I don’t know if it was the pre-round Chinese massage or the completely nonchalant attitude about being away from home for another week, but seven birdies and no bogeys came easily in the Monday qualifier for the Colorado Open. There aren’t many state open tournaments that hold a qualifier on the Monday of tournament week. Sure, there’s Arizona, Texas, California, Massachusetts, and probably a dozen other states with open qualifiers, but to my knowledge, the Colorado Open is the only state open with a Monday Q.
I planned to play a practice round on Sunday at CommonGround Golf Course when I got to Denver, but my lower back ached for other plans. There have been more flights and time in the car than usual lately, and my lower back was distressed after a simple putting drill. It hurt to remain in my putting posture long enough to make 10 six-footers in a row. There was a Chinese massage joint a couple par-5s from the course, so I skipped the practice round and let a strong woman push the golf ball-sized knots out of my muscles. It hurt. It hurt in the best way.
CommonGround G.C. had a detailed yardage book. The terrain was flat and the links-style course looked open. I figured I’d need to shoot about 4 under to qualify and as long as my body cooperated, I could do that without a practice round.
My range warm-up on the morning of the qualifier was mediocre but manageable. The ball was fading with every iron strike but when I tried to hit it harder, the flight straightened. I hit a few drivers dead straight and figured the rest would come together on the course.
The first hole at CommonGround is a 490 yard par-4. The fairway narrows at around 330 yards and the hole curves left. The elevation in “the Mile High City” is about 5,400 feet above sea level. Where I live in Arizona is about 1,300 feet above sea level.
At higher elevations the air is less dense, and a golf ball faces less resistance than it does at lower altitudes. As a general rule, the higher you hit the ball the farther it will travel at altitude (assuming it’s not completely popped-up). For every 1,000 feet above sea level, the golf ball goes about 2% longer. Because I am a high ball hitter, I have to make a significant adjustment to my yardages. Usually, I wait until the temperature warms up in the morning, but the opening tee shot at CommonGround changed my calculations.
I chose a 3-wood and hit it 335 yards through the dogleg fairway. Had there been some opening tee shot adrenaline, I might have credited some of the added length to that. But I hit the first shot of the day with the care of Willie Nelson on 4/20. I decided to knock 10% off my yardages for every shot on the front nine. As the temperature increased later in the round, I’d need to adjust farther.
For better or worse, the players grouped together in a state open qualifier can set the tone for the day. You might end up in a group with clueless golfers who believe that with just a little more time off from work, they’d make it big. Or, you might play with a golfer who never plays competition and when they hear their name announced on the first tee, they seize up and turn into a slow play penalty. You never know what to expect but must be mentally prepared for every possibility.
Fortunately, I was in a group with two good guys. Lewis, an assistant pro at a club in Raleigh, N.C., had come to Denver to visit a friend who always looped for him in the Colorado Open qualifier. The other player, Peyton, was a local truck driver for a bourbon distributor. Lewis was a real player. That was obvious from the first swing. Peyton was going to need to play his best to qualify. As a bonus, they were both fast players and the pace of the round was surprisingly pleasant.
Lewis and I found a steady rhythm and fed off one another. I turned in 4 under thanks to some long, accurate drives, and Lewis made five birdies in six holes between the end of the front and beginning of the back nine. Peyton made a couple heroic up and downs, but it was clear he wasn’t going to qualify. Lewis had a seven footer to shoot 8 under at the final hole and it narrowly slid by, leaving him disappointed. He later said he thought the putt was to tie me. We both shot 7 under and could spend a relaxing afternoon planning a week in Denver.
4 under par played off for the final spot in the qualifier. The low qualifying scores are an indication of what can be expected in the Colorado Open: it’s a real tournament with a field of impressive players. In the past nine seasons, the winner’s check has been $100,000, making it the highest-paying mini tour event in the country. It might also be the most well-run. Some of the best players in America without PGA Tour status show up. $100,000 pays for as many Q schools and tournaments as one can enter in a year. This year, the tournament is losing their title sponsor. In an effort to attract a future sponsor, the tournament cut the first place check in half.
