JOBE HAS FALLBACK POSITIONS: Brandt Jobe, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer who now lives in the Dallas area, may end up jumping around between tours in 2009, according to his swing coach, Denver-based Mike McGetrick. McGetrick said recently that while Jobe will have an opportunity to retain his playing privileges on the PGA Tour, he also has the option to compete on the Japanese or Nationwide tours, where he’s exempt in both cases.     

      Jobe, 43, has four tournaments remaining on the major medical extension he received after severing the tip of his left index finger and base of his left thumb when a broom handle broke while he was sweeping his garage in November 2006. Jobe will have to earn $480,950 in those four events to keep his fully-exempt status on Tour.

     Jobe has been a regular on the PGA Tour for the last decade, but has yet to post a win. He’s been a runner-up three times, including at the 2005 International in Colorado, where he couldn’t hold a big lead in the final round.

     Jobe is exempt on the Japanese Tour by virtue of his six victories on that circuit from 1995 to ‘98.

DU’S SHERLOCK NAMED TOP FEMALE AMATEUR IN CANADA: University of Denver junior Stephanie Sherlock was recently named the top female amateur in Canada in 2008, the Royal Canadian Golf Association announced.

      Sherlock, who finished fifth in the NCAA Championships last spring, won a CN Canadian Women’s Tour event in Winnipeg last summer and finished second in the Canadian Women’s Amateur. She is from Barrie, Ontario.

     Sue Kim, who has signed a letter of intent to join the DU golf team next fall, finished fourth in Canada’s 2008 National Order of Merit standings.

GOLF NOTES

GARY BAINES: A Matter of Perspective

Local Tour Players Suffered
a Major Lapse in 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008

     Not long ago, golfers from Colorado were winning major championships. This year, it was a big deal if a player with strong Colorado ties was even in the field for one of the Grand Slam events.

     That fact was driven home recently when a supplement to Golf World magazine arrived in the mail. It’s called “2008 Major Rewind / Celebrating Golf’s Greatest Championships.”

     It was an interesting look back at the four majors, plus the Ryder Cup. There was obviously plenty of ink devoted to Tiger Woods overcoming a serious knee injury to win the U.S. Open, Padraig Harringtonton claiming the final two majors of the year, Trevor Immelman prevailing over Woods at the Masters, and the U.S. cruising past Europe in the Ryder Cup.

     But the feature that interested me most was in the back of the magazine. There, Golf World compiled finishes in the majors for the 170 players who made the cut at least once in a Grand Slam event in 2008. Perusing the list, what struck me was the lack of players who Coloradans would consider “locals.”

     To be precise, of the 170, I would put just three firmly into the local category, with two others needing a real stretch to be thought of as a player with strong Colorado ties. The three definites are David Duval, who lives in the Denver area, and two players who grew up in the state and both graduated from Kent Denver High School: Brandt Jobe and Kevin Stadler.

     Those three competed in just one major each this year. Jobe had the best showing of the bunch, finishing 18th at the U.S. Open, while a third-round 83 relegated Duval to a 39th-place performance at the British Open, where Stadler was 58th. Stadler’s father, Craig, competed at the Masters but missed the cut.

     Meanwhile, PGA Tour regulars Shane Bertsch, Martin Laird and Jonathan Kaye -- all of whom have prominent connections to Colorado -- didn’t play in a major in 2008.

     All told, it was certainly a far cry from when Hale Irwin and Steve Jones -- two products of Colorado high schools and the University of Colorado -- combined for four U.S. Open victories and 23 top-10 finishes in majors during the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

     If it’s any consolation, the two players on Golf World’s list with more tenuous Colorado ties -- Greg Norman and Justin Leonard -- figured into the major mix more prominently than did golfers more closely associated with the Centennial State. (Norman spends some time every year at his 14,000-acre ranch in northwest Colorado, and Leonard owns a vacation residence in Telluride.)

     The Shark, 53, definitely made a splash in the British Open by making a run at the title before finishing third. And Leonard played in every major this year, placing 16th at the British Open and 20th in the Masters.