Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Larry McAtee, who co-ruled the state’s amateur golf ranks (with CU teammate Hale Irwin) in the mid-1960s, passes away at age 82
By Gary Baines
Larry McAtee, one of the top amateur golfers in Colorado during the mid-1960s and a golf teammate of Hale Irwin at the University of Colorado, passed away on Tuesday.
A 1992 Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee and a longtime Lakewood Country Club member, McAtee was 82 years old. He had been battling Parkinson’s disease.
“He was an easy man to like and be around,” Irwin told Colorado Golf Journal on Wednesday. “He was very much a gentleman, through and through.”
Back when Irwin was a force as a junior golfer and young amateur in the state, McAtee won three straight CGA Match Play state titles from 1963-65 before Irwin ended the run — and McAtee’s 23-match win streak in the event — in 1966, when he topped his teammate in the final, 5 and 4.
In ’64, McAtee defeated his CU coach, Les Fowler, in the title match in 37 holes after taking down Irwin in the semifinals. The next year, he beat two-time Match Play champ Jim English Sr. in the final, 1 up. Irwin, Fowler and English are also in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
After years in the U.S. Navy, McAtee added a fourth CGA Match Play title in 1972, when he also won a close final, beating Mark Achziger in 38 holes.
Perhaps it was fitting that given all McAtee’s success in the CGA Match Play, he passed away during the 2026 edition of the championship.
Only Larry Bromfield (eight titles) won the CGA Match Play more times than McAtee, though Mark Crabtree and Walter Fairbanks also captured four titles each in the event. McAtee’s victory in 1963 earned him a spot in the PGA Tour’s Denver Open in 1963 at Denver Country Club.
“In those days, amateur golf in the state received major (media) coverage,” McAtee told the Denver Post in 2013. “It was special. Hale Irwin and I were leading a trend that was indicating a takeover by younger golfers. While I was winning the (state) match play tournament, Hale was winning the stroke play titles.”
Of course, Irwin went on to claim an NCAA individual championship; 20 PGA Tour events, including three U.S. Opens; plus 45 events on PGA Tour Champions, He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.
McAtee developed his game thanks in part to the instruction of PGA head professional Gene Root at Lakewood Country Club. In 1961, the golfer from Wheat Ridge High School he was named junior player of the year by the Colorado PGA.
After graduating from CU — where he twice earned All-Big Eight honors — McAtee joined the Navy, serving as a fighter pilot, flying the F-8 Crusader. He won worldwide All-Navy golf championships in 1967, ’69 and ’70. And in 1970, he claimed the Worldwide Interservice title, which translated into him being the world’s top golfer in the U.S. armed forces. That same year, he finished 28th in the U.S. Amateur — then contested as a stroke-play championship. He also tried professional golf for a time.
Later, McAtee took over a family business, beauty salons called Mr. Mack of Neusteter’s, as business manager.
All in all, McAtee soared in many respects.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com