When Castle Pines Couldn’t Count Straight

The upcoming BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club will occupy the same slot on the PGA Tour schedule that The International annually did at the club during its 21-year run.    

That run—the longest ever by a PGA Tour event in Colorado—ended 18 years ago with the dawn of the FedEx Cup. Yet the impact of The International has endured. It not only brought regular championship golf to the Centennial State but the first million-dollar purse to the PGA Tour. The International also elevated player amenities to levels that no tournament outside of Augusta had ever seen, and the event’s Modified Stableford scoring system—which shattered the tedium of 72-hole stroke play by awarding points to birdies (2), eagles (5) and albatrosses (8) and deducting them for bogeys (-1) and doubles or higher (-3)—generated the kind of excitement that lives on in the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship.

And, of course, The International brought no shortage of memorable moments. Here is a chronological look back.

1987: One Tough Cookie

The first seven Internationals call for the field to be cut down after each round, with those making it to Sunday all starting from scratch. Eking into the finale after a Saturday playoff, John Cook shows how the curious Modified Stableford system can produce an unlikely winner. On the uphill, 477-yard par-5 17th, Cook pipes his second shot, a 4-iron from 205 yards, to 12 feet, setting up a 5-point eagle that propels him ahead of defending champ Ken Green.   

1989: Bear Sighting

Jack Nicklaus makes it to Sunday for the first and only time on the course he designed with Jack Vickers. His five points in the final round leaves him eight shy of winner Greg Norman.

1990: Love Conquers All

Winless on the Tour since his father died in a plane crash, Davis Love III holds off a hard-charging Eduardo Romero and albatrosses by Steve Pate (on hole 8) and Jim Gallagher (on 17) to claim an emotional victory.

1993: Phil’s First

With the format changing to include points accumulated in all four rounds, Phil Mickelson finishes eight points clear of Mark Calcavecchia with 45 points. If not for the format change, Calcavecchia’s 19 Sunday points would have given him the title.

1994: Extra Hole

Going into Sunday, Keith Clearwater (30 points) and Ernie Els (29) lead the field, but both implode, and by day’s end Steve Lowery and Rick Fehr (both with 35 points) square off in the first championship playoff in the event’s history. It lasts one hole, as Fehr dunks his tee shot in the water on the par-4 ninth and Lowery makes par for his first PGA Tour victory.

1996: Rose Rises

From a field that includes 1996 major champions Nick Faldo, Steve Jones, Tom Lehman and Mark Brooks and five former International winners, unheralded Clarence Rose eagles the 17th in the final round to pull even with the event’s 1992 champion Brad Faxon; he then repeats the feat on the third hole of their playoff to notch his lone PGA Tour victory.

1998: Tiger’s Ace

Tiger Woods makes his Castle Pines debut one to remember. During the third round, using an 8-iron on the 185-yard par-3 7th, he jars it on the fly, tearing up the cup and igniting one of the biggest roars since his hole-in-one on the 16th at TPC Scottsdale the year before. Unlike that one, however, no TV footage exists of the Castle Pines ace. After leading early on Sunday, Tiger fades to fourth behind winner Vijay Singh. Woods then makes the 1999 International his final one.

2000: Something Els

Ernie Els, who made his PGA Tour debut The International in 1991, wins the event with a record-tying total of 48 points. He needs every one of them, as Phil Mickelson finishes only 4 back. Els played in 15 editions of the tournament, earning more money ($1,804,739) and points (371) than any other golfer.

2002: Wildest Finish Ever

Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Rich Beem makes the most of his opportunity. He pours in 19 points on Sunday, five coming on an eagle at the par-5 17th. His 44-point performance all but guarantees victory, except that 1994 champion Steve Lowery, with 28 points heading into 14, had yet to finish. On the par-5 14th, Lowery splashes out of the water in front of the green and then drains a birdie putt from behind the apron for two points. Then at the par-4 15th, he holes a 110-yard wedge for an eagle and five more points. He then drops a point by bogeying the par-3 16th. Nine points behind Beem going into 17, Lowery improbably holes his 215-yard 6-iron second shot for only the third double eagle in the tournament’s history. The eight points shaves Beem’s lead to one. On 18, Lowery faces a 9-foot birdie putt to earn two points and cap a comeback for the ages. The putt hangs on the lip for par. Beem wins—as he does two weeks later at the PGA Championship.

2003: Falling for Love Again

During the second round of The International, Davis Love III sets a PGA record. Starting his round on the back nine, the Georgian cards threes on the par 5s at holes 14, 17 and 1, becoming the only player ever to eagle three holes in a six-hole stretch. He finishes with 44 points to join Phil Mickelson (1993, ’97) as The International’s only repeat champions.

2006: The Last Hurrah

In his first and only appearance in The International, Hawaiian Dean Wilson wins his first and only PGA Tour tournament in a playoff with 2006 Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman. Both finished with 34 points, and Wilson birdied the second playoff hole for the win. A lasting image of the event is the black ribbon that each player wore in honor of Irish golfer Darren Clarke’s wife, Heather, who died on the eve of the last round. It becomes a gesture that carries greater symbolism, as The International would pass into history the following February.