Editor’s Note: With the CGA celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1915, this is the sixth monthly installment of a series of stories looking back on the last century of golf in Colorado. All the articles are being published on coloradogolf.org. This chapter focuses on the period from 1965-74. For the previous installments, CLICK HERE.
The decade beginning in 1965 featured some new twists on major championship themes in Colorado golf.
For the first time, a Colorado venue other than Cherry Hills Country Club hosted a men’s major. And golfers who grew up in Boulder won not one but two USGA championships, including a U.S. Open, plus an NCAA title.
The PGA Championship was scheduled to be played at Columbine Country Club south of Denver in 1966, but the June 1965 flood of the South Platte River — which runs adjacent to parts of the course — caused a change of plans.
Firestone Country Club in Ohio was set to host the 1967 PGA, but with the flood damage at Columbine, the USGA swapped the years for the two venues, giving Columbine the 1967 slot.
Unlike PGAs in recent decades, the ’67 championship was played in late July. In fact, it took place the week after another major, the British Open, was contested in Liverpool, England.
The ’67 PGA was, at the time, the longest course in major championship history at 7,436 yards, though with the mile-high elevation it played significantly shorter. That year also marked the second and final 18-hole Monday playoff in PGA Championship history, with Don January (below) prevailing over Dan Massengale for his lone victory in a major. The playoff format was later changed to sudden-death, then to a three-hole aggregate. Jack Nicklaus finished a shot out of the playoff, in third place.
A couple months earlier that same year, University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin (pictured at top) started making an indelible imprint nationally as a competitive golfer. In the spring of 1967, Irwin captured college golf’s top honor by winning the NCAA Championship at Shawnee on Delaware, Pa. That same year, Irwin also prevailed at the prestigious Broadmoor Invitation.
Seven years later, after claiming his first two PGA Tour victories in the interim, Irwin would really make some noice in the tournament that would largely define his career, the U.S. Open. In a championship that became known as the “Massacre at Winged Foot,” Irwin claimed the title with a 7-over-par 287 total, giving him the first of three U.S. Open victories.
Coincidentally, another golfer who grew up in Boulder also claimed a USGA title during the first half of the 1970s. Bob Byman, who would join Irwin as a three-time winner of the CGA Stroke Play (1971-73), won the 1972 U.S. Junior Amateur as a 17-year-old, defeating Scott Simpson in the final match. That year, Byman also qualified for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he was the youngest player in the field. Byman said he won all but two or three of the roughly 15 tournaments in which he played in 1972. The next year, he won the Colorado state high school title. In 1971, Byman had become the youngest winner of the CGA Stroke Play, capturing the championship at age 16.
On the women’s side of things, 1972 was a momentous time as that’s when Colorado began a run of 16 consecutive years of hosting LPGA Tour events. The first of those events, the National Jewish Hospital Open, was held at Green Gables Country Club. Other Colorado venues were Rolling Hills, Pinehurst, Columbine, Lone Tree, Meridian and Glenmoor.
Out of the 16 tournaments held in Colorado, an amazing 12 champions are now members of the World Golf Hall of Fame: Sandra Haynie (1972 and ’74), Judy Rankin (1975), Joanne Carner (1977 and ’81), Kathy Whitworth (1978), Beth Daniel (1980 and ’82), Pat Bradley (1983 and ’85), Betsy King (1984) and Amy Alcott (1986).
Here are some of the other Colorado golf highlights of the decade from 1965-74:
— Every player who won the CGA Stroke Play championship in this 10-year period is now a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame: Irwin (1965), Bill Carey (1966), Ron Moore (1967), Les Fowler (1968), John Hamer (1969 and ’70), Bob Byman (1971 through ’73) and Gary Longfellow (1974).
— In 1965, Colorado hosted two USGA championships, the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Lakewood Country Club (won by Jean Ashley) and the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Hiwan Golf Club (won by Gail Sykes).
— Bob Dickson took a liking to the Broadmoor in the mid-1960s as he won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1966 before returning to the club the following year to capture the U.S. Amateur title. Dickson would go on to win twice on the PGA Tour. Another future PGA Tour champiuon, Grier Jones, earned the Broadmoor Invitation title in 1968.
— In 1968, Jim Haines of Denver Country Club won the national USGA Green Section Award, given to individuals who contribute significantly to golf through their work with turfgrass.
— Evergreen resident Dave Hill captured the Vardon Trophy in 1969, with a season-long scoring average of 70.34 on the PGA Tour. That same year, Hill and fellow Coloradan Dale Douglass played on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
— In 1969, for the fifth time in 17 years, the Broadmoor hosted the men’s NCAA Division I golf championships.
— Carol (Sorenson) Flenniken, who won the 1960 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 1962 Women’s Western Amateur and the 1964 British Ladies Amateur, claims the first of her dozen CWGA Match Plays/Stroke Plays in 1968. She captured eight Stroke Play titles and four Match Plays.
— The CGA took on a bigger role, establishing a Course Rating and Measuring Committee in 1969 and offering handicap computation services starting in 1970.
— From 1971 through ’74, a remarkable total of 33 new courses opened up in Colorado.
— The first Colorado Cup matches, between the best amateurs and professionals in Colorado, was played in 1971, with the pros winning at Lakewood Country Club.
— The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame was founded in 1973, with Babe Zaharias, Babe Lind and Dave Hill the first class of inductees.
— The CGA and Colorado PGA hired a joint executive director in 1971, naming Jerry King to the post.
— Cherry Creek High school golfer Mike Reid won the 1971 CGA Junior Match Play. Reid would go on to win twice on the PGA Tour and two majors on the Champions Tour.
— Larry McAtee won his fourth CGA Match Play title in 1972, defeating Mark Achzinger in a 38-hole final.
— Future PGA Tour player Tom Purtzer won the Broadmoor Invitation in 1973.
— Warren Smith, the head professional at Cherry Hills Country Club, received a prestigious national honor in 1973, being named the Golf Professional of the Year by the PGA of America.
— In 1974, Coloradan Gary Longfellow became the first amateur to win the Colorado Open and the only person ever to pull off the triple crown by winning the Open and the CGA Stroke Play and Match Play in the same year.
