Denver resident Jon Lindstrom named one of top senior amateurs in the world by Global Golf Post; Nick Dunlap, who won U.S. Am at Cherry Hills, earns male Amateur of the Year honor
By Gary Baines – 11/14/2023
Jon Lindstrom has long been a formidable golfer in the amateur ranks. But it took him turning 55 years old to really excel on a national and international stage.
The Denver resident and Lakewood Country Club member, who celebrated his 56th birthday in September, has been competing in big-time senior tournaments for the last year or so — all over the U.S. and even in England for the British Senior Amateur.
And not just competing — often faring very well. In 2023, he’s won the Trans-Miss Seniors and the Heron Creek National Senior Invitational, and tied for ninth in the British Senior Amateur and advanced to the round of 64 at the U.S. Senior Amateur. In Colorado, Lindstrom swept the CGA senior majors — the Senior Amateur and the Senior Match Play — and prevailed in the Senior Division of the Western Chapter.
After numerous such strong performances in 2023, Lindstrom is currently No. 6 among males age 55 and older in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
And this week, Lindstrom was named to Global Golf Post’s Men’s Senior Amateur First Team — meaning the publication considers the Coloradan to be one of the top 10 male senior amateurs in the world (age 55 and over).
Global Golf Post’s comment about Lindstrom said this: “This is more a body-of-work selection than anything else. Lindstrom won a notable national event with the Trans-Miss, excelled in local play around Colorado and had multiple top-10 results, notably in the John T. Lupton, National Senior Hall of Fame and R&A Senior Amateur.”
In Colorado, Lindstrom has a dozen CGA championships to his credit, including three Mid-Amateurs, the Senior Amateur and the Senior Match Play. He’s also finished as low amateur in the Inspirato Colorado Senior Open four times, including when he finished second in a playoff for the overall title in 2020.
Global Golf Post has published All-Amateur Teams since 2013. They are “intended to recognize outstanding individual performance during the calendar year for male and female amateurs, mid-amateurs and seniors.”
In all, 100 players were recognized this year in the open-age, mid-amateur and senior divisions.
Nick Dunlap of Huntsville, Ala., who won the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club in August and is a past U.S. Junior Amateur champ, was named the male Amateur of the Year. Fan favorite Neal Shipley of Pittsburgh, the U.S. Am runner-up at Cherry Hills, made the GGP men’s second team. Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif., who turned pro late in the spring, was the women’s Amateur of the Year after capturing titles in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the NCAA national championships.
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. He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com