Kim Eaton can pinpoint the exact tournament where she began her 41-year run of competing in CWGA championships.
It was the 1972 CWGA Junior Match Play at Fitzsimons Golf Course in Aurora. Eaton had just turned 13 and she was playing in the second flight.
But it was her parents that made the event especially memorable. Eaton’s father, Rex, had passed away just a week before.
“My mom told me that I used to tell everybody, ‘I just want you to know my dad died a week ago’ to try to get people to feel sorry for me,” Eaton recalled Sunday. “I probably did do that (though) I don’t really recollect that. He never got to see me play in any golf tournaments at all.”
More than four decades — and 21 CWGA championships — later, Eaton announced her “retirement” from CWGA tournament play on Sunday, when she received the association’s Senior Player of the Year award for the fifth consecutive season.
The 54-year-old, who was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2006, will continue to compete nationally and in her home state of Arizona, where she’s now a full-time resident. She may even come to Colorado on occasion to try to qualify for a USGA championship. But her days of teeing it up — and often winning — CWGA championships are now behind her. It was a decision she reached during a tournament-related stay in Colorado this past summer.
“We miss our house a lot when we’re gone for seven months (a year),” Eaton said after Sunday’s Colorado Golf Awards Brunch. “We’ve joined a golf club down in Arizona so we’re paying a membership while we’re gone. I wanted to play in some other national stuff. And when you’re playing in two states, sometime three states, it’s gets pretty expensive. So I thought, ‘I’ve had a good run here. And maybe it’s time for some other people to get a chance.'”
Few women in Colorado golf history can match Eaton’s amateur record. Her 21 CWGA championship titles are believed to be the second-highest total of all time, behind the 25 victories by Carol Flenniken. She’s claimed CWGA titles from 1977 through 2013.
Eaton won just about every CWGA championship for which she’s been eligible — the Match Play (2004), Stroke Play (1978, ’79, ’92 and 2004), Junior Match Play (1977), Senior Stroke Play (2009, ’10, ’12 and ’13), the senior division of the Match Play (2010 and ’13), plus nine team titles (six Brassies, one Mashie, one Chapman and one Mixed).
“It’s tough (to ‘retire’) because the CWGA is a great organization and I love the way they run all their tournaments and I love all the people,” Eaton said. “Everybody that’s been involved in the CWGA in the 41 years I’ve played has somewhat been involved in raising me or making me a better person or making me the person I am today. And that’s hard. But sometimes you just have to move on. …
“You know what they say: It’s better to go out on top because you all know when I’m not on top I’m not going to be a very happy person. It’s been a great run.”
Eaton almost divulged her CWGA retirement secret on July 30, after winning the CWGA Senior Stroke Play for the fourth time, this time by 10 shots.
In her victory speech in the clubhouse of the Mountain Course at the Broadmoor Golf Club, she stopped herself just when it seemed like she might make public that that week’s tournament likely would be her final CWGA championship.
She had confided her plans to COgolf.org a few minutes earlier, but asked that nothing be reported until she made the announcement herself at the last Sunday’s Awards Brunch.
In her four-plus year since turning 50, Eaton has won all but one CWGA senior championship in which she’s competed. In the 2011 CWGA Match Play, Laurie Steenrod defeated Eaton in 19 holes in the finals of the senior division.
This year alone, all told, Eaton has claimed six state titles — three in Arizona, two in Colorado and one in California. That total includes the Arizona State Amateur Stroke Play, which is not age-restricted. (At left, Eaton is pictured with 2007 CWGA Senior Player of the Year Christie Austin during this year’s Senior Stroke Play.)
Eaton’s amateur record is particularly impressive considering she also had a stint as a golf professional.
Besides her various state accomplishments, Eaton twice qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open, making the cut once. Overall, she’s competed in roughly 22 or 23 USGA championships. In 2009 and ’11, she’s advanced to the quarterfinals of the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.
Eaton grew up in Greeley and graduated from University High School there before playing her college golf at the University of New Mexico. After being a professional for years, Eaton served as a police officer in Evans and regained her amateur status.
In 2004, Eaton became the only player since 1989 to win the CWGA Match Play and Stroke Play titles in the same year. In the last decade alone, Eaton has been named CWGA Player of the Year four times and Senior Player of the Year five times. In 2009, she became the first person to capture both awards in the same year. She repeated the feat in 2010.
Besides the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, Eaton owns a spot in the Sportswomen of Colorado HOF. She’s also a past executive director of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
“Golf has been my life in Colorado, and I will miss it,” she said. “There’s no doubt about that. I’ll miss the players and everyone. But sometimes you just have to go on.”
While Eaton’s announcement opens championship opportunities for fellow competitors in CWGA tournaments, many will miss her presence.
“She’s not only a good player, but she’s a good person and I love being paired with her and against her,” said Deb Hughes, runner-up to Eaton in the CWGA Senior Stroke Play this year. “I learn a lot by playing with her.”
