In the world of sports, there is certainly no shortage of clichés thrown around. Anyone who has listened to live interviews with athletes knows that all too well.
But despite all the trite expressions that are uttered, there are still plenty of quotable figures in sports, golf included. And even athletes who often resort to the tried and true can come up with memorable lines every now and then.
With that in mind, here are some of the most notable quotes from Colorado golf in 2010:
CGA Mid-Amateur champion Keith Humerickhouse (standing in photo), on stereotypes people draw when they see all his tattoos:
“It’s funny how people judge (other) people by the way they look. I walk on a golf course and people don’t expect me to shoot in the 60s. They go, “˜Who is this guy?’ “¦ (But non-believers) can get hustled real quick. I don’t mind if they think (he can’t break 75). If I walk on a golf course and someone wants to play me a $100 Nassau and wants to give me shots, I’ll take them. I just golf my ball. I just wear my own kind of clothes, my own style. It’s just me.”
Ben Crenshaw co-designed Colorado Golf Club in Parker, but it wasn’t the first time he and Bill Coore were commissioned to do a course in the state. However, in the late 1980s, after a 27-hole project was roughed-in and many of the holes already planned, there was a takeover in the company that hired them:
“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.”
University of Colorado women’s golf coach Anne Kelly, after the Buffs won their own tournament a day after five of her players were involved in a multi-car accident:
“Cars can be fixed, but people are a lot harder. It was pretty much a miracle that they all walked away as well off as they did. “¦ It’s like a movie plot. In all my years of golf, this is one of the gutsiest performances I’ve ever seen.”
Castle Rock’s Bill Loeffler, who shot 69-82 in the first two rounds of the Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club:
“All of a sudden my timing or something got off. I was just horrible on the greens. It was just awful. That putter is headed to the dungeon, the dark dungeon, solitary confinement.”
Former Broncos quarterback John Elway, on competing in the CGA Four-Ball Championship:
“It’s fun for me to get out and compete, even though it’s frustrating for me because I’m not really the golfer that I was the football player. So it’s a little tough. But the reason I like to play is I like to compete. And it also makes me a better player to be in this (tournament) situation. I always enjoy it.”
Leigh Levato, who returned to the Eisenhower-Evans Scholar house at CU after missing three semesters while battling leukemia:
“It’s hard to be sick and think of everyone up here going on with their education and their life. You want to be part of that. I really did miss being in the house. It’s such a special experience that I appreciate more, when before it was like, “˜It’s such a pain living with all these people sometimes.’ Now I have a different perspective and appreciate all the different personalities and how great everyone is.”
Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore, who was caddying for wife Janet in the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open when Janet’s playing partner Erin Houtsma shot a 65 — the lowest round in the 16-year history of the tournament:
“I haven’t seen many rounds of golf like that.”
Tom Lehman, who won the Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club after opponents Fred Couples and David Frost both made double bogey on the first hole of a playoff:
“The playoff was just a bizarre playoff. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced anything like that. I turned to my caddie and said, “˜How many shots have they taken?'”
2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Kimberly Kim, on leaving the University of Denver after just one season — and subsequently turning pro:
“I enjoyed it and appreciated the experience, but in the end I just knew it wasn’t the right place for me. (Playing college golf) was a lot different than what I expected. You really don’t realize how difficult it is to balance academics and athletics until you’re doing it. It was a huge adjustment for me because I’m used to just doing golf. It was weird to have both combined. Academically I don’t think I did great.”
Arizona pro Nathan Lashley — who won three tournaments in 15 days, including the HealthOne Colorado Open — on missing his parents, who were killed, along with his girlfriend, in the crash of a small plane in Wyoming six years ago:
“I’d love to have my parents here to see this. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here right now. They did everything for me when I was a junior golfer. I owe everything to them. I wish they were here.”
Mark Passey, a regional affairs director for the USGA, on the retirement of fellow USGA director Maggie Giesenhagen, a resident of Highlands Ranch:
“In my opinion, she is the premier woman golf administrator in the world. She’s a tremendous ambassador and representative of the game. We’re all replaceable, but Maggie is going to be a toughie. She’ll leave a great legacy. You hate to lose talented people like her.”
Colorado-based teaching professional Jason Preeo, on qualifying for the U.S. Open a week after cutting his left index finger with a table saw:
“It could have been a heck of a lot worse. That’s what you get for doing home-improvement projects.”
World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, the honorary chairperson for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor, on winning the 1995 Women’s Open at the Colorado Springs resort for her first LPGA Tour victory:
“This is really where everything started. This is the biggest championship in women’s golf. As a little girl, I would stand on the putting green at home and pretend a 3-footer was for the U.S. Open. I never knew if that would ever happen, but it did happen and it certainly kick-started my career in ’95. It’s been a wonderful ride since, with what golf has given me.”
Aurora’s Gunner Wiebe on earning the CGA Match Play title:
“To come out and win it with this (probably) being the last CGA tournament I play in as an amateur means a lot since I’ve never won one before. I feel like every good player who has gone through Colorado has at least won a Match Play or a Junior Match Play. I feel like I’ve been a pretty good player in Colorado. This kind of solidifies my place in good golf in Colorado, I think.”
Colorado School of Mines golfer Jim Knous, on shooting a course-record 60 at Boulder Country Club in the final round of the CGA Stroke Play — by six strokes the lowest round of his life up to that time:
“I went out and practiced my putting (after round 3) and kind of joked around with my dad, saying, “˜Wouldn’t it be funny if I shot 61 or so?’ Then I come out and just make a lot of putts today. It’s incredible. 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.”
CU-Colorado Springs senior Riley Andrews, a former Division I player at CU-Boulder, on Division II UCCS winning a Division I tournament at the Air Force Academy:
“Talent-wise, there’s absolutely zero difference from our team compared to a D-I school; the results show that.”
CGA executive director Ed Mate, on the retirement of Aurora manager of golf Dennis Lyon, a former president of both the CGA and the national Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, as well as a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame:
“If we had a Mount Rushmore for golf administrators in the state of Colorado, he’d be on it.”
