Dreams Deferred

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down courses—along with the hopes and dreams of some Colorado golfers looking forward to milestone events.

By Anthony Cotton

ALONG ABOUT THE beginning of March, life was looking pretty sweet for Lindsay Kuhle—with every expectation that more goodies were on the way. Coaching a University of Denver women’s golf team that had registered four top-five finishes in its nine tournaments played, with the best scoring average in school history, Kuhle was envisioning league titles and NCAA tournament berths for her Pioneers.

Not only that, the good times were rolling throughout the household. Her husband A.J.—the former Air Force Academy basketball star and now coach of the Valor Christian boys’ hoops team—had led the Eagles to a berth in the Final Four of the state tournament.

But then…

“It was just like…everything we worked so hard for—all we talk about and care about are our teams,” she said. “And for it to just end like that…”

“Like that,” is, of course, a reference to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has shut down myriad aspects of society, including athletics. Recently in Colorado, there have been signs of curves flattening and talk of the resumption of some activities, including the reopening of golf courses. But there’ll be no reprisals for either of the Kuhles, at least as far as their teams and promising seasons are concerned.

“Now I’m more motivated—I just want them back and I want to compete again and see their faces,” Lindsay Kuhle says. “But the first couple of weeks (after the DU season was shut down) I was just really sad. And I needed some time to understand everything, because I don’t think it really hit me.”

That same sentiment applies to others on the local golf scene, where any number of players will likely miss out on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

AUGUSTA WILL HAVE TO WAIT

One reason why DU’s women’s team was so successful was the play of freshman Anna Zanusso. A native of Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, about 25 miles from Venice, Zanusso was in the process of rewriting the Pioneers’ record book, including setting the single-season scoring average of 71.63.

In February, Zanusso won the individual title at the Westbrook Invitational in suburban Phoenix; after firing an opening round 61, she also established new DU records for 18-hole total (11-under), 36-hole total (14-under) and 54-hole total (16-under).

It was those preternatural skills that led the Augusta National Golf Club to invite Zanusso to its second annual Women’s Amateur. Last year’s inaugural event, with the final round played upon the hallowed grounds where Jack, Arnie and Tiger stalked Masters wins, was captured by another golfer with Colorado ties, Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster.

Via Lindsay Kuhle, Zanusso and Kupcho had started texting each other about the course and what to expect, but it wasn’t much later that the coronavirus began an insidious attack on Zanusso’s dreams.

First, with Italy particularly hard hit at the outset of the crisis, plans for her family to come to the U.S. to watch the tournament (her father was expected to caddie for her) were quickly scuttled. Then, on March 13, Augusta National announced the postponement of the tournament; three weeks later, it was canceled.

Augusta National says any player who received an invitation for the 2020 event would be invited back next year; even so, Zanusso’s disappointment at missing out on that event, as well as being wrenched away from her new stateside family, was palpable.

“All our worlds just crashed in, on the entire team,” Zanusso said on a Skype call from Italy, where she returned 10 days after the remainder of DU’s season was canceled.

Once home, Zanusso self-quarantined for two weeks. Then, she started returning to the things she loves, albeit in halting steps—brief walks with her dog, then, after fashioning a makeshift practice area, breaking out the clubs for a few short shots.

All that was happening in her family’s backyard. While happy to be ensconced in her home’s “pretty big garden,” she also longed to witness firsthand the azaleas and spectacular blooms at Augusta National.

“I was looking forward to just, I think, walking on the Augusta grass and saying, ‘Hey, I’m playing in the Augusta Women’s Tournament Championship,’” she said. “That’s what I was looking for; I was looking forward to the atmosphere with the pressure, the stress and everything. I was just looking forward to playing and enjoying every single moment.”

A NOT-SO-HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

In 2007, Jason Preeo held his head high after enduring one of the cruelest afternoons ever on a golf course. Leading the field at Columbine Country Club after the first of two rounds of sectional qualifying, with a single spot in that year’s U.S. Open on the line, Preeo blew up with a final-round 77, losing out on a berth at historic Oakmont Country Club.

But three years later, Preeo not only made it through qualifying for the Open, he also made the weekend cut at another iconic venue, Pebble Beach. And while qualifying tournaments have continued to be part of his limited playing schedule, the instructor at the MetaGolf Learning Center in Sheridan says this year’s attempt, coming on the anniversary of his triumphant appearance in California, would have been special.

“It stings a little more,” Preeo said of the news that, because of the pandemic, he might not get that chance.

In early April, the USGA announced the 120th Open, originally scheduled for June at Winged Foot in New York, would be postponed until September; the organization added it would strive “to conduct qualifying that fits health and safety guidelines while accommodating the rescheduled championship dates.”

That’s not the only area where Preeo was dealing with uncertainty. Like countless others who saw their incomes crater as businesses and workplaces shut down, the married father of three children has been trying to figure out how to make ends meet.

“I’m trying to read through all the Small Business Association information, all the plans and contingencies of the CARES Act (the program created by the federal government designed to help small businesses affected by the coronavirus)—I’m trying to sort all that out,” he says. “It’s more than just a little nerve-wracking, not having any income and hoping that we’re going to qualify and be able to take advantage of one of these payroll protection type of things.”

GROWING UP, MOVING OUT

Paying the monthly mortgage isn’t a concern for Charlotte Hillary—at age 18, her biggest housing worry is waiting to hear which dorm she’ll be assigned to when she enters Northwestern University this fall. But that’s not to say that the health crisis hasn’t, in some ways, forced her to grow up—at least as far as competition is concerned.

After all her accomplishments in Colorado’s junior ranks—including three Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado titles, an AJGA championship and being named the JGAC Player of the Year—there’s no question the Kent Denver senior was ready to move on to the next level. One example of that was qualifying—for the second time in three years—with Hailey Schalk of Holy Family High School, for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

In 2018, the prep duo lost early in the match play portion of the event—“On the last hole to two women who were like 40 years old!” exclaims. But this year’s return trip was canceled because of the pandemic, as were her final high school season and a number of junior events in which she hoped to play as a way of saying goodbye to the Colorado setting that nurtured her game.

“My parents have really encouraged me to focus on a kind of, women’s amateur, kind of summer, with the exception of the USGA Girls’ Junior Amateur, which is the last junior event I can play in,” she said. “I’m still hoping to have a final (local junior) event—I mean, it would just be so weird to have my last one be in Florida in November (when she received the American Junior Golf Association’s prestigious Jerry Cole Sportsmanship Award at the Rolex Junior All-America Award banquet)—that’s crazy.”

If not, Hillary indeed plans on elevating her game; she’s slated to play in the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open (still scheduled for June 3-5 when this went to press), as well as other important events like the 120th Western Women’s Amateur, just south of Chicago.

“Hopefully, those tournaments will happen, and summer will be back to normal,” Hillary says. “That’s what I’m hoping for right now.”

She’s not alone.

Anthony Cotton will take over as editor of Colorado AvidGolfer as of the June 2020 issue.

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This article was also featured in the May 2020 issue of Colorado AvidGolfer.

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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