There's no denying Colorado is steeped in golf history even a year after losing its PGA Tour event.

Photos courtesy of United States Golf Association

From famed events – U.S. Opens, PGA Tournaments, U.S. Amateurs and regular stops on the PGA, LPGA and Senior Tours – to storied golfers themselves who have lived or made their mark in Colorado – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Hale Irwin, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Annika Sorenstam, just to name a few – Colorado has a rich history on its fabled greens and fairways.

From its first courses, like Overland Country Club (now called Overland Park Golf Course) opened in 1895 or Patty Jewett, the Colorado Springs course began in 1898 as the Town and Gown Golf Club that claims to be the oldest course on a contiguous site. (Overland's original nine-hole layout was built on a horse track not far from where it stands now in south Denver, according to a 2000 story on golf history written by Denver Post sports writer Tom Kensler for Colorado Golf Association's magazine.)

Other courses opened before Broadmoor on July 1, 1918, but mining magnate Spencer Penrose lured famed designer Donald J. Ross to build the resort course at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain. Ross had just completed Lakewood Country Club in 1916 and later designed Wellshire Golf Club in Denver (1926).

At the time, the Broadmoor was the only golf course above 6,000 feet in the United States. It was expanded to 36 holes in 1958 and the Mountain course, designed by Jack Nicklaus' company, was completed in 2006. The U.S. Senior Open, on July 31-Aug. 3, will be held at the Broadmoor, which has been a venue for many major championships, including the 1995 U.S. Women's Open (won by Sorenstam) and several U.S. Amateurs (men and women).

But Cherry Hills Country Club, from its beginnings in 1922 to today, is one of the most famed courses in America. In 2005, the Englewood course joined Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., and Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., as the only courses to have hosted the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women's Open (played at Cherry Hills three years ago).

Here's a look at the tournaments, players and stories that made Colorado golf history:

The 1960 U.S. Open was the most famed tournament held at Cherry Hills. In those days the third and final rounds both were played on Saturday, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Arnold Palmer started the final 18 holes seven strokes behind Tommy Souchak. Intent on a quick start, Palmer gambled by driving the green on the 346-yard, par-4 first hole. Arnie's Army grew in numbers that day as Palmer birdied the first four holes en route to a front-nine 30, tying a tournament nine-hole record. Palmer, who birdied six of the first seven holes, outdueled legendary Ben Hogan and a chubby amateur from Ohio, Jack Nicklaus, who only a year before had won the U.S. Amateur at the Broadmoor.

The 1938 U.S. Open was the first major held west of the Mississippi. Cherry Hills hosted the Open only after its members begged business leaders on Denver's 17th Street financial district to pay the $10,000 guarantee to the United States Golf Association. Ralph Guldahl won his second straight Open title at Cherry Hills at 26 years old. Guldahl, believed to be the last player to win a U.S. Open while sporting a tie, had a habit of combing his hair throughout the round to calm his nerves. "That comb has saved me many a stabbed putt," Guldahl said, according the Cherry Hills Web site.

The third Open (1978) held at Cherry Hills saw Andy North survive despite nearly blowing a three-shot lead to J.C. Snead and Dave Stockton. North found the rough twice on the final hole, not to mention a greenside bunker, before sinking a 4-foot putt for the victory.

Cherry Hills hosted the 1985 PGA Championship as Hubert Green, whose game had fallen since his success in the late 1970s, somehow held off Lee Trevino to win his second major championship.

Columbine Country Club, at 7,436 yards, was the longest course for a PGA Championship in 1967. Don January edged Don Massengale in an 18-hole playoff on the Littleton course to win the only major men's professional championship in the Denver area not played at Cherry Hills.

In the first PGA Championship in Colorado, little-known Vic Ghezzi won 1-up in on the second playoff hole over defending champion Byron Nelson at Cherry Hills in 1941.

The Denver Post sponsored the Denver Champions of Golf from 1982-86. Pinehurst Country Club hosted the first year, followed by Green Gables CC in 1983 and then the tournament moved to the TPC at Plum Creek in Castle Rock from 1984-87 (The Post dropped its sponsorship in the final year).

