By Ed Mate, CGA Executive Director/CEO
L ast month the CGA crowned two of the newest champions in the state’s oldest tournaments. Since moving to the new combined men’s and women’s format in the state Match Play Championship we have now “co-crowned” champions at Colorado Golf Club (2021), The Broadmoor (2022) and Columbine Country Club (2023). Each year has offered a wide variety of champions on both the men’s and women’s championships—but none more striking than 2023.
On the men’s side of the draw, 39-year old Nick Nosewicz of Aurora won for the second time and became the oldest champion since Gary Longfellow who won at age 45 in 1987. On the women’s side one of the youngest champions ever, 16-year old Pimpisa Rubrong of Thailand was the last player standing.
The CGA Match Play and Women’s Match Play both date back well over 100 years and the 2023 champions provide a lens into how much competitive amateur golf has both changed, and remained the same over the past century.
Founded in 1901 the CGA Match Play Championship legitimized the CGA as the entity that officially “awarded the cups” when it was created for that purpose in 1915. One year later, in 1916, the Colorado Women’s Golf Association was formed and followed suit with its first official state championship. Over the years, both championships had different names, different match play formats and different entry eligibility criteria.
In prior years both of these historic championships were limited to Colorado residents. That policy was changed many decades ago to allow anyone who is a member of the CGA to compete. As time has gone on, the champions of both of these tournaments have become younger and younger as the “career amateur” has been overtaken by a youth movement of talented high school and college-aged players. This is what makes the 2023 Match Play champions so illustrative of how much things have changed and stayed the same.
For most of its early history, Hall of Fame players like Babe Lind, Les Fowler, Claude Wright, Gary Longfellow, Jimmy Vickers, Lou North, Bob Clark, Sr., and others dominated the championship. On the women’s side it was players like Phyllis Buchanan, Joan Birkland, Carol Flenniken, and Marcia Bailey who frequented the victory stand. Historically, winners have almost always been Colorado residents with deep Colorado roots.
As time has gone on, champions have gotten younger and younger and while residents of Colorado continue to be the default, it has become more common for “visitors” to the state to steal the show.
Nick Nosewicz is a throwback to the early days when career amateurs in their late 30s and early 40s were the stalwarts of amateur golf. He also comes from a well-known golfing family largely based in Colorado. Most notably, his grandfather, Ed Nosewicz Sr., won four CGA Senior Match Play titles and was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2005.
The women’s champion, on the other hand, embodies all that has changed in the CGA’s marquee amateur event. Pimpisa Rubrong of Thailand was playing in Colorado for the very first time. At 16-years of age, she is here to help prepare her for the upcoming U.S. Girls’ Junior to be played this month at Eisenhower Golf Club. Her dominating performance underscores the global talent in golf—particularly on the women’s side of the game. Pimpisa hails from a country that recently won the LPGA’s International Crown. It is unlikely that she will ever compete in another CGA amateur event, but how cool is it that Colorado will always have this global connection to a young player who might someday win tournaments on the global stage.
So as we etch two more names onto our oldest trophies, we learn once again that as much as things change, they also stay the same.