Leading the Pack

Oh what a difference a year makes.

Last year at the CGA Women’s Dunham Chapman Championship, the team of Denise Cohen of Kissing Camels and Ron Irons of Eisenhower Golf Club shot a first-round 83 en route to a third-place finish at Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks.

On Saturday in the same event — but at the River Course at Keystone Ranch — Cohen and Irons posted a gross score nine strokes better to grab a four-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the 12th Dunham Chapman.

The pair played their final five holes in 2 under par on Saturday and finished the day with four birdies and seven bogeys.

The Chapman Stroke Play format calls for two-person teams, with each golfer hitting tee shots, then playing her partner’s ball for the second shot. After that, a scoring ball is chosen, and that ball is played alternately into the hole.

Two teams share second place at 78 in the gross competition heading into Sunday’s final round: former CGA Match Play champion Laurie Steenrod of Saddle Rock Golf Course and partner Bev Hoffenberg of Columbine Country Club, and Sandra Young and Louise Lyle of Eisenhower Golf Club. Steenrod has twice won the Dunham Chapman with current Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Christie Austin, who with Kathy West holds fourth place at 79 after Saturday.

The Dunham Chapman was renamed prior to the 2017 championship as a tribute to Jo Ann Dunham, a longtime CWGA volunteer whose brainchild was the Chapman, which was first contested in 2007. Dunham passed away on Sept. 28, 2016, just shy of her 77th birthday.

For the gross and net scores for all eight flights competing in the 64-team Dunham Chapman Championship, CLICK HERE.