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<\/p>\nCHERRY HILLS VILLAGE \u2014 Around the back of the clubhouse at Cherry Hills Country Club, surrounding the 18th green, the gallery pulsed. It was the second day of the U.S. Amateur Championship featuring a field full of future PGA Tour talent, and as golfers finished out, a murmuring tension that only premium players can summon dominated the air.<\/p>\n
It felt like the return of primetime golf in Colorado \u2014 and possibly a prelude for something much greater.<\/p>\n
Since the last men’s major was held in Colorado in 1985, the state\u2019s hosted plenty of notable golf tournaments such as the U.S. Amateur. But the fact remains it\u2019s been 38 years since that \u201985 PGA Championship at Cherry Hills, and 45 years since the club held the third of the state\u2019s three U.S. Opens.<\/p>\n
So what gives with the state\u2019s major drought? And does Colorado, a cold-weather state with an above-average golf appetite, have a chance to land another major amid its decades-long absence from the game\u2019s biggest stage?<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely Colorado has a shot to land a U.S. Open,\u201d said Jim Hillary, a Cherry Hills member and the championship chairman for the 123rd U.S. Amateur. \u201cAnd it has a good shot, in a lot of people\u2019s opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wait\u2019s just going to be a while.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Open is realistically the only major the state has a chance at now that the PGA Championship is played in May, instead of August. The threat of snow during Colorado’s notoriously unpredictable springs is likely too big of a risk for the PGA of America.<\/p>\n
But there are only seven openings for the U.S. Open in the next 28 years, with the tournament booked out as far as 2051. The soonest available slot is in 13 years, 2036, and then \u201938 and \u201940 after that.<\/p>\n
The good news for Colorado is that the state has a strong relationship with the USGA, the entity that stages the U.S. Open. This year\u2019s U.S. Amateur was the 34th USGA championship conducted in Colorado, and 10th at Cherry Hills. The U.S. Amateur is a good bet to return to Cherry Hills for a fourth time at some point down the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe USGA has a long history of coming to Colorado and some of the game\u2019s greatest champions have earned their national championship in this state,\u201d USGA chief championships officer John Bodenhamer said. \u201cWe love Colorado, and there\u2019s more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to The International, a PGA Tour tournament staged at Castle Pines Golf Club from 1986-06, Colorado\u2019s hosted senior opens, U.S. Women’s Opens, mid-amateurs and the BMW Championship (returning to Castle Pines in 2024) over the course of its major drought.<\/p>\n
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A central factor in the absence of a men’s major in Colorado since 1985 is the state\u2019s elevation. Golf changed drastically since Hubert Green prevailed at that \u201985 PGA Championship, and the combination of long drives and advanced club technology make Colorado a less-than-ideal place to challenge the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get over (the elevation stigma),\u201d said Steven Bartkowski, the executive director of the PGA Colorado Section. \u201cThe average PGA Tour event is about 7,200 yards at sea level, so if you think about that from a Colorado standpoint, and you consider about a 10% difference (that needs to be accounted for), that\u2019s 7,900, 8,000 yards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bodenhamer said Colorado\u2019s elevation \u201cis not a concern, but it\u2019s a consideration\u201d during the USGA\u2019s evaluation process, which looks at a slew of criteria when choosing championship venues.<\/p>\n
In Colorado, there\u2019s a short list of clubs that meet USGA\u2019s standards in terms of design, toughness, credibility, history, corporate\/marketing support and the infrastructure needed to host an event of the U.S. Open’s magnitude.<\/p>\n
Cherry Hills, Castle Pines (site of next year\u2019s BMW Championship) and Colorado Golf Club, the co-host venue for this week\u2019s U.S. Amateur, top that list \u2014 although infrastructure would be a challenge at all three.<\/p>\n
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Cherry Hills brass point to the 2014 BMW Championship held at the club, as well as this week\u2019s tournament, as evidence that the area\u2019s premier courses wouldn\u2019t be easily conquered in a U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at 2014, when the course was pretty dry and played pretty tricky, and you had guys like Rory (McIlroy) four-putting,\u201d Cherry Hills president Kim Koehen said. \u201cAnd this week, the young players can hit it a long way, but they still had to put it in play, avoid thick rough and putt well on fast, tricky greens.<\/p>\n
“The fact that the cut for the match-play round was plus-one for two days of stroke play (in this week’s U.S. Amateur), that says both Cherry Hills and Colorado Golf Club held up very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cherry Hills played to a yardage of 7,394 yards this week, while Colorado Golf Club was 7,560. Castle Pines can be stretched to about 8,000 yards. Unforgiving rough and difficult greens can help offset the elevation advantage at all three venues.<\/p>\n
A couple other courses outside the Big 3 could warrant a look by the USGA as well, especially if the association elects to go with a surprise pick at a relatively new course for the U.S. Open, as they did in 2015 (Chambers Bay in Washington) and \u201917 (Erin Hills in Wisconsin).<\/p>\n
Two Colorado courses that might fit that outlier billing are RainDance in Windsor and TPC Colorado in Berthoud. Though location relative to the Denver metro could be considered a drawback for both, each checks several boxes.<\/p>\n