DP World Tour member Davis Bryant won last year’s Colorado Open. Bryant’s Mom, Julie, is the COO of the Colorado Golf Foundation, helping thousands of junior golfers around Denver. Julie is the tournament director of the Colorado Open, and Davis is back this year to defend his title only a few weeks after finishing T-4 at the BMW International Open in Germany. Safe to say he’ll have a late tee time on Sunday.
How have I prepared since the qualifier?
I played a practice round on Tuesday at the host club, Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. It’s a course that puts wedges and short irons in the hands of good drivers. There are a couple tee shots that will make players breathe faster, and some greens that could require a rangefinder for a putt (I estimate one green to be about 55 yards deep). Overall, it’s a course most pros would describe as “gettable.” But the course is close to the airport and the afternoon wind can make the undulating greens difficult to hit. The Round 1 forecast calls for storms and high winds in the afternoon (I play at 12:55 on Thursday).
A small deer approached me during the practice round. Its boldness was a bit unnerving. Hadn’t it seen Bambi?
On Wednesday, I practiced in between waves of pro-ams. I set up a chalk line and worked on short putts around the hole, made a handful of 15-footers, and worked on a lag putting. The greens sped up from Tuesday to Wednesday, and I’m guessing the speed will increase by the time the first round gets underway. They will require some deft touch. I hit various bunker shots and pitches around the chipping green, and moved to the range, where I worked on distance control inside of 100 yards. Finally, it was back to the Chinese massage joint to excorise the pain from my muscles and the negative thoughts from my head.
When I returned to my hotel – a Ramada I’d found on a discount travel website for just under $100 a night – I was greeted by a package from Dunning. Dunning makes comfortable, sharp golf attire and has been an incredible partner for Monday Q Info. I can’t say for certain if they saw a picture of what I was wearing in the qualifier or if they are just being supportive friends, but Dunning overnighted a box of their latest styles. Wednesday night was laundry night, so I tried on a fresh Dunning outfit, counted my quarters, and made something old and worn look new again. It's all part of the job.
I don’t know if it was the pre-round Chinese massage or the completely nonchalant attitude about being away from home for another week, but seven birdies and no bogeys came easily in the Monday qualifier for the Colorado Open. There aren’t many state open tournaments that hold a qualifier on the Monday of tournament week. Sure, there’s Arizona, Texas, California, Massachusetts, and probably a dozen other states with open qualifiers, but to my knowledge, the Colorado Open is the only state open with a Monday Q.
I planned to play a practice round on Sunday at CommonGround Golf Course when I got to Denver, but my lower back ached for other plans. There have been more flights and time in the car than usual lately, and my lower back was distressed after a simple putting drill. It hurt to remain in my putting posture long enough to make 10 six-footers in a row. There was a Chinese massage joint a couple par-5s from the course, so I skipped the practice round and let a strong woman push the golf ball-sized knots out of my muscles. It hurt. It hurt in the best way.
CommonGround G.C. had a detailed yardage book. The terrain was flat and the links-style course looked open. I figured I’d need to shoot about 4 under to qualify and as long as my body cooperated, I could do that without a practice round.
My range warm-up on the morning of the qualifier was mediocre but manageable. The ball was fading with every iron strike but when I tried to hit it harder, the flight straightened. I hit a few drivers dead straight and figured the rest would come together on the course.
The first hole at CommonGround is a 490 yard par-4. The fairway narrows at around 330 yards and the hole curves left. The elevation in “the Mile High City” is about 5,400 feet above sea level. Where I live in Arizona is about 1,300 feet above sea level.
At higher elevations the air is less dense, and a golf ball faces less resistance than it does at lower altitudes. As a general rule, the higher you hit the ball the farther it will travel at altitude (assuming it’s not completely popped-up). For every 1,000 feet above sea level, the golf ball goes about 2% longer. Because I am a high ball hitter, I have to make a significant adjustment to my yardages. Usually, I wait until the temperature warms up in the morning, but the opening tee shot at CommonGround changed my calculations.
