Eaton Goes Out On Top

Jon Rizzi | Colorado AvidGolfer

The Colorado Women’s Golf Association could very well rename its Senior Player of the Year award after Kim Eaton.

Such a motion would not meet with much resistance.

At the CGA/CWGA awards brunch held the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the 54-year-old Colorado Golf Hall of Fame member received the Senior Player of the Year award for the fifth consecutive year. The competition was nonexistent. She dominated both the CWGA Match Play (the final of which she won 6 and 5) and the Stroke Play (which she did by 10 strokes) championships.

The wins brought her CWGA championship career total to 21.

And that’s where it will end.

At the close of her acceptance speech—during which she described 2013 as her “best year,” having won six state championships in California, Arizona and Colorado—Eaton announced her retirement from CWGA events, saying she’d “had a good run here. And maybe it's time for some other people to get a chance.”

Those other people include Laurie Steenrod, Christie Austin, Janet Moore, Deb Hughes and others.

They’ll compete in events Eaton has dominated during 41 years of winning in CWGA events. As recently as 2009 and 2010, she won both the CWGA Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year

Eaton will continue to compete in her new home state of Arizona. But her career in Colorado has ended.

“You know what they say,” she reflected. “It's better to go out on top because you all know when I'm not on top I'm not going to be a very happy person. It's been a great run.”

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com. Jon Rizzi is the founding editor and co-owner of this regional golf-related media company producing magazines, web content, tournaments, events and the Golf Passport.