The former International tournament on the PGA Tour was unique in many ways.

The tournament was on the schedule from 1986 to 2006 and unquie foremost as it was played under a ‘Modified Stableford’ points scoring system where an an Albatross was worth 8 points, an Eagle 5 points, a Birdie 2 points, a Par  point but then a Bogey minuse 2 points and Double-bogey or more minus 3 points.

The event was founded by Jack Vickers who became very well-known and respected by the game’s leading stars as evident by a look at the list of champions:  Greg Norman (1989), Davis Love 11 (1990 & 2003), Jose Maria Olazabal (1991), Phil Mickelson (1993 & 1997),  Vijay Singh (1998), Ernie Els (2000), Rich Beem (2002) and Retief Goosen (2005).

The tournament was played on the Castle Pines course on the southern outskirts of the ‘Mile High’ city.  It was then out along the 1-25 on its lonesome but then came the factory outlets that were built a little further south alongside I-25 so that became a regular stop while I also recall a new Denver International Airport had just opened on the eastern edge of Denver in those mid-1990 times.

Being among the Rockies, the Castle Pines course was also at elevtion and officially 6,300 feet or 1,920 metres above sea level.

It meant the golf ball travelled a ‘mile’ in the thin air while it also was a tough walking or playing the golf course given highs and lows of the layout.

The elevation also meant if you were high-up on one hole you could clearly hear the crowd roars on another and there was nothing like the roar I experienced on my visit in 1998 when Tiger Woods teed-up for a first time.

It was a Saturday and round three of the event, and with Woods acing the par-3 seventh hole and the noise was a noise the like I had not heard before nor heard since. I have attended two Phoenix Open’s but not been present when the 16th ‘stadium hole’ has been aced but the noise from Woods’ ace at Castle Pines was purely defeaning.

Woods pulled-out an 8-iron hitting his 185-yard shot straight into the bottom of the cup.

The local Denver Post newspaper described it as ‘one of the biggest crowd roars in tournament history’.

Amazingly, one of Woods most amazing shots not caught on TV, either live on video, and in those non-mobile phone days there remains no record of his ace.

As Woods pointed out many years later:  “TV crews then had to take a mandatory union break, and it was on No. 7 at Castle Pines. I hooped it. They showed me on the sixth green, take the union break. I hoop it on 7. They catch me up on the eighth fairway, par-5 up the hill. So that was probably one of the more funny ones, because it went in the hole on the fly and tore up the cup.”

That was one of two eagles Woods made in round 3 and one of four for the week — two each in rounds 1 and 3 — which tied for the tournament record. Tiger, whose eagles were worth 5 points apiece in The International’s modified Stableford scoring format, finished fourth that year at The International, behind winner Vijay Singh, Willie Wood and Phil Mickelson.

Woods returned to Castle Pines in 1999, and barely missed advancing to Sunday. He never came back to The International, which was last played in 2006. His absence was considered one of the reasons the tournament ended its run — along with the lack of a title sponsor.

The thrill of Woods’ ace prompted me to phone my brother and close friends back home in Australia and share in the excitement.

I had been doing that in first attending The International in the mid-1990s and in those days pre-mobile phones and all thanks to Sprint, the major sponsor of the event from 1994 to 1999.

Sprint had a bank of phones in the media centre and there was phones all over the golf course, and the best part they were free. You could phone downtown Denver.  Phone someone in New York City or someone around the other side of the globe in Sydney, Australia.

I was also suprising my sports editiors in the UK and Ireland discussing copy requirements without them being billed with reverse phone call charges.  So, after checking with Sprint representatives on hand in the media centre, I was phoning family and friends in Sydney, Australia.

It was such a buzz, and in an era long before SKYPE or Whats App, to be able to talk with those you knew rather than finding a postcard and then a post office, as I used to do often in being away in the States for months at a time.

My good friend Steve Clarke and I still joke about my early morning calls to his Sydney residence.

“Hey Steve?”, I would start. “Have you had many calls this morning from Denver, Colorado?” I’d be saying smiling.

Steve would respond:  “Ah, you’re the first”.

I’d also find my way onto the golf course and surprise other friends so much so I probably owe Sprint hundreds of dollars in phone calls but then they were all free.

One other thing about my days in reporing on the International – They had the best milk shakes of any event I’ve attended.