Following up from last week, when we started our two-part retrospective on the top Colorado golf stories of 2014 (CLICK HERE for the first installment), we continue our countdown with the “back nine” — the top nine stories of the year — in reverse order. And at the end, we’ll include a list of honorable-mention selections.
9. The Jennifer Kupcho Express: Jennifer Kupcho won, she won consistently and she won big in Colorado in 2014. It was indeed a remarkable run for the golfer from Westminster who will be playing collegiately at Wake Forest beginning next year. While her most remarkable performance of the year may have come in the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open, where she finished second as a 17-year-old amateur competing against a field that included plenty of tour pros, that’s just a small part of the story. Kupcho (left) won the 4A state high school meet by 14 shots; the CWGA Junior Stroke Play by nine, the CJGA Tournament of Champions by 12; the CJGA Junior Series Championship by eight; the CWGA Match Play by 6 and 5 in the final, and she took low-amateur honors in the Colorado Women’s Open by 12. All told, she captured three CWGA titles, two major CJGA victories and a state high school crown. She also qualified for two USGA national championships. Kupcho was the youngest CWGA Player of the Year since 1999 and earned her third consecutive CWGA Junior POY honor. Out of state, she tied for eighth place in the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship and placed eighth in the Girls Junior America’s Cup. Full story: CLICK HERE.
8. Locals Headed for Top Tours: The last several months have produced a big crop of players with strong Colorado connections who have qualified for golf’s top tours — many for the first time. Here’s a quick rundown:
— Denver native Mark Hubbard earned PGA Tour status by finishing in the top 25 on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, also landed exempt status on the PGA Tour for the first time thanks to his 2014 performance on the Web.com Tour. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Former University of Denver golfer Espen Kofstad regained a spot on the European Tour by finishing 10th in Q-school. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Not long after winning his second consecutive Colorado PGA Professional Championship — and becoming what is believed to be the oldest champion in the event’s history (age 52) — Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale earned conditional status on the 2015 Champions Tour by finishing 12th, thanks to a playoff, at the Q-school finals. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Tonje Daffinrud, who turned pro this year after placing 10th in the NCAA Women’s Finals for DU, qualified for the Ladies European Tour by finishing fifth on the Access Series 2014 Order of Merit. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Former Fort Collins resident Drew Stoltz earned conditional status on the Web.com Tour by making it to the final stage of Q-school. Full story: CLICK HERE.
7. Stadler’s Breakthrough: Part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler broke through in February for his first victory on the PGA Tour, out-dueling Bubba Watson down the stretch to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Stadler, who has claimed titles at the Colorado Open and the CGA Match Play (twice), went on to be in the same field as his dad, Evergreen resident Craig Stadler, in the Masters, where Craig won in 1982. Kevin Stadler, a Kent Denver High School graduate, placed eighth at Augusta National, marking his best finish ever in a major championship. He won more than $2.3 million on the PGA Tour in 2014, not counting what he made for placing second in the French Open. Full story: CLICK HERE.
6. Clark Shines at College Level as Redshirt Freshman: Wyndham Clark (left) of Lone Tree made a splash on the national scene a couple of times during the year. The 2010 CGA Stroke Play champion earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Year honors during his redshirt freshman season at Oklahoma State. Full story: CLICK HERE. This despite the passing of his mother, Lise, at age 55 in 2013 after a battle with breast cancer. Clark also played in the match-play finals of the NCAA Championships, where OSU fell to Alabama and finished second in the nation as a team. Despite the loss, Clark won all his individual matches (3-0) in the match-play portion of the NCAA tournament. Full story: CLICK HERE. In addition, Clark, a two-time Colorado state high school champion, also represented the U.S. in the Palmer Cup, a Ryder Cup-like competition between the top college players from America and Europe. Full story: CLICK HERE.
