This is becoming old hat for Arvada’s Zahkai Brown — in a good way, mind you.

Three times in the last four HealthOne Colorado Opens, the former Colorado State University golfer has been either the outright leader or a co-leader after 54 holes.

Brown finished second in the 2012 tournament, then won in 2013, so he’s handled the pressure pretty well, which should bode well for Sunday.

The 2011 CGA Player of the Year (left) shot a 5-under-par 67 Saturday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club to move into a share of the lead with defending champion Ian Davis of Edmond, Okla. They and the other players on the leaderboard going into Sunday’s final round will be battling it out for a $23,000 first prize.

“I’m going to still play aggressive,” the 25-year-old Brown said about his plan for Sunday. “The year that I ended up finishing second (one behind Derek Tolan), I played conservative and ended up losing. The year after that I won and played aggressive (firing a 64 on Sunday and prevailing by five). I think I’m going to stick with that approach. It seems to (result in) a lot of birdies.”

Davis (left), who bogeyed the 18th hole on Saturday after hitting his ball into two greenside bunkers, and Brown stand at 14-under-par 202 through three rounds. Davis, the former Oklahoma State golfer who’s bidding to become the first back-to-back Colorado Open champion since Dave Hill in 1976 and ’77, carded a 69 on Saturday but played his final eight holes in 1 over par.

As for Brown, Saturday marked the sixth time in the last four Colorado Opens that he’s shot 67 or lower. He capped his third round with a 2-putt birdie on No. 18 from 80 feet.

“For me (this course) sets up for a cut,” he said, explaining his success at GVR. “If you miss and have a cut, you’re OK. So that seems to fit my game well because if I do miss it’s going to be a little cut. So I do feel comfortable. And growing up 25 minutes from here, it’s nice. And I know how far the ball goes too (at a mile high in elevation).”

But Brown and Davis will have plenty of company in having a realistic shot at the title on Sunday. In fact, there’s 10 players either in the lead or within four strokes of it.

That includes Jimmy Gunn, who finished 27th at this year’s U.S. Open, and who has Keegan Bradley’s regular caddie, Coloradan Steve Hale, looping for him this week; and five former champions: Brown, Davis, Nathan Lashley, Tolan and Wil Collins. (Gunn and Hale are pictured at left.)

A 66 by Gunn left the Scot two out of the lead and in third place. Lashley is in fourth place at 205 with Kurt Kitayama of Chico, Calif. And Tolan and Collins share sixth place at 206 with Riley Arp of Fort Collins, former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland and Chris Ward of McKinney, Texas.

Tolan, bidding to join Bill Bisdorf, Dave Hill and Bill Loeffler as winner of at least three Colorado Opens, came from five back going into the final round to win at GVR in 2012.

“I’m glad I’m kind of lurking,” Tolan (left) said Saturday after firing a 67. “I made up some ground (with a final-round 65 in 2012). It’s doable. It’s more feasible when there’s just one guy leading by three or four rather than it being bunched up. It’ll take a low number but you can do it.”

Of course, Davis also is very familar with being on the leaderboard at the Colorado Open. He prevailed by five strokes last year in his first time playing the tournament. And he’s led or shared the lead after rounds 2 and 3 this year.

“I’m going to go out there and try to be as aggressive as I can — kind of like yesterday (when he shot 64),” said the 23-year-old. “I’ll try to keep the pedal down tomorrow and hopefully do the same thing I did yesterday.

“I’m going to try not to go out and worry about what Zahkai or anyone else is doing. It’s like last year. I just tried to make as many birdies as I could. I know if I go out and play as well as I can, I can get it done tomorrow.”

