Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the seventh monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1975-84. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE.
Over the last century — actually, just since 1938 — the USGA has held 31 of its championships in Colorado. But no decade-long period that we’re dealing with in our Century of Golf series of stories can match 1975-84 for sheer numbers.
Between national championships and the Curtis Cup matches held biennially between top women amateurs from the U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland, Colorado hosted eight USGA events between ’75 and ’84.
Three were conducted at Cherry Hills Country Club, and an unmatched four were held in a single year in the Centennial State (1982).
There was a U.S. Senior Amateur (1976 at Cherry Hills), a U.S. Junior Amateur (1976 at Hiwan, where Coloradan Steve Jones was a semifinalist), a U.S. Open (1978 at Cherry Hills), a U.S. Women’s Amateur (1982 at The Broadmoor), a Curtis Cup (1982 at Denver Country Club), a U.S. Girls’ Junior (1982 at Greeley CC), a U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (1982 at what was then Kissing Camels), and a U.S. Mid-Amateur (1983 at Cherry Hills).
Of course, by far the biggest of the bunch was the ’78 U.S. Open, which marked the third and final U.S. Open that’s been conducted in the state to date. Cherry Hills has hosted all three, with the previous ones coming in 1938 and ’60, when two players now in the World Golf Hall of Fame won (Ralph Guldahl and Arnold Palmer).
This time around, a far less prominent player, Andy North (pictured above), prevailed. North had won just one PGA Tour event before claiming the title at Cherry Hills — and would win just one after, though that one was another U.S. Open. North thus has the distinction of winning more majors (2) than non-majors (1) on the PGA Tour.
At Cherry Hills, North tied Billy Casper’s U.S. Open record by needing just 114 putts over the four rounds en route to a winning total of 1-over-par 285. He led outright after the second, third and final rounds.
University of Colorado alum Hale Irwin, the local favorite, was ahead after round 1 and ended up tied for fourth with Tom Weiskopf. Other all-time greats in the top 10 were Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson, who shared sixth place, four behind North.
North wasn’t the only notable winner of the Colorado-based USGA championships during this time period produced. Juli (Simpson) Inkster won her third consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Broadmoor in 1982. Jay Sigel (1983 U.S. Mid-Am at Cherry Hills), Lew Oehmig (1976 U.S. Senior Am at Cherry Hills) and Heather Farr (1982 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Greeley CC) are also multiple-time USGA champions.
But championships weren’t the only way the USGA and Colorado were linked in a substantial way during this decade. In 1980, lifelong Coloradan Will Nicholson Jr., the son of a former USGA Executive Committee member, became president of the national association for a two-year term. Nicholson (left) was just the second Coloradan to ascend to the prestigious post, and the first in more than 60 years as Frank Woodward served in 1915-16.
Also during this time, another Coloradan, Judy Bell of Colorado Springs, became the first person from the Centennial State to chair the USGA Women’s Committee. She served in that capacity from 1981 through ’84.
Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the decade from 1975-84:
— The LPGA Tour event based in Denver had quite a spectacular run of champions during this decade. These are just the now-World Golf Hall of Famers who won in Colorado during this stretch: Judy Rankin (1975 at Pinehurst CC); JoAnne Carner (1977 and ’81, both at Columbine CC); Kathy Whitworth (left; 1978 at Green Gables CC); Beth Daniel (1980 and ’82, both at Columbine); Pat Bradley (1983 at Columbine, and ’85 at Lone Tree and Meridian); and Betsy King (1984 at Green Gables). For those of you keeping track, that means that in an 11-year span, nine times the Denver tournament was won by a player now in the World Golf Hall of Fame. And if you throw in Sandra Haynie (1974 at Green Gables) and Amy Alcott (1986 at Lone Tree and Glenmoor CC), you have World Golf Hall of Famers winning in Denver 11 times in a 13-year span.
— The Colorado Open, which debuted in 1964, started hitting its heyday, drawing thousands of spectators each year to Hiwan Golf Club and garnering local TV broadcast coverage. During the Hiwan days, the tournaments lured contestants which included Sam Snead, Billy Casper, Hale Irwin, Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples, among many others. And then-Colorado resident and PGA Tour player Dave Hill (left) won the Open four times — in 1971, ’76, ’77 and ’81 — which remains a record. The fourth of those victories came in a playoff over then-amateur Steve Jones, who would go on to win the 1988 Colorado Open and the 1996 U.S. Open.
