Eighth-seeded Jack Hughes of Aspen defeated top-seeded Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins, winner of last week’s Junior America’s Cup, 5 and 3 in Tuesday afternoon’s quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, 12th-seeded Tyler Severin of Johnstown topped fourth-seeded Connor Jones of Westminster, 3 and 2. And Christopher Kennedy of Aurora, who played in the U.S. Junior Amateur earlier this month, beat second-seeded Jake Welch, winner of the 2018 Colorado Junior Amateur, 3 and 1.

Jack Castiglia of Lakewood, runner-up in this event last year, kept some semblance of order by defeating 11th-seeded Ty Findlow of Lone Tree, 7 and 5.

In Wednesday morning’s semifinals, Hughes will face Severin and Kennedy will meet Castiglia.

On the girls side, most of the favorites made the final four on Tuesday by winning two matches. That includes top-seeded Lauren Lehigh of Loveland, No. 2 Hailey Schalk of Erie and No. 4 Charlotte Hillary of Englewood, along with No. 6 Kaylee Chen of Denver. In the semis, Lehigh will face Hillary and Schalk will play the 14-year-old Chen.

In perhaps the best matchup of Tuesday’s girls quarterfinals, Hillary defeated Katie Berrian of Castle Rock, winner of the girls title in the Colorado Junior Amateur earlier this month, 3 and 2. Hillary is fresh off making the match play round of 32 at the California Women’s Amateur Championship.

Earlier in the day, Hillary beat Natasha Brandy McClain of Denver 9 and 8.

Lehigh and Schalk were teammates — along with Kelsey Webster of Boulder and Emma Bryant of Aurora — last week on the Colorado squad that finished fifth out of 18 at the Girls Junior Americas Cup at Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen. And Hillary and Schalk were partners that made the round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in late April. Schalk won the Colorado Junior Match Play title in 2016.

At the conclusion of Wednesday morning’s boys and girls semifinals, the winners will meet in the afternoon for the Junior Match Play titles.

For the Colorado Junior Match Play brackets, click on the following: BOYS, GIRLS.
 

Meanwhile, the top seven seeds are through to the round of 16 in the girls tournament — the top three via byes and the other four through victories on Monday.

Stewart, fresh off his individual and Colorado team victories in the Junior America’s Cup, scored a 5-and-4 victory over reigning 3A state high school champion Davis Long of Lafayette.

Second-seeded Jake Welch of Highlands Ranch, winner of the Colorado Junior Amateur boys title earlier this month, defeated James Clark of Lamar in 19 holes, winning with a par. And No. 3-seeded Jack Castiglia of Lakewood needed 20 holes to overcome Caleb Busta of Centennial.

On the girls side, the top three sides — Lauren Lehigh of Loveland, Hailey Schalk of Erie and Marie Jordaan of Lakewood — had byes in the round of 32. But fourth-seeded Charlotte Hillary of Englewood, who advanced to the match play round of 32 at last week’s California Women’s Amateur Championship, posted a 5-and-3 win over Kate Griffin of Colorado Springs.

Also among those advancing were girls Colorado Junior Amateur champion Katie Berrian of Castle Rock, who defeated Allie Nocera of Arvada, 4 and 3.

Two rounds of matches — the Sweet 16 and the quarterfinals — will be contested on Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals set for Wednesday.

For the Colorado Junior Match Play brackets, click on the following: BOYS, GIRLS.
 

The championship will run Monday through Wednesday at Plum Creek Golf & Country Club in Castle Rock.

Among those scheduled to compete on the boys side are Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins, who just won the individual title at the boys Junior America’s Cup, and Jake Welch of Highlands Ranch, who won a JGAC major earlier this month, the boys division of the Colorado Junior Amateur.

As for the girls, in the field are two members of last week’s Colorado team at the Girls Junior Americas Cup (Hailey Schalk of Erie and Lauren Lehigh of Loveland); Charlotte Hillary of Cherry Hills Village, who made the match play round of 32 at the California Women’s Amateur Championship; Katie Berrian of Castle Rock, girls winner of the recent Colorado Junior Am; and Eva Pett of Denver, who just finished sixth in the girls 13-14 division of the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships. Schalk won the Colorado Junior Match Play in 2016.

Emma Bryant of Aurora, the 2017 girls Junior Match Play champion, won’t defend her title as she’s competing in the Optimist International in Florida this week.

