What has been reported for almost a year — a Web.com Tour event coming to the new TPC Colorado course in Berthoud starting in 2019 — became a reality on Thursday when next year’s Web tournament schedule was announced.
The TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes will be held for the first time the week of July 8-14, 2019. The event, which will feature 156 players and a $600,000 purse, will be the first of five such tournaments planned for TPC Colorado through 2023.
TPC Colorado, located just northwest of U.S. Highway 287 where the road turns east a little northwest of Berthoud, has opened in phases over the last year, with some member play taking place on selected holes in September of 2017 and general public play beginning Sept. 1 of this year.
The TPC facility, the first brand-new 18-hole regulation golf course to open in Colorado since 2009, held its first major tournament last week with the Colorado PGA Professional Championship being contested there.
“Our site is a hidden gem, but I couldn’t imagine a better location,” said TPC Colorado owner Jon Turner. “Our project is equidistant between Boulder and Fort Collins. This is our marquis development project and we think it’s the perfect stage for this event to showcase Colorado to the world.”
The TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes will mark the first Web.com Tour event held in Colorado since 1997. The Web.com Tour is one step below the PGA Tour, with the top 25 finishers on the Web’s regular-season money list each year earning PGA Tour cards, and another 25 landing priviliges through their performance in the Web.com Finals, a series of season-ending events culminating with the Web.com Tour Championship.
The Web circuit — then known as the Nike Tour — previously had a tournament in Colorado in 1996 and ’97, when Riverdale’s Dunes Course in Brighton hosted the Nike Colorado Classic. Stewart Cink, who has since won six times on the PGA Tour including the 2009 British Open, claimed the title in 1996.
Of course, Colorado has also hosted annual PGA Tour stops in the state over the years, most recently The International at Castle Pines from 1986 through 2006. And the BMW Championship PGA Tour playoff event was conducted at Cherry Hills Country Club in 2014.
“We are excited to bring the Web.com Tour to Colorado in conjunction with the highly anticipated debut of TPC Colorado,” Web.com Tour president Dan Glod said in a release. “This state has historically delivered a tremendous amount of PGA Tour support, and we are confident that local businesses, fans and volunteers will enable the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes to become a great success.”
TPC Colorado, a semi-private/high-end daily fee Scottish links-style course designed by Arthur Schaupeter, can stretch to 7,991 yards from the Tour tees. Some of its most formidable features are stacked-sod-faced bunkers (below), often with sheer walls, along with scenic views of the Rocky Mountains. Course mounding often results in views of only part of the flagsticks when hitting approach shots.
The large reservoirs on site — the Lonetree, McNeil and Welch Reservoirs — rarely come into play for championship-caliber players, though seven holes are situated along the water.
A 60,000-square-foot clubhouse at TPC Colorado is currently under construction.
Drew Blass will be the tournament director for the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes. Blass, most recently director of corporate partnerships and business development for the LPGA, has served as director of operations and assistant tournament director for the last three U.S.-based Solheim Cups, including the one held at Colorado Golf Club in Parker in 2013.
“Colorado has a rich history with the game of golf and support (for it), which I witnessed firsthand during my time with the 2013 Solheim Cup,” Blass said. “We are confident the TPC Colorado Championship will become one of the region’s premier sporting events beginning in 2019 and the place to be each July.”
Larry Collins, the PGA general manager at TPC Colorado, has worked at six TPC facilities over his career.
“It’s really a stunning piece of land,” he said last fall regarding TPC Colorado. “It sits on 800 acres, overlooking three reservoirs with about 1,500 acres of water — with Longs Peak and a panoramic view (of the mountains) in the background. The community is just going to be loaded with amenities. It’s very, very exciting.”