Notable: Like the overall tournament leaderboard, the low-am leaderboard is bunched. Colorado State University golfer Jimmy Makloski of Pueblo will go into Sunday with a one-stroke advantage over three players: former University of Colorado golfer David Oraee of Greeley, Connor Klein of Lone Tree and Blake Cannon of Mesa, Ariz. Klein, the CGA Match Play runner-up, would have actually been leading by one if not for the two-stroke penalty he received for being late for his tee time. Makloski shot his second consecutive 3-under-par 69 and stands at 7-under 209 overall. … Sunday’s final-round tee times will run from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m., off both the first and tenth tees. The leading threesome after 54 holes — Zahkai Brown, Ian Davis and Jimmy Gunn — will tee off on No. 1 at 9:25 a.m.

For scores from the Colorado Open, CLICK HERE.
 

For Sunday tee times, CLICK HERE.

The former Colorado State University golfer won the HealthOne Colorado Open at GVR in 2013 and finished second in 2012. And after missing the cut last year, he grabbed the lead Thursday after the first round of the 2015 event, shooting a 7-under-par 65.

That brings Brown’s average score in his last 11 Colorado Open rounds — since the beginning of the 2012 tournament — to 68.3.

On Thursday, Brown made eight birdies to go along with a three-putt bogey on No. 16 en route to his 65.

In an ideal day for scoring, 28 players shot in the 60s on Thursday.

And Brown wasn’t the only former CSU golfer among the leaders. Parker Edens of Greeley, twice a CGA Match Play runner-up, carded a 66 and shares second place with Kurt Kitayama of Chico, Calif. Zahkai’s older brother, former Ram Zen Brown, posted a 68. And Riley Arp carded a 69.

Other Coloradans who joined the Browns and Edens in shooting 68 or better were former University of Colorado golfers David Oraee of Greeley and Derek Fribbs of Castle Rock (68), current Buff Ethan Freeman of Denver (68), incoming Buff Ross Macdonald of Castle Rock (68), Tom Whitney of Fort Collins (68), and amateurs Connor Klein of Lone Tree and Tanner Jenson of Parker (68).

“The golf course was there for the taking in terms of rewarding quality shots,” said Notah Begay, the biggest name in the field, having won four times on the PGA Tour. “You had to be in the fairway to get close to the hole, and that’s the way it should be. You want to identify a champion who’s hitting good shots and making putts and scrambling when they need to.”

Begay, competing in his first multi-day tournament in “over a year,” opened with a 73.

“I played rusty,” said the NBC/Golf Channel analyst. “I made a couple of careless mistakes. You make mistakes every day, but it was just stuff if I had a few tournaments under my belt I definitely wouldn’t have made.”

So why did Begay pick the Colorado Open as a tournament in which to knock off the rust?

“This fit really well in the calendar,” he said. “I know they run a great event. And I’m kind of partial to supporting organizations such as HealthOne. I’ve had a heart attack (last year) and I know the importance of some of the cardiac treatment protocols that these hospitals are developing. (HealthOne has) been identified as one of the top facilities in America. There were a lot of positives to be here.”

And Tiger Woods, Begay’s friend and former Stanford teammate, recommended it after the two were playing golf together on a semi-regular basis in the spring.

“Tiger is part of the reason why I’m here,” Begay said. “He encouraged me to play a little this summer because I was playing OK. You can thank Tiger Woods for me being here.”

Notable: Barry Milstead of Castle Rock made a hole-in-one with a 9-iron at the 172-yard 13th hole on Sunday. It was the fourth ace for the Valley Country Club head professional, who shot a 76. … Champions Tour player Doug Rohrbaugh, winner of the 2013 HealthOne Colorado Senior Open, caddied for son Tristan on Thursday, having landed just 90 minutes before Tristan’s tee time after returning from Great Britain after trying to qualifying for this week’s Senior British Open. Tristan Rohrbaugh, winner of the CGA Western Chapter Championship on Sunday, shot a 74 on Thursday. … Coloradan Steve “Pepsi” Hale, regular PGA Tour caddie for Keegan Bradley, is caddying at the Colorado Open for Scotland’s Jimmy Gunn, who finished 27th in this year’s U.S. Open. Gunn fired a 69 on Thursday.

For scores from the Colorado Open, CLICK HERE.