PARKER – Hale Irwin, who played football for the University of Colorado, said he’d like to see an annual professional golf event in the state.

The International was held at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock from 1986 through 2006.

“I always felt that professional golf should be a part of our permanent landscape here because it’s a very supportive community for golf,” he said.

Tracking the courseBill Coore, who designed Colorado Golf Club with Ben Crenshaw, said the pair uses animal tracks to help them route a course on a large piece of land.

“One of the ways to figure out ways to circulate around a piece of property in the least exerting fashion is to see how Mother Nature does it,” he said. “Whether it’s cattle, it’s deer, it’s whatever. They find the easiest way to get around.”

Wind favors Watson?Tom Watson won five British Opens, where the wind always is a factor. And he placed second at last year’s event. The 60-year old’s ability to “play by feel,” as he described it, and hold shots up against the wind, could serve him well if the wind continues to howl.

“With no wind, it’s no challenge,” Watson said. But he said with wind, the altitude and the elevation changes on the Colorado Golf Club course, “you get the ball to go the proper distance, that’s where you win. That’s where you pick up strokes.”

Top Groups to Follow ThursdayPlayers; Tee Time; Starting HoleBen Crenshaw, Michael Allen, Tom Watson; 8:40 a.m.; No. 10Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Fred Funk; 9:10 a.m.; No. 10Sandy Lyle, Fuzzy Zoeller, Andy North; 1:55 p.m.; No. 1Nick Price, Hal Sutton, Tom Lehman; 2:15 p.m.; No. 1

California state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, was congratulated by Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, after the Legislature approved her resolution urging the federal government to end its “don’t ask, don”t tell” policy on gays in the military in Sacramento earlier this month. Photo by The Associated Press file

Rich Pedroncelli