The early part of April is always one of the best times of the sports year.
It includes Opening Day in baseball and the Final Four in college basketball.
And golf also fits nicely into the theme, with the first major championships of the men’s and women’s season on tap.
Next week’s Masters and this week’s Kraft Nabisco Championship always draw plenty of attention and generate lots of excitement. But if you’re looking for competitors with strong Colorado connections, the pickings are slim this year.
None of the “local” players who currently hold LPGA Tour cards — former University of Denver golfers Stephanie Sherlock and Sue Kim, and two-time Colorado state high school champion Kelly Jacques — are in the field for the Kraft Nabisco.
And, barring a victory by a local at this week’s Valero Texas Open, the only golfer with major Colorado ties at next week’s Masters will be Evergreen resident Craig Stadler, who earned an annual invitation by winning the 1982 title at Augusta National (pictured).
Stadler, who will turn 60 on June 2, will be making his 37th Masters appearance this year. He played in his first one in 1974 after earning a spot by winning the 1973 U.S. Amateur. He’s competed in every Masters since 1979, making the cut a total of 21 times. The 13-time PGA Tour winner last qualified for the final two rounds at Augusta in 2007, when he finished 49th. Last year, he struggled in posting scores of 81-82 while battling a bulging disc in his back.
Stadler greatly enjoys his annual rite of spring in returning to Augusta, Ga.
“I love coming back here,” he told the U-T San Diego newspaper last year. “I come back a couple of times a year. It never gets old. I’ve probably played here 150 times, and each time I turn in that gate, it is still pretty cool — mystical almost.”
Thirty-one years ago, Stadler overcame 40s on his first and last nine holes of the week to earn his Masters green jacket. “I played pretty good in the middle,” he said of his scores of 75-69-67-73.
After losing the four-stroke lead he held after 11 holes in the final round, Stadler clinched the title by beating Dan Pohl in a one-hole playoff for his only major championship title.
While current and former Coloradans will be in short supply at this year’s Masters and the Kraft Nabisco, the fields for both of those majors will include golfers who have won significant tournaments in the Centennial State. And with the Solheim Cup coming to Colorado in August, the Kraft Nabisco should be of particular interest as U.S. players will earn double the normal number of Solheim Cup points during this week’s tournament.
Here’s a rundown of Masters or Kraft Nabisco participants who have won in Colorado:
— Paige Mackenzie (Kraft Nabisco) is the only amateur ever to win the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open (2006).
— South Korean So Yeon Ryu (Kraft Nabisco) claimed the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open title at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
— Phil Mickelson (Masters) won the International at Castle Pines in 1993 and ’97, the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills in 1990, and the CU Fox Acres Invitational in Red Feather Lakes.
— Ernie Els (Masters) earned the 2000 title at the International.
— Stewart Cink (Masters) prevailed in the 1996 Nike Colorado Classic at Riverdale Dunes in Brighton.
— Jose Maria Olazabal (Masters) won the International in 1991.
— Steven Fox (Masters) claimed the title at last year’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.
— Vijay Singh (Masters) was victorious at the 1998 International.
— David Toms (Masters) followed that up by winning the 1999 International title at Castle Pines.
