Following up from last week, when we started our two-part retrospective on the top Colorado golf stories of 2016 (CLICK HERE for the first installment), we continue our countdown with the top dozen stories of the year — in reverse order. And at the end, included is a list of honorable-mention selections.
12. For Whom the Bell Tolls: Judy Bell of Colorado Springs, the first female president in the long history of the USGA, received the USGA’s highest honor, the Bob Jones Award, during U.S. Open week. READ MORE.
11. Jobe’s Big Rookie Year on PGA Tour Champions: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe made quite an impression in his freshman season on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, chalking up seven top-10 finishes and winning $900,000. Most impressive was notching top-five finishes in three PGA Tour Champions majors, the Senior PGA, Senior Players and the Senior British Open.
10. Good Idea Yields Big Dividends: Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Gary Potter had an idea that turned into a big winner for the Hall of Fame: the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame Classic 100, in which participants garnered pledges and then played 100 holes for a couple of good causes. The event raised more than $95,000 for the History of Golf in Colorado Foundation — a 501c3 which benefits the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and its museum — and for youth programs. READ MORE.
9. Going Low: Three golfers with strong Colorado ties went low — meaning really low — in tournament golf in 2016.
— University of Colorado senior Esther Lee set a women’s NCAA record for single-round scoring relative to par when she shot an 11-under-par 61 en route to victory in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque.
— Denver resident James Love went still lower in carding a 12-under-par 59 in the first stage of Web.com Tour Q-school in St. George, Utah.
— Tom Whitney of Fort Collins didn’t just win his second consecutive Waterloo Open, but he did so after firing a 12-under-par 60 in the final round.
8. A Happy Duck: Wyndham Clark of Highlands Ranch had a very impressive start to his one and only season as a University of Oregon golfer. The five-time U.S. Amateur qualifier finished the fall portion of the college season ranked No. 1 in the nation (according to Golfstat’s head-to-head player standings and the Haskins Award watch list) or No. 2 (Golfweek). The fifth-year senior finished second, third and sixth in fall tournaments, and went 2-0 in the match-play portion of the East Lake Cup. The third-place showing came at the inaugural Paintbrush Invitational at Colorado Golf Club in Parker.
7. A Paige from Her Book: Paige Spiranac, who grew up partly in Colorado and won the 2015 CWGA Match Play, didn’t compete on a major tour in 2016, but that didn’t keep her from being a major player in golf. Her good looks and huge social media presence helped put her on the cover of the May edition of Golf Digest (left). The “Innovators and Influencers” issue included the cover headline, “Social Star Paige Spiranac Leads the Innovators and Influencers of 2016”. Later in the year, Spiranac finished ninth in her first CoBank Colorado Women’s Open. READ MORE.
6. CWGA Centennial: A year after the CGA celebrated its 100th anniversary, the CWGA had its centennial shindig — or rather, a series of them. One hundred years after its 1916 founding, the CWGA recalled highlights from its past while looking to the future. Featured events were the CWGA annual meeting at Inverness; Denver Country Club following up hosting CWGA major championships in the association’s 25th, 50th and 75th anniversary years by holding the 2016 CWGA Stroke Play; and a centennial tournament at Hiwan Golf Club. During the year, the CWGA gave out centennial honors for outstanding volunteers and players and exceptional friends of the association. READ MORE.
5. Innovative Year for Colorado Open Championships: With CoBank coming on board as title sponsor of the three Colorado Open Championships, change was the name of the game. Most notably, the purse for the Colorado Open doubled, to $250,000, with the winner’s portion more than quadrupling, to $100,000, the most for a state open. READ MORE.
And, leading up to the three championships (Senior, Open and Women’s), the Open held a series of kids clinics conducted by, respectively, well-known tour players Hale Irwin, Ryan Palmer and Paula Creamer.
4. Eaton One of World’s Top Senior Women’s Players: It was an appropriate culmination to the competitive season for Kim Eaton. Late last month, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer was named one of Global Golf Post’s 11 players on the women’s senior amateur first team — as in, the best players in the world in that category. During 2016, Eaton advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur for the fourth time in eight years, won the senior title in the prestigious Ione D. Jones/Doherty national women’s amateur championship and the Women’s Trans National Four-Ball crown with teammate Leigh Klasse. In state events, Eaton prevailed in the CWGA Senior Match Play for the third time and was named the CWGA Senior Player of the Year for the seventh time in eight years. And in Arizona, where Eaton now resides, the 57-year-old won not only the AWGA State Amateur Seniors Championship, but the open-age-division title in the AWGA State Amateur Stroke Play. She captured both the Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year awards from the AWGA this year.
