Cherry Hills CC’s Bryan Nicholson and Pat Coyner earn two of the Colorado PGA’s highest honors; Section’s awards gala scheduled for Nov. 13
By Gary Baines
Bryan Nicholson has only been on staff at Cherry Hills Country Club for a little more than two years, but apparently that hasn’t kept the PGA director of golf there from making quite an impression on the Colorado golf scene.
On Wednesday when the Colorado PGA announced its latest group of annual award winners, Nicholson earned the Section’s highest honor, Golf Professional of the Year. It recognizes individuals who demonstrate overall performance as a PGA professional, leadership, service to the Section and Association, and strong moral character.
“Being named the Colorado PGA Golf Professional of the Year is the greatest honor of my career,” Nicholson said in a release. “I am deeply appreciative of this distinction and incredibly humbled by what it represents. To be recognized by the professionals I respect and admire most is incredibly meaningful, particularly when I think about the remarkable group of golf professionals who have been honored before me. To now be included among that distinguished group is something I will never take for granted, and I am profoundly grateful to the Colorado PGA Section for this tremendous honor.”
Nicholson becomes the second CPGA Golf Professional of the Year to come from Cherry Hills, joining Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Warren Smith (1973). The award was first given out in 1964.
Cherry Hills, founded in 1922, is one of the most prominent country clubs/golf clubs in Colorado. It’s hosted U.S. Opens in 1938, ’60 and ’78; PGA Championships in 1941 and ’85; a U.S. Women’s Open in 2005; the 1950 Women’s Western Open (a women’s major at the time); and a U.S. Senior Open in 1993. In 2023, the U.S. Amateur was held at the club for the third time.
And while Golf Professional of the Year is the Colorado PGA’s top honor, another prominent person on the golf staff at Cherry Hills also earned a major award. That would be Pat Coyner, the PGA director of instruction at the club — who has gained considerable national and international attention in the last year for his instruction work with Denver native Wyndham Clark, who has gone on to win the U.S. Open and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour this year. Coyner was named the Section’s Teacher and Coach of the Year.
Also among the top honorees was Colorado Golf Club’s John Easterbrook as Golf Executive of the Year. Easterbrook is the new chief operating officer and PGA general manager at CGC.
Overall, the Colorado PGA awards honor PGA of America golf professionals and other industry leaders “who demonstrate exemplary commitment to growing the game, serving their respective facility memberships and customers, and advancing the golf industry across Colorado, eastern Wyoming and parts of South Dakota. The 19 honorees represent the highest standards of professional expertise and service in public, private, resort,and instructional facilities.”
All the winners will be presented their awards and honored at a gala on Nov. 13 — appropriately at Cherry Hills Country Club.
While the Colorado PGA announced many of its annual award winners this week, others — including players of the year — will be decided later.
Here are the honorees the Section announced this week: