In his first Colorado Senior Open, PGA Tour veteran Omar Uresti matches lowest round in CSO history with 64
By Gary Baines – 8/27/2025
DENVER — Perhaps it tells you something that two golfers who hadn’t ever played Green Valley Ranch Golf Club before this week — but who have competed in a combined 752 PGA Tour events in their lives — are sitting among the leaders after Wednesday’s opening round of the Inspirato Colorado Senior Open.
There’s Omar Uresti of Austin, Texas — who has teed it up in 390 PGA Tour events and has won two national PGA Professional Championships and one Senior PGA Professional Championship — in the top spot after matching the lowest score in CSO history, carding a bogey-free 8-under-par 64.
“He’s putting on a clinic,” playing partner Steve Irwin said as the group was finishing its round on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Kent Jones of Albuquerque, a veteran of 362 PGA Tour events, shares third place following a 66.
“I’ve played so much and gone to so many different courses, I’m good at playing it one time and figuring it out,” said Jones, who has two Korn Ferry Tour victories to his credit, along with a runner-up on the PGA Tour Champions circuit and a top-5 on the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, sitting in between the grizzled tour vets is Brian Cooper of Pittsburgh, who is planning to move to the Denver area in April. Cooper played on PGA Tour Champions full time in 2023 and he finished second in the 2018 Colorado Senior Open. The 58-year-old made nine birdies in his round of 65 on Wednesday.
“It’s been a while since I made nine,” said Cooper, who once shot 59 in a casual round in Arizona. “Honestly, I rolled the putter really good. I’m really pleased with that. All my putts had really good pace, which obviously gives you a better chance of making more.”
Brian Cooper closed his round by making his ninth birdie of the day.
All told, with a wet course following considerable rain on Tuesday afternoon, there was a flood of red on the scoreboard in round 1. Nine players shot 68 or better and 41 broke par overall.
Uresti was the best of all, making eight birdies and no bogeys on Wednesday.
“Honestly, that is the best golf I’ve played all year — even at home at my home course,” said Uresti, who has earned almost $3.9 million on the PGA Tour. “Before that, my best round all year was 5 under — and that was just playing at home. I’m a little surprised but very pleased. I’ve been working pretty hard on some stuff. Hopefully it’s clicking a little bit like it seemed to be today.”
The putter was particularly working for the 57-year-old.
“I missed the green on the first hole and made a really good up and down,” he said. “That kind of got more started. I made some good par putts early and made some really good birdie putts and hit some close as well.”
As for Cooper, who has appeared on Golf Channel’s Big Break, he’s been on a nice roll in senior state opens this year, finishing runner-up in such events in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Though Cooper takes great pride in qualifying for the 2023 PGA Tour Champions season, he’s publicly acknowledged battling depression, and “my trigger for depression was being alone, and out on tour you’re alone all the time.”
His best showing in that 2023 season on the Champions circuit was a 23rd place.
But since the former hockey and baseball player at Duquesne University moved from Phoenix back to Pittsburgh, he said, “I found my game again. I got back in the gym and lost weight. I got stronger. My game came around.
“Honestly I feel I’m hitting it better now than I did when I was on Tour, which is really cool. I attribute a lot of that to being home, being present with my wife and son, which is the most important thing.
“I’m in a good place now regardless of what happens this week. It won’t alter my life in any way. That’s just the approach I have with golf in general now. I play tournaments for fun. But if it turns out this week works out (with a victory) or another week works out, fabulous.”
Kent Jones, looking for another senior state open victory, pitches to the ninth green on Wednesday.
As for Jones, who played GVR just once (a Tuesday practice round) before teeing it up in his first Colorado Senior Open, you wouldn’t have known it from his rock-steady round of 66.
“Probably the advantage for me is it was playing soft and it (seldom) plays soft (at GVR during the summer), so I don’t have that history of it playing so firm,” said Jones, who has won almost $5.4 million on the PGA Tour. “It’s just what it is because I don’t know any other way. So it was probably good for me not playing it (before).”
With the course being wet after a strong rain on Tuesday afternoon, the 156 competitors used mark, lift, clean and replace during the opening round (basically, it was the same as how a putt might normally be treated).
And Jones responded with seven birdies — including a 15-footer on his last hole — and one bogey on Wednesday.
“I never hit it out of play off the tee and my irons were really good,” he said. “I think I only missed one green and I putted well. I had lots of chances and all my putts were right around the hole. Other than one hole it was stress-free. I was (seldom) in position to make a bogey. That was nice.”
So how did Jones end up making his CSO debut at age 58?
Basically, by word of mouth.
“Everyone talks about how well the tournament is run and they do a great job,” Jones said. “For a state open, it’s like the best or the biggest — if not second — so it’s a well-known event.”
For the record, Jones is no stranger to contending at senior state opens. He won the 2017 and ’24 Senior New Mexico Open and finished seventh in that event this year after sharing the first-round lead.
Joining Jones at 66 in a share of third place after round 1 were Steve Schneiter of Sandy, Utah, winner of both a national PGA Professional Championship and a Senior PGA Professional Championship, and former PGA Tour player Kris Blanks of Jupiter, Fla. Schneiter went eagle-double bogey on No. 9 and 10, and sprinkled in six birdies. Blank started out 4 under through five holes and went bogey-free.
The top Coloradans in the field after Wednesday are defending champion Jonathan Kaye, a part-time Boulder resident, and four-time Colorado PGA Professional Champion Micah Rudosky of Cortez, who matched 4-under 68s. Rudosky overcame a double bogey in the process.
Ed Kerr of Windsor tries to coax in a putt on Wednesday.
Locking In On the Greens: Amateur Ed Kerr of Windsor made a putter change at the beginning of last week — to an armlock L.A.B. model — and it’s been paying dividends.
Last week, on his first day using it, Kerr shot a 5-under-par 67 at Lone Tree Golf Club to finish first alternate in a U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier. Then on Wednesday, the 54-year-old from Ptarmigan Country Club made four birdies en route to a 70 in the opening round of the Colorado Senior Open. That left him in 20th place overall and leading the low-amateur competition.
“I got a new putter, and it works really good,” the former Colorado State University golfer said.
“I’m hitting it good, and it takes a lot of pressure off things when you feel like you can make a putt and you have (a caddie) who can read the greens.
“I’ve had 30-some years of putter issues. This is the first time ever I’ve seen a putter that actually goes on line. I feel good about it.”
Michael Harrington of Colorado Springs, the 2023 CSO low-amateur, shares second place among the amateurs with Anthony Doss of Mandeville, La., at 71.
Defending champion Jonathan Kaye of Boulder opened with a 68.
Notable: The start of the first round was delayed by 20 minutes by fog, and the round was interrupted in the afternoon by a 40-minute lightning stoppage. … Former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall opened with a 7-over-par 79, while former Broncos quarterback Tommy Maddox posted an 81. … Marcus Meloan of Augusta, Ky., who shares the lead in the super-senior competition after an opening-round 69, won the 2006 Denver Open at Buffalo Run Golf Course, where he shot a final-round 63 and beat Martin Laird in a playoff. Laird, the former CSU golfer who now lives in the Denver area, has gone on to win four times on the PGA Tour. Also at 69 among the super-seniors on Wednesday was PGA Tour veteran Jim Carter.
For all the scores from the CSO, 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