Today, the U.S. Open begins at Torrey Pines in San Diego. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott will play together in what should be a very interesting and well-followed group among the gallery today. However, our blog focuses not on the stars of today in California, but instead the icons of yesterday right here in Colorado, as showcased by HBO last night.

On Wednesday, the premium cable channel aired "Back Nine At Cherry Hills: The Legends of The 1960 U.S. Open". The New York Times has a preview here.

The U.S. Open has been played at Cherry Hills three times, most recently in 1978 when Andy North won with a score of +1 (285). The 20th anniversary of that U.S. Open appearance is still the state's last brush with major golf melodrama, but what happened on the Course 38 years ago may have been one of the best finishes ever, especially considering the star power on display that Sunday. The names involved were big then and went on to become legendary. Your winner, Arnold Palmer, was 30 years old. The runner up, a guy who would go onto win 18 Major Tournaments, the most ever, Jack Nicklaus, was 20 years old.

There is a question of if the U.S. Open will ever return here. Our PGA Tour event, The International, has been removed from the Tour schedule due partly to the lack of corporate sponsorship. However, that does not mean a visit to Cherry Hills in June one of these years is totally out of the question. You put a Golf Major anywhere and galleries will form. We do one know one thing, if you are a Colorado golf fan, you will have to wait until the Year 2016. All venues through 2015 have been chosen and Cherry Hills is not among the host courses. However, in the event our run is done in Colorado, we'll always have 1960, a year that may faded in memory, but at least in golf circles, will live forever.

Hope to see you on Friday, everybody.

-"z"