It’s a good thing that Ben Crenshaw’s second attempt at designing a golf course in Colorado worked out better than the first.
This week, Colorado Golf Club, designed by Crenshaw and partner Bill Coore, will have a coming-out party of sorts as it hosts its first major tournament, the Senior PGA Championship, which starts Thursday. And major event No. 2 is already lined up also, with the 2013 Solheim Cup — the female version of the Ryder Cup — coming to the private club in Parker.
That’s saying something considering Colorado Golf Club is just 3½ years old.
Suffice it to say Crenshaw, a World Golf Hall of Famer and two-time Masters champion, is very much looking forward to his Champions Tour cohorts getting a crack at one of his pride and joys.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more,” he said.
But on Monday evening, before Crenshaw was presented the Will Nicholson Award for a lifetime of commitment and dedication to the game of golf, Gentle Ben revealed that Colorado Golf Club wasn’t his first foray into course design in Colorado.
In the late 1980s, not long after he and Coore joined forces in the course design business, Crenshaw said they landed a deal to work on a 27-hole project that was within two miles of the current Colorado Golf Club. They roughed in the course and a lot of the holes were set and then “¦
The apple cart got overturned.
There was a takeover within the company that hired them and Crenshaw and Coore were thrown a curve ball — or a duck hook, if you prefer.
“The guy who took over said we’re not going to be in the golf business,” Crenshaw recounted. “He said, “˜We’re going to sell equestrian lots.’ So there went our golf course.”
Little did Crenshaw know at the time that he would get another shot at designing in the area more than15 years later.
“It was highly ironic when Bill got this call five or six years ago (about doing Colorado Golf Club),” Crenshaw said. “They said this (project) was in Parker. Bill was kind of stunned a little. He said, “˜Can you tell me where that is?’ And it wasn’t two miles from the (27-hole site we did in the 1980s). We called it the High Prairie Club.
“So we knew the property, and the property was beautiful. This is similar terrain (at Colorado Golf Club), and the present group gave us basically carte blanche. They said, “˜Just go find the course (on the property).'”
The result was a layout that Golf magazine proclaimed one of the top new private courses in the country in 2007. With wooded hillsides, natural barrancas, elevation changes throughout and some challenging green complexes, Colorado Golf Club should be a different kind of test than Champions Tour players typically face. This will be the first Senior PGA held west of Oklahoma, and the longest course in the history of the tournament ((7,490 yards).
Crenshaw has designed just one other course that hosts a PGA Tour or Champions Tour event (The Plantation Club at Kapalua in Hawaii), so he’s looking forward to this event not only as a competitor, but as the host course designer.
“It’s a little different role for me,” he said. “”¦ I want the guys to play well and have fun with it. I want them to shoot some good scores. I do. I want to see it yield to some good golf. But it has to be good, well-thought-out golf.”
As of Monday, Crenshaw hadn’t received much player feedback on his course — mainly because many of the competitors still hadn’t see it. With very high winds buffeting the area on Monday, only 36 players got in practice rounds — including Crenshaw himself, paired with Champions Tour veteran Dale Douglass of Castle Rock.
Crenshaw admits he should have a little home-course advantage this week, though he noted he’s only played the course three times — far fewer than Colorado-based Champions Tour players Gary Hallberg and Mark Wiebe.
The well-liked Crenshaw would be a popular choice as champion this week, and not just because he designed the course. Though he’s won at about every level — including 19 times on the PGA Tour, with two Masters, and three NCAA individual titles — Gentle Ben has yet to chalk up a victory in his eight years on the Champions Tour. In fact, the last official PGA Tour co-sponsored event he won was the 1995 Masters.
Crenshaw can’t put a finger on why he hasn’t won — his best showing was a second place at the 2007 U.S. Senior Open — but he’d like to end the drought.
“I want to play well, and I feel like I can if I put some things together,” he said.
Considering Crenshaw was the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 1999, when the Americans came up with the biggest winning rally in event history, it’s probably not wise to count him out.
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THE LOWDOWN ON THE SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
What: The 71st annual Senior PGA Championship, conducted by the PGA of America.
Where: Colorado Golf Club in Parker. The course opened in 2007 and was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. Par-72. 7,490 yards, which will be the longest layout ever played for the Senior PGA.
