When John Ogden shook hands with playoff opponent Rick Cole after winning the Colorado PGA Professional Championship on Wednesday, he did so gingerly with his left hand.
That seemed only fitting given that the two professionals who squared off for the title are seniors by PGA tournament standards, with many of the ailments and maladies that come with age.
In Ogden’s case, his right elbow has been giving him fits, so he had to improvise — both with the handshake and with his swing at Red Sky Golf Club in Wolcott.
But in spite of their age — Ogden is 50 and Cole 64 — the two finished atop the leaderboard at the Colorado PGA’s biggest tournament of the year, ahead of a field that included plenty of guys in their 20s and 30s. In fact, had Cole won, Colorado PGA records indicate he would have been the oldest champion in this event, by far, and the tournament dates back to 1958.
“The gray-haired guys, that was pretty good,” Ogden said with a smile afterward. “But Rick’s got a few more years than me on the gray hairs.”
But the “seniors make good” theme didn’t stop with Ogden and Cole. The top dozen finishers included seven pros who are 50 and older. Besides Ogden and Cole, there was three-time champion Doug Rohrbaugh (55), Barry Milstead (50), former PGA Tour player Larry Rinker (60), Paul Lobato (54) and three-time winner Bill Loeffler (61).
“I think the seniors definitely had the advantage in the tournament,” Cole said. “We’re hitting drivers on some of the holes (where younger players) are hitting 4-irons and 5-irons and 3-woods. I think that was an equalizer on this golf course, to be honest with you.”
Appropriately enough, being the PGA head professional at Cherry Hills Country Club for the last decade, Ogden (above and left) earned a trophy on Wednesday that bears the name of Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Ralph “Rip” Arnold, who himself served as the head pro at Cherry Hills. Also for being the best of the bunch this week at the Fazio Course at Red Sky, Ogden received the $8,000 first prize — and promptly announced that he was donating half of that total to the Colorado PGA REACH Foundation.
“That’s such a great foundation,” he said. “I’ve sat on that foundation board in years past. I think it’s the right thing to do. Money is money. It’s nice, but I just like to compete. I’ve never been about winning money or anything like that. I’ve been very blessed in my life and my profession, so anything I can do to help out, I’m happy to help out.”
Despite his right elbow issues — which he said might eventually require surgery — Ogden had what it took to claim this title for the first time. But, again, he had to improvise.
“I usually play right-hand (dominant), and I played left-armed this week,” he said.
“When you play left-armed, it’s kind of like old school. When I was a kid I took some lessons from Stan Thirsk, who was Tom Watson’s instructor. I kind of went back to some of those thoughts and had some of those images of those lessons with Stan. All I was doing was letting my arm get up vertical and letting my left arm pass. I kind of had an image of Tom Watson in my head too.”
And that did the job for Ogden. He hit a 400-yard drive on the downhill par-5 final hole in regulation and two-putted from 20 feet for birdie to force a playoff with Cole, then won in sudden death on the same hole with a bogey.
Ogden shot a 2-under-par 70 on Wednesday to post a 4-under 212 total.
Cole, the PGA head pro at Eaton Country Club for the last 32 years, also checked in at that figure after finishing birdie-birdie. He nearly aced the 156-yard 17th hole, then two-putted from 30 feet to close out regulation. His 67 was Wednesday’s best round by two strokes.
Kirk Trowbridge of the MetaGolf Learning Center finished tied for third at 213 after leading early on the back nine on Wednesday. After making an eagle and two birdies on the front side and shooting a 4-under 32, his Waterloo came on the par-4 13th hole. There, he lost two balls — one right off his tee shot and one over the green when the wind shifted as he was hitting his approach — and he had to sink a 6-foot putt for a triple bogey.
Still, Trowbridge would have been part of the playoff had he sunk his 6-foot eagle putt on 18, but he missed and settle for birdie. His 70 put him at 213, one back of Ogden and Cole.
Asked if he was playing “what-if” after what happened on the 13th hole, Trowbridge said no. “I also made an eagle and a couple of birdies early on, so that’s golf, right? I’m happy. I probably managed my game this week better than maybe ever.”
Sharing third place at 213 with Trowbridge was 2016 champion Geoff Keffer from the Greater Golfer Development Center at Park Hill. Keffer had a one-birdie, one-bogey final day and shot 72.
