Many people take no joy in turning 50 years old. It’s a prominent reminder that the years are passing, seemingly all too quickly.
But in the world of golf, top-level competitors often eagerly await the half-century milestone, knowing that the birthday can mark the start of a new career, in senior events.
Kim Eaton of Greeley certainly looked forward to the day she could blow out 50 candles on her birthday cake. To her, that meant she could go where no player has gone in the history of Colorado women’s golf.
Eaton, who turned 50 on August 3, has won major CWGA tournaments at the junior and open-age levels, and she’ll play in her first CWGA senior event this week when the Senior Stroke Play takes place at Highlands Ranch Golf Club Wednesday and Thursday.
“Now I’m a rookie on the senior tour instead of an old player playing with the kids,” Eaton said.
No competitor in CWGA history has won the organization’s top junior, open-age, and senior tournaments in her lifetime, but Eaton can pull off the feat this week if she claims the Senior Stroke Play title. She already owns one CWGA junior championship (the Match Play in 1977) and five open-age titles (the Stroke Play in 1978, 1979, 1992 and 2004, and the Match Play in 2004).
“That’s been one of my goals for a number of years,” Eaton said of winning on every level of amateur golf in Colorado. “Usually no one stays around long enough” to complete the cycle.
There are only three players with records comparable to Eaton’s at both the junior and adult level in CWGA tournaments. Sally Hardwick won three Junior Match Play championships, three Stroke Plays and two Match Plays, but she never prevailed at the senior level in CWGA events. Wendy Werley claimed one Junior Match, two Junior Strokes, two Stroke Plays and two Match Plays. And Nicki Cutler won one Junior Match, one Junior Stroke and three Stroke Plays.
Out of that group, Hardwick (twice), Werley (twice) and Eaton have won both the CWGA Stroke Play and Match Play in the same calendar year. Eaton pulled off the feat in 2004, the year in which she turned 45. She was named the CWGA Player of the Year in both 2004 and “˜07.
But Eaton’s record in CWGA tournaments tells only part of the story. She turned pro in 1981 and competed and/or was a teaching pro through 1987. She played on the Futures Tour and a California-based mini-tour from 1982 through “˜84, and though she recorded plenty of top-10 finishes she said she “could never get my act together at (LPGA) Q-school. I tried to qualify three times and couldn’t do it. I told myself, “˜that’s enough.'” Eaton was reinstated as an amateur in 1991 after playing almost no golf from 1988 through 90.
As a pro, Eaton qualified for the 1983 U.S. Women’s Open and made the cut, which remains one of the accomplishments of which she’s most proud. In all, she has qualified for 14 USGA events, including two U.S. Women’s Opens, one U.S. Girls’ Junior, three U.S. Women’s Amateurs, three U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs, and a U.S. Senior Amateur.
In the coming two months alone, Eaton is scheduled to play in the U.S. Women’s State Team (with Janet Moore and Rachel Larson), the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Eaton, who made it to the round of 16 at last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am, now plays to a plus-2 handicap.
“The best golf I’ve played in my entire life has been in the last seven months,” said Eaton, who finished 21st in the Colorado Women”˜s Open and third in the CWGA Stroke Play in 2009. “I’m consistently shooting lower rounds and more rounds in the 60s than ever before.”
Asked about the prospects of winning the CWGA Senior Stroke Play this week, Eaton said, “My chances are pretty good. I don’t want to be cocky, but I’m playing well.”
With her impressive golf resume, Eaton was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2006, joining her previously-honored uncle, Larry Eaton. Since then, Kim Eaton became the Hall of Fame’s executive director.
Eaton worked in the police department for the town of Evans, near Greeley, from 1994 to 2007, when she retired.
“When I worked, I put my clubs in the basement from September until May,” Eaton said. Now, though, she typically plays four to six rounds of golf per week this time of year.
Lately, however, Eaton’s play has been curtailed by her Hall of Fame duties as she’s been busy preparing for the Aug. 23 induction dinner and Aug. 24 tournament at Lakewood Country Club.
“It’s the most stressed I’ve ever been,” she said. “But it’s over on Monday and hopefully Wednesday and Thursday (at the Senior Stroke Play) I won’t be worried about it.”
Earlier this month, Eaton combined her onetime occupation in law enforcement with her strong competitive drive in golf. For the seventh time since the mid-1990s, she participated in the World Police and Fire Games, an Olympics-like competition held every other year. This year’s Games took place in Vancouver, and Eaton won four gold medals in golf — including the women’s gross and handicap divisions — bringing her career total to 11 golds. Eaton has previously traveled to Australia (twice), Sweden, Spain, Canada, and Indianapolis for the Games.
Nowadays, Eaton splits her year between Greeley and Scottsdale, Ariz., and naturally, she competes in both states. In addition to what she’s done in Colorado, she won a state title in Arizona, joining with Lynn Zmistowski to claim a Chapman championship. Coincidentally, Zmistowski will attempt to defend her championship in this week’s CWGA Senior Stroke Play.
