Lashley’s RMO Title is Part of Dramatic Journey

Scottsdale Pro’s Victory Underscored By Astonishing Loss

Scottsdale-based professional Nathan Lashley won the 76th Rocky Mountain Open on Aug. 17 at Tiara Rado Golf Course in Grand Junction, winning the prestigious regional tournament with a dramatic, two-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole.

Lashley’s terrific victory was dramatic on multiple fronts, beginning with the fact that this was the first Rocky Mountain Open to be held since the event changed ownership. Last July, a group led by Enstrom Candies President and Owner Doug Simons and Monument Oil President C. Paul Brown purchased the rights to the RMO from the Western Colorado Golf Foundation for $30,000.

The event has important historical significance. Babe Didrikson Zaharas finished third in the RMO as an amateur in 1946, and returned in 1950 to play in the pro flight. Then 1969 U.S. Open winner Orville Moody won it in 1975. And Brown, who was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame last June, became the second and last amateur to win it, in 1987.

Heady stuff, absolutely, but it pales in comparison to the astonishing story behind the Rocky Mountain Open’s newest champion.

Ten years and three months ago, when Lashley was a prominent collegiate player for the University of Arizona, the player’s life changed forever.

On May 23, 2004, his parents, Charlene and Rodd, and longtime girlfriend Leslie Hoffmeister, boarded a small airplane after watching Nathan compete in NCAA West Regional at Sunriver, Oregon. Four days later, after failing to hear from them and placing desperate missing-person calls to authorities, Nathan learned that the Mooney M20K aircraft, piloted by his father, had crashed in poor weather, killing all three passengers.

“[My father] taught me how to play,” recalled Lashley, 31, who went on to earn All-America honors, graduated from Arizona and continues to win prominent golf titles including the 2010 Colorado Open. “When I was really young, he’d take me out to the course and pretty much let me loose. I was 8, 10 years old, and I’d play 36 holes a day.

“It’s always difficult,” he said. “Weird things, different things bring back memories of my parents.”

Last week’s RMO victory was a fitting tribute to his lost girlfriend, mother and father.

Way to go, Nathan. Way to go, RMO.

RELATED LINKS

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Chris Duthie is a contributor to Colorado AvidGolfer, the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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