5. 50 Years and Counting for Colorado Open: The HealthOne Colorado Open celebrated its 50th year in 2014, and what a 50-year run it has been. Since debuting in 1964 (the tournament wasn’t held one year, 2003), a long list of golf luminaries have participated in the event, including Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Billy Casper, Hale Irwin, Fred Couples, Mark O’Meara, Dave Stockton, Dave Hill, Don January, Steve Jones, Dow Finsterwald, George Archer, Al Geiberger, Corey Pavin, Steve Elkington and Peter Jacobsen. All told, participants in the Colorado Open have accounted for more than 35 major championship victories. And there are 10 Colorado Open champions who have now won at least one PGA Tour event. Former athletes John Elway, John Brodie and Rick Rhoden have also competed. Full story: CLICK HERE. The Colorado Open wasn’t the only Colorado Open Championship to celebrate a notable anniversary in 2014 as the Women’s Open was held for the 20th time.
4. Vickers Given His Due: It’s difficult to overstate the impact Jack Vickers has had on the Colorado golf scene, given that without him the PGA Tour’s International at Castle Pines wouldn’t have existed. As it is, the Vickers-founded tournament (and Castle Pines Golf Club) produced 21 Tour events from 1986 through 2006 — many of them very memorable. Champions of the tournament include Phil Mickelson, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Davis Love and Vijay Singh. Therefore, it was no small matter when in September, Vickers was the 11th recipient of the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award. Seeing who had previously won the honor speaks to its stature: Gene Sarazen (1996), Byron Nelson (1997), Arnold Palmer (1998), Sam Snead (1998), Jack Burke (2003), Pete Dye (2005), Deane Beman (2007), Jack Nicklaus (2008), President George H.W. Bush (2009), and Gary Player (2012). Full story: CLICK HERE.
3. Year of the Oddity: To say that there were some odds-defying feats in Colorado golf in 2014 would be a vast understatement. Here are some of the oddities that happened this year:
— In April at Gypsum Creek Golf Course east of Glenwood Springs, Fred Kessler from Gypsum and Dan Eby from Avon, playing in the same group, both aced the 151-yard 17th hole — with consecutive shots. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— In July during a practice round for the HealthOne Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, Micah Rudosky and his son Jakob each made a hole-in-one during the same round while playing in the same group. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Also at the Colorado Open, amateur Cole Nygren of Longmont pulled off one of golf’s rarest feats. He holed a 3-wood from 296 yards for an albatross — a double eagle — on the par-5 ninth hole. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— In September at the Ram Masters Invitational college tournament at Fort Collins Country Club, there were three holes-in-one in less than an hour on the same hole, the ninth. Drew McCullough of Wyoming, Shane Fontenot of McNeese State and Pierre Tillement of George Washington pulled off the feat. McCullough went on to win the individual title at the tournament. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— In October, Denver resident Connie Gallagher made what is believed to be the first hole-in-one on a par-4 by a female in the history of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Gallagher aced the fourth hole from 253 yards. Full story: CLICK HERE.
— Later in October, University of Colorado men’s head coach Roy Edwards and assistant coach Brandon White not only made holes-in-one on the same day and at the same course (Boulder Country Club’s Fowler Course), but they did it within a minute of one another on adjacent holes. Full story: CLICK HERE.
2. Flood Recovery: For some Colorado golf courses, it was a matter of days or weeks to get back to normal following the devastating floods of September, 2013, when close to 15 inches of rain fell in six days in some areas of Colorado. But for many other facilities, recovery continued into 2014. A partial list of courses significantly affected includes Coal Creek in Louisville, CommonGround in Aurora, Mariana Butte in Loveland, Pelican Lakes in Windsor, Estes Park Golf Course, the Lake Estes Executive 9-Hole Course, Evergreen Golf Course, Twin Peaks in Longmont and Flatirons in Boulder. Perhaps the two courses that withstood the most damage were Coal Creek and CommonGround (above), which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA. CommonGround returned to 18-hole status for its championship course on May 29. Full story: CLICK HERE. And officials hope to finally reopen Coal Creek, with an estimated reconstruction cost of $5.6 million, sometime late in the spring of 2015. Full story: CLICK HERE.