Round-of-32 matches for both boys and girls at Plum Creek will be contested on Monday, with the round of 16 and the quarterfinals on Tuesday, and the semifinals and finals on Wednesday.

For Monday’s pairings, CLICK HERE.
 

The third season of the JGAC will tee off Saturday and Sunday — assuming the weather cooperates — with a Spring Series tournament at Valley Hi Golf Course in Colorado Springs. There will be separate divisions for age groups 14-18, 11-13 and 10 & under.

Then the first JGAC Tour event — for the top junior golfers in Colorado — is scheduled for April 14-15 when the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs hosts a Spring JGAC Tour tournament.

As always, the highlights of the season for the top competitors will be the four JGAC majors, the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, the Boys and Girls Junior Americas Cup, and the USGA qualifying tournaments and championships themselves.

The AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, which features a field including national and international players plus plenty of Coloradans, will return to Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster, with the championship rounds set for June 5-7.

For the first time in 18 years, Colorado will be home to the Girls Junior Americas Cup, where many of the top players from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico will compete. Hiwan Golf Club in Evergreen and the JGAC will host the event, with championship rounds scheduled for July 25-27. The boys JAC is set for July 24-26 in Anaconda, Mont.

And here’s the lineup for the four JGAC majors:

— June 11-13: Colorado Junior PGA Championship, Eisenhower GC Blue Course in Colorado Springs.

— July 9-11: Colorado Junior Amateur, Todd Creek GC in Thornton.

— July 30-Aug. 1: Colorado Junior Match Play, Plum Creek GC in Castle Rock.

— Oct. 6-7: JGAC Tour Championship, Denver Country Club.

As for USGA championship qualifying, both the qualifiers for the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Girls’ Junior are scheduled for June 26, with the boys at Buffalo Run in Commerce City and the girls at Colorado National in Erie.

Both of the JGAC Players of the Year are set to return this summer, with Davis Bryant of Aurora and Hailey Schalk of Erie gearing up for another big year.

To access the full schedule for the 2018 JGAC tournament season, CLICK HERE.

Meanwhile, for JGAC introductory members, there will be six JGAC Experience events that will give kids a taste for different aspects of the game while providing professional instruction. There will also be 9-Hole Play Days from late May to late July. For the dates of those events, CLICK HERE.

There will also be Drive, Chip & Putt competitions, PGA Junior League, and many other events and activities. To go to the JGAC website, CLICK HERE.

The 18-year-old from Highlands Ranch (pictured) made an eagle and six birdies on Thursday en route to a 4-under-par 67 at the Sonnenalp Club in Edwards. That gave the incoming Colorado Mesa University golfer a one-stroke lead with three rounds left in the championship.

The 2016 5A state high school champion and 2017 CGA Match Play runner-up, Pearson eagled the 553-yard sixth hole and sprinkled six birdies and four bogeys over his card. Not bad for a guy who played five rounds in three days Monday through Wednesday at the Colorado Junior Match Play.

John Souza of Colorado National Golf Club, a University of Colorado golfer, stands in second place after a round of 68 which featured five birdies.

University of Denver golfer Chris Korte from Lone Tree Golf Club, who’s attempting to become the first person since 2009 to sweep the CGA Match Play and Amateur titles in the same year, opened with a 69, leaving him tied for third place with Glenn Workman of Desert Hawk Golf Course in Pueblo West. Workman, a University of Wyoming golfer, played his final six holes in 4 under par. Korte won the CGA Amateur two years ago.

In all, 10 players broke par in round 1, which was delayed twice by lightning, for a total of 2 1/2 hours.

Defending champion Colin Prater of The Broadmoor Golf Club struggled to a 7-over-par 78 in round 1, leaving him in 58th place.

The field will be cut from 83 to the top 40 players and ties after Friday’s second round, then the championship will continue through Sunday.

This year marks the first time since 2003 that the CGA Amateur has been contested in western Colorado.

For scores from the Sonnenalp Club, CLICK HERE.
 

Call Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch a master of match play in Colorado in 2017. Call Emma Bryant of Aurora the comeback kid and give her credit for keeping alive hopes for the “Bryant Slam” in Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado majors this year.

