The competitive golf season in Colorado gears up in earnest over the next few weeks. In fact, the turbocharger will kick in right off the bat.
After an off-season lull that lasted the better part of seven months, the next three weeks are jam-packed with a variety of tournaments. In addition to several state championships, there’s the always-intriguing U.S. Open qualifying and the first women’s NCAA regional ever held in the state.
The schedule runs the gamut from the girls state high school championships to the CGA Super-Senior Match Play for competitors 60 and older.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the key events that will take place in the next three weeks:
— The CGA Four-Ball Championship, set for Friday through Sunday at Legacy Ridge in Westminster, marks the first of 14 CGA Championships in 2012. The scratch best-ball stroke-play event, with open and senior divisions, will be contested over 54 holes.
Danny Riskam and Pete Mangold will defend their open-division title, while Keith Masters and John Applegate will try to make it two straight in the senior category. All told, 60 two-man teams will compete.
— Local qualifying for the U.S. Open, the first of two stages of Open qualifying, will take place at three sites in Colorado. A total of 236 players will vie at Walking Stick in Pueblo (Monday), the Heritage at Westmoor in Westminster (May 14) or Collindale in Fort Collins (May 14).
Five players from each site will earn spots in the 36-hole Sectional qualifying, which will be contested at 13 sites around the world, though there is no longer a Colorado-based Sectional.
The Open itself is set for The Olympic Club in San Francisco June 14-17.
A number of golfers who have qualified for the U.S. Open in the past are in the Local qualifiers in Colorado. Among them is Steve Irwin (pictured), son of three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin. Steve Irwin, who advanced to last year’s Open after successfully negotiating the Local and Sectional qualifying, will be in the field at Walking Stick.
Other former U.S. Open competitors in Colorado-based Local qualifying include Tom Glissmeyer (Walking Stick) and Derek Tolan (Heritage), who both earned Open berths as 16-year-olds; Ben Portie (Heritage); Jason Preeo (Collindale); Dustin White (playing in his former hometown at Walking Stick); and former PGA Tour player Wil Collins (Walking Stick).
Also competing are Nationwide Tour player James Love (Walking Stick), 2010 Utah Open champion Nick Mason (Walking Stick), onetime Nationwide Tour winner Scott Petersen (Heritage) and high school phenom Wyndham Clark (Collindale).
In all, 9,006 entries were accepted for this year’s U.S. Open.
— The women’s NCAA West Regional, hosted by the highly ranked University of Colorado team, will be contested May 10-12 at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.
UCLA, the top-ranked women’s team in the nation, is in the field.
For more on the West Regional, click here.
— The first non-team championship on the CGA schedule is the CGA Senior Match Play and Super Senior Match Play, set for May 14-18 at Red Hawk Ridge in Castle Rock.
David Delich will defend his title, while 2011 CGA Senior Stroke Play champ Jerry Kidney is also in the field.
— A new event on the CGA schedule, the Mid-Amateur Match Play, will make its debut May 18-20 at Heritage Todd Creek in Thornton. That means mid-amateur players (25 and older) now have both stroke play and match play championships run by the CGA.
Keith Humerickhouse has won the last two CGA Mid-Amateurs, which has a stroke-play format.
— Two classifications of girls state high school tournaments will battle it out on May 21 and 22. The 5A meet, featuring the state’s largest schools, is set for Aurora Hills, while the 4A competition will be at Boomerang in Greeley.
Overland senior SeungHa Choi will be looking for her second straight 5A title, while a new champion will be crowned in 4A after 2011 winner Lindsay McGetrick of Valor Christian graduated.