3. Year of Loss: Every year brings notable deaths, but in 2016 the Colorado golf community lost more than its usual number of prominent members. Included were Colorado Golf Hall of Famers Will Nicholson Jr., Jim English, Bill Bisdorf and Ed Nosewicz, along with golf writer Tom Kensler, golf professional Bob McNamee, and former amateur standouts Mick Brethower and Bob Heiny. Then there was the passing of Arnold Palmer, winner at Cherry Hills Country Club of the 1960 U.S. Open, which this year was ranked the most memorable moment in U.S. Open history.
2. Kupcho Soars to New Heights: Jennifer Kupcho was certainly no stranger to followers of Colorado golf before this year. But the Westminster resident took things to another level in 2016, becoming, arguably, the most accomplished young female golfer in Colorado since Jill McGill, the Cherry Creek High School graduate who won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the ’94 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links before earning more than $2.3 million in her LPGA Tour career. Kupcho finished an eye-opening sixth as a Wake Forest freshman at the Women’s NCAA Finals. And as a sophomore in the fall, she won not only her first, but her second individual college title, and finished the fall as the top-ranked player in the country, according to Golfstat’s head-to-head player standings. Currently in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings, Kupcho sits 15th. On top of her college results, Kupcho and fellow Coloradan Hannah Wood qualified for their first U.S. Women’s Open. And Kupcho swept the major CWGA championships in 2016, becoming the first player to win three consecutive CWGA majors since the late 1980s. She was 31 under par for the week in winning the CWGA Match Play and 13 under par at the Stroke Play, where in round 2 her 65 broke the women’s Denver Country Club course record of 68 shot by none other than world-renowned athlete Babe Zaharias on July 3, 1946. For her stellar season, Kupcho was named the CWGA Player of the Year for an unprecedented third consecutive year, and the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame’s Golf Person of the Year. Whew!
1. Outstanding First Year for Junior Golf Alliance: The Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado, which held its inaugural season in 2016, was a hit on a number of levels. For one thing, it proved what a powerful force a concerted collaborative effort can be. With the CGA and Colorado PGA teaming up, with the help of contributing partner CWGA, the idea of JGAC is to streamline, improve and expand the junior golf experience in the state. And whether measured in terms of membership, tournament participation or expansion of other junior-related programs, JGAC reached far more youngsters than its predecessors have in years past. As for elite-level players and competition, four junior majors were contested for the first time, and AJ Ott and Mary Weinstein were named the first JGAC Players of the year. READ MORE. 2016 JGAC Honors: READ MORE.
————-
Honorable Mention
— The PGA Tour-licensed TPC Network announced the groundbreaking for the TPC Colorado golf course in Berthoud. TPC Colorado is expected to be the first new 18-hole course to open in Colorado since CommonGround in Aurora debuted in 2009. A new 13-hole short course at Ballyneal is planned for a 2017 formal opening.
— While Thorncreek Golf Course in Thornton will be closed for major renovation work in 2017, a second Colorado Topgolf site is planned for nearby. Looking further out, another Colorado course that may close for a year (in this case 2018) — pending ongoing legal challenges — is Denver’s City Park Golf Course, as part of a stormwater drainage project the city plans.
— Colorado Golf Club hosted the first Paintbrush Invitational college tournament.
— Three juniors become the first Coloradans to qualify for the national finals of the Drive Chip & Putt event held at Augusta National Golf Club.
— Carty’s individual win helped the DU women claim their 13th straight league title.
— Former Colorado prep champ Cohen finished 3rd and won a team title in NCAA Div. III.
— Coloradan Vlosich qualified for his fifth U.S. Senior Open.
— Denver’s Nick Mason became the first Colorado resident since 2010 to win the overall championship at the Rocky Mountain Open in Grand Junction.
— UNC freshman Coby Welch, in just his fourth college tournament, claimed the title at the Mark Simpson CU Invite.
— The Super-Senior Stroke Play title was added to Kent Moore’s varied and long CGA resume.
— CU’s Jeremy Paul represented Germany at the World Amateur Team Championship.
