GARY BAINES: A Matter of Perspective

Taking Note of 2008’s Best Quotes

Monday, December 22, 2008

      Talk may be cheap, but if you listen to enough of it, you’re bound to hear  some interesting things. And so it is as a golf writer in Colorado. With that in mind, here is a look at some notable quotables from Colorado golf in 2008:

      -- Mark Cramer, owner and manager of the Denver Golf Expo, after the 2008 event encountered some interesting hurdles -- notably, sharing the Denver Merchandise Mart with The Sex Show exhibition, and having a huge sink hole on I-25 block the northbound exit to the Expo: “There are always obstacles, but we had a unique set this year. But that’s my job to make it all run smoothly and to kill all the alligators behind the curtain.”

     -- Colorado-based Jim Engh, who isn’t afraid to utilize some unusual features as a golf course architect, including some at the new Four Mile Ranch course in Canon City: “I know I’m not going to do what I do without ticking someone off. I accept the fact that I’m going to lose one in five (players). But the other four are going for a helluva ride.”

           -- HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open competitor Lisa DePaulo, after playing her last four holes in 7 over par in particularly blustery conditions at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club: “I just want to know who turned on the fan.”

     -- Former PGA Tour player Brian Kortan, who qualified in Colorado for the U.S. Open less than two years after nearly dying of a heart attack: “It feels great; it‘s been a long couple of years. I feel a pretty big sense of accomplishment.”

     -- Kent Denver graduate Brandt Jobe, who severed the tip of his left index finger and the base of his left thumb when a broom handle broke while he was sweeping his garage two years ago, on finishing 18th in the 2008 U.S. Open:  “I’m headed in the right direction. Compared to where I was, this week was a heyday.”

    -- Coloradan Matt Call, who qualified for the 2008 Nationwide Tour but decided not to use his exemption after finding out he and his wife had a second child on the way: “My priorities fell into place. I love my family more than the idea of playing on the PGA Tour. It was a hard, but easy decision. … I didn’t want to mortgage the future.”

    -- Jack Nicklaus, who received a lifetime achievement award in Denver in June, when asked who would win if he and Tiger Woods met in their prime, with the same equipment: “If I didn’t say me, I wouldn’t be very smart, would I? If Tiger didn’t say Tiger, he wouldn’t be very smart. That’s the only way you can say it. I think we both have the greatest respect for each other.”

     -- Broomfield’s Jim Grady, on he and brother Pat both qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship: “We’re not exactly lovey-dovey … but it‘s pretty cool. Our dad is probably more happy than either of us will admit to being.”

     -- Pat Grady, after losing to University of Colorado teammate Derek Tolan in the final of the State Public Links Championship, giving Tolan his first Colorado Golf Association individual title: “He told me he wasn’t going to turn pro until he won a gold (CGA) medal, so I let him win one.”

     -- Tolan, noting that he had finished second in nine CGA individual events before winning the State Publinks: “This was a long time coming. I’ve had a lot of runner-ups. Those damn silver medals. It’s been an ongoing joke.”

     -- Centennial resident Audie Dean, a caddie at Colorado Golf Club, on qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open:  “When I was signing my scorecard, I didn’t cry, but I felt like I could have.“

     -- Castle Rock resident Dale Douglass, winner of three events on the PGA Tour and 11 on the Champions circuit, on the possibility of the 2008 U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor marking his final tour event ever: “I’ve had a 45-year career (as a tour player). I ought to be allowed to quit.”

     -- Brian Guetz, who won the Colorado Open in 1994 and 2008, on his two college-age amateur playing partners in this year’s tournament, Pat Grady and Steve Ziegler: “You could see them doing the math. I think they figured out they were 8 and 5 years old when I won (in 1994). It made me feel real old.”

     -- University of Colorado graduate and three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin, on a black bear running across the fairway while he and his group played in the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor, with on-course ESPN reporter Dottie Pepper in tow: “Dottie about wet her britches.”

    -- Irwin, on hitting a tee shot 20 yards at the U.S. Senior Open when chimes from the Will Rogers Shrine went off in his backswing:  “It was the shortest tee shot I think I’ve ever hit. … It was like, what else can go wrong?”

    -- Former U.S. Open champion Tom Kite on the U.S. Golf Association’s set-up of the greens for the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor: “The USGA put some pin placements on us today that almost defy the imagination.“

    -- Nebraskan Jeff Klein, who needed a playoff to qualify for the U.S. Senior Open, on the third-round 64 that set him up for a ninth-place finish in the prestigious event:     “It’s amazing. I was thinking about that today -- how close I was to not making it here, then (Friday) I thought I might miss the cut. Golf is a funny game.”

    -- Former Colorado State golfer Martin Laird, who earned the 125th and final fully-exempt position on the 2008 PGA Tour money list, on his subsequent trip back home to Scottsdale, Ariz.: "I am in first class, and I will be taking advantage of the free drinks."

     -- Parker’s Shane Bertsch, who didn’t fully understand the conditions of his medically based exemption on the PGA Tour and paid the price by losing his fully-exempt status for 2009:  “I was always under the impression that I was totally fine (regarding his 2009 status). Rules are rules and I take most of the blame myself, but I wish it would have been explained to me a little better.”

     -- Former CU golfer John Douma, who had to withdraw from the second stage of PGA Tour qualifying when he suffered an appendicitis days before the tournament started:     “It’s heartbreaking. I had just qualified for the Tour event in Scottsdale and made the cut, and I breezed through the first stage. I was at the top of my game.”

      -- Golden native Leif Olson, who quit the game of golf a few years ago but took it up again and went on the qualify for the 2009 PGA Tour: “It’s a little surreal. It’s been a crazy ride the last four years, to play golf, quit and come back. Everything is coming together.”

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: Two Colorado businessmen who went on to play prominent roles in the state’s golf community made the news recently.

    Jack Vickers, who founded the Castle Rock-based International PGA Tour event and nurtured it during its 21-year run, was named to the 2009 class of the Colorado Business Hall of Fame. And Pat Hamill, who revived the Colorado Open after financial difficulties kept it from being played in 2003, was named a runner-up for the Rocky Mountain News’ 2008 Business Person of the Year. Hamill is CEO of Oakwood Homes.

CGA SEEKS EQUIPMENT FOR GOLF SWAP: The Colorado Golf Association is asking for donated or consigned golf equipment that can be sold at the 2009 Denver Golf Expo‘s Golf Swap, which will benefit CGA youth programs. Equipment donations will be accepted at the Expo, which will be held at the Denver Merchandise Mart, on Feb. 5 (noon-3 p.m.) and Feb. 6 (8 a.m.-noon). Payments for items sold on consignment will be distributed on Feb. 8, from noon to 4 p.m., at the Merchandise Mart.

     For more information on the Golf Swap, or to donate clubs at other times of the year, contact CGA director of youth programs Dustin Jensen at 303-974-2110.

GOLF NOTES

The Colorado golf scene produced plenty
of memorable lines this year