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.
 

Let’s count the ways:

— Perhaps the most notable alteration will be that the qualifying tournament will be reduced from the 36 holes it long had been, to 18 holes starting this year.

— Also, the maximum age for competitors has been raised from 17 to 18.

— And the maximum Handicap Index allowed for players has been lowered from 6.4 to 4.4.

But the bottom line in all this is the same: There will be three national berths at stake on Tuesday, with the top finishers out of the field of 84 advancing to the Junior Am, set for July 17-22 at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan.

One Coloradan who qualified for the U.S. Junior Am each of the last two years — Davis Bryant of Aurora (2015 at Fox Hill), who recently won the Colorado Junior PGA Championship, and Trevor Olkowski of Grand Junction (2016 at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve) — are aiming for a return trip.

Also entered on Tuesday are Kyle Pearson, the 5A state high school champion who just finished runner-up in the CGA Match Play; former 4A champ Jackson Solem, who just won his third straight Big I Junior Classic state title and who will be competing on his home course; 3A state champ Oliver Jack; and other NCAA Division I signees Daniel Pearson and Cole Krantz.

For Tuesday’s pairings, CLICK HERE.
 

For a day that ended on such a high note, Friday certainly didn’t start very well for University of Denver golfer Chris Korte.
   
The 20-year-old from Lone Tree Golf Club has been experiencing upper-stomach-area pain periodically in recent years, to the point that it caused him to withdraw from two college tournaments in 2017. And on Friday, when Korte played Kyle Pearson of Meridian Golf Club in the scheduled 36-hole final of the 117th CGA Match Play, the pain re-emerged.
   
The situation wasn’t helped by starting out the match in rain, wind and in temperatures in the 40s at The Club at Ravenna in Littleton.
   
But if all’s well that ends well, that’s why Korte was smiling as he walked off the golf course. Despite his abdominal pain, Korte built a 6-up lead through 14 holes and kept the advantage to emerge with a 5-and-3 victory, earning him the Richard C. Campbell Trophy.
   
Having won the CGA Amateur Championship in 2015, Korte became just the fourth player since 1990 to claim titles in both the Match Play and the Amateur, joining David Oraee, Steve Ziegler (who won both events in 2009), and Pat Grady. Others among the 21 people who have captured both championships are longtime PGA Tour players Hale Irwin, Steve Jones and Brandt Jobe — all members of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
 
“It’s huge” to join them, said Korte (left and above), who had reason to jump for joy on Friday. “To add myself to that list is such a blessing. I’ve had a decent amount of OK play in college golf, but to be able to bring my ‘A’ game pretty much the whole week this week, I just feel really lucky to be here.”
   
Despite a big lead on Friday, it all could have gone awry if Korte’s stomach issues had become more acute during the match.
   
“I just try to focus on not thinking about the pain, just trying to get through it,” he said. “I was praying about it and it actually started feeling a little better — not to the point of being unbearable, which it has been in the past.
   
“It’s just a really sharp pain in the upper stomach area. Some doctors told me I should get my gall bladder out pretty soon, but we’re still getting some opinions and scans and things. It’s about 10 hours of just excruciating pain. I’m really happy it didn’t get to that point today.
   
“Late in the first round and early in the second round is where it got pretty bad. I was just trying to breathe through it. I ended up doing it pretty well and Kyle made a couple mistakes here and there and I was able to capitalize on them or halve him on a couple of holes I didn’t play too great.”

Korte never trailed against Pearson (left), the 2016 5A state high school champion who was playing in the Match Play for the first time. Korte, accompanied by his instructor for the last 5 1/2 years — Doug Wherry, the founder of Jake’s Academy — as his caddie, was 1 up through eight holes. But he won five of the next six holes — three with pars and two with birdies — to build a commanding 6-up advantage.

