John Olive has won club championships in five different decades at the Broadmoor Golf Club, starting in the 1970s. On a statewide basis, he first captured a title 38 years ago in the CGA Stroke Play, and he’s still going strong.
The Colorado Golf Hall of Famer proved that again on Thursday.
Just a couple of months shy of his 70th birthday, Olive defeated Roger Gunderson of CommonGround Golf Course, another winner of multiple CGA titles, 1 up in Thursday’s final of the CGA Super-Senior Match Play at the Club at Ravenna in Littleton.
Asked what another state title means to him, Olive said, “It means that it might be the last one. I don’t know how many more I’ll have to play in. Roger and I are very fortunate that we’re not only still upright but that we still do pretty well (golf-wise).”
Indeed, this Super-Senior Match Play reflected well on the older competitors. Even though anyone age 60 and up who meets the playing standard can compete, the final featured one guy 69 (Olive) and another 71 (Gunderson).
Olive two-putted for par from long range at No. 18, then watched as Gunderson missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have forced extra holes.
“I breathed a sigh of relief,” Olive said. “We both played some very nice golf at times.”
In a match that was all square after 10, Olive had a 2-up advantage through 16 — after the players halved No. 15 with birdies. But Olive three-putted No. 17 for par — as Gunderson birdied — to force the match to the 18th hole.
The end result was a reverse of last year’s Super-Senior semifinals, when Gunderson defeated Olive. Gunderson has finished second in the last two Super-Senior Match Plays.
For Olive, it was his 11th individual CGA championship, but his first in the Super-Senior Match Play. He’s also won five Senior Stroke Plays, four Senior Match Plays and the 1977 Stroke Play. Olive also has the distinction of being the only amateur to prevail in the Colorado Senior Open (in 1999), and he’s won state senior amateur titles in California and Arizona.
Though Thursday’s final — which was played a day earlier than scheduled because of the threat of bad weather on Friday — went down to the wire, that was the exception for Olive this week. He won his previous matches by large margins: 5 and 4, 7 and 6, 4 and 3, and 7 and 6. The Air Force Academy graduate was 4 under par in his 7-and-6 semifinal victory Thursday morning over top-seeded Jim Reynolds of Bear Creek Golf Club.
“I had to focus,” said Olive, a seven-time CGA Senior Player of the Year. “I slipped back into tournament mode and was very pleased with how played. It was very nice.
“It feels very good to win again.”
Meanwhile, in the CGA Senior Match Play for competitors 50 and older, two former champions won two matches on Thursday to advance to Friday’s semifinals.
That includes 2014 winner Tom Musselman of Telluride Ski & Golf Club, who posted 3 and 2, and 6 and 5 victories on Thursday. And David Delich of the Broadmoor, who’s captured Senior Match Play titles in 2007 and ’11, prevailed 4 and 3 in the quarterfinals after his round-of-16 opponent withdrew.
In Friday morning’s semifinals, Musselman will face Brian Woody of the Ridge at Castle Pines North, and Delich will take on Robin Bradbury of Heritage at Westmoor, who defeated former champion Robert Polk of Colorado Golf Club 2 up in the quarterfinals. Bradbury won the last three holes of that match, going par-birdie-birdie.
The winners of the semifinals will square off for the Senior Match Play title beginning late in the morning on Friday.
For the Senior bracket, CLICK HERE. For the Super-Senior bracket, CLICK HERE.
CGA Senior Match Play
At Club at Ravenna in Littleton
SUPER-SENIOR DIVISION
Round of 32
Jim Reynolds, Bear Creek Golf Club (1) def. John Leamon, Littleton Golf & Tennis Club (32), 5 and 4
Joe Morrill, Eagle Ranch Golf Course (17) def. Dan Birnley, Conquistador Golf Course (16), 3 and 1
Patrick Mooney, Colorado GC (8) def. Gary Guilford, Highlands Ranch Golf Club (25), 3 and 2
Jim F Pierce, Heritage Eagle Bend Golf & CC (9) def. Ken Tai, Perry Park Country Club (24), 2 and 1
John Olive, Broadmoor Golf Club (4) def. Marc Sims, Eisenhower Golf Club (29), 5 and 4
Terry Hymans, Clubcorp Colorado (20) def. Roger Lawson, Wellshire Golf Course (13), 1 up
Gary Kephart, Eisenhower Golf Club (5) def. Ron Crowder, Broadmoor Golf Club (28), 6 and 5
John Callahan, South Suburban Family Sports (12) def. Frank Wilkinson, Lincoln Park Golf Course (21), 4 and 3
Steve Ivy, Ptarmigan Country Club (2) def. Danny Wyrick, West Woods Golf Club (31), 1 up
Bruce Hayes, Heritage at Westmoor (15) def. Steven Humphrey, Legacy Ridge Golf Course (18), By Default
Roger Gunderson, Commonground Golf Course (7) def. Vance Adler, Country Club at Castle Pines (26), 3 and 2
Larry Netherton, Highlands Ranch Golf Club (10) def. Terry Pettit, Ptarmigan Country Club (23), 3 and 2
Bob Cloud, Commonground Golf Course (3) def. John Warkentin, Inverness Golf Club (30), 3 and 2
Fredrick Steffers, Eisenhower Golf Club (14) def. Randy Miller, Boulder Country Club (19), 19 holes
Mark Runyan, Canongate Colorado (6) def. Lawrence Covell, Country Club at Castle Pines (27), 1 up
Craig Stephenson, Saddle Rock Golf Course (22) def. Mark Barkley, Canongate Colorado (11), 6 and 5
Round of 16
Jim Reynolds, Bear Creek Golf Club (1) def. Joe Morrill, Eagle Ranch Golf Course (17), 3 and 2
Jim F Pierce, Heritage Eagle Bend Golf & CC (9) def. Patrick Mooney, Colorado GC (8), 2 and 1
John Olive, Broadmoor Golf Club (4) def. Terry Hymans, Clubcorp Colorado (20), 7 and 6
Gary Kephart, Eisenhower Golf Club (5) def. John Callahan, South Suburban Family Sports (12), 5 and 3
Steve Ivy, Ptarmigan Country Club (2) def. Bruce Hayes, Heritage at Westmoor (15), 3 and 2
Roger Gunderson, Commonground Golf Course (7) def. Larry Netherton, Highlands Ranch Golf Club (10), 19 holes
Fredrick Steffers, Eisenhower Golf Club (14) def. Bob Cloud, Commonground Golf Course (3), 1 up
Mark Runyan, Canongate Colorado (6) def. Craig Stephenson, Saddle Rock Golf Course (22), 3 and 1
Quarterfinals
Jim Reynolds, Bear Creek Golf Club (1) def. Jim F Pierce, Heritage Eagle Bend Golf & CC (9), 2 and 1
John Olive, Broadmoor Golf Club (4) def. Gary Kephart, Eisenhower Golf Club (5), 4 and 3
Roger Gunderson, Commonground Golf Course (7) def. Steve Ivy, Ptarmigan Country Club (2), 3 and 2
Mark Runyan, Canongate Colorado (6) def. Fredrick Steffers, Eisenhower Golf Club (14), 2 and 1
Semifinals
John Olive, Broadmoor Golf Club (4) def. Jim Reynolds, Bear Creek Golf Club (1), 7 and 6
Roger Gunderson, Commonground Golf Course (7) def. Mark Runyan, Canongate Colorado (6), 4 and 3
Finals
John Olive, Broadmoor Golf Club (4) def. Roger Gunderson, Commonground Golf Course (7), 1 up
