Colorado doesn’t see golf played at a major level on a routine basis.
Cherry Hills Country Club last hosted a U.S. Open in 1978 and the PGA Championship in 1985. The Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs hosted the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open and 2018 U.S. Senior Open. And Colorado Golf Club hosted the Solheim Cup in 2013.
Granted, the Korn Ferry Tour’s Ascendant rolls through each July at TPC Colorado and the U.S. Golf Association makes routine stops with its national amateur championships — last year playing the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills and the U.S. Girls Junior at the United States Air Force Academy’s Eisenhower Golf Club Blue Course.
But the PGA Tour? Not since 2014 and before that 2006 when The International ended a 21-year run at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock.
So, there was understandable excitement with the PGA Tour’s May 2022 announcement that the 2024 BMW Championship, this week’s second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, would be returning to Castle Pines, which is located roughly 25 miles south of Denver.
One of four top-class courses within a few miles of each other in the affluent Castle Rock municipality — the others being The Country Club of Castle Pines, the Ridge at Castle Pines North and Sanctuary —Castle Pines opened in 1981 and was founded by Jack Vickers.
Vickers, an oil and gas executive also involved in professional sports ownership and an Augusta National member, moved to the area in 1969 and spent years patiently purchasing the various parcels of land he needed to build a major championship-worthy venue he long envisioned.
He chose Jack Nicklaus to design the course that began hosting the PGA Tour in 1986 with the unique Modified Stableford scoring format. (Eight points were awarded for a double eagle, five for an eagle, two for a birdie and zero for a par. Bogeys meant the loss of a point and double bogeys or worse took three points off a score.
The scoring system was designed to encourage aggressive play. The record four-round points total was 48, recorded by Ernie Els (2000) and Phil Mickelson (1997). The most exciting finish came in 2002 when Steve Lowery splashed out of the water short of the 14th green and holed a birdie putt, holed his second shot for an eagle at the 15th, and made an albatross at the par-5 17th. At the 18th, needing to hole a 9-foot birdie putt to overtake Rich Beem who had finished with 44 points, Lowery left his ball hanging on the cup’s lip.
Despite the intriguing format and several exciting finishes, plus a date change that hoped to secure a better field (Tiger Woods played the event only twice — 1998 and 1999). the Tour announced it was cancelling the International in February 2007. Interestingly, Australians Adam Scott and Jason Day are the only two players in this week’s BMW field who played in The International.
A lot has changed in the intervening years. Castle Pines, which sits at 6,350 feet above sea level, will stretch to 8,130 yards and feature 400 feet of elevation change. Every hole has been altered, but perhaps the most significant renovation came in 2020 when course architect Jim Lipe made significant changes to the ninth hole and Nos. 14-17. The par-3 16th saw the most extensive change as the green was moved roughly 30 yards to the right and a new water feature now defends the putting surface short and left.
“My responsibility there has been to implement Mr. Nicklaus’ instructions,” says Lipe, who has his own design company and still works on various projects alongside Nicklaus.