With new putter — the same model used by fellow Denver native Wyndham Clark — shining in round 1, two-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Kaye opens with 65 at Inspirato Colorado Senior Open
By Gary Baines – 8/28/2024
DENVER — What’s good for one Denver native apparently is good for another.
When two-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Kaye, who grew up in Denver and Phoenix and played golf at the University of Colorado, saw how good Wyndham Clark and others were putting with the Odyssey Jailbird putter, he figured he should give it a try.
After all, that’s the putter Clark, the Valor Christian High School graduate, used to sink a remarkable 215 feet worth of putts during a course-record round of 60 en route to victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. (That includes a 26-footer for bogey from just off the green on No. 12, which technically doesn’t count toward his official “putting” distance total, though he did use his putter for the stroke.)
Kaye received his new putter a couple of months ago, but the 25th Inspirato Colorado Senior Open marked the first tournament round in which he put it in play.
“I putted lights today,” the 54-year-old said. “On my first hole (No. 10 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club) I hit a flyer that went all the way to the back of the green and I made a 50-footer (for birdie) with my brand-new putter that I just put in the bag. I was like, ‘This thing’s working.’”
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Kaye was right on the mark with his new putter on Wednesday.
That was one of three long putts Kaye made on Wednesday, and he converted numerous mid-range efforts en route to a 7-under-par 65 that gave him a two-stroke lead at GVR.
Kaye, a two-time winner of the Colorado Open (1996 and 2017, the latter at Green Valley Ranch), birdied his last three holes, sinking putts there of 6, 3 and 12 feet, respectively, to set the first-round standard. To put the score into perspective, only one winner of the Colorado Senior Open since 2015 has posted a single-round score of 65 or better — last year’s champ, Jason Schultz, who carded a second-round 64.
“I just got one of those Wyndham Clark putters. There’s been a lot of guys who are putting with that — and are putting really nice,” Kaye said. “I’ve been struggling with my putting my whole life. One of my junior college teammates is the senior Tour rep for Callaway. I called him and I’m like, ‘Hey, help a brother out. Send me one of those putters.’ He’s like, ‘Whatever you need, JK.’
“Then I didn’t use it right away. I was messing around with it and didn’t like it (at first). Once I realized I wasn’t playing anywhere I thought, ‘I’m going to stand up and putt with this thing and figure it out.’
“I really like it. It’s like a totally different approach to putting than I’ve always had. It’s longer and I’m not crouched over. I’m standing tall. It doesn’t hurt my back. When I’m putting I can stand over it forever because my back is not spasming; I’m not thinking about other stuff. It works.”
Kaye’s wife, Jen, who grew up in Boulder, caddied for him on Wednesday and helped read putts. “That was the key for sure; no question,” Jonathan said of Jen looping for him.
Kaye chipped in for par from roughly 20 feet at No. 6 (his 15th hole) on Wednesday before his run of three straight birdies to close the round.
“It was one of those ones that looked like it wasn’t going in, stayed on the lip for a second, then it fell,” Kaye said. “To be honest, that kind of got me going. It was at the end of my round, but I birdied my last three holes after that.
“I was really happy with the way I’ve played because I haven’t played a whole lot lately.”
Kaye, winner of the 2003 Buick Classic and the 2004 FBR Open on the PGA Tour, chalked up eight birdies and one bogey on Wednesday. He’s playing his third Colorado Senior Open since turning 50 in 2020 and he has yet to crack the top 15 in the event. But Kaye won the 2017 at GVR, finishing at 23 under par that year as a 47-year-old.
Kaye and Jen, who used to spend summers in Boulders and the rest of the year in the Phoenix area, now reside in Arizona full time, though they have family in Colorado and still visit regularly.
“I love Colorado,” Jonathan said. “I love (the tournament) being here; it’s great. We’ve been spending the summer in Arizona this year, so it’s great to get to a little cooler weather, though it’s still kind of hot here. For me it feels chilly. This is home, my wife’s home. We always like being here.”
