John Riegger Wins CoBank Colorado Senior Open by 1

PGA Champions Tour winner holds on for clutch victory.

John Riegger of Henderson, Nev., fired a 3-under 69 under intense pressure to hold off a strong field and win the CoBank Colorado Senior Open by a single stroke at Denver’s Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.

Riegger, winner of the 2013 Boeing Classic on the Champions Tour, started the day three strokes behind 2^nd round leader Skip Kendall of Windermere, Fla., but erased the deficit by birdieing three of his first four holes and held on to win by one over Kendall and Brian Cooper of Pittsburgh, Penn.

Cooper was the leader in the clubhouse at 8-under 208 after firing the low round of the day (4-under 68). Kendall tied him at -8 with a birdie at 17 but Riegger’s birdie 3 on the difficult par-4 15^th to get to 9-under proved to be the difference as Kendall missed a birdie putt on 18 to miss forcing a playoff.

In a 2-way tie for 4^th at 7-under 209 were two-time Colorado Open champion Jim Blair of St. George, UT and PGA Tour winner Guy Boros of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Blair also pocketed an extra $1,000 for finishing as the low super-senior (players older than 60). Four players, including eventual low amateur champion Jon Lindstrom of Broomfield, tied for 6^th at 6-under 210 on the 6,882-yard, par-72 course.

Not only was Lindstrom the low amateur champion, he also tied with Jeff Hanson, the PGA Director of Golf at Red Sky Golf Club in Edwards, as the highest Coloradan finisher in the field. Doug Rohrbaugh, the who earlier in the week qualified for the 39th U.S. Senior Open, to be held later this month at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, tied for 10th with fellow Colorado PGA Professionals Mike Northern (Valley Hi Golf Course), Mike Zaremba (Desert Hawk), Rick Cole (Eaton Country Club) and Arizona’s Jim Carter at 5-under 211.

Click here for final results.