When it comes to Colorado hosting USGA championships, The Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs and Cherry Hills Country Club run virtually neck and neck.
Cherry Hills has been the home of nine such championships, dating back to the 1938 U.S. Open. And The Broadmoor, which like Cherry Hills will celebrate its 100th “birthday” within the next decade, is on a similar pace.
With the USGA announcing Tuesday that The Broadmoor’s East Course will be the site of the 2018 U.S. Senior Open — the dates will be June 28-July 1 — the venerable resort at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain will be hosting a USGA championship for the eighth time. It’s scheduled to be No. 6 for the East Course, including the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, which drew 128,714 fans — and at least one bear (pictured below) — to The Broadmoor.
Appropriately, the 2018 Senior Open will be held at The Broadmoor in the summer it celebrates its 100th “birthday”.
“The Broadmoor has a rich and vibrant history in hosting tournament golf,” two-time U.S. Senior Open champion Hale Irwin noted in an email to coloradogolf.org on Tuesday. “The facilities (are outstanding) and, more importantly, the people there are gracious and accommodating hosts who proudly welcome anyone to one of our nation’s greatest resorts. The USGA has chosen a wonderful place to once again play the USGA Senior Open Championship as proven by the last time the tournament was played there in 2008.”
Overall, it will be the third time Colorado has hosted a U.S. Senior Open, which dates back to 1980. Jack Nicklaus won at Cherry Hills in 1993 and Eduardo Romero prevailed in 2008 at The Broadmoor. The resort’s East Course is combination of holes designed by Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones Sr.
“The Broadmoor has been a great partner with the USGA and a friend to golf on the international, national and collegiate levels since the 1920s,” said Diana Murphy, USGA vice president and Championship Committee chairman. “The U.S. Senior Open is senior golf’s most coveted championship and we know the East Course will test the players thoroughly.”
By the time the 2018 championship is completed, only Ohio (with six) will have hosted the U.S. Senior Open more times than Colorado, which will be tied with Michigan and Pennsylvania with three each.
“The Broadmoor is thrilled to have the opportunity to host its eighth USGA championship,” said Russ Miller, The Broadmoor’s director of golf. “Not only will it be a time to watch and enjoy the greatest senior golfers in the world, it is a tremendous accolade to the city of Colorado Springs and the state of Colorado to be chosen as its site. We are privileged to once again stage such a prestigious and highly reconizable worldwide golf championship.”
All eight of The Broadmoor’s USGA championships will have been held since 1959, when Nicklaus defeated Charlie Coe in the final to claim the first of his two U.S. Amateur titles. Two U.S. Women’s Opens are among the events that have been contested on the East Course, including the one Annika Sorenstam won in 1995 for her first LPGA Tour victory. Another World Golf Hall of Famer who has won an USGA individual title at The Broadmoor is Juli (Simpson) Inkster, who in 1982 claimed her third consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur championship at what was then the South Course.
Overall, the 2018 U.S. Senior Open will mark the 32nd USGA championship played in Colorado, with The Broadmoor and Cherry Hills combined having hosted more than half of those.
Not only has Colorado been home to more than its share of U.S. Senior Opens, players with strong ties to the Centennial State have captured the title on several occasions. Irwin, a former University of Colorado golfer who grew up in Boulder, won the Senior Open in 1998 and 2000 to go with his three U.S. Open championships. Another former Buff, Dale Douglass, who grew up in Fort Morgan, landed the Senior Open title as a 50-year-old in 1986. And Orville Moody, who was once stationed at Fitzsimons while in the Army, won in 1989.
With the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, Colorado will add to the extensive and diverse list of significant golf championships it has hosted since The International PGA Tour event ended its 21-year run after the 2006 tournament.
That list includes:
— The 2008 U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2008 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Murphy Creek
— The 2009 Palmer Cup at Cherry Hills
— The 2010 Senior PGA Championship at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2010 Trans-Mississippi at Denver Country Club
— The 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor
— The 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and CommonGround
— The 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club
— The 2014 BMW Championship at Cherry Hills
Other upcoming U.S. Senior Opens are scheduled for Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio (2016) and Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. (2017).