Oilman Jack Vickers started The International, with its innovative modified Stableford system that rewarded golfers who gambled for birdies and eagles. Played at the new Jack Nicklaus-designed Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, the tournament unveiled many international golf stars, like Jose Maria Olazabal and Ernie Els. Phil Mickelson, a two-time International winner (as was Davis Love III), won in 1993 only three years after winning the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills. Vickers could not find a major sponsor the final four years and he pulled the plug on the tournament in February 2007.

The Denver Open was part of the PGA Tour for many years. Played at Wellshire, Ben Hogan won the 1948 event. In those days the leaders were not the last ones to tee off. Hogan finished his round, checked out of his hotel and left, thinking he had no chance to win the tournament, according to Kensler's report. Not only did Hogan miss the trophy presentation, but reporters never got a chance to interview him after his victory. Chi Chi Rodriguez, a one-time assistant pro at the Broadmoor, won the 1963 Denver Open, his first professional title.

Annika Sorenstam, a little-known 24-year-old from Sweden, shot a final-round 68 as third-round leader Meg Mallon stumbled to a 74 to win the 1995 U.S. Women's Open at the Broadmoor East course in Colorado Springs. Mallon had shot a 66 on Saturday for a 54-hole Open record 205, but she just missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday that would have forced a playoff. Sorenstam claimed her first professional victory in the Open, the 13th player at the time to perform that feat.

Ten years later, the U.S. Women's Open returned to Colorado. At Cherry Hills, another unknown player, Birdie Kim grabbed an improbable win. Kim, who entered the tournament ranked 141st in sand saves, made an improbable shot out of the bunker on the 18th hole to win the Open title. Seventeen-year-old Morgan Pressel, waiting in the 18th fairway for Kim and her group to finish, was tied for the lead when Kim holed her sand shot. Pressel, forced to make a chip shot to tie Kim, bogeyed the hole and tied with another rookie, Brittany Lang, two strokes back.

Famed faces:

Babe Didrikson Zaharias and her husband, former wrestler George Zaharias, moved to Denver in 1947 during her greatest stretch as an amateur golfer. Babe received a 14-foot, 250-pound key to the city from Denver Mayor Quigg Newton after she won the British Women's Amateur championship. Babe won the 1946 Trans-Mississippi Women's Amateur in Denver, beginning a tournament winning streak of 17, believed to be the longest in golf history, male or female. Her 1946 U.S. Women's Amateur and British Amateur trophies were displayed at Denver's Park Hill Golf Course for a while. George, whose pro wrestling nickname was "The Weeping Greek from Cripple Creek," was born and later buried in Pueblo, according to the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Foundation Web site.

Jack Nicklaus won his second U.S. Senior Open played at Cherry Hills in 1993. On his website last year after President Gerald Ford's death, Nicklaus paid tribute to the part-time Vail resident: "I remember when I won the U.S. Senior Open in 1993 at Cherry Hills in Denver, it was the president's 80th birthday and I called to wish him a happy birthday."

Tiger Woods, who some blamed for the demise of The International because he eschewed playing at Castle Pines, played in the U.S. Junior Amateur as an 11-year-old at the Singletree course in Edwards (now the Sonnenalp).
Hale Irwin played golf and football at the University of Colorado, but never lived in Colorado during his years on the PGA Tour, which included three U.S. Open titles.

Other famed Colorado golfers (or those who have lived here briefly): David Duval, Mark Wiebe, Craig Stadler, Kevin Stadler (Craig's son), John Daly (he sold his Castle Rock home after allegedly throwing his wife into a wall), Gary Hallberg, Jill McGill, Dale Douglass, Steve Jones (Yuma native who won the 1996 U.S. Open), Brandt Jobe, Shane Bertsch and R.W. Eaks. President Dwight Eisenhower frequented several of the state's courses while visiting his wife Mamie's family in Denver, and the Air Force Academy course bears his name.