The last time the CGA Women’s Senior Stroke Play was held at Greeley Country Club, to merely say that Kim Eaton won the title would be the equivalent of stating the same about Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach or Secretariat at the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
Competing at a course she estimated at the time that she’s played more than 1,000 times, Eaton lapped the field in her old hometown of Greeley, prevailing by 16 strokes in a 36-hole event six years ago.
We bring that up now because the Women’s Senior Stroke Play will return to Greeley CC next week — specifically Monday and Tuesday. And Eaton (left) — a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer who has now won the championship five times, including last year — will be in the field looking for a shot at history.
Should she prevail at her old home club, it would be the 26th CGA/CWGA title of her career, which would break the record she currently shares with another Hall of Famer, Carol Flenniken.
Eaton, who recently turned 59 and is now a full-time resident of Arizona, has won four Stroke Plays, one Match Play, five Senior Stroke Plays, four Senior Match Plays, one Junior Match Play, seven Brassies, one Mashie, one Chapman and one Mixed championship in Colorado.
While Eaton may know the Greeley Country Club course better than anyone in the 104-player Senior Stroke Play field — 14 golfers are in the championship flight — there’s no lack of competitors capable of winning the title next week.
Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Janet Moore of Cherry Hills, teamed up with Eaton to win this year’s CGA Women’s Brassie, which marked her 21st CGA/CWGA win, putting her in the mix for the all-time record when all is eventually said and done. Moore competed this summer in the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
Also scheduled to be in the field in Greeley are 2016 champion Deb Hughes of Green Valley Ranch, 2018 CGA Women’s Senior Match Play winner Tiffany Maurycy of Cherry Creek, and two players who advanced to match play at the 2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (along with Eaton), Kristine Franklin of Colorado National and Susan Hartwell of Hyland Hills.
The championship flight is one of eight flights that will produce a winner next week in Greeley. For Monday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.