It’s almost an old story: “Colorado teenager qualifies for U.S. Open golf championship.”
Come Monday, “almost” may no longer apply.
For those who may have missed it, a 15-year-old from Centennial shot a 5-under-par 67 at Buffalo Run Golf Course in May to qualify for the U.S. Open sectional qualifying at Columbine Country Club on Monday.
If Branden Barron can match that kind of performance for 36 holes Monday, he will be following in the fairly fresh footsteps of Derek Tolan of Highlands Ranch and Tom Glissmeyer of Colorado Springs, who qualified as 16-year-olds in 2002 and 2003, respectively.
As it happens, Tolan, a freshman at the University of Colorado, and Glissmeyer, a freshman-to-be at Southern California, are among the other 27 players who will be competing for two qualifying spots.
So that old story could have a new slant: “Two Colorado teenagers qualify for U.S. Open.” Tolan, for one, will not be surprised if Barron becomes the third teenager in four years to represent Colorado at the U.S. Open, June 16-19 in Pinehurst, N.C.
“You know, Branden very well could do it,” Tolan said after a practice round with Barron at Columbine last week. “He’s just as good as Tom and I, if not better. He’s bigger (6-feet-1, 175 pounds), stronger and he’s got it all. You can’t believe how good a touch he has around the greens.
“He’s got the confidence to play at that level, and he loves to compete.”
Tolan would know. Three years ago, when he was 16 and Barron was 12, they took on a couple of teaching pros at the Family Fun Center and beat them out of $20. Barron still has his $5 share of the take tacked up on the bulletin board in his bedroom.
Barron, in fact, has already done plenty of time in Tolan’s footsteps, mostly on the mats at the Family Fun Center, where he works part time and where Tolan’s dad, John, is the head pro.
“I’ve been following Derek around since I was 6 or 7 years old,” Barron said. “I don’t know Glissmeyer as well, but they’re both an extreme inspiration for me. When Derek did it, I was like, ‘Hey, that could be me in a few years.”‘
“No doubt about it, you’re talking about another range rat with Branden,” John Tolan said. “We’ve got a bunch of them, and he’s one of the best. We’ve got heat and lights at this facility, so we’re open at nighttime in the winter. This is where they come after school.
“Branden is out there practicing all the time. He’s a kid who lives and breathes out on the driving range, and he’s got the natural ability to go with it. I think he kind of proved it at Buffalo Run last week.”
How Colorado could have produced two teenagers talented enough to qualify for the U.S. Open is a mystery to him, John Tolan said.
But he knows who started it and why there may be no end to it.
“Well, Derek did it, then Glissmeyer did it and now I think these kids coming up believe that, with a lot of hard work and dedication, they can do it, too. That’s how Derek got there and that’s how Tom got there. Now whether Branden can pull it off at 15, that’s another story. But just for him to get that far is pretty impressive, don’t you think?”
Barron’s father, Bill, was certainly impressed.
“He had to talk us into letting him play in the local qualifying because we really didn’t think he was ready for that kind of competition,” the elder Barron said.
But with his 16th birthday still more than six months away, “I guess he showed us,” Bill Barron said. “He got Greg Arkin (his teaching pro at Family Fun Center) to caddie for him, and he went out there and just played great.”
With Arkin on his bag, Barron got off to a rocky start but saved bogey on the fourth hole and went on to birdie seven of the next 11 en route to the 67.
“It was a lot of fun,” Branden Barron said. “I had a good guy on the bag, and he really helped me keep my cool when I hit bad shots and helped me on the greens when I had good birdie chances. It was just a good day.”
Said Arkin: “He’s a heckuva player, but he even surprised me a little bit out there. We do a lot of chipping and short-game work, and it really shows in his game. He can get up and down from just about anywhere, and that’s really what got us going on four.
“He hit his tee shot in the water, dropped and managed to get up and down from an impossible lie to make bogey and then just took off from there. It was fun to watch.
“I like his chances a lot. If he doesn’t get overwhelmed by the situation he’s in, I really like them because he’s playing great.”
When he was 12, Barron shot a final-round 69 playing against high school players in a tournament at South Suburban Golf Course, so Barron is less concerned about the level of competition than he is about getting in some putting time on the practice greens at Columbine.
“The course sets up pretty good for me,” Barron said. “I’m hitting a lot of high fades, which is kind of tailor-made for the course, and my putting is really good and these greens really reward good putting.
“The thing is, I’m a pretty conservative player and in a three- or four-round tournament, you just have to be patient and things will usually come around. In a one-day, 36-hole tournament, you kind of have to get hot somewhere in there. That’s what Derek and Tom did.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
