The Colorado golf schedule certainly hasn’t lacked variety in recent years.
Just since 2005, the state has hosted an LPGA major championship (the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open), a PGA Tour event (The International, most recently in 2006), two Champions Tour majors (the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the 2010 Senior PGA Championship), two significant USGA amateur events (the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and the 2008 U.S. Amateur Publinks), an international college competition (the 2009 Palmer Cup) and a historic amateur tournament (the 2010 Trans-Mississippi Championship).
And in coming years, there’s the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor; men’s and women’s NCAA Regional tournaments at Colorado National in 2011 and 2012, respectively; the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club.
But those high-profile events are just the tip of the iceberg as far as tournament golf goes in Colorado. With that in mind, here are some of the out-of-the-ordinary tournaments and/or significant changes for the 2011 Colorado golf schedule:
U.S. Women’s Open, July 7-10 at the Broadmoor”˜s East Course. The world’s top tournament in women’s golf will be held in Colorado for just the third time. Among the players fans can expect to see are Cristie Kerr (pictured), defending champion Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Natalie Gulbis, Juli Inkster and Morgan Pressel.
Beyond that, the Broadmoor, at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, is one of the more scenic golf courses in the country. The club also will host a Sectional Qualifying tournament for the Women’s Open on June 5.
First Men’s NCAA Regional in Colorado. For the first time ever, Colorado will host a men’s NCAA Regional tournament as Colorado National Golf Club in Erie will be the site of the Central Regional May 19-21. Overall, each of six regional tournaments will send its top five team finishers to the NCAA Finals. Colorado National, home course of the University of Colorado golf teams, also will host a women’s NCAA Regional in 2012.
No U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying. For the first time in several decades, Colorado won’t be included among the dozen or so Sectional sites for U.S. Open qualifying. The USGA decided to do some consolidating of the Sectional sites with the smallest fields, and Columbine Country Club in Littleton and St. Louis lost their tournaments.
Three U.S. Open Local Qualifying tourneys are still scheduled for the state — May 9 at Desert Hawk at Pueblo West, and May 16 at the Heritage at Westmoor in Westminster and Collindale in Fort Collins.
CGA Two-Man Team Championship Nixed, Four-Ball Expanded. On the CGA schedule, the Two-Man Team Championship has been discontinued after 23 years. But another team event, the Four-Ball, has been lengthened from two to three days. It will be held in 2011 at Legacy Ridge Golf Course in Westminster May 6-8. The plan is to include 30 open-division and 30 senior teams.
“As busy as the calendar is, we’re better off going with one team event,” CGA executive director Ed Mate said. “The Two-Man was never full and we’d rather have one quality team event than (two average ones). We”˜re pretty excited and confident (the Four-Ball) will fill up.”
In addition, the CGA Net Four-Ball will be discontinued now that higher-handicap players have the new CGA Team Interclub Championship in which to compete.
The CGA Two-Man had been held since 1988, with Jon Lindstrom and Dean Clapp winning the last two titles.
CWGA Going to 2 Courses for Mashie Championship. The CWGA is also making a change to a team event. The CWGA Mashie Championship, a four-ball match play event, will increase its field and be held at two courses instead of one. Next year’s tournament will take place June 6-8 at the Country Club at Castle Pines in Castle Rock and Blackstone in Aurora, with golfers alternating courses the first two days and playing the final round at the Country Club at Castle Pines.
“It’s probably our most popular team championship so we”˜re using two sites and doubling the size of the field,” CWGA executive director Robin Elbardawil said. “Hopefully that will meet the demand because we’ve turned away about 30 teams the last three years. If it’s well-received, going forward we’ll be looking at a main site and a partner site.”
The CWGA plans to included 104 two-person teams in the event overall.
Also on the CWGA schedule, the association will hold its qualifier for the Match Play roughly two weeks before the championship itself, instead of the day before. This year, the qualifying is set for July 14, with the tournament set for July 25-27, both at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora. It will be the second straight year for the CWGA Match Play at CommonGround, though the plan is to rotate different CWGA tournaments at the course in future years.
CommonGround, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, also will host the CGA Stroke Play Championship this year, Aug. 11-14.
5A Boys High School State Golf Returns to Western Slope. For the first time since 2003, the boys state tournament for the largest high school classification (5A) will be held on the Western Slope. Bookcliff Country Club in Grand Junction is scheduled to host the boys 5A meet Oct. 3-4. Sites for the 3A and 4A boys state tournaments have yet been announced.
Meanwhile, both girls high school state championships will be played in southern Colorado May 23-24, with the 5A tournament at Patty Jewett in Colorado Springs and the 4A at Elmwood in Pueblo.
