Geoff Keffer adds to his record total of Colorado PGA Dow Finsterwald Player of the Year honors; other Section POYs: Doug Rohrbaugh (Senior), Ashley Tait-Wengert (Women) and Andy Connell (Associate)
By Gary Baines – 10/21/2024
At this point, with a record firmly in the back pocket of his plus-fours, Geoff Keffer is thinking about legacy.
Keffer, a PGA assistant professional at Lakewood Country Club, recently locked up the Colorado PGA’s Dow Finsterwald Rolex Player of the Year honor for 2024. It marks a record-extending ninth time Keffer has earned the Section’s overall POY award, with the next most in history being the seven that Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Bob Hold landed (1966 through ’71 and ’74).
“I’ve got to try to put the next mark — for whoever is going to come and try to beat the record — out there a little further,” Keffer said recently. “Every year I can put it out there more is better.”
Keffer, 46, previously was named the Dow Finsterwald POY in 2012, ’14 through ’17, ’20-’21 and last year. In addition, he was the Associate Player of the Year in 2007, ’10 and ’11.
In this year’s POY points, Keffer finished about 550 ahead of second-place Ben Lanting of Bear Creek Golf Club (6,478 to 5,929). Keffer, a two-time Colorado PGA Professional Champion, won outright or shared a couple of titles in Section events this year and finished runner-up in the CPGA Professional Championship and the West Chapter Championship. He also made the cut in the Inspirato Colorado Open, where he placed 24th.
“Since I was battling injuries all year, I didn’t think I’d even come close,” Keffer said of the Finsterwald POY competition.
Keffer is one of several Colorado PGA Players of the Year who will be recognized on Friday night when the Colorado PGA holds its annual Awards Gala at Cherry Hills Country Club. To read about others who were previously announced as 2024 CPGA honorees — CLICK HERE.
As for the other Players of the Year:
— Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale and River Valley Ranch GC, Senior Player of the Year: Speaking of extending records, Rohrbaugh landed the SPOY honor for the ninth time — and sixth time in the last seven years. He previously was the SPOY from 2012 through ’14 and 2018 through ’22. Rohrbaugh, the 2013 Inspirato Colorado Senior Open champion, finished second in a playoff at the 2024 Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship. He ended up with 6,167 SPOY points, with runner-up Matt Schalk checking in at 4,187.
— Ashley Tait-Wengert of Morrison and Turkey Creek Golf, Women’s Player of the Year: Tait-Wengert, a three-time girls state high school champion and winner of the 2008 CGA Women’s Stroke Play, this year captured her second straight Colorado PGA Women’s Championship. She also shared the title in the West Chapter Stroke Play, the Country Club of Colorado Pro-Am and the Flying Horse North Pro-Am. Tait-Wengert finished 2024 with nearly double the Women’s Player of the Year points as second-place Kelli McKandless of Murphy Creek Golf Course.
— Andy Connell of Denver and True Spec Golf-Denver, Associate Player of the Year: This mark Connell’s fourth consecutive year as Associate Player of the Year, tying the record set by Matt Bryant (1998 through 2001). Among the biggest of Connell’s handful of victories in 2024 Section events was a two-stroke win over Keffer at the West Chapter Championship on Oct. 1.
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