“The conditions at the beginning were not very good,” said Pearson, a recent Highlands Ranch High School graduate who had beaten three NCAA Division I college players to get to the finals. “I noticed a few (shots) where my hand slipped because the grip was a little wet. But obviously Chris figured out how to play through that, so that’s something I have to work on. You have to play in the rain in golf; they don’t cancel play because it’s raining outside. It’s just a learning curve, I guess.”

Pearson played much better in the second round when there was no rain and the wind subsided, going 1 over par for the 15 holes. The future Colorado Mesa University golfer was 7 down overall through 26 holes, but won three of the next six holes, all with pars, to cut the deficit to 4 down with four to play. But Pearson missed a 4-foot par putt on No. 15 to end the match.

Where his putter had rescued him in other matches, Pearson could manage just three birdies in 33 holes on Friday. In the last five holes, for instance, he missed four putts inside of 10 feet.

“I’m disappointed I didn’t win, but I learned a lot about my golf game this week,” Pearson said. “We counted this week — I played 136 holes in five days. I’ve never done that before. You’re not playing that many holes if your golf game is not good. I’m disappointed — I would have liked to win — but I’m still proud of how I played this week.

“The putter just kind of let me down today. It was a tough start, but I had a chance to come back on the back nine of the last 18. I had a few good birdie looks. I just couldn’t get them to fall. Chris is a good competitor. You’ve got to make birdies to catch up to him. I just couldn’t get any birdies in.”

Meanwhile, the title capped an impressive week at Ravenna for Korte (left). He shot a 6-under-par 65 in the stroke-play qualifying to earn the No. 2 seed, then won his matches 2 and 1, 4 and 3, 6 and 5, 3 and 2, 3 and 1, and 5 and 3. With the weather being what it was, he wasn’t quite as sharp on Friday as he was earlier in the week, but he did what it took to win.

“It was definitely a grind pretty much all day for me,” he said. “Playing in the rain hasn’t always been my forte — and there was also a lot of wind this morning. But college golf in general has prepared me really for these type of conditions. You don’t get perfect conditions in college golf. That’s been a blessing too — playing a lot of golf in these type of conditions, having your hands kind of numb.

“I just needed to stay patient because you’re not going to go out there and make a ton of birdies with the conditions the way they were. I made a lot of great pars and Kyle missed a couple of par putts that allowed me to win a few holes.

“The other thing that was huge for me was having my parents and my coach, Doug Wherry, who caddied for me today, by my side, providing me with dry towels, food, really anything I needed. And Doug knows me like almost no one else, so that helped a lot.”

CGA Match Play
At The Club at Ravenna in Littleton

THURSDAY’S QUARTERFINALS
Kyle Pearson, Meridian GC, def. Jake Kelley, Columbine CC, 3 and 2
Kyler Dunkle, Club at Pradera, def. Brittain Walton, Collindale GC, 1 up
Chris Korte, Lone Tree GC, def. Jack Cummings, Omni Interlocken Resort, 3 and 2
Jake Staiano, Glenmoor CC, def. Roy Carlsen, Walnut Creek Golf Preserve, 2 and 1

THURSDAY’S SEMIFINALS
Kyle Pearson, Meridian GC, def. Kyler Dunkle, Club at Pradera, 21 holes
Chris Korte, Lone Tree GC, def. Jake Staiano, Glenmoor CC, 3 and 1

FRIDAY’S 36-HOLE FINAL
Chris Korte, Lone Tree GC, def. Kyle Pearson, Meridian GC, 5 and 3

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Kyle Pearson is fresh out of high school, but you’d never know it by the way he’s toppling NCAA Division I golfers from Colorado this week at the 117th CGA Match Play Championship.

The 18-year-old from Meridian Golf Club, competing in the Match Play for the first time, has prevailed over Ross Macdonald (University of Colorado) in the round of 16, stroke-play medalist Jake Kelley (University of Denver) in Thursday’s quarterfinals, and 2016 CGA Player of the Year Kyler Dunkle (University of Utah) in the semifinals.

