Preparations are peaking for the biggest blowout on the Conquistador Golf Course calendar, the 32nd annual Pinto Bean Classic.
The usual full-field contingent of 240 golfers will compete for low-gross and low-net prizes Saturday and Sunday in five flights, with Curtis Garver of Cortez back to defend his crown in the championship flight. Garver, a Farmers Union Insurance agent, set the tournament scoring record in rolling to the 2010 title, firing a 10-under-par 134 over 36 holes.
Micah Rudosky, Conquistador head pro and himself a two-time Pinto Bean Classic champion (1990 and 1992), is a busy man this week. On Tuesday, his course hosted the annual Conquistador Womens Golf Association Mesa Verde Tee Cup tournament. Then Rudosky, head coach of the Montezuma-Cortez High School golf team, took his charges to Grand Junction and Montrose for competitions. Now, the Pinto Bean looms, and Rudosky couldnt be happier.
Were excited, he says. Weve done it so much, but we always hope everything turns out right. We put a lot into it, and its definitely a big, fun weekend for us.
Rudosky is a huge fan of Garver, with whom he has played many times. Asked about Garvers 409-yard drive on the par-5 first hole in last years tournament, he expresses no surprise.
Curtis is so strong, and with the right conditions, you could easily go 400 yards or more on No. 1 lets put it this way, he could. Hes long, very long and straight, a really powerful player.
Garver, however, has only one win in five tries in the Pinto Beans Friday night long drive contest, and Rudosky thinks he knows why.
Curtis hits the ball low, and if the fairways are right, it really chases down there. Some of these guys in the long drive contest, like Jake Huff, hit it high, and it really carries out there, particularly if theres any kind of wind. Because of his low ball flight, Curtis is maybe at a slight disadvantage in a long drive competition.
Not so on the golf course. Garver regularly drives a number of the par-4s at Conquistador, including the 430-yard dogleg-right No. 6 in last years Pinto Bean. That shot calls for a high fade over formidable trees for a right-hander, proving that Garver is no one-trick pony when it comes to ball flight with his driver.
Thats a tremendous shot to drive No. 6, Rudosky says. Ive never done it. The closest I ever came was about 30 yards out. Curtis is one heck of a player. Just off the top, with his length, he should be around four birdies each round on our par-5s alone.
From its inception, the Pinto Bean Classic has billed itself as a golfing party, and there will be plenty of merry-making at the tournament headquarters, the Cortez Elks Lodge. Saturday nights dance will feature the music of Band of Brothers, a group put together by Glenn Tanner, former Cortezean and brother of the tournament-sponsoring Midland Bean Companys Rod and Jack Tanner.
Saturday nights fireworks show will be under the direction of Cortez funeral home owner Keenan Ertel, who was trained by the late Bill Hutchinson Mr. Fireworks in Cortez for nearly 50 years. At the urging of Hutchinson, who died in April at the age of 87, Ertle obtained his display operators permit and the ATFs license to store and care for pyrotechnics. He presented a touching tribute to Hutch at the Rotary Clubs annual fireworks show on the Fourth of July, and plans something akin to that Friday night.
Well have a real neat little service out there at the Pinto, Ertel says. It will be a sort of memory service for Hutch and all the people who have been involved with the Tanners in putting on the tournament over its 30-plus years. I think it will be impressive, and an emotional tug on everybodys heartstrings. At least I hope so.
Players from 17 states participated in the 2010 Pinto Bean Classic, a testament to its popularity and staying power.
We just appreciate all the community support weve received over the years, Rod Tanner says. We are very grateful. Its a family reunion type of thing for the Tanners, and for a lot of other people, too. We hope we can continue this tournament for many years to come.