi qualified in Colorado for the U.S. Women’s Open for a second straight year. Choi later earned her LPGA Tour card at the final stage of Q-school.

— Former Coloradan Kyler Dunkle, who won the CGA Amateur in August, claimed the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational championship for the second straight year for his second individual college title in eight days.

— Doug Rohrbaugh, who was paired with Scott McCarron and Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Senior PGA Championship, became the first golfer to sweep the Colorado PGA Player of Year and Senior Player of Year honors in the same season. Like Rohrbaugh, Colorado PGA professional Chris Johnson qualified for two PGA Tour Champions majors in 2018 — the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior PGA Championship.

— Nicholas Pevny of Aspen captured a national title, prevailing in the boys 12-13 age division of the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships in Florida.

— Former Parker resident Elizabeth Wang finished 34th — fourth among amateurs — at the U.S. Women’s Open. Wang also made it to the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and to the round of 32 at the U.S. Girls’ Junior. Wang, now playing for Harvard, defeated Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster in 19 holes in the round of 64 at the U.S. Women’s Am.

— Fort Collins resident Dillon Stewart became to first Coloradan to win the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior boys title. Later, he captured a second AJGA championship, this time in Montana, and won 5A state high school individual and team titles.

— New Colorado resident Dan Erickson shot a 9-under-par 61 — a course record by two strokes at Fort Collins Country Club — en route to qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, where he made match play but bowed out in the round of 64 at Pebble Beach.

— Hadley Ashton of Erie finished fifth in the girls 9-10 division at the prestigious IMG Academy Junior World Championships.

— Thirty-two years after winning her first CGA/CWGA title, Kristine Franklin earned her second, this time overcoming five-time champion Kim Eaton in the Women’s Senior Stroke Play.

— Greg Condon of the southern Colorado town of Monte Vista shared stroke-play medalist honors in the U.S. Senior Amateur, while Scott Sullivan of Grand Junction advanced to the match play round of 16.

(Note: This story was updated on Jan. 2)

Knous (left), a former standout golfer at the Colorado School of Mines, posted his best finish ever on the PGA Tour on Sunday by placing 10th in the season-opening Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., and earning $153,600.

And Clark, who won both the 2010 CGA Amateur and the 2017 Pac-12 individual title at Boulder Country Club, notched his second-best showing on the world’s top circuit by finishing 33rd.

Knous started the PGA Tour season with three straight birdies on Thursday, but shot a first-round 73. But he rebounded with scores of 67-69-69 to move up the scoreboard and finish at 10-under-par 278, four strokes behind champion Kevin Tway, who won a three-man playoff with Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker.

Clark, meanwhile, checked in at 282, following an opening-round 66 with three straight 72s. He birdied two of his last three holes on Sunday.

For more on Knous and Clark and all they’ve accomplished in Colorado and elsewhere, CLICK HERE.

(Oct. 12 Update: Golfdigest.com introduced Knous to a national audience following his showing at the Safeway Open: READ MORE)

It’s not often that two players who grew up in Colorado become PGA Tour rookies at the same time. But that’s exactly what’s happening this week as both Wyndham Clark and Jim Knous make their debuts as official PGA Tour members at the 2018-19 season-opening Safeway Open in Napa, Calif.

The tournament runs Thursday through Sunday (Oct. 4-7).

With such a momentous occasion at hand, it’s worthwhile to revisit how Clark and Knous arrived at this point. So we’re taking a look back on their extraordinary accomplishments while coming up through the ranks in Colorado.

Of course, their paths crossed on numerous occasions along the way, though Knous (28) is four years older than Clark (24). The most notable of those occasions came on Aug. 15, 2010 in the final round of the CGA Amateur Championship, then known as the CGA Stroke Play.

Going into the last day of that event, Clark led Knous by 10 shots, setting the stage for one of the most dramatic final rounds in CGA championship history.

Knous, a native of Basalt and current Littleton resident who was at that time in the midst of his college career at Colorado School of Mines, put together a comeback for the ages. The then-20-year-old, who had never before shot a round better than 66, blitzed Boulder Country Club with a 10-under-par 60, which broke the course record by two strokes. World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin was among those who had shared the previous BCC best, at 62.

“It’s incredible,” Knous said at the time. “I’ve never even dreamed of setting a course record before and going this low. Ten under — you see that on the TV. But when it’s clicking, all those putts just seem to go in. The hole was as big as a basket. I’ll be thinking about this for a while. It was a great round.”