That puts the 2016 5A state high school champion in line for one more matchup against a DI opponent — DU senior-to-be Chris Korte in Friday’s 36-hole title match at The Club at Ravenna in Littleton.

“Yesterday, I beat Ross Macdonald, who’s a good player as well,” Pearson (pictured) noted on Thursday evening. “So I knew going up against college players, I can hang with them. I’m doing good if I can beat them. It just helps to add to my confidence that I’m just as good as these guys.

“It’s amazing. It’s my first year playing in this. Going in, I didn’t have too high of expectations. I was hoping to maybe win a match or two, but to get this far is amazing. And hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.”

Korte (left), of course, has other ideas. On Friday, he’ll be attempting to complete a career sweep of the CGA’s top championships, having won the CGA Amateur in 2015.

“It would mean so much for me to win this,” Korte noted.

On Thursday, both players won twice for the second consecutive day to land a spot in the final match.

Pearson, who just graduated from Highlands Ranch High School and will play college golf at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, took down Kelley — a DU teammate of Korte — 3 and 2 in Thursday morning’s quarterfinals, three days after Kelley set a Ravenna course record for the gold/black tees by shooting an 8-under-par 63. Then in the semifinals, Pearson never led until a par on the 21st hole of the longest match of the championship landed him the win. Dunkle, himself a former 5A state high school champion, missed the green on the par-3. Following a very delicate pitch, he couldn’t sink a 10-foot par putt that would have extended the match further. Pearson, meanwhile, two-putted from 40 feet, advancing thanks to a 4-foot par putt.

Dunkle, who made it to the round of 16 at last year’s U.S. Amateur, had made a birdie on 16 and took a 1-up lead into the par-5 18th. He seemed to have a big advantage in the middle of the fairway in two, with Pearson on the side of a steep hill in native grass (pictured at top). But Dunkle’s approach bounced right into a greenside bunker, and Pearson hit a stellar shot to 6 feet from the cup and he sank the birdie putt to push the match to extra holes.

“You can’t really beat a hole-in-one (which Pearson had en route to his 5A victory), but to keep a match going, I’d say that’s one of the best shots I’ve hit,” he said.

Pearson has now twice this week won matches that went at least 20 holes.

As for Korte, he has yet to have to play the 18th hole in any of his five matches. After beating Jack Cummings of the Omni Interlocken Resort 3 and 2 in the quarterfinals on Thursday, he faced a formidable test with Colorado State University golfer Jake Staiano of Glenmoor Country Club, who made match play at the U.S. Amateur two years ago. An eagle on the second hole by Staiano put him 1 up, but Korte was ahead most of the match. A 10-foot downhill birdie on the 14th hole and a par on the 15th put him 3 up with three to play. Staiano extended things with a big-breaking 12-foot birdie on 16, but Korte closed out the match, 3 and 1, on No. 17 with a conceded 4-foot birdie.

Also along the way to the final, Korte defeated 2015 Match Play champion Nick Nosewicz 6 and 5 in the round of 16 on Wednesday afternoon.

“I’ve been a groove,” said Korte, 20. “Obviously the 65 in the stroke-play round gave me a lot of confidence. I’ve made a couple of equipment changes and I’ve been feeling great with the swing and working with my coach pretty diligently. So I just had a ton of confidence coming into the week. I’m hoping to get it done tomorrow.”

So far this week, Korte has certainly been getting it done at Ravenna. By his best estimate, including the stroke-play qualifying round on Monday, he’s 17 under par for the week.

“Lately I’ve been trying to fight back and have the expectation that I need to make birdies and I need to play right out of the block,” he said. “I’ve been a lot under par this week, so that’s been really nice.

“My game has never felt better, so I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Speaking of Friday, Korte could be cutting it a little close, schedule-wise, as he has a 6:30 p.m. flight out of DIA headed for the North & South Amateur Championship that will begin on Monday in Pinehurst, N.C.

Friday’s 36-hole final will begin at 7 a.m.
 