At 8,400 yards, RainDance is the longest course in North America. It opened last year and continues to build up its property, including a hotel. Meanwhile, TPC Colorado can be stretched to 7,991 yards and already hosts an annual Korn Ferry tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we like the old tried-and-true where history has been made, we certainly keep an open mind to any venues that we think would deliver on our strategies,\u201d Bodenhamer said. \u201cThat could definitely be a new course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Cherry Hills \u2014 with its close ties to the USGA and longstanding history \u2014 remains the heavy favorite to eventually land another U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think of the greatest venues in America as the cathedrals of the game,\u201d Bodenhamer said. \u201cCherry Hills is a cathedral, make no mistake about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club hosted the first U.S. Open west of the Mississippi in 1938, and its first PGA Championship three years after that. But its signature moment came in 1960 as the host of the U.S. Open that ushered golf into its modern era. In that tournament, Arnold Palmer famously drove the first green en route to erasing a seven-shot deficit on the final day to beat aging legend Ben Hogan and up-and-comer Jack Nicklaus, who finished second.<\/p>\n
Hillary said that history is not lost on players, who value the course they win a U.S. Open on nearly as much as the trophy itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lessons of history from a given course suggests that in future championships, more great history can be made, and that it\u2019s not by accident that magic happens,\u201d Hillary said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a history of great champions here. We have Palmer, Nicklaus, Andy North, Hubert Green, Phil Mickelson, Babe Didrikson Zaharias.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Cherry Hills, which has a requirement to host championship tournaments written within its bylaws, is intent on capitalizing on its prestigious standing in order to secure one of the handful of open slots for the U.S. Open over the next quarter-century.<\/p>\n
Hence the club\u2019s Championships Committee, whose sole focus is \u201cto try to attract the most important events in the world,\u201d committee and club member Dave Lee explained. The committee, which features Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and former PGA Tour star David Duval, met with Bodenhamer on Friday to discuss the possibility of a U.S. Open at Cherry Hills.<\/p>\n
\u201cRest assured we\u2019re pursuing (a U.S. Open bid), and we\u2019re doing everything we can to see that happen,\u201d Lee said. \u201cAnd no matter what happens with that, championship golf is our history, and will continue to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, those within the game here remind local fans to relish the action in front of them, even if the state doesn\u2019t currently have an annual PGA event or a future major to look forward to yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been many of us who tried to bring a men\u2019s senior tournament or a women\u2019s annual tournament here since The International went away in \u201907, and it\u2019s not for the lack of trying, it just hasn\u2019t worked out,\u201d said Kevin Laura, the president of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and CEO of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut remember, just recently or ahead, we had the U.S. Girls Junior Championship this year at Eisenhower Golf Course (in Colorado Springs), the U.S. Am, the BMW in ’24, the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor in \u201925. We\u2019re not just getting a lick at the lollipop. We\u2019re getting the big tournaments coming here, and that\u2019s big for our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
A look at the most notable tournaments played in Colorado dating back to the 1938 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills.<\/em><\/p>\n 1938 U.S. Open: Ralph Guldahl, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1941 PGA Championship: Vic Ghezzi, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1959 U.S. Amateur Championship: Jack Nicklaus, The Broadmoor<\/p>\n 1960 U.S. Open: Arnold Palmer, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1967 PGA Championship: Don January, Columbine<\/p>\n 1967 U.S. Amateur Championship: Bob Dickson, The Broadmoor<\/p>\n 1976 U.S. Senior Amateur: Lewis Oehmig, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1978 U.S. Open: Andy North, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1983 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship: Jay Sigel, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1985 PGA Championship: Hubert Green, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1990 U.S. Amateur Championship: Phil Mickelson, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1993 U.S. Senior Open: Jack Nicklaus, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 1995 U.S. Women\u2019s Open: Annika S\u00f6renstam, The Broadmoor<\/p>\n 2005 U.S. Women’s Open: Birdie Kim, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 2008 U.S. Senior Open: Eduardo Romero, The Broadmoor<\/p>\n 2011 U.S. Women\u2019s Open: So Yeon Ryu, The Broadmoor<\/p>\n 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship: Steven Fox, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 2014 BMW Championship: Billy Horschel, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 2018 U.S. Senior Open: David Toms, The Broadmoor<\/p>\n 2019 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship: Lukas Michel, Colorado GC<\/p>\n 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship: Nick Dunlap\/Neal Shipley, Cherry Hills<\/p>\n 2024 BMW Championship: TBD, Castle Pines<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1960\/06\/arnold-palmer-crop.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFuture U.S. Open Sites<\/h3>\n
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