Clark wasn’t aware of Knous’ accomplishment until after he plugged his second shot in a greenside bunker on the par-4 18th hole. In fact, when his dad told him about the 60, Wyndham wasn’t sure if the elder Clark was playing mind games just to keep him grinding to the end. But Randall Clark was telling the truth.

Clark could have avoided a playoff by getting up and down for par from the bunker on 18, but with the bad lie, he failed to get his ball out of the sand. And after his next shot rolled 7 feet past the flag, Clark needed to sink a side-hill bogey putt to shoot 70 and force sudden death.

Knous lipped out a 20-foot birdie attempt on the first playoff hole, but both players posted pars. On the second extra hole, the 18th, Knous pulled his tee shot into the trees. After Clark hit his approach 30 feet left of the flag, Knous punched out to the fairway, then left his third shot 30 feet above the hole. Knous just missed his par attempt, then Clark clinched the victory by holing his birdie putt.

Clark, a Denver native who now lives in Las Vegas, was then 16 years and 8 months old, which made him the youngest winner of the CGA Amateur since Boulder’s Bob Byman won in 1971 before he was 16 1/2. The next year, Byman would win the U.S. Junior Amateur.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for me,” Clark said at the time. “It’s probably my greatest win, my greatest accomplishment.”

Of course, both Clark and Knous would use the achievements as steppingstones to far greater things. Let’s take a bit of a stroll down memory lane to consider what they’ve accomplished — in addition to the 2010 CGA Amateur — over the years.

WYNDHAM CLARK

— As a 15-year-old, he won the 2009 CGA Junior Stroke Play — now called the Colorado Junior Amateur — by a whopping 11 shots at Eaton Country Club.

“We were playing for second,” co-runner-up Benjamin Krueger said. “I played with (Clark) the first two rounds and that 65 he shot was insane, crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned pro before he got out of high school.”

— He tied for third in 2009 in the 15-17 age group at the prestigious Callaway Junior World Championships in San Diego.

— He advanced to the round of 16 at the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur. He also made match play at the national event in 2010.

— He won two 4A state high school titles while at Valor Christian — in 2009 as a sophomore and in 2011 as a senior. In the latter, he shot 64-64 at Pelican Lakes and won by eight.

— He qualified for the U.S. Amateur as a 16-year-old in 2010. He ended up making the U.S. Am field five times (2010, ’11, ’13, ’14 and ’16). Ironically, one of the two times he missed out was when the 2012 national championship was held at Cherry Hills, his home course. Clark advanced to the match play round of 32 in his final U.S. Amateur appearance in 2016. That was his eighth USGA championship.

— He was among those who represented Colorado in the Pacific Coast Amateur, in his case as a 16-year-old in 2010.

— In 2010, he finished third in the Western Junior, the oldest national junior tournament in the U.S.

— In 2012, he was one of four winners of the Byron Nelson International Junior Golf Awards.

— He signed with national college powerhouse Oklahoma State and was named the 2014 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. After transferring to Oregon for his senior season, he also earned the 2017 Pac-12 Conference POY honors.

— He played on the U.S. team at the 2014 Arnold Palmer Cup, the college version of the Ryder Cup.

— He was the top-ranked men’s college player in the nation much of senior season.

— After not earning an individual college title before then, he won three times in his final semester.

— He returned to Boulder Country Club — site of his dramatic 2010 CGA Amateur victory — to win the 2017 Pac-12 individual title. He also led Oregon to the team championship.

— In his final event as a collegian, He helped Oregon advance to the final match of the NCAA Championships. Though the Ducks lost to Oklahoma to finish the national runners-up, Clark won his individual match in the finals.

— He turned pro in 2017 and played in eight PGA Tour events in ’17 and early ’18 — mainly thanks to sponsor exemptions. He made two cuts, finishing as high as 17th in the Sanderson Farms Championship last October.

— Last fall, he earned medalist honors in the Second Stage of Web.com Tour Q-school. In the Final Stage, made a hole-in-one the last round and finished 23rd, earning a Web card for 2018.

— He posted four top-five finishes on the Web.com Tour this year, including placing second in the United Leasing & Finance Championship in April. With $187,817 in prize money, he finished 16th on the Web’s regular-season money list, earning his PGA Tour card for the 2018-19 wraparound season.

JIM KNOUS

— He’s become well known for his ability to go low in big-time competition in Colorado over the years. Besides the final-round 60 at Boulder Country Club in the 2010 CGA Amateur, he’s set competitive course records with a 63 at Heritage Eagle Bend in qualifying for the 2011 U.S. Amateur (Clark also qualified at that site), and a final-round 62 at Green Valley Ranch to finish fourth in the 2016 CoBank Colorado Open. He also fired a 63 at the Rocky Mountain Open in Grand Junction in 2014.

