In the last several years, more players from out of state have won the CoBank Colorado Open than in-staters have.
And don’t think that’s gone unnoticed.
In 2014, Ian Davis of Edmond, Okla., prevailed. In 2015, it was Scotland’s Jimmy Gunn. Two years ago, it was Neil Johnson of Phoenix/River Falls, Wis. In 2017, part-time Boulder resident Jonathan Kaye scored one for the home team with his victory at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.
And now, Coloradans have a good chance to make it two in a row.
Not only do local residents hold down the top two places after Saturday’s second round, but they have some cushion over the player in third place heading into Sunday’s final 18.
Shane Bertsch of Parker, winner of the 1998 Colorado Open and a veteran of 193 PGA Tour starts, leads going into the final round. And Riley Arp of Fort Collins, a former Colorado State University golfer who has had plenty of success on mini tours over the years, stands in second place, just a stroke behind Bertsch. (Bertsch is pictured chatting with a young fan after Saturday’s round.)
Arp finds himself where he is thanks to a bogey-free 10-under-par 62 on Saturday that matched the course record at GVR. It was the sixth time that score has been shot at the course in the Colorado Open.
Arp, for one, likes to see Coloradans excel at the Colorado Open.
“It’s our state open,” the 30-year-old (left) said. “It’s nice to come in and kind of protect your state. It’s like, ‘Everybody can show up but this is the Colorado Open.’
“The guys who play here a lot, we do have a pretty good advantage because the ball flies a long way. And if you’re not used to really knowing your distances … you can catch a flyer” that will go an unexpectedly long distance.
Through two days, Bertsch is atop the leaderboard with a 15-under-par 129 total, while Arp is at 130. The next best on the leaderboard are Chris Petefish of Cumming, Ga., a rookie pro who recently graduated from Georgia Tech (64-68–132); Dru Love, son of World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III (68-65); and Patrick Stolpe of Scottsdale, Ariz. (64-69).
Bertsch had only one blemish in his second-round 64 on Saturday, a bogey on his final hole, the par-5 ninth. Ironically, he had a wedge from the middle of the fairway into the green, but pushed it a bit, hit a poor chip and missed an 8-foot par putt.
But through two rounds, the 48-year-old has made an eagle and 15 birdies at GVR.
“I’m playing good,” he said. “I’m in that aggressive mindset. I was in good position for birdie (on Saturday’s final hole) and all of a sudden I walked off with a bogey. That’s how golf is. But there were a lot of good things today.
“It’s been a long year and a half. I had (left) shoulder surgery in April of ’16 and I’ve been back playing on the two tours (PGA and Web.com) without much success. But about a month ago, I started to figure out some stuff. I had lost my iron game basically — the consistency of it. But I found some stuff that’s making a big difference and has gotten me back on track.”
Indeed, Bertsch has missed the cut in his one PGA Tour appearance this season and has made just two cuts in nine events on the Web.com Tour in 2018. But he’s certainly in the groove this week at the Colorado Open.
His wedge game has been particularly sharp at GVR, where he’s competing for the first time in three years.
“I’ve hit a lot of wedges close this week — some really good ones for kick-ins,” said Bertsch, who owns three Web.com Tour victories and five PGA Tour top-10s in his career. “I hadn’t been doing that. That was the part of the game I had to excel at because I’m not the longest (hitter) so I need to take advantage of those situations. I’m starting to again.”
It’s been a while since Bertsch’s last significant victory — he won the on the Web.com Tour in 2015 — but he’s looking forward to a crack at another title.
“It’s going to be pedal to the medal” on Sunday, he said. “There’s going to be scores to be had assuming we have a typical Colorado morning with not much wind. You’re going to have to be going for it when you can and playing away from certain pins. But you’re not going to be able to just protect. I’ll be trying to go as low as I can.
“I can’t wait. It’s going to be fun.”
Arp, who Monday qualified for last week’s Web.com Tour event in Omaha, matched his career tournament low score relative to par on Saturday. He shot a 62 last year in a Monday qualifier to earn a spot in the field for the PGA Tour’s Shell Houston Open.
On Saturday, the 2010 CGA Public Links champion did the trick with 10 birdies and no bogeys.
“It has nothing to do with my golf game at all. It all has to do with me controlling myself,” Arp said of his impressive play this week. “My golf game has been fine the last month, but I haven’t been able to score and I couldn’t figure out why. I realized I was a head case and need to figure that out. I’ve been focused on that the last two weeks and trying to come up with solutions. I found one and it’s working so far and we’ll see if it keeps working.
“A buddy of my turned me onto a book — it’s called, ‘On Combat’. I just read it and was kind of thinking about (how) it has to do with heart rate and how you can calm yourself down when you start to get a little edgy or whatever It’s been working. And it helps to make a few putts here or there.”
As good as Arp’s round was, he said it easily could have been better. But he missed three putts inside 10 feet.
“I feel like I’m in a pretty good place and hopefully I’ll keep myself there tomorrow,” he said. “I think I’ve got a pretty good chance. I’m hitting it pretty good and rolling it well.”
Arp made his professional debut at the Colorado Open in 2010 and is looking for his first top-10 finish in the event.