CGA Match Play
At The Club at Ravenna in Littleton
QUARTERFINALS
Kyle Pearson, Meridian GC, def. Jake Kelley, Columbine CC, 3 and 2
Kyler Dunkle, Club at Pradera, def. Brittain Walton, Collindale GC, 1 up
Chris Korte, Lone Tree GC, def. Jack Cummings, Omni Interlocken Resort, 3 and 2
Jake Staiano, Glenmoor CC, def. Roy Carlsen, Walnut Creek Golf Preserve, 2 and 1
SEMIFINALS
Kyle Pearson, Meridian GC, def. Kyler Dunkle, Club at Pradera, 21 holes
Chris Korte, Lone Tree GC, def. Jake Staiano, Glenmoor CC, 3 and 1
FRIDAY’S 36-HOLE FINAL
Pearson vs. Korte, 7 a.m.

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

Among those joining Kelley in the final eight were 2016 CGA Player of the Year Kyler Dunkle (pictured) of the Club at Pradera, 2015 CGA Stroke Play champion Chris Korte of Lone Tree Golf Club, 2016 5A state high school champion Kyle Pearson of Meridian Golf Club and U.S. Open Sectional qualifier Jake Staiano of Glenmoor Country Club.

Also in the quarters will be Brittain Walton of Collindale Golf Course, Jack Cummings of the Omni Interlocken Resort and Roy Carlsen of Walnut Creek Golf Club. Thursday’s matches will be: Kelley vs. Pearson, Dunkle vs. Walton, Korte vs. Cummings, and Staiano vs. Carlsen. The winners will then compete in the semifinals on Thursday afternoon, setting up Friday’s 36-hole final.

Kelley defeated CGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year Chris Thayer 3 and 1 in Wednesday’s round of 16. Korte, a University of Denver teammate of Kelley’s, beat 2015 Match Play champion Nick Nosewicz, 6 and 5.

Among the others ousted in the round of 16 were U.S. Open Sectional qualifiers Ross Macdonald and Hunter Paugh, and 2016 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado boys Player of the Year AJ Ott.

For results from the Match Play, CLICK HERE.
 

And the run will continue next week as the first major of the 2017 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado season takes place Monday through Wednesday (June 12-14) at Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course at the Air Force Academy just north of Colorado Springs.

About 90 players — boys and girls combined — are expected to compete in the 54-hole Colorado Junior PGA Championship, one of four JGAC majors.

Arguably the state’s hottest junior player this spring, 15-year-old Hailey Schalk of Erie, is entered. In the last three weeks, she’s won the 3A state high school title as a freshman, she qualified for the Junior Worlds, and she became the first Coloradan to win the AJGA Hale Irwin.

Also entered in the girls field at Eisenhower are Charlotte Hillary of Cherry Hills Village, runner-up to Schalk in both the 3A tourney and the AJGA event, and winner of the 2016 JGAC Tour Championship; 4A champ Lauren Lehigh of Loveland; and Caroline Jordaan of Denver, winner of the North American Junior Amateur in January.

On the boys side, all three reigning state high school champions are in the field: Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch (5A), Luke Trujillo of Colorado Springs (4A) and Oliver Jack of Denver (3A). Also entered are Davis Bryant of Aurora, a 2015 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier and 2016 Colorado Junior America’s Cup team member; and Daniel Pearson of Longmont, who recently competed in U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying.

The top two finishers in both the boys and girls fields will qualify for the national Junior PGA Championships at the the Country Club of St. Albans near St. Louis, set for July 18-21 (girls) and July 31-Aug. 3 (boys).

For the not-yet-finalized pairings for Monday at Eisenhower, CLICK HERE.
 

Combined with the local golfers who signed in the fall, at least three-dozen Coloradans are now set to compete in the college ranks. That includes at least 10 who are bound for NCAA Division I programs.