— As a Colorado School of Mines senior in 2012, he finished second in the NCAA Division II national championship, losing in a playoff to Cheyenne’s Josh Creel.

— In his senior season, he posted five individual college victories, including three in a row heading into the national tournament. He was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Oh, and by the way, Knous owns a civil engineering degree from Mines.

— He won in his pro debut at the 2012 Navajo Trail Open in Durango.

— For four consecutive years — 2013 through ’16 — he advanced to U.S. Open Sectionals after going through Local Qualifying at the course now known as Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.

— As a budding professional, he won the San Juan Open in Farmington, N.M., in both 2015 and ’16.

— In the fall of 2016, he finished 23rd at the Final Stage of Q-school to earn his Web.com Tour card.

— He Monday qualified into the 2017 Waste Management Phoenix Open, his first PGA Tour start. He missed the cut, but holed a shot from 160 yards for an eagle.

— Last October, he qualified for the Shiners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas and made his first PGA Tour cut, finishing 41st.

— In 50 Web.com Tour starts, he’s recorded four top-10 finishes, three of them coming since mid-July. That includes fourth-place showings in both the Utah Championship and the WinCo Foods Portland Open.

— He earned his 2018-19 PGA Tour card by landing the 25th — and final — spot available through the four-event Web.com Tour Finals.
 

It came by the slimmest of margins, but a second player who grew up in Colorado will be a rookie on the PGA Tour in the 2018-19 wraparound season.

Wyndham Clark earned his card by finishing in the top 25 — 18th in his case — on the regular-season Web.com Tour money list.

Then on Sunday, Jim Knous of Littleton also landed a promotion by placing in the top 25 on the cumulative money list for the four-event Web.com Tour Finals.

How did Knous do it? By earning the 25th — and last — card available through the Web Finals. In fact, just $490 in Finals earnings separated Knous from player No. 26, Justin Lower, who will have to make do with a return to the Web.com circuit in 2019.

Talk about being on the bubble.

“It was a brutal day emotionally,” said Knous, who made a key 5-foot save for par on his final hole Sunday. “I wasn’t quite sure how much my performance would affect the overall outcome. It kind of just depended on what everybody else did. That’s pretty terrifying. So I really just kind of did my best to stay calm and inside I was really freaking out and just super psyched that at the end of the day finished right there on No. 25.”

Knous is one of five Web Finals graduates who will be PGA Tour rookies.

Knous (pictured) was inside the Finals top 25 after each Finals event as he set himself up nicely with a 10th-place showing in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship late last month.

But throughout the season-ending Web.com Tour Championship that ended on Sunday in Atlantic Beach, Fla., Knous was right around the Finals bubble — meaning the 25th spot.

But despite finishing 57th in the Tour Championship, Knous withstood the challenges to end up 25th on the Finals money list. The former Colorado School of Mines golfer carded rounds of 67-69-70-71 for a 7-under-par 277 total in Atlantic Beach.

Not surprisingly, when Knous walked up to be presented his PGA Tour card on Sunday afternoon, he pumped his fist in the air.

Knous will go into the upcoming PGA Tour season with the lowest priority of the 50 Web players who earned cards. But that’s certainly eminently better than being on the outside looking in. The 2018-19 PGA Tour season begins Oct. 4-7 with the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif.

Knous, an NCAA Division II individual runner-up as a senior at Mines in 2012, has spent the last two years on the Web.com Tour, recording four top-10 finishes — three of them coming since mid-July. The 28-year-old Basalt native tied for fourth in both the Utah Championship and the WinCo Foods Portland Open.

Coincidentally, Clark and Knous played off for the title at the 2010 CGA Amateur at Boulder Country Club, with Clark prevailing on the second extra hole after Knous had shot a course-record 60 in the final round.
 

Second Straight Champions Top-5 for Jobe: The final round certainly wasn’t what Brandt Jobe was looking for, but for the second straight week, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer recorded a top-five finish on PGA Tour Champions.

Jobe shared the lead going into the final round of the Sanford International in Sioux Falls, S.D., but a 2-over-par 72 on Sunday dropped him back to a tie for fourth place.

That showing comes after finishing a season-best second last weekend at The Ally Challenge following a six-week layoff due to a hurt left shoulder.

In South Dakota, Jobe went 63-67-72 for an 8-under-par 202 total, which left him five shots behind champion Steve Stricker.
 

It isn’t even an every-year occurrence.

It’s fair to say it happens rarely, especially since Q-school is no longer is a direct route to the PGA Tour.