— The Jerry Ford Invitational began a 20-year run in the Vail Valley in 1977. Hosted by the former U.S. President, the charity tournament drew some of the best golfers in the world, along with top-line celebrities. On the celebrity side, that included Clint Eastwood, Robert Wagner (below), Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, George C. Scott, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Bob Knight, Sammy Davis Jr., Glen Campbell, Jimmy Buffet and John Denver. On the Tour pro side, there was Jack Nicklaus (the first champion), Tom Watson, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Miller, Irwin and Ray Floyd. Here are some of the funnier Jerry Ford Invitational moments over the years that I recalled in a 2007 column: CLICK HERE.
— In 1982, the Champions Tour (then called the Senior Tour) played for the first of six straight years in Colorado, with events held at Pinehurst CC, Green Gables CC and Plum Creek. Winners included all-time greats Arnold Palmer (1982) and Gary Player (1986).
— Speaking of all-time greats, some played memorable exhibitions in Colorado during this decade. There was Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Dow Finsterwald teeing it up at Pinehurst CC in 1981. And Nicklaus and Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Spike Baker played at Baker’s home club, Fort Collins Country Club, in 1978. (Nicklaus is pictured below with longtime Fort Collins CC superintendent Fred Foss, who also helped construct the course.)
— Mark Crabtree, a University of Colorado golfer and an Evans Scholar, won the first of his four CGA Match Play titles in 1975. Two championships came in the 1970s and two in the 1990s. Two future PGA Tour players — Steve Jones (1980) and Brandt Jobe (1984, ’85 and ’87) — also won CGA Match Plays during this time period. Jones (1981) and Jobe (1985) likewise claimed CGA Stroke Play titles.
— Two members of the Colorado PGA — Jim Bailey (1976) and Paul Runyan (1977) — won the PGA of America’s national Horton Smith Award in back-to-back years. The award honors a PGA professional who has made “outstanding and continuing contributions to PGA education.”
— Twice during this decade, Colorado hosted the Pacific Coast Amateur — at Denver Country Club in 1977 and at Hiwan Golf Club in 1983. At the latter, Colorado crowned its only individual Pac Coast champion in tournament history, which dates back to 1967. Mike Mathies of Golden prevailed that year.
— In 1976, Coloradan Bill Loeffler won the first of his three Broadmoor Invitation titles (1976, ’78 and ’87). Loeffler also claimed the CGA Stroke Play championship in ’76.
— Nancy Roth Syms of Colorado Springs won the Women’s Trans National in 1978. The 1981 Women’s Trans was held at the Ranch Country Club in Westminster, where Floridian Amy Benz prevailed.
— The CGA and Colorado PGA separated their administrative functions in 1978 and the first CGA-only executive director was hired, Dave Askins.
— In 1978, Kim Eaton won the first of what would become four CWGA Stroke Play titles over the course of 27 years.
— University of Colorado graduate Hale Irwin won the second of his three U.S. Open titles, this one in 1979 at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio, as he prevailed by two over Gary Player and Jerry Pate.
— Coloradan Gregg Jones finished runner-up in the Trans Miss that Denver Country Club hosted in 1980.
— In 1982, the CGA becqme the first golf association in the nation to rate all its courses in accordance with the USGA’s new Slope rating system. A year later, the CGA joined the USGA’s Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN) to provide handicap services to its member clubs.
— Denver Country Club hosted the 1982 Curtis Cup, with the Juli (Simpson) Inkster-led U.S. squad beating Great Britain & Ireland 14.5-3.5 in the biennial matches that feature top female amateurs.
— Coloradan Lauren Howe, winner of the 1975 CWGA Stroke Play, notched a victory on the LPGA Tour, winning the 1983 Mayflower Classic in Indianapolis.
— The Colorado Junior Golf Association was created in 1984, thanks in large part to the efforts of Denver resident Gary Potter.
— Future PGA Tour player Duffy Waldorf won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1984.
