CGA Amateur set to be held in Colorado Springs for the first time since 1983
By Gary Baines – 7/14/2021
The last time the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs hosted the CGA Amateur — then known as the CGA Stroke Play — a guy name Steve Jones took home the title.
Fifteen years later, Jones won a U.S. Open. The former University of Colorado golfer ended up with eight PGA Tour victories.
But this week the CGA Amateur, now in its 10th decade, returns to CC of Colorado for the first time in 40 years — and will be held in Colorado Springs for the first time since 1983.
The Amateur, which dates back to at least 1933, boasts a stellar list of champions. Winners who have gone on to capture PGA Tour titles include Hale Irwin (Amateur champ in 1963, ’64 and ’65), Bob Byman (1971, ’72 and ’73) and Jones (1981). And other winners who have gone on to play in at least 75 PGA Tour events include Brandt Jobe (1985) and Wyndham Clark (2010).
This week’s Amateur, a 72-hole affair, runs Thursday through Sunday. It will start with a field of 84, with a 36-hole cut reducing it to the top 40 players and ties after round 2.
Colin Prater of Cherokee Ridge Golf Course, winner of the CGA Amateur in both 2016 and 2020, will defend his title in his hometown. The high school teacher, who played his college golf at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, swept both of the CGA’s men’s major championships last year — the Amateur and the Match Play.
There will be no repeat of that feat this year as 2021 CGA Match Play winner Cole Nygren isn’t entered in this week’s Amateur.
Joining Prater in the field at the CC of Colorado are University of Denver golfer Jackson Solem of The Fox Hill Club, the Summit League Men’s Golfer of the Year; four-time CGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year Chris Thayer; former pro Parker Edens, the Colorado State University men’s golf assistant coach; 2020 CoBank Colorado Senior Open runner-up Jon Lindstrom of Lakewood Country Club, who competed in last week’s U.S. Senior Open; TJ Shehee of Boulder Country Club, who was medalist in this week’s U.S. Amateur qualifying in Colorado; Walker Franklin of The Ranch Country Club, who won the 2020 Colorado Junior PGA at the Country Club of Colorado; Griffin Barela and Jack Castiglia, regular contenders at the CGA Amateur; and 2019 CGA Match Play champ Josh McLaughlin of Highland Meadows Golf Course.
Tom Glissmeyer, who qualified for the U.S. Open at age 16 in 2003, will compete on the CC of Colorado course that was his home facility growing up.
Also scheduled to tee it up is former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Coal Creek Golf Course.
Before this drought for the CGA Amateur in Colorado Springs, the event was held three consecutive years in the Springs. After Jones won at CC of Colorado in 1981, his CU teammate Rick Cramer prevailed in 1982 at The Broadmoor and Mark Armistead claimed the title in 1983, also at The Broadmoor.
For Thursday’s first-round tee times, CLICK HERE.