Seiple Says Shoot 61, Move Forward To TPC Colorado Championship

After a record-setting qualifying round, the product of Castle Rock, will tee it up with Masters champ Mike Weir, Jonathan Kaye and others this week at Colorado’s Korn Ferry Tour stop.

By Anthony Cotton

Last fall, Joshua Seiple stood just two holes away from gaining a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour. Although he eventually fell one shot short, he called the experience “a blessing.”

“It’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been on a golf course and I just got so ahead of myself,” said Seiple, who grew up in Castle Rock and attended Valor High School. “Just from then to now, I’m so much better because of what I learned from it.”

So when Seiple started off playing well at Monday’s qualifier for this week’s Korn Ferry event, the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes in Berthoud, it’s obvious that he kept things very much in the here and now.

Well…maybe not.

“To be honest, I was like, ‘I might as well try to shoot 59 today,'” he said.

As it turned out, Seiple had a shot at one of golf’s most sacred numbers, but fell two shots short—”settling” for an 11-under-par 61 and setting a new course record at Riverdale Dunes in Brighton, a course that Seiple says he was only playing for the second time in his life. His round was the prime example of golf in the novel coronavirus-addled 2020 season—because of the myriad cancelations caused by the pandemic, there are more talented golfers out there looking for places to play, which means that trying to qualify for an event like Colorado’s Korn Ferry stop will take some very special play.

According to Golf Digest, 18 players shot a six-under 66 at the two qualifiers (the second was held at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Windsor) and didn’t make the field. Another 13 shot a 65 and still went home dejected.

At Highland Meadows, an eight-under 64 only got you into a five-man playoff for two spots. Two players battled for the last spot at Riverdale Dunes, also following rounds of 64.

Seiple says his thoughts of perhaps shooting a 59 wasn’t really getting ahead of himself as much as knowing what it might take to insure his spot in the 156-player field.

“Most of the time in these tournaments you gotta keep the dang pedal down because there’s two other people who are (playing) as well as you are, so it’s not like you can relax or something…It almost takes your mind off of what you’re scoring.

“It’s not like it’s, ‘Oh, I’m nine-under’— It’s like, ‘Oh, I got to still make some more birdies coming in.'”

Seiple will be joining an illustrious field in Berthoud; not only are there 39 previous winners of Korn Ferry events, with a total of 59 victories on the tour, there are also 11 men who have won PGA TOUR titles—22 in all. That includes Mike Weir, the Canadian who won the 2003 Masters, and other, formerly exempt tour players Alex Cejka, Robert Garrigus and J.J. Henry.

There’s also, as one might expect, a large contingent of players with Colorado ties. Besides Seiple, that list includes two-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Kaye;  Jim Knous, who’s making his PGA TOUR comeback following a series of injuries; former Colorado State University golfer Zahkai Brown and Ryan Schmitz, who will be paired with Seiple for the opening two rounds of the event, which be played today through Saturday.

As has been the case on the PGA TOUR, on the eve of the event, the coronavirus has already made its presence felt: three players—Brandon Wu, Taylor Montgomery and Jonathan Hodge—have withdrawn due to testing COVID-19 positive during the on-site screening process.

And, as has been the case for most events this season, fans will not be allowed to attend the tournament.

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