PARKER — Bill Loeffler, who lives in Castle Rock and manages Highlands Ranch Golf Club, said it would be an honor to finish as the low club pro among the 35 entered here. Loeffler posted the best opening-round score (69) among his colleagues.
“I believe that the club pros playing in this tournament are really, really good players,” said Loeffler, who played briefly on the PGA Tour in the early 1980s after completing his college career at Arizona State. “So if I could be low club pro and beat all those guys, then I think there’s a lot of pride in that for me.”
The chances of a club pro winning the Senior PGA Championship?
“I would say highly unlikely,” Loeffler said. “But possible, sure. Why not?”
Props to the caddie.
Co-leader Robin Freeman gave much of the credit for his 6-under-par 66 to caddie Lou Cooper, a longtime friend.
Freeman rolled in six birdie putts of 12 feet or longer.
“Lou reads the greens very well,” Freeman said. “We did a lot of mapping of the greens in the practice rounds this week. He read them very well, and I hit the correct speeds and made a few, so that was kind of fun.”
Home game.
Denver’s Mark Wiebe, who has had two injections for a herniated disc during the past eight days, said he probably would have withdrawn from the championship Thursday if it had not been played in Colorado.
“It’s huge (to be here), or else I wouldn’t have done it,” said Wiebe, who grinded around to a 77. “You can feel those needles going in there, and it’s not a fun procedure, I can tell you that. But I kept thinking the outcome was that maybe I could play. I love playing at home. It never gets old.”
Promo.
A radio advertisement that has run in the Denver area for weeks trumpets the Senior PGA Championship as an opportunity to see Champions Tour rookies Fred Couples, Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger.
The best-laid plans . . .
Only Couples is in the final field. Pavin withdrew last week, and Azinger withdrew before Thursday’s opening round.
Hurting.
After completing his afternoon round of 4-under 68, Tom Lehman apologetically declined an invitation to come to the interview room and instead headed to a physical therapy session.
“It’s my knee, and it’s been bothering me all year,” Lehman said.
Rally time.
Playing in the afternoon, local favorite Gary Hallberg almost shot himself out of the tournament during his first half-hour of play. The Castle Pines resident double-bogeyed Nos. 1 and 4, standing 4-over after four holes.
Hallberg rallied to finish with a 1-under 71 and is tied for 12th.
“Starting out like that, and now you’ve got the whole windy afternoon ahead of you — to come back like that, that was very, very rewarding,” Hallberg said. “I feel great to shoot that score after that start.”