Prior to this year, the last Colorado golfer to land a PGA Tour card for the first time was Denver native Mark Hubbard, who made the grade in 2014 and played on the world’s top tour for three seasons before losing his card.

But on Sunday, another Denver native formally joined the elite group. Wyndham Clark, who grew up south of the Denver metro area and graduated from Valor Christian High School, landed his PGA Tour card by finishing in the top 25 on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list in 2018.

Clark — winner of the 2010 CGA Amateur and the 2017 Pac-12 individual title, both at Boulder Country Club — certainly didn’t finish the Web.com Tour season the way he wanted as he missed cuts in four of his last five events, including this weekend’s WinCo Foods Portland Open.

But the 24-year-old did the necessary work in the first six months (and one day) of the year. In his first 15 Web events of the season, Clark recorded four top-five finishes with a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth. With $187,817 for the year, he finished 16th on the Web’s regular-season money list.

“It was a tough week but an awesome year and I’m so happy to be getting my card,” Clark said to ColoradoGolf.org via text this weekend.

Clark, the 2017 Pac-12 Player of the Year at Oregon and the 2014 Big 12 Player of the Year at Oklahoma State before transferring, turned pro just 14 months ago. In addition to his Web.com Tour starts, he’s played in eight PGA Tour events in 2017 and early ’18, making two cuts and finishing as high as 17th.

“I knew and believed I could do it (earn a PGA Tour card) in one short season,” Clark texted. “I just had to stay focused and play my game and let the results take care of themselves — and they did. It’s an awesome feeling and I can’t wait to be on the Tour.”

But Clark’s Web.com Tour season isn’t quite over — just his regular season. The Web.com Tour Finals begin on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, and Clark is in the field there. He’ll try to improve his 2018-19 PGA Tour status with his performances throughout the four-event Finals, which culminate with the Web.com Tour Championship Sept. 20-23 in Atlantic Beach, Fla.

The 2018-19 wraparound season for the PGA Tour begins with the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., Oct. 4-7.

Joining Clark in the Web.com Tour Finals — thanks to finishing in the top 75 on the regular-season money list — will be Jim Knous of Littleton and Hubbard. That will also guarantee Knous and Hubbard full Web.com Tour status in 2019 if they don’t get PGA Tour cards through the Web Finals.

Knous, a former Colorado School of Mines golfer, finished a Web-career-best-tying fourth on Sunday at the Portland Open and 52nd on the Web regular-season money list. He shot rounds of 70-67-68-67 for a 12-under-par 272 total, which left him six strokes behind winner Sunjae Im.

It was Knous second top-four finish on the Web.com Tour since July 1.

Meanwhile, Hubbard placed 40th on Sunday in Portland, leaving him in the 72nd position on the final Web regular-season money list. Hubbard went 66-70-70-73 for a 5-under 279 total.

A local player who like Clark missed the cut at the Portland Open was at the center of an unfortunate incident during Friday’s round. ESPN reported that part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler accidentally injured a fan when he slammed an iron on the ground and against his foot and the head came loose and hit a spectator in the head. ESPN indicated that Web.com Tour rules official Orlando Pope said the fan required six stitches, being treated on site then at a hospital before being released.

“It was a very freakish accident,” Pope told ESPN. “Kevin is devastated. He had trouble trying to finish the round. He was quite worried and felt so bad.”

Saunders, Laird Advance to PGA Tour Playoffs: A year after narrowly missing qualifying for the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs, former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders made the “postseason” for the first time on Sunday.

Saunders, a grandson of Arnold Palmer. finished 45th at the regular-season-ending Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., which left him at 120th in the FedExCup standings. The top 125 are fully exempt on the PGA Tour next season and advance to the playoffs.

Also tying for 45th place at the Wyndham and making the playoffs was former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird. He’s 113th in the FedExCup standings.

The opening playoff event is The Northern Trust in Paramus, N.J., starting Thursday. The top 100 in the FedExCup standings after that will advance to the Dell Technologies Championship.

Notable on Tour This Week: Three players with strong Colorado connections finished in the top 11 Sunday in the PGA Tour Canada’s Players Cup in Winnipeg. James Love of Denver tied for fifth, while fellow Coloradan Michael Schoolcraft and former Louisville resident George Cunningham shared 11th place. For Love, it was his best PGA Tour Canada showing in more than two years. He went 66-67-70-69 for a 16-under-par 272 total, which left him six behind champion Tyler McCumber. Schoolcraft, with his second top-11 showing of the month, and Cunningham checked in at 274. … Former University of Colorado golfer Steve Jones, who has been sidelined by knee surgery, according to the USGA, played in his first PGA Tour Champions event since mid-April, finishing 70th at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open (68-80-76). Jones is best known for winning the 1996 U.S. Open.
 

