tournament us older guys play. And the Broadmoor is a really good course, it’s all golf, and it never lets up.”

     Among the previous winners of U.S. Golf Association events at the Broadmoor are Jack Nicklaus (1959 U.S. Amateur), Juli Inkster (1982 U.S. Women’s Amateur) and Annika Sorenstam (1995 U.S. Women’s Open) -- World Golf Hall of Famers all. And this year certainly isn’t the end of the line as the U.S. Women’s Open will return to the resort in 2011.

     U.S. SENIOR OPEN NOTES: The Broadmoor East course will play at 7,254 yards, the longest in U.S. Senior Open history. Two downhill holes more than 500 yards long on the back nine (10 and 17) will be played as par-4s. Par for the course will be 70. … Rough will be 1 ½ inches deep for the first 6 feet off the fairway, 2 ½ inches deep the next 20 feet, and 4 inches deep beyond that. … Fairways will be 25-36 yards wide and greens will run 10 ½-11 on the Stimpmeter. … For the first time at the U.S. Senior Open, kids 17 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by a ticket-bearing adult. The first row of each bleacher at the Broadmoor will be reserved for juniors. … A total of 3,000 volunteers, representing all 50 states, have signed up for this summer’s Senior Open. … Fans from 44 states have purchased tickets for the tournament.

“Dr. Dirt” Relishes Chance to
Defend Title at Broadmoor

But whether Norman will play U.S. Senior Open still up in the air

By Gary Baines

Colorado Golf Journal, Monday, June 2, 2008

Bryant with 2007 U.S. Sr. Open trophy

last eight holes at Whistling Straits in 8 over par, eventually finishing five shots behind Bryant. So instead of Watson -- one of the top golfers of all time -- defending his title at the Broadmoor, it will be Bryant.

     “A lot of people would love to have Tom Watson as defending champion,” said Bryant, ever the realist.

     Meanwhile, as for Norman, whether the former No. 1-ranked player in the world will compete at the Broadmoor at all is very much up in the air. Since turning 50 years old on Feb. 10, 1955, the Shark has played in a grand total of three Champions Tour Events. One of those was the Senior PGA Championship two weeks ago.

     After that tournament -- in which he finished sixth after being in contention until faltering late in the round -- Norman was asked on TV if he was thinking about playing more.

     “It might drive me the other way,” said Norman, unquestionably one of the biggest fan draws of the over-50 set.

     The Champions Tour needs Norman -- a major-league businessman who is engaged to former tennis star Chris Evert -- far more than the Aussie needs the Tour. He said he plans to play the British Open and possibly the Senior British Open, which might not bode well for an appearance at the Broadmoor. Those two events immediately precede the U.S. Senior Open, and with the travel involved, it would be easy for Norman to skip the top tournament on the Champions schedule.

     “I’ve done this for 35 years of my life,” Norman said at the Senior PGA. “… I stepped back from the game of golf physically -- the play week in, week out -- because I just didn’t have the desire to go out there and practice 8-10 hours a day. I was burned out. Even today I (didn’t) like to do it.”    

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Brad Bryant has no delusions of grandeur. He knows his place in golf’s hierarchy, and it isn’t up there with the Tom Watsons and Greg Normans of the world.

     Bryant’s nickname -- Dr. Dirt, given to him by current CBS analyst Gary McCord back in the 1970s -- tells you as much. But that just makes Bryant savor all the more his victory in the 2007 U.S. Senior Open, which means he’ll be defending his title July 31-Aug. 3 at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs.

     “It’s very special to walk up on the green and have a 2-putt to beat Tom Watson, because I’ve probably done that in my mind a million times,” Bryant said during Monday’s media day for the 2008 U.S. Senior Open. “It really was a dream come true for me last year.”

      Bryant did indeed beat Watson a year ago in a tournament in which many people thought Watson would win the U.S. Senior Open for the first time. But the five-time British Open champion played the 

But tournament officials at the Broadmoor haven’t given up hope.

     “I haven’t heard anything” regarding Norman’s status, said U.S. Senior Open championship director Doug Habgood. “I think some of his comments at (the Senior PGA) may have been influenced by his finish. He’s exempt but he hasn’t committed.”

     Habgood hopes that changes and he can have a “big announcement,” but said that even if Norman skips the event, the tournament will have enough star power to draw large crowds. Habgood said the Senior Open has already sold out about 70 percent of its tickets.

     Norman or no Norman, it sounds like enough Champions Tour players have seen or heard about the Broadmoor that it will be a big hit this summer.

     “I think the Broadmoor will be the fairest test of golf we’ve had in quite some time,” said Bryant, who played the course as an amateur during the Broadmoor Invitational in the 1970s. “The players are looking forward to it. It’s the most important

Brad Bryant