Elway Hopes to be Playing on Weekend

By Gary Baines

Colorado Golf Journal, Wednesday, July 23, 2008

HEALTHONE COLORADO OPEN

• WHAT: 44th Colorado Open.

• WHEN: July 24-27.  Tee times on July 24 and 25 run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• WHERE: Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver (4900 Himalaya Road).

• PURSE: $125,000, including amateur payout of approximately $5,000. Professional winner will receive $23,000.

• COURSE SPECIFICS: 7,211 yards, par-71, designed by Perry Dye.

• FIELD: 156 players.

• FORMAT: 72 holes of stroke play, with a cut to the low 60 and ties after 36 holes.

• FORMER CHAMPIONS IN FIELD: John Douma, Bill Loeffler, Scott Petersen, Brian Guetz, Chris Endres, Wil Collins, Brett Wayment.

• OTHER NOTABLE ENTRANTS: Former Broncos QB John Elway (tee times 8 a.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Friday), former PGA Tour player Brian Kortan, Wyoming Open champion Travis Williams, former national club pro champion Mike Small.

• ADMISSION: Free.

GOLF NOTES

BIG WEEK FOR LOCAL PLAYERS ON TOUR: The week ending Sunday was probably the best of the year for Tour players with strong local ties. In all, five players in the Colorado contingent posted their best finishes of 2008 on their respective tours.

     R.W. Eaks, a native of Colorado Springs and a former standout athlete at Northern Colorado, won the 3M Championship for his first Champions Tour victory of the year and third overall.

     Not surprisingly, Eaks can’t wait to play in the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor in his old hometown come July 31-Aug. 3.

     “I worked on that golf course for seven or eight years, so I’m really looking forward to it,” he said Sunday.

     Right behind Eaks at the 3M, in second place, was Castle Rock resident Gary Hallberg, who is wasting no time making his mark as a rookie on the Champions Tour. In just four Champions Tour events, Hallberg has won more than $200,000 and ranks 50th on the Tour’s 2008 money list.

     And former University of Colorado athlete Hale Irwin, the all-time wins leader on the Champions Tour, recorded his best finish of the year, a 12th in the 3M tournament.

     Meanwhile, on the PGA Tour, Cherry Hills Village resident David Duval shared fourth place after two rounds of the British Open. An 83 in the third round knocked him from contention, but he still finished 39th, by far his best showing of the year on Tour. Duval has made just two cuts in 13 events in 2008, but they’ve both come since the beginning of June.

     Rounding out the list was Kent Denver graduate Brandt Jobe finishing a season-best 11th at the U.S. Bank Championship on the PGA Tour.

SHARK SIGHTING: Understandably, the folks at the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor are making a big deal out of Greg Norman’s surprisingly strong British Open performance. Last month the 53-year-old Australian committed to play in the Senior Open, planning a rare appearance on the Champions Tour.

     Norman was arguably already the marquee name in the field for the July 31-Aug. 3 Senior Open, but him finishing third in the British Open title helps feed the hype for the Colorado Springs event.

     Before coming to Colorado, Norman is planning to play in this week’s British Senior Open in Scotland. Had Norman won at Royal Birkdale, he would have become the oldest winner of a major championship.

CHIP SHOTS: The Jim Engh-designed Four Mile Ranch Golf Club in Canon City will open for public play on Thursday, July 24. … Colorado courses will host two qualifying tournaments for the U.S. Amateur that will be held Aug. 18-24 in Pinehurst, N.C. Colorado Golf Club in Parker will be the site of qualifier No. 1, on July 28. And the second qualifier will take place Aug. 5 at Vista Ridge Golf Club in Erie.

     DENVER -- John Elway is the unquestioned king when it comes to Colorado sports figures, but he has no delusions of grandeur regarding this week’s HealthOne Colorado Open.   

     He knows better than to think he can win. But success is a relative term, and making it to the weekend would be a success for the former Denver Broncos quarterback.

    “My expectations are to hopefully make the cut,” said Elway, who will tee off at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club Thursday at 8 a.m. and Friday at 1 p.m. “I try not to set my goals too high.”

     Elway earned a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with his stellar career in Denver. As for golf, he’s a very good amateur -- he owns a 0 handicap and has won numerous club championships, including at Castle Pines Golf Club this year -- but knows he isn’t on par with the best players in the Colorado Open field.

     “I admire and greatly respect the guys who play professional golf,“ he said. “I can miss by a yard with a throw on the football field and a guy can still make a catch. In golf, it’s a matter of

Former Broncos QB finished 37th in 2001 Colorado Open

millimeters.“

     But Elway has game enough that he isn’t in over his head at the Colorado Open, and his knee replacement has helped in that regard. He competed in the event twice before -- in 2000 and 2001 -- and just missed the cut the first year and played all four rounds in 2001. In fact, in that 2001 tournament at Sonnenalp Golf Club west of Vail, Elway finished a very respectable 37th with scores of 71-71-76-72.

     This week, the 156-man field will be cut to the low 60 and ties after two rounds. Elway hopes he’s one of those 60-plus.

    With Elway almost 10 years removed from his final NFL season, he still needs an outlet for his competitive side, and he’s found that golf does the best job of filling that need.

    “As far as a competitive situation, this gets your juices flowing,” he said. “But my confidence level in golf is not nearly as high as it was for football. In golf, the butterflies never go away. In football, they go away after that first hit.”

Colorado Open Notes

     Two-time tournament champion Jim Blair, who had planned to play this week at Green Valley Ranch, withdrew earlier this week after he qualified for the Senior British Open. … Michael Baird, who recently wrapped up his college career at the University of Colorado, shot a 6-under-par 65 in Wednesday’s pro-am. Another former CU player, two-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Kaye, was among those at 67. … Colorado Open tournament officials formally announced HealthOne agreeing to a five-year extension of its contract as title sponsor of the Colorado Open, Colorado Women’s Open and the Colorado Senior Open. The new deal, which will involve a higher level of financial support from HealthOne, will extend through 2013. HealthOne first became title sponsor of the tournaments in 2004.

John Elway Wednesday at Green Valley Ranch