In June, Pearson (left) went 5-1 in his matches and finished runner-up to Chris Korte in the CGA Match Play Championship. Six weeks later, he went 5-0 and won the boys title on Wednesday in the Colorado Junior Match Play at Black Bear Golf Club in Parker.

“I think I’m starting to like it better,” the 18-year-old said of match play. “Not that stroke play doesn’t suit my game, but I feel I can get on a run where I make lots of birdies. … Once you get going in match play and you’re playing good, it’s easier to keep the momentum going.”

Meanwhile, after her older brother Davis Bryant won the first two JGAC majors of the year on the boys side but couldn’t compete this week because of a scheduling conflict with the national Junior PGA Championship, 14-year-old Emma Bryant took up the family cause with her improbable performance this week. In Wednesday’s semifinals at Black Bear, she came from 4 down after seven holes to defeat Sydney Eye of Golden in 20 holes. Then in the final, she lost the first two holes to 5A state high school champion Amy Chitkoksoong, but put on a dazzling putting display to beat her fellow Aurora resident, 1 up for the girls title.

“(Davis) won the first and second (junior majors),” Emma Bryant noted. “He’s kind of a hard person to live up to because he’s done so much. When he wasn’t going to be here, everyone was kind of bummed. But I’m like, ‘Hey, I could win one. Then it would be three down. You’ve only got one more (major, the Junior Tour Championship), right?’ That would be really cool if it did happen.”

Bryant (left), who needed just 27 putts during the final, sank a 12-foot birdie on No. 18 to earn the trophy. It was roughly the same putt she made in the semifinals to force extra holes. Ironically, Chitkoksoong won this title in 2015 at age 14, as Bryant did on Wednesday. Bryant will be a freshman at Eaglecrest High School, while Chitkoksoong will be a junior at Grandview.

“She’s a great player,” Chitkoksoong said of Bryant. “It was a rough round playing with her. She’s an upcoming player to look out for. She took it in the end with a birdie. With a birdie you deserve the (victory). 

“In match play, the number of strokes (overall) obviously don’t matter. If (your opponent) has a great putting day, it’s hard to make a comeback. She’s a great putter, and even though my hitting may have been one of my best days, she overcame it.”

For his part, Pearson (below) defeated Ty Findlow of Lone Tree 2 and 1 in the semis, then topped No. 1-seeded Jack Castiglia in the finals, 4 and 3, closing out his junior golf career in style. The 18-year-old Colorado Mesa University golf signee birdied the first two holes and the last against Castiglia, two-putting from 40 feet for a 4 on the par-5 15th for the victory. Pearson adds the Colorado Junior Match Play title to the 5A state high school championship he won last fall.

“State was my last high school tournament. This is my last junior tournament ever. Maybe I should make every tournament my last tournament,” Pearson said with a chuckle.

Pearson won the first three holes against Castiglia, who made it to the semifinals in this event last year. But the Lakewood resident bounced back with birdie putts of 30 and 20 feet on Nos. 5 and 6, cutting his deficit to 1 down. However, bogeys on 8 and 12 and a double bogey on No. 10, where he hit his drive into some bushes, put Castiglia in a deep hole from which he couldn’t extricate himself.

“Kyle played a great final round,” said Castiglia, who was attempting to follow Griffin Barela as Lakewood High School players to win the Junior Match Play. “I didn’t play how I wanted to but he played great.

“It was good to get to the finals this year, but I would have liked to have closed it out.”

In the girls final, Bryant (left) started on a decidedly low note, hitting her drive on the first hole into a bush and losing the ball — and subsquently the hole. And she lost No. 2 when she missed a 6-foot par putt. But given the comeback she had put together in the semifinals against Eye, she wasn’t discouraged.

“With Sydney it was kind of hard because I was 4 down,” Bryant said. “This could be a quick day for me, but you can’t think like that because with match play you never know. I had the same mindset the entire time: shot-by-shot, hole-by-hole, make a good swing, make good putts and everything is going to fall into place. That’s what I kept going by.

“(So 2 down in the finals), I was kind of thinking, ‘I got from 4 down to winning (in the semis).’ I was like, ‘2 down, let’s do this.’ Then I won No. 3.”

But the dagger may have come on the par-5 13th, where Bryant was left with a 50-foot par putt, while Chitkoksoog was 20 feet away for birdie. Bryant not only made her putt, but her ball hit the back of the hole hard enough that it bounced about 6 inches into the air before finding the bottom of the cup. Then Chitkoksoong two-putted for par to halve the hole she thought she would win.