Kaye has played in just 11 PGA Tour Champions events since turning 50 — and just two this year — despite his two PGA Tour victories. And he doesn’t anticipate going to Champions Q-school this fall, though he has in the past.
“I don’t think so. I think I’m over it,” he said. “I’m kind of disappointed with the whole senior tour, how they run it. It’s just a closed shop. They don’t want any competition out there. The good old boys want to stay out there. When I hung up my clubs from the PGA Tour, I had two years out there. Since then, they’ve change the rule (for exempt status) like five times.
“For a field of 78 players, I’m like 106th to get in on the list — with guys ahead of me I’ve literally never heard of. I don’t even know who they are. So it’s hard to get in there.”
Kaye was one of just 10 players to shoot in the 60s on Wednesday at GVR. Steve Holmes of Simi Valley, Calif., and Brad Adamonis of Coral Springs, Fla., share second place at 67, with Adamonis going bogey-free and Holmes making an eagle, four birdies and a bogey. Adamonis finished third in last year’s CSO.
Guy Boros, the 2022 CSO champ and a one-time PGA Tour winner, joined Bill Harvey of Albuquerque and Mark Walker of Celina, Texas at 68, good for a share of fourth place.
Holmes, who played in the 2023 PGA Championship, almost had an all-time highlight on Wednesday as he came ever so close to making an albatross on the par-5 ninth hole from 263 yards with a 3-wood.
“I had a really good one on 9 and I thought I had double eagle,” he said. “It ended up about a foot away (just past the hole, and he made eagle). I think it maybe caught the edge (on the way by the cup). It was close. From our vantage point it looked like it was in the whole way. That makes it easier.”
Holmes, who hit 17 greens in regulation, would have shot 66 if not for a missed 3-foot birdie try on his final hole.
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Bill Harvey of Albuquerque, who posted a 68 on Wednesday.
Age is Just a Number: Among the players tied for fourth place is Bill Harvey of Albuquerque, who is riding high after last week becoming the oldest winner ever of the open-age Sun Country PGA Professional Championship, at age 63. It was his fourth victory in the event, but first since 2007.
“I’ve been playing well,” he said after 68 that was marred slightly by a double bogey on the 17th hole.
Harvey been a regular at the Colorado Senior Open for more than a dozen years, with a best finish of sixth place in 2014.
“I love this tournament,” he said. “It’s the best tournament I play in the whole year.”
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Victor Minovich of Thornton had a roller-coaster of a round on Wednesday.
Notable: Richard Bradsby of Golden shot a 1-under-par 71 and shares the lead in the low-amateur competition with Anthony Doss of Mandeville, La. Victor Minovich of Thornton, the 2022 CGA Senior Amateur champion, had one of the more unique rounds among the amateurs as he was 4 under par through 7, then went double bogey-double bogey and was 7 over from holes 8-12, but bounced back to go 2 under for his last seven. He ended up at 1-over-par 73. … Harvey (68) leads the super-senior competition, for players 60 and over, by two. … Steve Irwin of Golden, a former CGA Player of the Year and son of three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin, is making his senior tournament debut this week. He was even through 13 holes but finished at 4-over-par 76. … Shane Bertsch of Parker, a one-time winner on PGA Tour Champions, played his final eight holes in 4 under to shoot 2-under 70. He made an eagle on the par-5 12th. … In the live (unofficial) scoring for the CSO, Brendan Hester of Northbridge, Mass., was down for a 2 on the par-5 ninth hole at GVR — an albatross, in other words. As it turned out though, it was just a live scoring miscue, and Hester made a par on the hole. “I may four 2s but all on par-3s,” he said. … The field will be cut to the low 50 and ties after Thursday’s second round. … Former Broncos quarterback Tommy Maddox opened with a 6-over-par 78th that leaves him in 100th place. Maddox was even through 12 over before struggling down the home stretch. … The winner of the CSO will receive $20,000.
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Steve Irwin of Golden, making his senior debut, opened with a 76.
For all the scores from the CSO, 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