No one has ever repeated as champion of the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open, but on Friday Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale was close enough that it certainly whet his appetite.
Despite losing a share of the lead when he three-putted the 17th hole in the final round at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, the defending champion appeared to gain the upper hand when leader Ron Schroeder of Montgomery, Texas pulled his tee shot onto a cart path and it rocketed into a hazard left of the 18th fairway.
Rohrbaugh then smacked a perfect drive on the formidable par-5. He was hitting his second shot from the fairway quite a ways ahead of where Schroeder was addressing his third from the rough.
Alas, golf being what it is, Schroeder went on to save a par from 6 feet, while Rohrbaugh (pictured above) struggled coming in and carded a closing bogey. So the nice comeback he made to tie Schroeder with two holes left went for naught and the former Texas Amateur champion claimed a two-stroke victory.
“It’s disappointing, no question — very disappointing,” said Rohrbaugh, the head professional at Ironbridge Golf Club in Glenwood Springs. “But I honestly felt like I gave the tournament away in the first two days. As good as I hit the ball those days, I should have been 8-9-10 under par. I hit it that good. I got frustrated with the greens. I counted it up: I missed eight putts from inside of 5 feet for birdie in the first two rounds. That just wears you down.
“All that said, I’m certainly disappointed in the finish (on Friday). To be tied with two to go … He hit it into the hazard on the last hole so I thought I had a chance. But my second shot was awful. I was trying to put it in front of the green. That wasn’t that difficult a shot. But I hooked it, and I was trying to hit a little cut actually.”
Schroeder (left), whose biggest professional claim to fame is winning the 2010 Jamaican Open, shot an even-par 72 Friday to be the only player to finish the tournament under par. The 56-year-old ended up at 2-under 214, which gave him the $8,500 first prize.
Rohrbaugh and fellow Colorado PGA professional Mike Northern of Colorado Springs tied for second at 216, while Ron Vlosich of Lakewood and Tim Thelen of College Station, Texas shared fourth place at 217.
Schroeder won in his seventh appearance at the Colorado Senior Open.
“This was one I wanted,” said Schroeder, who placed third last year. “I kept coming back here. I just felt like I played this course well. … I’m glad to finally get this one under my belt.”
Schroeder counts the Colorado Senior Open victory as one of the best of his career. It comes six years after a head-on auto accident in Arkansas left him with broken hands and chest and foot injuries.
“That pretty much stopped my Champions (Tour) career stuff,” he said. “I’m a long hitter, and I lost a lot of (swing) speed. I lost 6-8 mph and never got that back.”
On Friday, Schroeder was two up on playing partner Rohrbaugh going into the 15th hole. But the defending champion drained a 15-foot birdie putt there to get within one. And he evened things up when Schroeder failed to get up and down from the thick rough beside the green on No. 16.
But, tied for the lead with two holes left, Rohrbaugh three-putted for bogey from 40 feet on No. 17, allowing Schroeder to take the lead again. However, Schroeder gave the Coloradan another opening by hitting his tee ball into the hazard on 18.
“I wasn’t feeling too good at the time with (Rohrbaugh) sitting up there going for the green in two and me have to lay up from the hazard to 160 (yards),” Schroeder said. “But I still had some golf to play and I know how hard that hole is. You can never let up on that golf hole. That’s one of the greatest finishing holes I’ve ever seen. It really is.
“I knew my work was cut out for me, but … in my mind he still had to make birdie to beat me. That’s what I was thinking.”
Laying three with 160 yards left to the flag, Schroeder noted that before he hit his wedge to 6 feet, “My playing partner (Bill Harvey) rode up beside and he said, ‘Let’s see what you’ve got.’ I said, ‘I’m going to show you.’ It worked out. He kind of loosened me up a little bit. I got up and down from 160. I was pretty happy about that.”
Meanwhile, Rohrbaugh’s second shot found a fairway bunker, then he thinned that sand shot over the green and couldn’t get up and down for par.
Despite not successfully defending his title, Rohrbaugh has put together a stellar run over the last year at GVR, winning the 2013 Colorado Senior Open, finishing third at the HealthOne Colorado Open, and placing second Friday in this year’s Senior Open.
“I had a chance,” said Rohrbaugh, the reigning Colorado PGA Professional Champion. “That’s all I can ask for. I came close. That doesn’t always happen.”
But Rohrbaugh struggled with the putter, while Schroeder thrived with the flat stick, and that was the difference.
“Every time I needed to be bailed out, the putter bailed me out,” the Texan said. “You can’t say enough about that club. When that club is working, you have a good chance of winning no matter how you’re playing.”
Moore Low-Amateur for Second Time in Senior Open: Kent Moore of Cherry Hills Village is already in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. He’s won the CGA Stroke Play, the Match Play, the Senior Match Play and the Junior Match Play.
But what he accomplished on Friday — taking low-amateur honors at the Colorado Senior Open at age 58 — ranks high on his list of golf accomplishments.
“As you get older you start to hit it less the way you’d like,” said Moore, the men’s golf coach at Wheaton College in Illinois. “So it’s nice to win things while you still have a few years left.”
Moore also captured the low-amateur honor in this event in 2006. This time, he tied for sixth overall, shooting rounds of 70-75-74 for a 3-over-par 219 total. He finished five strokes behind champion Ron Schroeder.
The victory is also special for Moore because he served as the first chairman of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation Board of Trustees.
“At 58 it feels really good to be low am of the Colorado Senior Open,” he said. “It has such a tradition. I watched (the Colorado Open) since Gary Longfellow won at Hiwan (in 1974). I watched that on TV. I’ve followed the Colorado Open forever. I bet I’ve played in these events, between the Senior Open and the Colorado Open, 30 times. So this means a lot.”
Elway Places Second Among Amateurs: Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway didn’t play the way he’d like after an opening-round 71 — shooting 78-75 the last two days — but that didn’t keep him from finishing second among the amateurs at the Senior Open.
The former QB great and current Broncos executive finished five strokes behind low amateur Kent Moore. Elway placed 19th overall.
“You always have high expectations, especially when you start out the way I started (with the 71),” Elway said Friday. “Then yesterday was disappointing. Both (Thursday and Friday) I got off to slow starts but then was able to hang in there and hold it together. I played the back side in 1 under (on Friday). It was good. I was happy with it. It’s fun to play in these situations.”
Elway capped his tournament with a two-putt birdie on the tough 18th hole after hitting the green on the par-5 in two.
“It’s fun for me to play in tournament situations,” the 53-year-old said. “I feel like I’ve become a better player because when you play under the gun you concentrate more. I get better when I play in these tournaments, which I like.”
Notable: Jeff Thomsen of Boise, Idaho, who won the Colorado Senior Open in 2004, claimed the super-senior title Friday for players 60 and older. Thomsen finished 17th overall as rounds of 75-72-76 gave him a 223 total. … There were a couple of accomplished golfers among the caddies on Friday. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Janet Moore caddied for husband Kent, and Keith Humerickhouse, winner of the last four CGA Mid-Amateur Championships, looped for Doug Rohrbaugh. … Friday’s final round featured periodic light rain, but play was not interrupted. … Gregg Jones of Colorado Springs, who was in the same group as John Elway on Friday, made an 11 on the par-5 18th hole en route to a final-round 79.
For Colorado Senior Open scores, CLICK HERE.
