Most of them have jobs, kids and other responsibilities. But just about every week, they carve out the time to tee off with their friends in “the club.” And this time of year, they’re starting to wonder if they’ve got what it takes to win the championship once again.
Oh wait – that’s not necessarily true of all nine of the Colorado club champions who shared their stories, one of whom cannot defend and two of whom will happily pass along the glory. But what stories they have. Motivated by themes ranging from sisterhood to redemption to philanthropy, they emerged with the trophy or the cash or, in one case, a special broach.
Here are their stories. Could they be you this year? They’re listed in order of index, so if you don’t see yourself right away, keep scrolling, there’s hope! IMAGE: rusin.jpg
Bryan teaches history at Littleton High School…and owns the Optimum Golf facility in Denver…and has a wife and two kids, 6 and 14…AND he’s won the City Park Players Club championship in both years he played, 2023 and 2025.
In 2024, the 36-hole tournament conflicted with his entry in the Western Championship, one of several CGA championships in which he tries to play regularly. He’s got a trophy for that one, and a medal for the Four-Ball victory he scored with Chris Thayer.
Obviously, he’s got a pedigree: He played collegiate golf at the University of Illinois and has regularly entered CGA championships since his move to Colorado 10 years ago. On his trophy/slash/book case, two Chicago Amateur Championship trophies take up the most space, but not much smaller is the traveling City Park trophy.
“I played in the final round with the guy who'd won it the year before, Adam Neville (another plus handicapper), and he's just one of the best guys you could ever know, one of the nicest people,” says Bryan. “So even though we're competing, we have such a great time playing together. I love playing with good guys, good people, kind people. You get a lot of that out here in Colorado, and I love playing at the City Park men’s club.”
So it’s not all about the cash payout or the trophy. But Bryan’s made room in his schedule to try in September to keep the hardware on his shelf for yet another year.
Luke oversees MacKenzie’s Chop House and Jose Muldoon’s, but he’s an athlete at heart. A native New Yorker, he was a member of the U.S. national handball team in the 1990s and moved to Colorado to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. “I love competition,” he says. “I feel like I refer back to those days whenever I’m in a tournament.”
He loves to work out, too, doing flexibility, cardio and fitness work with a trainer once a week and on his own four or five other days. He recently started swimming because he thinks it has a lot of muscular benefits for golf.
He even loves to practice. “I love to practice almost as much as playing,” he says. “I have areas I need to work on, and I try to simulate situations I may have on the course. My normal prep is to try to play 18 holes two or three days before the tourney and have a one-hour practice session the day before.”
But he’d won just about everything at the Broadmoor – member/member, member/guest, senior club championship, season-long match ladder, even a couple Player of the Year points races – except the club championship. It’s a unique format, with a day of stroke play to qualify for 7 of the 8 spots in the championship flight for single-elimination match play over three more days.
He finally played his best golf and broke through last year, 2 and 1, against Dave Delich, “a much better player than me,” he says, who had defeated him 6 and 5 in the 2024 finals. Afterward, Luke accepted the trophy and reveled, over a celebratory steak and martini, in the congratulatory texts from buddies. Later he got to see his picture on the wall in the grill and on the club website.
But the best is yet to come. That eighth match play spot in the championship flight? Says Luke: “I don’t have to qualify this year!”
Sheila first entered the realm of club champions on her 60th birthday, August 25, 2024, with the low gross two-day score in the highly competitive Englewood league. She also won Rifle’s Cowgirl Shootout that year, as her career as film professor at the University of Denver wound down.
In 2025, she finally got nervous. It was all because of a plan she’d hatched with her sister, Bonnie, who plays at The Grove in Tennessee.
“After I won, I heard about the PGA of America’s national championship for club champions, which was going to be played at three different courses near Lake Oconee in Georgia,” Sheila says. “I trained for months and the best part...my sister was my caddie. We had a BLAST! So many stories.”
Sheila met her “stretch goal” to finish in the top half of the field, but she and Bonnie went away with a goal that seemed an even longer stretch: to both win their club championships in 2025 so they could play at the 2026 tournament in Palm Springs.
