Late Turnabout

Middle school teacher Kent Wilmes rallies from late deficit to defeat Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jon Lindstrom in CGA Senior Match Play final, earning his first CGA title

By Gary Baines

PARKER — The nice symmetry of it all wasn’t lost on Kent Wilmes.

At 57 years old, the Littleton resident won the 57th edition of the CGA Senior Match Play on Friday at Black Bear Golf Club.

But, apparently, Wilmes possesses a little more energy — or zest for golf — than most 57-year-olds.

Asked about playing seven rounds of tournament golf in five days — as was required of Friday morning’s finalists — Wilmes noted that he had another tee time planned for Friday afternoon (2:30 p.m.) — and still another one early Saturday (6 a.m.).

“I’m kind of a golf junkie,” said Wilmes, who’s in his 33rd year teaching at Newton Middle School in Littleton. “When I’m not teaching or coaching or with my family, it’s just what I love to do.”

Continuing a trend for the week at the Senior Match Play, Wilmes took down another big gun to win the title on Friday. Though he never led until he claimed the victory in the championship match, he defeated Colorado Golf Hall of Fame inductee Jon Linstrom of Denver, 1 up, in a finale that took just 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete.

Wilmes shows some touch in getting up and down for par on the front nine on Friday.

Lindstrom, who swept the CGA senior majors (the Senior Match and the Senior Amateur) in 2023, was 2 up through 14 holes and had never trailed on Friday. But a 42-foot eagle on the par-5 15th hole started Wilmes’ comeback, and he ended up winning the 15th, 17th and 18th holes.

Wilmes got up and down for par on the par-3 16th, with his putt “hitting the edge and dropping in,” and him tying the hole when Lindstrom missed a 7-foot birdie try. A poor tee shot that hit a tree left of the fairway on No. 17 led to a bogey for Lindstrom, and Wilmes won the hole with a par via a 4-foot putt. And on the par-4 18th, Lindstrom’s drive strayed right and apparently went into some bushes that border the fairway as he suffered a lost ball. And with Wilmes in the middle of the fairway, Lindstrom conceded the hole — and the match — rather than going back to re-tee, which would hot been his third shot on the hole.

And so in less than an hour, Wilmes went from 2 down to a winner in regulation. And a year after finishing runner-up to Robert Gonzales in this same event, the player from Aurora Hills and Broken Tee was a CGA state champion for the first time.

“To be honest, to even be 2 down with four to go against (a player with Lindstrom’s pedigree) … I told myself last night, ‘If you’re in that spot, be thankful,’” Wilmes said. “… It’s a cliché, but hit one shot at a time (when trying to rally). You can’t make them all up in one swing.”

Even Wilmes himself was a bit in disbelief after he drained a long eagle putt on the 15th hole in the title match.

All told, Wilmes had quite a run to the title. Not only did he win all seven of his matches — three in pod play, plus the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final — but he beat three past CGA Senior Match Play champions in the process — Lindstrom (the 2023 winner), John Hornbeck (2018) and Jeff Oneth (2016). In addition, he took down two other winners of multiple CGA titles — Richard Bradsby and David Nelson.

The only matches of the seven that went beyond the 14th hole for Wilmes were his 1-up wins against Lindstrom and Bradsby, who won the CGA Senior Four-Ball together last month.

In one of those oddities of golf, through 17 holes at least, Wilmes hadn’t made a birdie, but he had recorded an eagle — and an important one at that, as Lindstrom two-putted for birdie on that same hole and would have been a step closer to closing out Wilmes.

“Anything can happen, obviously — and it did,” Lindstrom said. “I didn’t think he was going to make eagle from 50 or 60 feet. But I had my chances. It came down to making some putts. It really wasn’t the last two holes.”

A lot of close calls with the putter led to a tough loss for 2023 champion Jon Lindstrom.

Indeed, Lindstrom rightly lamented all the relatively short putts he missed on Friday. Just in the 6-8-foot range, those misses totaled five.

“If I had made every putt in (that range), I probably would have won by four,” he said. “I missed a lot of short putts — both for birdie and par.”

Then the match was decided on the 18th hole. And given that Lindstrom had won most of his matches this week by large margins — he went 3 and 2, 3 and 2, 5 and 3, 6 and 4, 8 and 7, and 5 and 4 prior to the finals — he hadn’t seen the 18th hole at Black Bear during the entire Senior Match Play.

“The whole week I hadn’t played 17 and 18, and I kind of forgot the line (for the tee shot),” he said. “That tee shot on 18, I thought was just down the right side. (The ball) obviously hit the path.”

An errant drive on 18 by Lindstrom resulted in a lost ball and a concession of the hole — and the match — to Wilmes.

All in all, it resulted in a switch of fortunes and a victory for Wilmes, who prior to this week hadn’t played Black Bear for decades — since it went by the name Canterberry Golf Course.

“I make a putt that nine times out of 10 is not going in,” he said of his eagle on No. 15, which came after Wilmes hit a 4-iron from 213 yards for his second shot. “Those aren’t supposed to go in, but it did. And Jon hit some incredible putts today that just didn’t go in, so that obviously helped. Golf is hard, and strange things happen.”

Asked what winning a CGA championship for the first time means to him, Wilmes said, “I played no CGA things growing up and didn’t really start playing the CGA events until I turned 50. So to win the 57th (CGA Senior Match Play), being 57 years old, that’s kind of cool. I got to the finals last year, so to just make it back and have a chance was also pretty cool.”

Lindstrom (right) and Wilmes have a look on one of the elevated tees on the back nine on Friday.

Lindstrom, owner of 15 CGA championship titles overall, said he didn’t play as well on Friday as he did the previous days of the championship.

“Not nearly as good,” he said. “I definitely hit it better and putted better the other days for whatever reason.”

This deer didn’t seem in the least fazed as Friday’s finalists played through.

However it happened, Wilmes happily accepts the fact that he became a CGA champion on Friday.

“If Jon and I play a match 10 times, he’s probably going to win eight out of 10 times,” Wilmes said. “I mean, I’m not delusional about that. But I I joke with my friends all the time, and I’ve had some hats made that just say #GIH. It stands for golf is hard. And even the best in the world hit bad shots once in a while.”

The CGA Senior Match Play is limited to competitors 55 and older.

CGA Senior Match Play

At Black Bear GC in Parker

THURSDAY QUARTERFINALS

Jon Lindstrom, Denver, def. Martin Prazak, Denver, 8 and 7

Scott Sullivan, Grand Junction, def. Steve Ivan, Colorado Springs, 1 up

Kent Wilmes, Littleton, def. Richard Bradsby, Golden, 1 up

John Hornbeck, Saratoga, Wyo., def. James Landi, Denver, 4 and 3

THURSDAY SEMIFINALS

Jon Lindstrom, Denver, def. Scott Sullivan, Grand Junction, 5 and 4

Kent Wilmes, Littleton, def. John Hornbeck, Saratoga, Wyo., 7 and 5

FRIDAY FINAL

Kent Wilmes, Littleton, def. Jon Lindstrom, Denver, 1 up

For all the results from the CGA Senior Match Play, CLICK HERE.

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