“The Colorado Open has always meant quite a lot to me,” said Arp, who is now a full-time resident of Fort Collins again. “And now I feel like I have my head in the right place, so it’s time to play some golf.”
Two Days and Out: Two of the biggest names in the 2018 CoBank Colorado Open field, including the defending champion, bowed out after Saturday, having missed the cut.
Part-time Colorado residents and PGA Tour winners Jonathan Kaye and Kevin Stadler finished at identical 3-over-par 147 totals, which left them six strokes shy of advancing to Sunday’s final round.
“It’s kind of expected,” said Kaye (left), who finished with a 23-under-par total for four rounds at GVR in winning last year. “I’ve just been playing (poorly). It wasn’t really out of the realm for me to play (poorly).”
Though it may have been just in the heat of the moment following rounds of 76-71, Kaye said this in response to a question if he was going to play any more tournaments this year: “Nope. Done. I might not ever play again in a tournament. I just don’t like golf. I don’t enjoy the pace of play and waiting around so much. Everybody is just dinking around. No one is playing. …. I don’t get it. I can’t play like that. I don’t have the patience for it anymore.”
As for Stadler, the 2002 Colorado Open champion and winner of the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open is continuing the road back to the PGA Tour after first feeling the effects of a left hand injury while playing in China in November of 2014. After not receiving the correct diagnosis for more than 18 months, he underwent surgery on what was a broken hamate bone last August, and is now pain-free. But while he has made two starts on the Web.com Tour this year, he hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since 2015. He plans to change that this fall.
In the meantime, he’s trying to shake some poor habits in his game, and he shot 78-69 at GVR this week.
“It was a lot of rust and a lot of lack of ability these days,” he said with a chuckle. “Yesterday (the 78) was kind of a perfect storm getting caught in the wind and I didn’t have control of my ball, (and I) three-putted a couple of times early. Basically I made every error I could possibly make. It was pretty pathetic shooting what I shot. I played bad but I didn’t feel I played that bad. It was just a combination of everything.
“I played all right today. It’s just a lot of rusty, silly mistakes.
“The scores don’t really mean a whole lot for me right now. As poor as it was, it’s actually getting better. I’ve shot better scores in events I’ve played the last 6-8 weeks, but I can tell the motion is better and I’m starting to play a little better. Yesterday was just a disaster. All in all I was pretty happy with the way I hit it today. It’s nowhere near where it needs to be and where it used to be, but it’s going in the right direction.”
Remarkable Recovery for GVR: After a day of playing lift, clean and place on Friday after severe storms and flooding on Wednesday evening led to a cancelation of Thursday’s scheduled opening round, it was back to playing the ball down on Saturday at the Colorado Open.
Suffice it to say it was quite a task to get GVR back in playable shape after the storm on Wednesday evening, which brough heavy rain, hail and winds estimated at 60 mph.
That weather event dumped at least 1.1 inches of rain on the course, leading to the Colorado Open being reduced to 54 holes for the first time since 1981.
There were standing “lakes” on the course were there was previously fairway, and newly created pools of water where fish and frogs were stranded and sometimes died (see photos at left and below, courtesy of Kevin Laura).
On Thursday, superintendent Barry Kendall had a crew of 10 working 11 straight hours pumping the water off the course and from the bunkers. Kendall has worked at GVR since 2007 — since 2009 as head superintendent — having prepared the course for 35 Colorado Opens/Colorado Women’s Opens/Colorado Senior Opens during that 11-plus-year period.
But the bottom line was, the course was ready to play on Friday, although it was certainly still wet in spots.
Noted two-time Colorado Open champion Derek Tolan about the course on Saturday: “It’s in phenomal shape, unbelievable.”
Notable: Kyler Dunkle of Parker, the 2016 CGA Player of the Year, remains in the lead for low-amateur honors after 36 holes. Dunkle, a University of Utah golfer after transferring from Colorado State, has posted rounds of 66-70 for an 8-under-par 136 total. He played his final 10 holes in 4 under par on Saturday. Dunkle is one stroke ahead of AJ Ott of Fort Collins, the 2018 CGA Match Play champion who carded a 69 on Friday. Both Dunkle and Ott have qualified for next month’s U.S. Amateur. Sam Marley of Centennial and Griffin Barela of Lakewood share third place among amateurs at 138. … The 62 players who were at 3-under 141 or better made the 36-hole cut on Saturday. Among those who didn’t advance to Sunday — besides Kaye and Stadler — were former champions Zahkai Brown (142), Scott Petersen (142) and Ben Portie (145), 2017 runner-up Jacob Lestishen (147) and five-time Colorado PGA Player of the Year Geoff Keffer (150). … Chris DiMarco, a three-time PGA Tour winner, caddied for his son Cristian on Friday and Saturday, but the younger DiMarco missed the cut (75-74). The DiMarcos recently moved to Colorado. … Notah Begay, winner of four events on the PGA Tour, shares 44th place after rounds of 69-72. He birdied his final hole Friday to make the cut. … The leading threesome after 36 holes — Bertsch, Arp and Petefish — will tee off at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday for the final round.
For scores from the Colorado Open, CLICK HERE.
For Sunday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.
