The sun shined brightly and warmly on all the participants in Sunday’s finals of the CGA Team Interclub Championship, but particularly so on players from the Broadmoor Golf Club — not only this weekend but all season.
On a day when the temperature approached the 80-degree mark, the Broadmoor completed a dominant, undefeated year by beating Rifle Creek Golf Course for the Team Interclub title at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora.
The Broadmoor defeated Rifle Creek 23-13, giving the Colorado Springs-based club a 7-0 record in 2014. To add to the accomplishment, the Broadmoor won all seven of its matches by double-digit margins. Overall, the club outscored its opponents 188-64. (The Broadmoor’s title-winning team is pictured above.)
“At least for a year, we’re the best. It’s fun,” said Mike Allred, one of five Broadmoor competitors to win both their singles and four-ball matches on Sunday. “We’ve been doing it and doing it and doing it (in the Team Interclub over the last five years). Last year we came close (losing by two points in the first round of the playoffs). This year, everybody just turned it on when it needed to be turned on.”
That included on Sunday, when the Broadmoor beat a Rifle Creek team that has made the final four at each of the last three CGA Team Interclubs. The Broadmoor prevailed 14-10 in the singles on Sunday, and 9-3 in the four-ball matches, which were held concurrently.
Teammates joining Allred in winning both singles and four-ball matches on Sunday were Ron Crowder, Scott Meagher, Josh Waymire and Jerry Petersen.
“This is some good fun at the club and gives us some bragging rights, I guess,” said Crowder (pictured at left in the red cap with Allred). “It’s really fun for me (because) I lived (at Lowry, where CommonGround is located) as a kid 60 years ago. The golf course didn’t even exist then.
“But I think we have a big advantage because of the greens at the Broadmoor. You’ve got to putt at the Broadmoor, and these things always boil down to putting. I saw a women’s tournament on TV recently, and a commentator was talking about So Yeon Ryu, who won the (2011) U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor. And he said, ‘She can putt. She won it at the Broadmoor. Those are some of the toughest greens in America.’ And I think they’re right.
“You really have to know how to putt to score there.”
Allred seconds the notion.
“I think what it is is, the Broadmoor trains you to be an excellent golfer,” the 2.3-handicapper said. “It just makes you a better golfer. I think all these guys, if they didn’t play golf there, we wouldn’t be here. It’s world-class training to play golf at that golf course. It just fine-tunes everything.”
While five players went 2-0 for the Broadmoor on Sunday, Jim Grabe was the lone competitor from Rifle Creek to do likewise. Rifle Creek lost in the finals for the second time in three years, and it went to the semifinals last fall. Seven competitors from the 2012 finals played again on Sunday.
The Western Slope-based course finished the season 5-1, not including an opponent’s forfeit. (Pictured at left are Rifle Creek players Michael Smith and Jeb Savage.)
“We’ve got to find a way to get a win on some neutral territory,” said Kyle Daniell, the head professional at Rifle Creek. “Being our second time in the championship match, we wanted to get a win this year. Last time we were in it (2012), we were just happy to be there and it was a good experience. This was a great experience too, but we came with intention to win this year and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
“Definitely (the Team Interclub) is a big deal for us. We talk about it all the time. We get over 30 guys interested in playing. We have no problem filling the team. Maybe some clubs don’t take it as serious, but we take it serious. It’s good competition for our members and it’s good to see them out there competing.”
Sunday marked the conclusion of a season-long net match play championship that began on May 3 and which originally featured 61 teams from across the state. The finals were the 83rd match of the 2014 competition, not counting walkovers.
The “regular season” lasted from May through early August, with geographically-linked groups of four teams playing round-robins against one another. The team from each group with the highest point total advanced to the 16-team playoffs, which ran August through October.
Both in the regular season and the playoffs, teams of a dozen men each — of widely varying abilities — square off, with singles and four-ball matches held concurrently. Each individual match is worth two points — two for a win and one for a tie.
As part of the Team Interclub, the CGA will donate $500 to each of the junior golf programs at the clubs which qualified for the finals.
The Team Interclub concludes the 2014 CGA championship season.
CGA Team Interclub Finals
At CommonGround GC in Aurora
FINAL SCORE: Broadmoor GC 23, Rifle Creek GC 13
Singles (Broadmoor 14, Rifle Creek 10)
Mike Allred, B, def. Jeb Savage, 3 and 2
Ron Crowder, B, def. Michael Smith, 2 and 1
Jack Parkinson, RC, def. Phillip Temple, 2 and 1
Tod Smith, RC, def. Greg Flaks, 1 up
Jim Grabe, RC, def. Doug Wasson, 7 and 6
Jerry Tilton, B, halved with Jeff Hauer, RC
James Hafemeister, B, halved with Mark Sours, RC
Roger Perry, B, def. Steve Stanek, 3 and 2
Scott Meagher, B, def. Clint Hostettler, 4 and 3
Josh Waymire, B, def. Michael Higginbotham, 1 up
Pay Hayes, RC, def. Duke Mitchell, 6 and 4
Jerry Petersen, B, def. Mike Whitt, 4 and 2
Four-Ball (Broadmoor 9, Rifle Creek 3)
Allred/Crowder, B, def. Savage/Smith, 3 and 2
Temple/Flaks, B, def. Parkinson/Smith, 1 up
Grabe/Hauer, RC, def. Wasson/Tilton, 4 and 3
Hafemeister/Perry, B, halved with Sours/Stanek, RC
Meagher/Waymire, B, def. Hostettler/Higginbotham, 1 up
Mitchell/Petersen, B, def. Hayes/Whitt, 3 and 2
