The CoBank Colorado Open made a big splash earlier this year when officials announced a doubling of the tournament purse, with first prize more than quadrupling, to $100,000.
But that certainly isn’t the only thing the Colorado Open Championships have done this year to make even more of a mark in the Colorado golf community.
On Friday, tournament organizers held the second of three junior clinics conducted by big-name professionals. In May before the CoBank Colorado Senior Open, World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin did the honors at The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch in northeast Denver.
On Friday, leading up to this month’s Colorado Open, three-time PGA Tour winner Ryan Palmer did likewise at GVR.
And on Aug. 29, the same week as the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open, 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer, a major promoter of The First Tee, will host kids clinic No. 3 at GVR. Hers most likely will be a girls-only affair.
“I think it’s a unique thing to do, and CoBank said they liked the first one (with Irwin) so much they’ll do this every year unless we come up with an even better idea,” said Kevin Laura, CEO of the CoBank Colorado Opens and of The First Tee of GVR.
The junior clinics were the result of CoBank becoming title sponsor of the Colorado Open Championships starting this year, and the company’s desire to make an impact on the local golf scene through the tournaments.
“They said, ‘We need to promote our involvement’ — what we call ‘activate their sponsorship,'” Laura said. “They said, ‘Why don’t you guys come up with some ideas?’ The first thing we thought of was bringing in some other name pros that have some ties to the Colorado Open or First Tee and use those for each of the three championships to try to get a kick-start. They loved that idea.”
So there was Palmer (pictured), ranked No. 70 in the world and winner of more than $20 million in his PGA Tour career, demonstrating his golf skills Friday at GVR in front of about six-dozen spectators, many of them kids, and answering questions about golf and relating to The First Tee’s nine core values. Before the clinic, he played about 10 holes at GVR, chipping in for eagle on the short par-4 seventh and driving it over the middle of the cross-fairway hazard from the blue tees on the ninth hole.
“There are so many things you can do from a charity standpoint for the younger generation of kids,” said Palmer, who will depart for the British Open on Sunday. “The smile you can put on these kids’ faces is unbelievable. And giving the kids a chance to play golf and a great place like (The First Tee facility and par-3 course) to practice and learn the game is neat. It’s a place where they can learn not only how to play the game, but the values of it. It’s pretty remarkable what (The First Tee and other similar organizations) are doing to teach these kids the game of golf, how to be a good person on the golf course and overall becoming a better person.
“The work they’ve done here is unbelievable. I saw the facility and it’s pretty cool what Pat (Hamill, the Colorado Open Golf Foundation founder) has done with The First Tee and here at Green Valley Ranch.”
Palmer learned some of the lessons The First Tee teaches through his dad back in Texas, a state he still calls come.
“What I learned from my dad growing up was to be the kind of person that treats people the right way and how to act on the golf course,” Palmer said. “That’s what he told me more than anything. When I’d get mad and frustrated, he was quick to bring me down. He’d get into me pretty good. ‘If you do that again, we’re done.’ You want kids to learn that. When you’re not playing well, at least they can act the right way and respect the game — and respect the people around you. The worst thing you can do is show your frustration and kind of make a fool of yourself.”
Palmer hasn’t spent a lot of time in Colorado, but he has good memories from the smattering of times he’s come to the Centennial State. He loved competing at The International at Castle Pines Golf Club and he finished fourth at the BMW Championship two years ago at Cherry Hills Country Club.
“To me The International was one of the greatest tournaments we played,” he said of the PGA Tour event that had a 21-year run, ending in 2006. “It was so much fun — the format — and Castle Pines in general is a cool spot for sure.
“I love Cherry Hills. It reminds me a lot of Colonial (Country Club in Fort Worth) where I’m a member. (Cherry Hills) was so much fun to play, the fans were unbelievable, and I had some success there, which was nice. It’s a great city, Denver. Hopefully we get to come back.”
Though Palmer has been a regular on the PGA Tour for about a dozen years, he played the mini tours for 2 1/2 years shortly after turning pro. That makes him appreciate what the Colorado Open is doing with its purse, going from $125,000 to $250,000 overall, and from $23,000 to $100,000 for the winner.
“That’s unheard of really,” he said. “The mini tours I played, your first-place check was $20,000, and that’s how it is today. It’s unheard of to have a professional event (in the U.S. other than the PGA Tour or the Web.com) have that kind of purse. That’s awesome. Once the word gets out, more and more guys will want to play.”
This year, Laura said among the players expected to compete in the Colorado Open are PGA Tour winners Jonathan Kaye (a former University of Colorado golfer), Parker McLachlin and Keith Clearwater, who finished third last month in the Colorado Senior Open.
Just as notably, the major purse increases have caught the attention of top players aspiring for Web.com and PGA Tour status.
“We’ve never sold out the (Colorado Open qualifying tournaments before) and we sold them out a month before the first one this year,” Laura noted. “The (demand) for wanting to get into this tournament has doubled, tripled, quadrupled.
“I think there’s going to be 30-40 guys who could win this year, as opposed to 20.”