I chose a 3-wood and hit it 335 yards through the dogleg fairway. Had there been some opening tee shot adrenaline, I might have credited some of the added length to that. But I hit the first shot of the day with the care of Willie Nelson on 4/20. I decided to knock 10% off my yardages for every shot on the front nine. As the temperature increased later in the round, I’d need to adjust farther.
For better or worse, the players grouped together in a state open qualifier can set the tone for the day. You might end up in a group with clueless golfers who believe that with just a little more time off from work, they’d make it big. Or, you might play with a golfer who never plays competition and when they hear their name announced on the first tee, they seize up and turn into a slow play penalty. You never know what to expect but must be mentally prepared for every possibility.
Fortunately, I was in a group with two good guys. Lewis, an assistant pro at a club in Raleigh, N.C., had come to Denver to visit a friend who always looped for him in the Colorado Open qualifier. The other player, Peyton, was a local truck driver for a bourbon distributor. Lewis was a real player. That was obvious from the first swing. Peyton was going to need to play his best to qualify. As a bonus, they were both fast players and the pace of the round was surprisingly pleasant.
Lewis and I found a steady rhythm and fed off one another. I turned in 4 under thanks to some long, accurate drives, and Lewis made five birdies in six holes between the end of the front and beginning of the back nine. Peyton made a couple heroic up and downs, but it was clear he wasn’t going to qualify. Lewis had a seven footer to shoot 8 under at the final hole and it narrowly slid by, leaving him disappointed. He later said he thought the putt was to tie me. We both shot 7 under and could spend a relaxing afternoon planning a week in Denver.
4 under par played off for the final spot in the qualifier. The low qualifying scores are an indication of what can be expected in the Colorado Open: it’s a real tournament with a field of impressive players. In the past nine seasons, the winner’s check has been $100,000, making it the highest-paying mini tour event in the country. It might also be the most well-run. Some of the best players in America without PGA Tour status show up. $100,000 pays for as many Q schools and tournaments as one can enter in a year. This year, the tournament is losing their title sponsor. In an effort to attract a future sponsor, the tournament cut the first place check in half.
DP World Tour member Davis Bryant won last year’s Colorado Open. Bryant’s Mom, Julie, is the COO of the Colorado Golf Foundation, helping thousands of junior golfers around Denver. Julie is the tournament director of the Colorado Open, and Davis is back this year to defend his title only a few weeks after finishing T-4 at the BMW International Open in Germany. Safe to say he’ll have a late tee time on Sunday.
How have I prepared since the qualifier?
I played a practice round on Tuesday at the host club, Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. It’s a course that puts wedges and short irons in the hands of good drivers. There are a couple tee shots that will make players breathe faster, and some greens that could require a rangefinder for a putt (I estimate one green to be about 55 yards deep). Overall, it’s a course most pros would describe as “gettable.” But the course is close to the airport and the afternoon wind can make the undulating greens difficult to hit. The Round 1 forecast calls for storms and high winds in the afternoon (I play at 12:55 on Thursday).
A small deer approached me during the practice round. Its boldness was a bit unnerving. Hadn’t it seen Bambi?
On Wednesday, I practiced in between waves of pro-ams. I set up a chalk line and worked on short putts around the hole, made a handful of 15-footers, and worked on a lag putting. The greens sped up from Tuesday to Wednesday, and I’m guessing the speed will increase by the time the first round gets underway. They will require some deft touch. I hit various bunker shots and pitches around the chipping green, and moved to the range, where I worked on distance control inside of 100 yards. Finally, it was back to the Chinese massage joint to excorise the pain from my muscles and the negative thoughts from my head.
When I returned to my hotel – a Ramada I’d found on a discount travel website for just under $100 a night – I was greeted by a package from Dunning. Dunning makes comfortable, sharp golf attire and has been an incredible partner for Monday Q Info. I can’t say for certain if they saw a picture of what I was wearing in the qualifier or if they are just being supportive friends, but Dunning overnighted a box of their latest styles. Wednesday night was laundry night, so I tried on a fresh Dunning outfit, counted my quarters, and made something old and worn look new again. It's all part of the job.
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