Says Sheila: “Bonnie's championship came first and she won, so the pressure was on. Or, at least I put the pressure on myself. I jumped out in front on Day 1, but was holding the clubs pretty tightly on the back nine of Day 2 and thought I had blown my lead. I birdied the par-5 18th but was nearly in tears thinking I had let my sister down.”
Ah, but Sheila found out she had kept her grip on the club championship, and the tears were happy ones, “part relief and part joy knowing that I was going to Palm Springs with my sister to have another adventure with her.”
Sheila finished 33rd and Bonnie tied for 62nd, and now they’re looking for the double double.
“The 2027 event is in Pinehurst, playing Nos. 2, 4 and 5. How cool would that be!?”
Alison’s an experienced champion whose laurels have included the Fort Collins Women’s Open and several years’ worth of championships at Collindale. But somehow 2024 got away from her, which added to the special meaning of her current crown.
“One of my best friends passed away about a month before the tournament,” she recalls. “He helped me with so many aspects of my game, so the tournament was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Usually I really enjoy tournaments, even when I play poorly, because I learn something about myself and my abilities. I have two quotes that loop in my head - one is "Pressure is a privilege" and the other is "Trust your swing and commit to the shot." These actually apply to life, too!”
In life, she’s Dr. Alison O’Connor, professor of horticulture for CSU’s Larimer County Extension, which qualifies her to give credit to the conservation and beautification accomplishments of Colorado’s golf courses. At Collindale, her photo’s in the trophy case, with her name on the plaque, and she carries with her an oft-used reminder of her 2025 success.
“I pooled my winnings for the season to buy a 54-degree wedge at the end of the year,” she says. “And I plan to continue to practice, especially my putting, and enjoy the walk, in hopes of making it to Pinehurst for the national club championship.”
She’ll have no excuse for missing Collindale’s 2026 championship, because the women’s club for the first time will spread its event over four Thursdays in August, with each contestant allowed to submit their best two scores.
Golf’s black hole – that time in life when women are too busy with careers or kids to make time for golf – hasn’t swallowed Sydney. She works from home, has no kids (yet) and manages to play early-morning nines before her day kicks in.
So, no surprise she prevailed in the nine-hole leagues at City Park and – newer, still with just six players in the two-day championship – CommonGround. Her recollections:
“City Park: Day 1 was really close! The day ended with me having a 2-stroke lead over my friend Jenna, who has an absolutely beautiful golf swing. It was so fun being neck and neck the first day. Day 2, I played some of my best golf and shot one under for the win.
“CommonGround: I remember the weather being gorgeous both days, sun shining and the course was in great condition for August. This was my first year in the CG league. The ladies I played with made the rounds so much fun.”
Sydney made some new friends early in the season and adopted her new swing coach, Nikki Adams. She also made a point of working on her short game regularly – including putting whenever she visits the range and devoting a full 30 minutes weekly strictly to her putting.
And, even at the 9-hole level, her pre-tournament routine has a pro ring to it: “Focus on hydration, sleep and snack schedule for the days I'm playing.”
The Working Women’s League rotates its weekly rounds among five Aurora municipal courses and then splits its 36-hole championship between two of them. Lynne was 0-for her first two tries and then last summer her pal Kat Leyba (shown at left in the photo with Lynne) announced, “I don’t want to play, I want to caddie for you. I want to see if we can win this tournament.”
Lynne has golf in her blood. The family grew up on a golf course in Long Beach, Calif., and her sister LeAnn played on the pro tours. She stopped playing at age 10, though, and went to college on a softball scholarship. Then it was all about a career in tech, until about 10 years ago she picked up a club again.
When they met on the tee for an AWWL tournament, Kat watched Lynne for one hole, marveling. “So WHAT’S your handicap?” she demanded to know. She saw her new friend’s potential.
So the week before the 2025 championship they went out one evening to strategize at the first of the two tournament courses, Aurora Hills. “We worked on dialing in my clubs and being more strategic – for instance, don’t necessarily pull out the driver at every tee,” says Lynne.
The strategizing worked well on Day 1. She took a four-stroke lead over to Meadow Hills, a challenging layout for her, but played just well enough to tie as Kat cheered her on. “She kept me sane,” Lynne says. “Sane and focused.” On the par-5 37th hole, she saved par for the win, which came with pro shop money, a head cover and a personalized bag tag.
She is definitely not resting on her laurels this year.
