Annika Tour Makes Colorado Debut

Organizers of the first Annika Tour event in Colorado are optimistic that their new pro golf event will give the community and the players involved a good experience.

The first Colorado Championship at Todd Creek is scheduled for July 29 to Aug. 1 at Todd Creek Golf Club in Thornton. Organizers are George Hanlon, a developer with his firm Equinox Land Group, and Mike Meador, a partner with Denver-based Brand Asset Partners.

The Annika Tour is a developmental tour backed by LPGA great Annika Sorenstam. Most of the players are college golf team graduates or young players from overseas working to get experience at professional touring tournament golf.

“The Annika is using this as an opportunity to kind of help a lot of people figure out how they take their career in golf and make it work for them,” Hanlon said recently. “For them, for life-whether they’re playing competitively or whether they’re going to move into the business like Michael is or I ended up.”

One of the best discoveries in building the tournament for the first time, Hanlon said, was the support they’ve received from residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. Todd Creek Golf Club is the centerpiece of an active-adult residential community and many of the residents are empty-nesters whose homes have room to house the visiting players. They had several couples step up to volunteer for housing and help run the tournament.

“It’s the perfect setup in terms of the golf course, the clubhouse, the practice facility, which is, I mean, that’s huge,” Meador said. “They have the three practice greens, the driving range is huge – girls can hit from the other end – and then just the community buy-in. These folks all have their kids and grandkids who come to visit so they have empty rooms. Not everybody, but and that’s what we were shooting for and (residents) have really bought in.”

Like with the Inspirato Colorado Open tournaments, the planners are not going to charge fans to come watch the tournament. Visitors will get a front-row view of competitive golfers and be able to learn from their approach to the game. The four-day tournament will begin with more than 100 players who are competing for $55,000 in prize money, with $10,000 for first place. Todd Creek is a challenging course that will play at around 6,900 yards for the tournament. The course has been improving its agronomy for the past year under new superintendent Eric Phillips, Hanlon said.