For just about everybody except the defending champion, it was fairly easy pickings Thursday during the first round of the Colorado Open.
With nothing but smooth air and soft landing areas at Denver’s Green Valley Ranch Golf Club just south of Denver International Airport, no fewer than 27 players finished the day with scores lower than 70. Thirty-two more broke par 72.
Three players came in at 7-under-par 65 to share the lead, including 1994 champion Brian Guetz, a former Heritage High School standout who is now a regular on the Canadian Tour out of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Guetz was a 20-year-old collegian at Oklahoma State when he won the 1994 championship, only the second amateur in the history of the tournament. He was joined at the top of the leaderboard by two other young mini-tour pros: Chris Galeski, 25, of Carlsbad, Calif., and Luke Swilor, 23, of Sandy, Utah.
The three leaders had but one bogey among them, and Swilor had eight birdies.
As for defending champion Bill Loeffler, 48, of Castle Rock, who had an uncharacteristic 75 while playing in the threesome with Guetz and 2001 champion Brent Wayment of Logan, Utah (67), he said it was all he could to stay out of the way.
A three-time winner, Loeffler’s attempt to tie Dave Hill for most championships (four) in Colorado Open history faded fast with a 4-over-par 40 on the back nine.
But is he out of the way to stay?
“I’m out of it,” Loeffler said. “Trust me, I’m out of it. I finished with a triple on 17 and a chip-in bogey on the last hole. I had a pretty tough time, didn’t play well. Hadn’t been playing well. Tried to fool myself into thinking I should play well.
“It was not the funnest day I’ve ever had on the golf course. But if I can get it back to par (today), that’ll probably make the cut, and once you make the cut, anything can happen.”
Guetz, for one, is not about to count Loeffler out.
“That’s as poor as I’ve seen Bill play, but he’s as good as any player around here,” Guetz said. “He just hit it in a few bad spots. He’s liable to shoot 64 tomorrow.”
Guetz could have been speaking for all three leaders when he said: “It was just one of those days with a lot of balls in the fairway and lot of balls on the greens and you found the hole. So it was one of those fairly easy, low-stress, good rounds that are nice.
“I don’t know what it is … coming home, having a lot of family support, but I’ve always had a lot of good luck in this tournament. I was just looking at the record book they gave us, and as a pro and an amateur, I’ve had a first, second, third, fourth and fifth. Hopefully, I can keep it in there.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