“It gets frustrating when she makes putts that are further out than you, then you miss your putt for the win,” said Chitkoksoong. “I thought I was going to get a point up there (at No. 13) and she makes that long putt — sort of like how I did two years back against Jaclyn (Murray in the final). Seeing that comeback (really) hits right here close to the heart. … With players who don’t have an up-and-down scorecard — when their scorecard is pretty even — it’s hard to play against.”

Bryant and Chitkoksoong (left) ended up halving every hole from 11 through 17 with the match all square. Then on 18, from 115 yards out, Bryant put her 9-iron approach 12 feet from the hole, in a very similar position where she made a birdie against Eye.

“Going into 18, my mindset was, ‘I need to birdie this hole,'” Bryant said. “She hit her first putt off the green (but regardless) I wanted to finish on a good note — with a birdie because that’s what I had told myself that I was going to do.”

And when the putt fell, she punctuated the moment with a clenched fist — then a big smile.

Asked to candidly say whether she went into the week thinking she had a chance to win it all, Bryant admits she didn’t. But that thinking obviously changed as the week went on.

“My goal was to win the first and second match,” she said. “Once I won my second match, I was like, ‘OK, let’s see what we can do the second match of the (second) day. Then once I won that, going into the third day, why not go for it all, right?” 

Colorado Junior Match Play
At Black Bear Golf Club in Parker
SEMIFINALS
Boys
Jack Castiglia of Lakewood def. Luke Travins of Colorado Springs, 20 holes
Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch def. Ty Findlow of Lone Tree, 2 and 1
Girls
Amy Chitkoksoong of Aurora def. Josie Baker of Sherman Oaks, Calif., 5 and 3
Emma Bryant of Aurora def. Sydney Eye of Golden, 20 holes

FINALS
Boys
Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch def. Jack Castiglia of Lakewood, 4 and 3
Girls
Emma Bryant of Aurora def. Amy Chitkoksoong of Aurora, 1 up

For the brackets for each tournament, click on the following: BOYS, GIRLS.

Meanwhile, in the girls tournament, top-seeded Amy Chitkoksoong of Aurora, the 2017 girls 5A state high school champ, chalked up two victories on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals.

Also making the girls semis were Emma Bryant of Aurora, Sydney Eye of Golden and Josie Baker of Sherman Oaks, Calif. In Wednesday morning’s final four, Chitkoksoong will face Baker and Bryant will square off with Eye. Chitkoksoong won this title in 2015 at age 14. Bryant has been the most dominant player so far, winning her matches 5 and 3, 8 and 6, and 6 and 5.

Joining Pearson, a finalist in the CGA Match Play earlier this year, as semifinalists on the boys side are top-seeded Jack Castiglia of Lakewood, Luke Travins of Colorado Springs and Ty Findlow of Lone Tree. In the semis, Castiglia will play Travins and Pearson will face Findlow.

In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Trujillo birdied the 15th and 16th holes for wins to square the match, but Pearson parred No. 17 to win the hole and he and Trujillo halved 18 with pars.

In his quarterfinal, Castiglia was 2 down through 12 to Kirby Coe-Kirkham of Sheridan, Wyo., but squared things with an eagle on the 15th, then went 1 up with a birdie on the 17th before halving No. 18 with a par.

And Findlow beat Tyler Severin of Johnstown with a birdie on the 19th hole after being 2 down through 15 holes.

The winners of this morning’s semifinal matches will meet in the finals on Wednesday afternoon.

For the brackets for each tournament, click on the following: BOYS, GIRLS.

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.
 

The 2016 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s Junior Match Play champion chalked up a win Sunday in the AJGA Junior at Greenhorn Creek in Angels Camp, Calif.

Barela, a 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier, posted rounds of 70-67 for a 7-under-par 137 and won by three over Daulet Tuleubayev of Kazakhstan. Barela carded an eagle, nine birdies and four bogeys over the two rounds.

Barela, a Lakewood High School senior, has signed a letter of intent to play his college golf at the University of Wisconsin.

Colorado’s AJGA event, the Hale Irwin Colorado Junior by Transamerica, will be held June 6-8 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster.