The college golf season is almost upon us, and for Coloradans that means an abundance of in-state tournaments in a monthlong span from mid-September to mid-October.
And this season, with the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II national championships coming to the Denver metro area in the spring, that’s adding to the busy fall calendar as well.
National Division II “preview” tournaments will be held this month at both CommonGround Golf Course (left) and Green Valley Ranch Golf Club (below), which will be hosting the women’s and men’s national championships, respectively, in May.
The men’s preview tournament at GVR is set for Sept. 21-22, while the women’s at CommonGround is scheduled for Sept. 28-29.
Those events will set the stage for the first Colorado-hosted NCAA men’s or women’s DII golf national championships. (The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs was the site of five NCAA Division I men’s national championships between 1953 and ’69.)
The DII national championship finals are scheduled for May 17-21 for the men at GVR and May 18-21 for the women at CommonGround. Both are part of the 2016 DII Spring Championships Festival that brings national finals in several sports to a single venue over a six-day period. In the case of May 2016, Metropolitan State University of Denver will host DII nationals for men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse and softball.
Getting back to this fall’s portion of the schedule, the DII previews this month are in addition to six full-fledged Division I college tournaments that will be contested in Colorado between now and mid-October. There are three each on the men’s and women’s side, starting Sept. 12-13 with the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational at the Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course at the Air Force Acacemy (men) and the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic Sept. 14-15 at Ptarmigan Country Club in Fort Collins (women).
The only major change in the Division I tournament lineup in Colorado is that the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational will be played at Boulder Country Club this year after Colorado National Golf Club hosted the event every previous year since its debut in 2010.
Here’s the rundown of Division I and selected other tournaments that are on the schedule this season for Colorado venues:
Men
Sept. 12-13 — Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, Eisenhower GC Blue Course, hosted by Air Force Academy. Other Div. I Colorado schools competing: CU, CSU, UNC.
Sept. 21-22 — Ram Masters Invitational, Fort Collins CC, hosted by CSU. Other Div. I Colorado schools competing: DU, Air Force, UNC.
Sept. 21-22 — Div. II National Preview Fall Intercollegiate, Green Valley Ranch GC, hosted by Colorado School of Mines.
Sept. 28-29 — Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, Boulder CC, hosted by CU. Other Div. I Colorado school competing: UNC, Air Force.
May 17-21 — NCAA Div. II National Championships, Green Valley Ranch GC, hosted by Metro State University of Denver.
Women
Sept. 14-15 — Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, Ptarmigan CC, hosted by CSU. Other Div. I Colorado school competing: UNC.
Sept. 21-23: Golfweek Conference Challenge, Red Sky GC in Wolcott. Div. I Colorado school competing: DU.
Sept. 28-29: Div. II National Championship Preview, CommonGround GC, hosted by Metro State University of Denver.
Oct. 9-11 — Ron Moore Denver Invitational, Highlands Ranch GC, hosted by DU. Other Div. I Colorado schools competing: CU, CSU, UNC.
May 18-21 — NCAA Div. II Women’s National Championships, CommonGround GC, hosted by Metro State University of Denver.
And here’s a look at the season openers and tournaments in Colorado for each of the NCAA Division I programs in the state:
CU Men
First Tournament — Sept. 12-13: Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, Eisenhower GC at Air Force Academy.
Other Tournament in Colorado — Sept. 28-29: Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, Boulder CC.
CU Women
First Tournament — Sept. 14-15: Minnesota Invitational in Minneapolis.
Tournament in Colorado — Oct. 9-11: Ron Moore Denver Invitational, Highlands Ranch GC.
CSU Men
First Tournament — Sept. 12-13: Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, Eisenhower GC at Air Force Academy.
Other Tournament in Colorado — Sept. 21-22: Ram Masters Invitational, Fort Collins CC.
CSU Women
First Tournament — Sept. 14-15: Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, Ptarmigan CC in Fort Collins.
Other Tournament in Colorado — Oct. 9-11: Ron Moore Denver Invitational, Highlands Ranch GC.
DU Men
First Tournament — Sept. 21-22: Ram Masters Invitational, Fort Collins CC.
Other Tournaments in Colorado — None.
DU Women
First Tournament — Sept. 14-15: New Mexico Dick McGuire Invitational, Albuquerque.
Tournaments in Colorado — Sept. 21-23: Golfweek Women’s Conference Challenge, Red Sky GC in Wolcott; Oct. 9-11: Ron Moore Denver Invitational, Highlands Ranch GC.
UNC Men
First Tournament — Sept. 12-13: Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, Eisenhower GC at Air Force Academy.
Other Tournaments in Colorado — Sept. 21-22: Ram Masters Invitational, Fort Collins CC; Sept. 28-29: Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, Boulder CC.
UNC Women
First Tournament — Sept. 14-15: Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, Ptarmigan CC in Fort Collins.
Other Tournament in Colorado — Oct. 9-11: Ron Moore Denver Invitational, Highlands Ranch GC.
Air Force Academy Men
First Tournament — Sept. 12-13: Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, Eisenhower GC at Air Force Academy.
Other Tournaments in Colorado — Sept. 21-22: Ram Masters Invitational, Fort Collins CC; Sept. 28-29: Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational, Boulder CC.
Speaking of the Eisenhower GC’s Blue Course, it was recently ranked 25th in the nation among campus courses by Golfweek magazine.
