Mark Wiebe isn’t a big fan of cold weather—which is understandable for a PGA and Champions Tour veteran with Southern California roots—but that hasn’t kept him from calling Colorado home for more than a quarter-century. And it hasn’t stopped Wiebe from being a successful Tour player.
“Denver is home,” he said. “All our kids were born in Denver. We feel part of what is going on. We’ve just really enjoyed living there and making it home.”
During his time as a Colorado resident, Wiebe has won twice on the PGA Tour and five times on the Champions Tour, with his third victory—at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn in North Carolina—coming on the day of his Colorado Golf Hall of Fame induction.
The second of Wiebe’s PGA Tour victories came the week before he claimed the 1986 Colorado Open title—and he donated half of his winning check to Craig Hospital, which was then the Open’s main beneficiary.
“I had just moved here and won the Colorado Open,” Wiebe said. “That told me we’re going to win here now. (Donating half his check) was one of the coolest things. I just wanted to do it because it was the right thing to do.”
Wiebe went on to finish second in the 1987 Colorado Open and he became a regular at The International in Castle Rock, competing in the PGA Tour event a record 19 times in the 21-year history of the event. Twice, he placed in the top four at the tournament. He also helped the International develop the Pro-Junior Challenge, a unique concept which matched up worthy local junior golfers with PGA Tour players in a competition on Monday of tournament week at Castle Pines Golf Club.
Wiebe has done work with Special Olympics and the Gold Crown Foundation over the years, but more recently he and his family have taken on a Colorado charity, Adam’s Camp, which organizes therapeutic and recreational programs for kids with developmental disabilities and their families. Over the course of five years, the tournament that Mark has hosted has raised roughly $260,000 for Adam’s Camp.
“When you do something like that at home, it means so much more,” Wiebe said.
As for life on tour, Wiebe won more than $4.3 million on the PGA circuit before injuries and a slump caused him to struggle with his game. But he bounced back in a big way on the Champions Tour, winning his first start after turning 50 in 2007 and capturing his first major, the 2013 Senior Open at Royal Birkdale, defeating World Golf Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer in a playoff.
Wiebe’s induction into the Hall of Fame comes a year after his son, Gunner, likewise received a significant Colorado golf honor, being named the Colorado Golf Association’s Les Fowler Player of the Year for his 2010 amateur accomplishments. Gunner, who delivered his father’s Hall of Fame speech in 2011, has followed his father into the professional ranks and won the 2020 National Assistant PGA Professional Championship.
