This week’s U.S. Senior Open will be the second held at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. And if this one ends up with as many interesting — and sometimes offbeat — storylines as the one the resort hosted in 2008, they’ll still be talking about it many years from now.
Let’s look back on some of the most memorable moments from the ’08 Senior Open:
— Power Couple: Greg Norman and Chris Evert were only married for 15 months before they separated, but they were still fresh from their nuptials when they came to The Broadmoor together in the summer of 2008 for Norman to compete in the U.S. Senior Open.
Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles in her stellar tennis career, was a fixture in the galleries at The Broadmoor while rooting on her Australian hubbie. She even wore a Shark logo hat to match his. As you might imagine, the athlete super couple drew plenty of attention that week, just a month removed for their wedding.
Alas, their divorce became final in December 2009. And they said it wouldn’t last …
By the way, Norman finished fourth at The Broadmoor. The next year, he also placed fourth in the event, marking his final U.S. Senior Open appearance.
— Quiet, Please: World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin, a former University of Colorado athlete who won The Broadmoor Invitation in 1967, had something to chime in about following his second round in 2008.
When Irwin was teeing off on the par-4 first hole at the East Course, the chimes from the Will Rogers Memorial Shrine of the Sun (below) on nearby Cheyenne Mountain went off in the midst of his downswing. He tried to stop his swing, but inadvertently still made contact with his ball. It went about 20 yards, under a Rolex clock just off to the left side of the tee.
“It was the shortest tee shot I think I’ve ever hit,” the three-time U.S. Open champion said at the time. “… It was like, what else can go wrong? I told them on press day they (the chimes, which go off every 15 minutes) were going to be a problem. It’s bothersome. People (here) may be used to it, but they’re not playing a golf championship. After that, I told my caddie to keep his watch handy every 15 minutes.”
For the record, Irwin still made a par on the first hole. After he received free relief from the clock near the tee, he hit his second shot, then his approach to 22 feet from the cup, and sank the putt.
Later in the round, on the 12th tee, the Rogers Shrine chimes went off while Irwin was set up to the ball, but this time he backed off with a slight smile before having begun his swing.
FYI regarding the chimes and this week’s championship: Russ Miller, the director of golf at The Broadmoor, told the USGA on Monday that the volume of the chimes has been reduced by 50 percent this week.
— Something’s a Bruin: The same round that he hit his 20-yard tee shot, Irwin encountered another wildly unexpected happening.
The former Coloradan and playing partners Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer — the highest-profile pairing that teed off Friday morning — were on the 13th hole when a large black bear ran across the fairway in front of them around noon (pictured at top). Then-ESPN on-course reporter Dottie Pepper was in the fairway with the group, and ESPN cameras captured the action.
“Dottie about wet her britches,” said Irwin, who noted that he saw the same bear in a back yard that Thursday.
“It was a crazy day.”
Added Fred Funk: “(Jack) Nicklaus isn’t here, so I guess that’s a substitute.”
The bear later made its way through two drainage pipes on the West Course and then departed the premises. But on Saturday night, a bruin — very possibly the same one — visited the concession stand at the seventh hole and helped itself to a smorgasbord of candy bars, bananas, hot dogs and bread.
Fellow TV broadcaster Roger Maltbie didn’t blame Pepper for being alarmed by a bear in such close proximity.
“The only part of me the bear would have seen was my backside headed out of the area,” he said.
Not surprisingly, the bear footage was a prominent fixture on ESPN’s SportsCenter for the remainder of the day.
— Green Issues: As if the bear and the chimes weren’t enough on that Friday in 2008, the pin placements for the second round that day drew the ire of many a U.S. Senior Open contestant.
Said 1992 U.S. Open champion Tom Kite: Some of the Friday pin placements “almost defy the imagination.”
Added Greg Norman: “The USGA should know better.”
Fred Funk, who finished second in 2008, behind Eduardo Romero, was amazed at the general difficulty of the greens that week.
“This is the hardest set of greens I’ve ever played,” he said. “And that’s throwing Augusta in — and Oakmont and Winged Foot and Pinehurst [No. 2]. I’ve just never seen greens with this much movement in them, meaning they don’t have any flat spots on them, like an Augusta (green) has. You have all that, and then you have to factor in that mountain. That’s what’s crazy. It just gives you that illusion that you have a putt that looks like it’s uphill, and it’s really downhill, or the other way around. It just keeps you guessing.”
— And then there’s these tidbits from that week: Bernhard Langer — the second-winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history, behind Hale Irwin — played in his first U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor in 2008. The German closed with a 66 to tie for sixth place. … None of the players with strong Colorado ties finished in the top 10 at the 2008 Senior Open. The best of the bunch were local resident Gary Hallberg (14th place) and Colorado Springs native and former University of Northern Colorado athlete R.W. Eaks (18th). But a player from fairly nearby — Jeff Klein of Scottsbluff, Neb. — placed ninth at The Broadmoor. His third-round score of 64 was just a stroke higher than the Senior Open record at the time. In fact, Klein was 8 under par after 14 holes before going 2 over in his last four. … The 2008 U.S. Senior Open — which featured a field that included World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange — attracted an announced 128,714 fans for the week.
All in all, this week’s tournament appears to have its work cut out if it hopes to match or surpass 2008 in terms of sheer memorability.
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For all the essentials regarding this week’s U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, CLICK HERE.
