When the Solheim Cup came to Colorado last year, it deservedly attracted much attention on a local, national and international level. After all, the Ryder Cup-like event featuring the best women’s golfers from the U.S. and Europe is a big event in the golf world.
But it was a tournament that rode the coattails of the Solheim Cup into Colorado that particularly piqued the ongoing interest of those at the CGA and CWGA. The Ping Junior Solheim Cup, a key event on the AJGA schedule that featured 24 of the best girl golfers from America and Europe, was held during Solheim Cup week, but at Inverness Golf Club in Englewood. And the CGA and CWGA staff and volunteers played significant roles at the event.
“People were saying, ‘Why don’t we have an AJGA here every year?'” recalls Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA.
Looking back now, four of the top seven golfers in the current women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings competed in that Junior Solheim Cup: Alison Lee (No. 4), Andrea Lee (No. 5), Bethany Wu (No. 6) and Linnea Strom (No. 7).
And with Coloradan John Seiple helping plant the seed with some financial support, an effort was launched that recently paid dividends in the form of Colorado landing an AJGA tournament for 2015.
The AJGA, which conducts tournaments that draw some of the best junior golfers in the nation and beyond, will bring an event to the state that will bear the name of one of Colorado’s all-time sports greats.
The AJGA Hale Irwin Junior will be contested June 2-4 at CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA.
“One of the reasons we built CommonGround was to host championships that attract the best players in the state, region and country, so this is a real good fit,” Mate said. “This will give the best junior players in the state a chance to see how they stack up (against national competition). And it was a nice tie-in with the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround.”
And CommonGround, of course, is no stranger to big-time events, having served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills Country Club hosted. (At left, CommonGround was also the site of the 2013 CGA Junior Stroke Play.)
The 54-hole no-cut Hale Irwin Junior will feature a total field of 96 players — all age 18 and under — with separate boys and girls divisions. While some competitors will be exempt into the field, a qualifying round will be held on May 31, with a Junior Am and practice rounds set for June 1.
The 2015 Hale Irwin Junior will be the first AJGA tournament held in Colorado since 2013.
Irwin, who developed his game as a junior player in Colorado in the 1960s, agreed to lend his name to the new event at CommonGround, which is already home to the three-year-old Hale Irwin Elite Player Program. Coloradan Steve Irwin, Hale’s son, is a member of the CGA Board of Governors.
Hale Irwin is the most successful golfer to have grown up in Colorado. A graduate of Boulder High School and the University of Colorado, he’s won three U.S. Opens, 20 PGA Tour events overall, and a record 45 tournaments on the Champions Tour. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.
In Colorado, Irwin claimed the 1963 state high school championship, three straight CGA Stroke Plays (1963, ’64 and ’65) and the CGA Match Play in 1966. He won the NCAA individual title in 1967 while competing for CU.
“Who better to represent what we’re hoping to accomplish — have our best players achieve their full potential?” Mate noted.
Ideally, it’s hoped that Irwin himself will play a role at the Hale Irwin Junior, but that part remains to be seen.
While there is currently a one-year commitment to hold the AJGA Hale Irwin Junior, the plan is for the tournament to be an ongoing event on the AJGA circuit.
A strong national field is expected for the inaugural AJGA Hale Irwin Junior, but there is plenty of precedent for Coloradans winning AJGA events in their home state. Since 2008, in-state players who have accomplished that feat include Josh Seiple (John Seiple’s son), Jimmy Makloski, David Oraee (twice), Wyndham Clark, Patricia Lee and Cole Nygren.
It’s anticipated that some player exemptions for the Hale Irwin Junior will likely be awarded through performance in CJGA events, which would help spur participation in those tournaments. But details about that are still in the works.
The AJGA circuit dates back to 1978, and a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, J.R. “Digger” Smith, is an AJGA founder and a longtime chairman of the board of directors. The association will end up holding 108 tournaments nationwide in 2014.
Many of the top players on the PGA and LPGA Tours in recent decades were regular competitors in AJGA events as youngsters, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Stacy Lewis and Paula Creamer.