When: Championship rounds are May 27-30. Practice rounds May 25-26. Pro-Am rounds on May 25 will begin at 10 a.m. Note: The club is closed to the public on Monday, May 24.
Tournament Format: 72 holes of stroke play.
Purse: TBA. 2009 purse was $2 million, with $360,000 going to the winner.
Field Size: 156 players, all age 50 and over. Cut to low70 players after 36 holes.
Defending Champion: Michael Allen.
World Golf Hall of Famers in Field: Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Larry Nelson, Nick Price and Tom Watson. In addition, the field includes winners of 21 major championships, including 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples.
Current List of Player Commitments: CLICK HERE.
TV Schedule: May 27 and 28 4-7 p.m., Golf Channel; May 29-30 1-4 p.m. NBC.
Players with Strong Colorado Connections in Field: Dale Douglass of Castle Rock, Colorado Springs native R.W. Eaks, Gary Hallberg of Castle Rock, former CU athlete Hale Irwin, Bill Loeffler of Castle Rock, Craig Stadler of Evergreen, Ron Vlosich of Lakewood, Mark Wiebe of Aurora, Mike Zaremba of Pueblo West.
Tickets: Available at seniorpga2010.com, at King Soopers stores, or by calling 1-800-PGAGOLF. A weekly grounds pass starts at $125, while a weekly clubhouse pass runs $225. Single-day tickets are $20 for each practice day, and $35 for each of the championship rounds. Youngsters age 17 and under will be admitted free with a ticketed adult, and active-duty military personnel with I.D. can purchase 2-for-the-price-of-1 daily tickets.
Parking: $5 per vehicle per day in the general parking lot. Shuttle service provided.
Notable Tee Times (Thursday/Friday): 7:45 No. 1/12:50 No. 10 — Bill Loeffler; 8:45 No. 1/1:50 No. 10 — Mark Wiebe and Gil Morgan; 9:15 No. 1/2:20 No. 10 — Mike Zaremba; 9:25 No. 1/2:30 No. 10 — Dale Douglass; 9:45 No. 1/2:50 No. 10 — R.W. Eaks; 8:20 No. 10/1:25 No. 1 — Dan Forsman and Scott Hoch; 8:30 No. 10/1:35 No. 1 — Loren Roberts; 8:40 No. 10/1:45 No. 1 — Ben Crenshaw, Michael Allen and Tom Watson; 8:50 No. 10/1:55 No. 1 — Craig Stadler and Jerry Pate; 9:00 No. 10/2:05 No. 1 — John Cook and Andy Bean; 9:10 No. 10/2:15 No. 1 — Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer and Fred Funk; 9:20 No. 10/2:25 No. 1 — Paul Azinger, Peter Jacobsen and Larry Nelson; 1:05 No. 1/8:00 No. 10 — Gary Hallberg; 1:35 No. 1/8:30 No. 10 — Hale Irwin; 1:45 No. 1/8:40 No. 10 — Eduardo Romero; 1:55 No. 1/8:50 No. 10 — Sandy Lyle, Fuzzy Zoeller and Andy North; 2:05 No. 1/9:00 No. 10 — Mike Reid; 2:15 No. 1/9:10 No. 10 — Nick Price, Hal Sutton and Tom Lehman; 2:25 No. 1/9:20 No. 10 — Larry Mize and Tom Kite; 2:35 No. 1/9:30 No. 10 — Jeff Sluman, Scott Simpson and Mark O’Meara; 12:50 No. 10/7:45 No. 1 — Ron Vlosich; 1:50 No. 10/8:45 No. 1 — Bob Tway.
Tournament History: The Senior PGA Championship is by far the oldest tournament on the Champions Tour, dating back to 1937. In 1937 and ’38 it was contested at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, then the tournament wasn’t held outside of Florida again until 2001. This year will mark the furthest west the tournament has ever been played. Sam Snead holds the record for most Senior PGA Championship wins with six. Hale Irwin is next best with four titles (1996, “˜97, “˜98, 2004). The last PGA of America championship held in Colorado was the 1985 PGA Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club, where Hubert Green prevailed.
Previous Senior Majors Held in Colorado: 1993 U.S. Senior Open (won by Jack Nicklaus at Cherry Hills) and 2008 U.S. Senior Open (won by Eduardo Romero at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs).
For More Information: Go to www.seniorpga2010.com
