The third major of the 2017 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado season will be held starting Monday (July 31) at Black Bear Golf Club in Parker. But the top junior players in the state will be spread all over the country next week, with the Colorado Junior Match Play being one of those sites.
Also on the schedule are the national Boys Junior PGA Championship in Missouri, the Girls Junior America’s Cup near Las Vegas, and tourneys for the oldest boys and girls age divisions at the Optimist International Junior in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
With that as a backdrop, there will be both boys and girls tournaments at the Colorado Junior Match Play, which will run Monday through Wednesday (July 31-Aug. 2) at Black Bear GC (pictured). Round of 32 matches are set for Monday, with the round of 16 and the quarterfinals scheduled for Tuesday, and the semifinals and the finals on Wednesday.
With neither 2016 champion in the field — Griffin Barela nor Hailey Schalk — other state high school tournament winners will take center stage at Black Bear. Two of the three reigning boys state champs are in the field — Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch (5A) and Luke Trujillo of Colorado Springs (4A). Pearson finished runner-up in the CGA Match Play last month. And on the girls side, 5A champion Amy Chitkoksoong of Aurora is the top seed.
Sofia Choi of Littleton, who finished 13th this week in the Optimist International Junior girls 13-14 tournament, is likewise in the girls bracket, along with fellow top-25 Optimist finishers Eva Pett of Denver (17th) and Emma Bryant of Aurora (23rd).
As for the boys, Davis Bryant of Aurora, who won the first two JGAC majors of 2017, isn’t competing at Black Bear because he’ll be at the Junior PGA. And the winners of the first two majors on the girls side — Schalk and Arielle Keating — likewise will be elsewhere, with Schalk competing for the Colorado team in the Girls Junior America’s Cup and Keating having moved to Florida.
