The name of the tournament is the HealthOne COLORADO Senior Open, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the final leaderboard of this year’s event.
Players from out of state dominated the tournament like they never have before, claiming every spot in the top 10, including Texan Perry Arthur winning the title Friday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.
The top Coloradan was Dave Arbuckle of Colorado Springs, the 2007 Senior Open champion who finished 11th this year. For the record, Colorado players have been represented in the top 10 in every Colorado Senior Open until this one.
“I know just about all these guys (on the leaderboard),” Arbuckle said. “It’s a good strong field.”
And no one was stronger than Arthur (at right in photo, with low amateur Sean Forey) in the final round, when he shot a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 to overtake Californian Bob Niger, who led after each of the first two days. The 56-year-old Arthur — who played seven years on the PGA Tour, once finishing as high as third in an event — earned $8,500 for the victory.
“This feels real good,” said Arthur, now a teaching professional in Plano, Texas. “The putter came through today, and that’s what did it.
“Anytime you can come out and shoot 66 — with no bogeys, too — that will make you feel good.”
Arthur’s 66 matched the low round of the tournament — Mark Balen of Orchard Park, N.Y. carded the same number earlier Friday — and it left him at 7-under-par for the 54-hole event. Still, he had to see how Niger finished before claiming victory.
Niger, who placed 20th in the Champions Tour Montreal stop earlier this summer, made a 15-foot birdie on No. 17 to pull within one of the lead, meaning a birdie on the par-5 18th would force a playoff.
After a good drive, a “fat” 4-iron left Niger just in front of the green. He chipped past the hole, then left his 12-foot birdie putt just short — dead on line.
“I should have been able to knock that (second shot) on and two-putt for birdie,” Niger said. “I thought I hit a good chip. And I thought I hit a good putt, but it wasn’t as quick as I thought it was and I left it short, right in the jar. I hit a lot of good shots on the last hole, but a 5 is a 5.”
Niger led by four strokes after birdies on his second and third holes, but he relinquished the top spot to Arthur after bogeys on the fifth, eighth and ninth holes. Arthur, who started the day five back of Niger, overtook him with a 5-under 31 on the front nine. Niger closed with a 72, leaving him at 210. Balen, with his final-round 66, claimed third place at 212.
As for Colorado-based golfers, there was no reason to think they’d be shut out of the top 10. After all, six Coloradans placed in the top 10 of the Senior Open in 2008 and four last year, including champion Bill Loeffler.
On Friday, only a shocking quintuple-bogey 9 kept Arbuckle out of the top 10 — and the top three, for that matter. The three-time Colorado PGA Senior Player of the Year was 4 under for the round through nine holes Friday and had made an eagle on the par-5 second hole.
But on the tee shot on the par-4 10th hole, Arbuckle said a perspiration-moistened glove caused his thumb to slip off the club as he hit his drive, and it went left into the environmentally sensitive area. He teed it up again and the same thing happened. After getting a new glove, he hit his fifth shot into the fairway. Then he pushed his approach a little right and it caromed off a mound into the ESA yet again. After three more shots, he recorded a 9 on his scorecard.
“Those five shots (over par on the hole) were big,” he said. “I would have been in third place, doggone it.”
Arbuckle finished the round with an eagle, five birdies, one bogey and, of course, the quintuple. Add it all up and it was a 71, which left him at 1-over-par 217 overall.
“I played a really solid round,” he said. “I came out ready to charge, going birdie-eagle. I didn’t have any problems all day long except when my glove got wet. I played super solid. I had an opportunity to shoot 62, I really did. It would have been close to a 62 if I didn’t screw that (10th hole) up and everything goes right.”
ELWAY FALTERS AFTER STRONG START: Former Broncos quarterback John Elway was in the hunt to claim low-amateur honors on Friday, particularly after making birdies on his second and third holes. He was 2 over par for the tournament, but that was when things started to go south in a hurry.
Fighting several “loose swings,” Elway played his next 11 holes in 11 over par, a stretch which included three straight double bogeys. He ended up with a 9-over-par 81, which left him at 13-over 229 overall, good for 52nd place. He tied for seven in the amateur competition.
“The golf course is great, a lot of fun to play, but it’s just dangerous,” said Elway, who was making his Colorado Senior Open debut. “When it starts going awry out here, you can put some (big) numbers).”
Elway, who played in both the Colorado Open and the Colorado Senior Open this year, may do likewise next summer.
“I’d like to,” he said. “That’s always the plan. We’ll see what happens by then. But I love playing in it and they do a great job.”
FOREY CLAIMS LOW-AMATEUR HONORS: Despite playing the last three holes in 3 over par on Friday, Sean Forey of Morrison claimed low amateur honors in the Colorado Senior Open for the second time in the last three years. With the help of holing a 50-yard shot for eagle on the par-4 fourth hole, he closed with a 75 for a 5-over-par 221 total.
“I’m happy that although I did leak a little oil coming in, I still got it done,” he said. “It’s a big deal.”
Forey hopes that his showing helps his bid to become the CGA’s 2010 Senior Player of the Year.
“That’s the big goal,” said Forey, who can further aid his cause with a good performance in next week’s CGA Senior Stroke Play Championship.
CHIP SHOTS: Kean Ridd of Springville, Utah and Wayne Wright of Fort Worth, Texas, tied for first place in the super-senior division for players 60 and older. Both finished at 3-over-par 219, and each received $750 in super-senior prize money. “¦ Five-time PGA Tour winner Danny Edwards, runner-up in the 2009 Senior Open, finished 14th on Friday as a 74 left him at 3-over 219.
