Top 10 News Stories of 2015

Nicklaus and Instagram star highlight eventful year.

Jon Rizzi

As the curtain drops on yet another year, most of the national golf media will look back on the feats of Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Lydia Ko; others will wonder whether we'll ever see Tiger again. Us? We’re following the farm-to-table philosophy and going local with our Top 10 News Stories of 2015.

1. Century of Golf Gala

On the occasion of the Colorado Golf Association’s centenary, the Colorado Golf Foundation staged a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of Colorado golf at The Broadmoor on November 14.

A fireside chat with the 20^th Century’s greatest golfer highlighted the evening. Jack Nicklaus won the 1959 U.S. Amateur at age 19 at The Broadmoor, a victory he credits with giving him the confidence that carried him to a record 18 major wins (20, if you include his two U.S. Amateurs, “which I do,” he said.)

Colorado also honored six Golf People of the Century: Judy Bell (Woman of the Century); Will F. Nicholson Jr. (Man of the Century); Hale Irwin (Male Player of the Century); Barbara McIntire (Female Player of the Century); Charles “Vic” Kline (Golf Professional of the Century); Dennis Lyon (Superintendent of the Century). All but McIntire, who was ill, attended.

An announced 1,300 people attended the event, which raised an estimated $380,000 for the Foundation.

2.  Youth Is Served

On October 12, the Colorado Golf Association and Colorado Section PGA revealed they have teamed up to create a yet-to-be-named junior golf program that will incorporate their respective best practices. The agreement effectively dissolves the Colorado Junior Golf Association as of January 1.

Chief among the changes is the creation of a Junior Tour, which will consist of 19 36-hole events, including four “majors”— Junior Stroke Play, Junior Match Play, Colorado PGA Junior Championship and the Tour Championship—in which both boys and girls will compete.

Junior Tour competitors must carry an 8.1 handicap index or lower. Players with higher handicaps can develop through the noncompetitive Junior Series, also run by both the CGA and CPGA.

The name of the newly formed collaboration, as well as its website and collateral, will undergo a rebranding process that should be finalized before February’s G4 Golf Summit.  

3. Tomorrow’s Stars Put On a Show in Aurora.

Colorado got a peek at the next generation of golf stars at June’s American Junior Golf Association Hale Irwin Colorado Junior tournament presented by MusclePharm.

In the final round of the AJGA event, 16-year-old Reese Ramsey of Austin, Texas, shot a CommonGround Golf Course club record with a 10-under-par 61 to win, overcoming an 8-shot deficit to take the three-round event by two strokes. He carded a 9-under-par total of 204.

Coloradans Jackson Solem of Longmont and AJ Ott of Fort Collins finished tied for third at 6-under-par 207.

In the Girls Division, also finishing tied for third with a 3-over-par 216 was Jennifer Kupcho. Sydney Youngblood of Durant, Oklahoma, won with a tournament-total 1-under-par 212.

Featuring boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18, the AJGA has produced professional players who have compiled more than 600 victories on the PGA and LPGA tours. These include Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, Paula Creamer and dozens more.

4. Jennifer Kupcho dominates.

The 2014 Colorado Women’s Golf Association Player of the Year didn’t rest on her laurels. In July she won the CWGA Stroke Play Championship by a remarkable 21 shots at Pinehurst Country Club, posting a 16-under-par 200 total for three rounds (68-65-67).

And before graduating from Jefferson Academy this spring, the Westminster native won the 4A girls state high school title by 10 shots. In August’s U.S. Women's Amateur, she advanced to the Round of 16 before losing to eventual champion Hannah O'Sullivan. Now a freshman at Wake Forest University, Kupcho currently ranks 71^st in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and 86^th among college players.

Any wonder she repeated as the CWGA’s Player of the Year?

5. USGA Tabs Colorado for Two Championships

Our friends in Far Hills have awarded the 2018 U.S. Senior Open to The Broadmoor Golf Club and the 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship to Colorado Golf Club.

