After 60 years, Colorado Open still attracting headline-grabbing field; David Duval, Michael Block, Jim Knous among notables for this week’s edition
By Gary Baines – 7/22/2024
This week will mark both the 60th anniversary of the Inspirato Colorado Open and the 60th time the tournament will be held — since the event wasn’t conducted in 2003.
The first Colorado Open, in 1964 at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen, didn’t have a purse. The next year, the tournament featured a $5,000 purse, with $1,000 going to the winner, Bill Bisdort.
My, how times have changed.
The 60th Colorado Open will be the ninth to pay out a $250,000 purse, with the champion earning $100,000 of that. In that way and others, the Open sets the standard for state and regional opens in golf.
As has been the case for much of its history, the Open continues to attract an impressive field by the standards of comparable tournaments. (Over the years, Colorado Open contestants have included current World Golf Hall of Famers Sam Snead, Phil Mickelson, Hale Irwin, Billy Casper, Fred Couples and Mark O’Meara, along with David Duval, Craig Stadler, Dave Hill, Steve Jones, Dave Stockton, Don January, Al Geiberger, Mark Wiebe and many others.) And that’s certainly the case again this week, with the event set to run Thursday through Sunday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, the home of the Open since 2004.
Here are some of the notables scheduled to compete:
— Cherry Hills Village resident David Duval will tee it up at GVR for the second straight year, again along with his son Brady, an amateur with whom David teamed to finish second in December at the nationally televised PNC Championship.
David Duval, a former world No. 1 who won 13 times on the PGA Tour, missed the 36-hole cut last year in the Colorado Open (73-70), as did Brady (84-74).
The elder Duval, 52, whose last PGA Tour victory (the 2001 British Open) came when he was 29, has been in contention on a fairly regular basis on PGA Tour Champions since the beginning of June. Over that recent stretch, his Champions finishes have been third place, 14th, 16th and 44th.
— Jim Knous, who was born and grew up in Colorado and played his college golf at the Colorado School of Mines. He’s competed in 44 PGA Tour events in his career, with one top-10 finish. He now works for Ping.
— Michael Block, a Southern California PGA professional who caught the imagination of golf media and fans when he made a hole-in-one in the final round and finished 15th in the 2023 PGA Championship, has now competed in 32 PGA Tour events, including six PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens. He’s made five cuts overall on the PGA Tour. Block won the 2014 national PGA Professional Championship and placed second in that event in 2022 and 2023. (FYI: Duval, Block and 2022 national Senior PGA Professional Championship winner Matt Schalk of Erie will tee off together at 12:55 p.m. on Thursday — hole 10 — and 7:55 a.m. on Friday — hole 1.)
— Former Colorado Open champions in the field: Turk Pettit, a past NCAA national champ and ex-LIV golfer (2023); Wil Collins (2005 and ’22); Mark Anguiano (2020, holder of the 72-hole scoring C.O. record of 29 under par); Sam Saunders of Albuquerque (2019); Jimmy Gunn (2015); Zahkai Brown (2013); and Derek Tolan (2009 and ’12).
— Former CGA Players of the Year teeing it up at GVR: Davis Bryant (POY in 2019), AJ Ott (2018), Jake Staiano (2017), Derek Fribbs (2013), Zahkai Brown (2011), Pat Grady (2007 and ’08) and Derek Tolan (2005).
— Recent Colorado PGA Players of the Year in the field: Geoff Keffer (record 8-time POY), Ben Lanting (2022), in addition to Micah Rudosky, winner of the last three Colorado PGA Professional Championships.
— Colorado Open runners-up over the last five years in this week’s field: Parker Edens and Andre Metzger (2023); and Jake Staiano and Derek Fribbs (2021).
— 2023 low amateur in 2024 field: Parker Edens.
For Thursday and Friday’s first- and second-round tee times at the Colorado Open — as they stand now — CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com