It’s gut-check time for players on the bubble on many of the world’s top golf tours.

That comes with the territory this time of year as tours wind down their season schedules. And plenty of those doing some figurative nail-biting are golfers with strong Colorado connections.

Some of those players are looking to get “promotions” to higher-profile tours next season. Others are mainly aiming to keep similar tour cards for next year, given their current situation.

We’ll take a look at some of the local players on the bubble, but first we’ll mention one who is virtually guaranteed to earn a promotion. That would be Wyndham Clark, a Denver native and former Highlands Ranch resident, who, barring some wild happenings in the final two tournaments of the Web.com Tour season should secure a PGA Tour card for the 2018-19 wraparound season.

“It’s pretty awesome, a dream come true,” the current Las Vegas resident recently told the Portland Tribune. “I’ve always wanted to be on the PGA Tour. It is amazing it has only taken one year (playing as a pro) to do it. It’s surreal.” 

Clark (pictured), the 2010 CGA Amateur champion, hasn’t played his best golf in the last month, but his strong play in the first six months of the season has put him in 13th place on the 2018 regular-season Web money list with $187,817. The top 25 at the end of the regular season — on Aug. 19 — will earn PGA Tour cards.

Clark, the 2017 Pac-12 Conference individual champion, has posted four top-five finishes this Web.com season, with a best showing of second place at the United Leasing & Finance Championship in April. He’s a Web.com rookie in 2018.

Clark is no stranger to PGA Tour events, having competed in eight of them since June 2017, many via sponsor exemptions. His best PGA Tour finish was 17th place at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October 2017. All told, he’s made two cuts in those eight PGA Tour starts.

Speaking of the PGA Tour, the top 125 finishers in the FedExCup point standings after the PGA Championship (Thursday through Sunday) and the Wyndham Championship (Aug. 16-19) will keep their fully-exempt status for next season. And two “local” players who are not in the PGA Championship field are currently sitting in the 110-125 range.

Former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird is 113th in the standings and former Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders is 120th. Should either fall out of the top 125 — and if they didn’t place highly enough in the Web.com Tour Finals — they would still have conditional status on the PGA Tour, but that would mean far fewer starts next season.

Back on the Web.com Tour, the top 75 threshold on the regular-season money list is an important one as those who make that grade guarantee themselves at least full Web exemptions in 2019, along with spots in the Web.com Finals, where another 25 PGA Tour cards will be up for grabs.

With two Web events left, former Denver resident Mark Hubbard is 63rd on the season-long money list, while Englewood resident Jim Knous is 69th.

On the Symetra Tour, the top 10 players on the money list after the final eight events of the 2018 season will land LPGA Tour cards for 2019.

Three golfers with strong local ties have outside shots at making the top 10.

Former University of Colorado golfer Jenny Coleman (left), who held an LPGA card in 2017, sits in 23rd place on the Symetra money list. Becca Huffer of Denver is 28th, and former CU golfer Esther Lee is 33rd.

Meanwhile, the top five finishers on the PGA Tour Canada money list will earn Web.com Tour cards for 2019. And with four tournaments left in the season, former Louisville resident George Cunningham sits in third place with $66,167.

Cunningham — grandson of the late Chuck Melvin, who played in six Colorado Cup matches — won the GolfBC Championship in June and finished 29th in the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open last month.

For weekly updates on all tour players with strong Colorado ties, CLICK HERE.

Current Colorado resident Becca Huffer, winner of the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open in 2013, was runner-up in the Symetra’s Tour Prasco Charity Championship in Cincinnati.

The showing matched the best of Huffer’s career on the Symetra Tour. She was also second in an event in September 2016.

The Littleton High School graduate (pictured in LPGA photo) shot rounds of 69-66-70 for an 11-under-par 205 total, which left her four strokes behind champion Muni He.

Also placing in the top 10 on Sunday was former University of Colorado golfer Jenny Coleman (73-68-68–209), who placed seventh.

Meanwhile former Coloradan Wyndham Clark posted his fourth top-five finish of the year on the Web.com Tour, making him look better and better to earn a PGA Tour card by finishing the year in the top 25 on the regular-season Web money list. He currently sits sixth on that list.

Clark played his final eight holes in 4 under par en route to a 4-under 67 on Sunday at the Lincoln Land Championship in Springfield, Ill. That gave him a 20-under 264 total. Anders Albertson won the title at 259.

Earlier this year, Clark has recorded finishes of second, third and fourth place on the Web.com Tour.