Among those who signed this week was 5A state high school champion Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch, who will play for Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction. His brother, Ryan, meanwhile, signed with Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

Most of the Division I signings took place in the fall, but Loveland High School’s Aili Bundy formally committed to the University of Northern Colorado this week.

Here are the Class of 2017 players from Colorado who have signed, or are expected to sign, letters of intent:

BoysӬ

Griffin Barela of Lakewood (Lakewood HS) — University of Wisconsin”¨

Jake Butler of Niwot (Niwot HS) — Midland University in Fremont, Neb.

Nicholas Caldwell of Lone Tree (Rock Canyon HS) — Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.

Aiden Detlof-Maldanado of Colorado (Cheyenne Mountain HS) — Keiser University in Florida

Hayden Fry of Colorado Springs (Discovery Canyon HS) — Doane University in Crete, Neb.

Jacob Hoekert of Woodland Park (Colorado Springs Christian School) — Taylor University in Updland, Ind.

“¨Linc Kleager of Glenwood Springs (Glenwood Springs HS) — Doane University in Crete, Neb.

Cole Krantz of Windsor (Windsor HS) — University of Colorado

“¨Glen-Michael Mihavetz of Montrose (Montrose HS) ““ Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.

“¨Trevor Olkowski of Grand Junction (Grand Junction HS) — University of Colorado

“¨Owen Pasvogel of Colorado Springs (Discovery Canyon HS) — University of Northern Colorado

“¨Daniel Pearson of Longmont (Fairview HS) — University of Nebraska”¨

Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch (Highlands Ranch HS) — Colorado Mesa University

Ryan Pearson of Highlands Ranch (Highlands Ranch HS) — Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

David Roney of Castle Rock (Douglas County HS) — College of Wooster in Ohio

Bradley Scalia of Aurora (Cherokee Trail HS) — Johnson & Wales in Miami, Fla.

Jack Schoenborn of Castle Pines (Valor Christian HS) — Doane University in Crete, Neb.

Jackson Solem of Longmont (attends Longmont Christian HS, played for Silver Creek HS) — University of Denver

“¨JT Snowden of Castle Rock (Rock Canyon HS) — Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks”¨

Shane Tilger of Broomfield (Broomfield HS) — Hastings College in Nebraska

Luke Travins of Colorado Springs (Coronado HS) — Condordia University in Portland

Lenny Urbas of Evergreen (Evergreen HS) — Missouri S&T in Rolla

Tyler Zhang of Lone Tree (Regis Jesuit HS) — Regis University

“¨Zach Zurcher of Parker (Valor Christian HS) — Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala.

Girls

“¨Julia Baroth of Denver (Denver East HS) — University of Colorado-Colorado Springs”¨

Aili Bundy of Fort Collins (Loveland HS) — University of Northern Colorado

Elly Carlson of Colorado Springs (Pine Creek HS) — Santa Barbara (Calif.) City College

Alexis Chan of Castle Rock (Rock Canyon HS) — Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.

Becca Day (Lutheran HS) — Concordia University in Nebraska

Tabitha Diehl of Highlands Ranch (Mountain Vista HS) — Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.

“¨Cassie Kneen of Parker (Colorado Academy) — St. Andrew’s College in Scotland

Amelia Lee of Castle Rock (Rock Canyon HS) — Creighton University

“¨Hannah More of Littleton (Mullen HS) — Colorado Mesa”¨

Jordan Remley of Lakewood (Ralston Valley HS) — University of Wyoming”¨

Isabella Ruiz of Lone Tree (Highlands Ranch HS) — Occidental College in Los Angeles

Kellsey Sample of Monument (Palmer Ridge HS) — CSU-Pueblo

AlsoӬ

JGAC member Dallas Millin of Wright, Wyo. — Texas A&M-Commerce

JGAC member Easton Paxton of Riverton, Wyo. — North Carolina State

If other Colorado junior golfers have signed to play college golf beginning in 2017, please email us at golfjournal@coloradogolf.org