Rohrbaugh, who’s believed to be the oldest winner of the tournament when he claimed the title in 2015 at age 53, placed fifth on Wednesday at 215 after carding a final-round 71.
The playoff on the 18th hole wasn’t pretty — as both participants readily admitted — but Ogden posted a bogey to win, while Cole made a double bogey. It was a far cry from their birdies in regulation, but both players paid the price for their tee shots.
Ogden thought his drive was as good as the one he hit in regulation on the hole, but it bounced into the environmentally sensitive area right of the rough and he was forced to take a penalty. Cole (left), usually a fixture in the fairway off the tee, double-crossed his drive and his ball shot left and “onto somebody’s back patio, but there’s no out of bounds stakes,” he noted. If Cole’s memory serves, it was just his second missed fairway of the entire tournament, though he hadn’t seen the course before Monday’s first round.
After the awry drive, “I thought I hit a perfect shot out of there,” Cole said. “I see a ball down there in the middle of the fairway — which was my provisional; I forgot I hit a provisional because I’m kind of old — so I’m thinking, ‘What a shot.’ But somebody comes down and says, ‘Rick, your ball went into a hazard’ (on the right side, where Ogden had hit his tee shot). I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Really?’ It hit really, really hard and bounced into the hazard. So I took a drop, and it was (all but done) at that point because John was greenside in three.”
Ogden was indeed laying 3 in a greenside bunker. And after Cole hit a 7-iron to just short of the green and a pitch that ended up 18 feet shy of the cup, Ogden blasted to about 20 feet. He two-putted for bogey and Cole did likewise for double bogey and that was the tournament.
“I didn’t see this one coming,” Ogden said of the victory. “I’ve got a messed-up right elbow. And I haven’t played very good in the last month. I didn’t play good last week at the Smith-Cole (at Cherry Hills). And at 50, I thought my days of (possibly) winning this, those times were past. But you just never know.
“This means the world. It’s probably the biggest victory of my professional career, that’s for sure,” added the former University of Kansas golfer, who once beat John Daly to win the Missouri Open. “I don’t win much, so this might be No. 1 (of his career overall). Who knows? It’ll mean a lot to my family and to my club and my staff.
“Winning is hard to do, especially in our Section where we have great players. At the (Colorado PGA) Senior Championship a few weeks ago, I shot 3 under and just got it handed to me.”
Meanwhile, Cole came ever so close to winning the Section’s top championship as a 64-year-old, which would have set the new age standard in the event by 11 years.
“I don’t even think about it to be honest with you,” he said of the age factor. “I’m just happy with the way I played, happy with the way I putted.
“I’ve got the points lead (among seniors in the Section). I thought if I could just make a good showing in this tournament I might win the points championship on the senior end of it. My goal honestly was to make the cut and get some more points on (his senior challengers). I really accomplished my goal in that regard. And I managed my game probably as well as I have all year.”
Thanks to their performances at the Colorado PGA Professional Championship, eight players qualified for the 2018 national PGA Professional Championship, set for June 17-20 at Bayonet Black Horse in Seaside, Calif.
Advancing to that event were Ogden, Cole, Trowbridge (left), Keffer, Rohrbaugh, Jack Allen of Heritage Eagle Bend, Micah Rudosky of Conquistador and Barry Milstead of Valley. Allen, Rudosky and Milstead tied for sixth place on Wednesday along with Rinker, the director of instruction at Red Sky who isn’t eligible to compete at the national championship.
For Cole, it will be the first national PGA Professional Championship he’s qualified for since 1987.
“I figured there was no chance,” he said. “So to go out there is an awesome privilege.”
Colorado PGA Professional Championship
Sept. 11-13, 2017 (final) at Par-72 Fazio Course at Red Sky GC in Wolcott
Top Finishers
1. John Ogden (won playoff on first extra hole) 72-70-70–212
2. Rick Cole 70-75-67–212
T3. Kirk Trowbridge 74-69-70–213
T3. Geoff Keffer 70-71-72–213
5. Doug Rohrbaugh 72-72-71–215
T6. Jack Allen 75-72-69–216
T6. Micah Rudosky 77-69-70–216
T6. Barry Milstead 71-72-73–216
T6. Larry Rinker 71-70-75–216
10. Paul Lobato 76-70-72–218
For complete results, CLICK HERE.