“I never really focused on my golf,” says Lynne. “I haven’t had a lesson since I was 8, and now I’ve probably had about three. Last year I proved to myself that I still can focus, I still have that drive to do well and that it is fun. But it could be fun with some goals in mind too.”
The Salida WGA isn’t one of the bigger clubs in Colorado, so let’s just say Tami is the big fish in this small pond. She’s won the two-day championship several times and shared the lessons she’s learned with the local girls’ golf team she coaches.
“I need to practice what I preach, and I always talk to them about the mental side of golf,” she says. “Staying in the game mentally is majority of what helps you win a tournament. If you mind drifts or you dwell on the bad shots it can overtake you. Of course, playing well helps. But you have to be able to recover from the mistakes, and that is 100% mental!”
No wonder a key part of her preparation falls between her ears: “If I watch TV before going to sleep my mind never seems to shut down. But turning on sleep sounds and listening to Waves, Wind, Rain or White Noise helps me reset my mind and come in with a clearer head.”
At last year’s championship, Tami enjoyed playing against the No. 1 player on the girls’ high school team, but she wasn’t eligible for the championship. So Tami’s name again went on the clubhouse plaque, and she took home the championship broach.
The Salida women are taking a “pause year” from the club championship, so Tami will get to keep the broach for at least another year.
Ann takes our trophy for most dramatic club championship story – yet, it’s probably also the most relatable for the average player. She was new to the smallish Longmont league in 2024 and led after the first round of the two-day championship.
Then came Day 2. Cue Beethoven’s Fifth. “It was a nightmare,” Ann says. “I was so tight and so freaked out about leading that I played my worst golf ever. I was missing 2-foot putts and I had penalties for hitting the wrong ball – twice! It was so frustrating that I walked off the course after 14 holes.”
She didn’t walk too far and she didn’t give up the game. She took a few lessons and read “The Inner Game of Golf” by Timothy Gallwey, working on both her mental and physical games. Still, she hesitated to sign up for the 2025 championship but did so simply with the goal of playing all 36 holes.
“I played OK the first day and ended up tied for second or third, so I played in the final group with the tournament leaders on the second day,” says Ann. “Based on my experience of the year before, I made sure I got plenty of sleep the night before and that I used a golf cart on the second day to give myself a good chance to play my best.
“And it worked. I remained calm and positive on the second day, and everything came together. I shot one of my best rounds of the season and won the tournament by one or two strokes. I just kept telling myself that I didn't care how I scored as long as I finished the tournament.”
She’s pretty sure she’ll play again this year, but not necessarily to win the bouquet of flowers and $50 again, or to keep the trophy. Instead, she says, “I would like to see one of the other women who have not won before win it. I want other people to experience that great feeling of winning.”
That’s not a typo, Roger really did win the Parker Golf Association’s club championship last year with a 26.5 index.
“This is what’s really kind of funny,” Roger says. “I am the most unlikely winner of the group. I am a very average golfer. I play sporadically. I won the championship last year, but it’s handicapped and there are much better golfers than me. It just turned out that I started playing some much better golf in the second half of last year, playing much better than my handicap, so I got the best score.”
In fact, his index probably was helpful. The CGA’s five-time Club of the Year does not have a home course or a traditional club championship. It plays a different course every Wednesday, with members contributing buy-ins both for the day’s prize money and for donations to nonprofits in Parker and Elbert County.
Each week, members play against their own handicaps. So if Roger were, say, a 20 at a particular course and he shot 18 over par, his score for that week is 2-under. Add and subtract all the weekly scores, and there’s your club champion.
“I like this -- it’s kind of fun seeing who’s in the lead the whole year, because it changes so much,” he says. “Yes, it’s a championship, but, is it a big thing? It’s really not because it’s just people having fun out there. You don’t think about it, you think about the camaraderie and the group you’re with. There is a competitive nature in it, but that’s so minor. You get your name on the trophy, the Paul Timm Cup, and you get to keep it for a year. No one’s repeated. It’s in my basement right now on my bar.”
Roger has been helping his kids with their houses this year and hasn’t played much golf. He’s prepared to pass the trophy along come September, gracefully and gratefully. After all, he says, “It’s a great group of guys. That’s what makes it the most fun.”
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