1. BMW Championship the Best of the Best: The BMW Championship, hosted by Cherry Hills Country Club in the first week of September, earned the No. 1 spot on our list for two main reasons: First, it marked the first time Colorado had hosted a PGA Tour event since 2006 — and it was a FedExCup Playoff event at that; Second, all its net proceeds benefit the Evans Scholarship for caddies, including those attending school at the University of Colorado. In both regards, the tournament was a major success. All of the top 10 players in the World Golf Ranking competed, and seven of the top 15 in those rankings finished in the top 10 at Cherry Hills. Billy Horschel won the tournament and went on to claim the FedExCup title the following week. Full story: CLICK HERE. The penultimate playoff event drew close to 126,000 fans over six days. With former CU Evans Scholar George Solich serving as general chairman, the BMW Championship was not only named the PGA Tour’s Tournament of the Year (CLICK HERE), but it raised a record $3.5 million for the Evans Scholars, which is a flagship program for both the CGA and CWGA (CLICK HERE). (The BMW Championship awards ceremony is pictured, at top, with Horschel in the red pants and Solich standing second from the right.)
Honorable-Mention Selections
— University of Colorado-bound Ross Macdonald became the first player since the 1980s to win consecutive CGA Junior Stroke Play Championships.
— Golf World magazine included four “locals” among its list of the “100 Best Modern Players” (since 1980) on the PGA Tour: David Duval (No. 8), Hale Irwin (35), Craig Stadler (42) and Steve Jones (83).
— Coloradan Mark Wiebe played in the 500th PGA Tour event of his career, competing in the British Open.
— Eric Hoos exited after a 15-year run as University of Denver men’s golf coach, and was replaced by Erik Billinger.
— Sammie Chergo, who coached the DU women’s team to two top-10 finishes in the NCAA finals, became head coach at Oregon State.
— Three Colorado-based golfers earned spots in out-of-state halls of fame: 11-time LPGA Tour winner Shirley Englehorn (LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Hall of Fame), Mark Wiebe (San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame) and Lynn Zmistowski (Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame).
— Denver’s Nick Mason qualified for the U.S. Open.
— The CGA announced that CommonGround Golf Course will host a new AJGA event, the AJGA Hale Irwin Junior, in June 2015.
— In just the second CGA Match Play final since 1981 to go extra holes, Cody Kent defeated Jacob Allenback in 37 holes.
— CSU-Pueblo’s Leina Kim leads the NCAA Division II women’s ranks in scoring average after fall competition (71.2).
— Colorado caddie Melyzjah Smith earned an Evans Scholarship at CU thanks to a hole-in-one Hunter Mahan made at the 2013 BMW Championship near Chicago.
— Seventeen caddies, believed to be a record-sized class, received Evans Scholarships at CU, including 15 teenagers from Colorado.
— For the last time, qualifying for the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateur Public Links were held in Colorado, while the first qualifiers for the men’s and women’s U.S. Four-Balls were contested as the USGA made changes to its championship schedule.
— Josh Seiple of Castle Rock was named to the AJGA All-American second team.
— Former CU golfer Emily Talley finished second in the inaugural Big Break Invitational on the Golf Channel.
— Becca Huffer of Denver won the Michigan PGA Women’s Open.
— Former DU golfer Sue Kim made her third cut in three tries at the U.S. Women’s Open. Greeley’s Carleigh Silvers also qualified for the event.
— A victory on the Symetra Tour narrowly eluded Littleton’s Ashley Tait, who lost in a playoff to Madison Pressel in the Decatur-Forsyth Classic.
— The University of Northern Colorado men won the America Sky Conference title, with Coloradan Ben Krueger capturing the individual title.
— Golf magazine readers named the Broadmoor North America’s top resort.
— Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Bob Byman was on the 1974-75 Wake Forest squad that PGATour.com named the top college golf team of all time.