For The Broadmoor, it will be the eighth USGA Championship. The Colorado Springs resort most recently hosted the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open, won by Korean So Yeon Ryu; it also hosted the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, won by Argentina’s Eduardo Romero. The event, which will take place on the East Course June 28-July 1, will coincide with the resort’s 100^th Anniversary celebration.

The Mid-Am, scheduled for Sept. 21-26, 2019, will be Colorado Golf Club’s first USGA championship. The Parker club hosted the 2010 Senior PGA Championship, won by Tom Lehman, and the 2013 Solheim Cup, which marked the first European team victory on U.S. soil.

6. NCAA Picks Colorado for National Golf Championships

Next year, Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and CommonGround Golf Course will respectively welcome both the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II Championships.

Although in 2011 and 2012, Colorado National Golf Club in Erie hosted NCAA Division I regional tournaments for men and women, next year will mark the first time since The Broadmoor Golf Club hosted the 1969 Division I championship, that an NCAA golf championship will be decided in Colorado.

The Metropolitan State Roadrunners, winners of this year’s Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women’s title, will be the host school. The women will compete May 18-21 at CommonGround —which also served as companion course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship. The men will play May 17-21 at Green Valley Ranch, home of the three Colorado Opens.

7. Hip, Hip, Oraee!

After becoming the only University of Colorado player to compete in the men’s NCAA Division I national championship and finishing as low amateur in the HealthONE Colorado Open, David Oraee not only qualified for the U.S. Amateur. He made it all the way to the Round of 16.

The Greeley native rallied to win his first two matches at Olympia Fields, but lost 3-and-2 to Ireland’s Paul Dunne, the former University of Alabama-Birmingham star who earlier in the summer was tied for the lead going into the final round at the British Open at St. Andrews.

The Colorado Golf Association recognized Oraee’s stellar season—he finished way atop the CGA points lists—with its Les Fowler Player of the Year Award.

8. Enshrining The Walrus  

The question of why the only Masters winner living in the state wasn’t in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame was finally answered when the Hall voted in Craig Stadler in October.

Although “The Walrus” won the Masters in 1982, twelve years before moving to Colorado, he won three of his 13 PGA Tour titles and all nine of his Champions Tour championships (including two majors) while a resident of the Centennial State.

Stadler’s induction will take place May 14 at Cherry Hills Country Club. That evening the Hall of Fame will also enshrine Ann Finke, the highly decorated director of instruction at The Country Club of Colorado.

9. Colorado Opens Ink New Deal

After 12 successful years with HealthONE as their sponsor, the Colorado Open Championships (the Open, Women’s Open and Senior Open) will have CoBank as their primary sponsor under a five-year agreement beginning in 2016.

The Colorado Open Golf Foundation made the announcement at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in July, following Scot Jimmy Gunn’s victory in the final HealthONE Colorado Open. 

With more than $100 billion in assets, Greenwood Village-based CoBank is the largest financial institution headquartered in the state. Chief among its motivation for supporting the Opens was that proceeds help support The First Tee of Green Valley Ranch, which promotes integrity, respect and perseverance among underprivileged youth and other young players. To date, the program has reached more than 25,000 kids, with 5,302 enrolled just last year.

10. Paige Goes Viral

Winning the 100^th Colorado Women’s Golf Association Match Play Championship in July capped off Paige Spiranac’s amateur golf career, but the Monument native has only become more famous since then.

The 22-year-old San Diego State alumna, who turned professional in August, already has nearly 550,000+ followers on Instagram and 62,000+ on Twitter. Esquire included her in its  Women We Love. Her Callaway video generated more than 3.1 million views on Facebook in only two weeks.

After missing the cut with a disappointing 12-over-par finish in December’s Dubai Masters (and quelling rumors about why, as a rookie, she was invited to such an elite event), the Internet sensation said she would “probably take a break from social media to step away and re-evaluate everything.”  

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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.