If the USGA was looking to add first-time participants to its U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship field, the Colorado qualifying site wasn’t the place to go this year.

Three teams qualified on Tuesday at The Broadlands Golf Course in Broomfield, and all three have participated in the best-ball national championship previously, even though it’s only been held since 2015.

Kyle Danford and David Johnson from Fort Collins, Alex Kephart and Kurtis Lucas from Colorado Springs, and Greg Carlin from Denver and University of Colorado golfer Wilson Belk all will advance to the U.S. Four Ball — and all have competed in the event at least once before. (Pictured from left are two of the qualifying teams from Tuesday: Danford and Johnson, and Kephart and Lucas.)

Danford and Johnson went in 2016, and Kephart and Lucas and Belk and Carlin both in 2017. In addition, Kephart also played in 2015 with a different partner.

But somehow it never gets old.

“It’s just special to play in USGA events,” said Danford, who will be going to his fourth overall. “If you think how many people try to qualify around the country or world, to get in there is an honor in itself. Hopefully we make (match play at the national championship) and then you never know what can happen. It’ll be a lot of fun.

“My wife is happy because the other three USGA events I’ve qualified for, she’s been pregnant. Now we’ve broken that little schneid so she doesn’t have to get pregnant any more for me to go to a USGA event.”

Danford/Johnson and Kephart/Lucas shared qualifying medalist honors Tuesday at The Broadlands with 10-under-par 62s, while Belk/Carlin posted a 64 despite never having seen the course before. The rewards are trips to the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, with the championship set for May 25-29.

The U.S. Four-Ball has been contested at some of the most prestigious courses in the country, with previous hosts including The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Winged Foot in New York and Pinehurst in North Carolina.

And 2019’s venue isn’t half bad either.

“Bandon Dunes, that’s pretty sweet,” Carlin said. “We saw that on the schedule and signed up.”

Johnson’s one previous USGA championship was the Four-Ball at Winged Foot, which is scheduled to host the 2020 U.S. Open.

“You’re just treated great (at the national championship),” he said. “Winged Foot was just absolutely brutal — in a great way. I think on 20 of the 36 holes I hit 5-iron or more into greens. I know I’m not long, but I’m not that short.”

And the Four-Ball is also about the camaraderie involved. For some teams, both the qualifying tournaments and, ideally, the national championship are about spending some time with good buddies.

“We’re best friends,” Kephart, a five-time USGA qualifier, said of himself and Lucas, with whom he attended high school and now plays about 50 rounds of golf a year. “We’ve played golf together since we were 8 years old. It’s the highlight of the year getting to play in this (qualifier) and it’s a bonus going to the tournament.”

Said Lucas, a Marine veteran: “You get to travel with your best friend. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

Noted Belk, regarding himself and Carlin: “I think it’s fun for us — his brother and my other brother in law caddied for us (previously in the U.S. Four-Ball) and Greg is my brother in law. It was just super fun to go. We couldn’t even try to qualify last year because I had a college tournament. It’ll be really fun to go back.”

On Tuesday, Lucas and Kephart highlighted their round with two eagles — one each — as did Belk and Carlin. Both teams played the four par-5s in 6 under par. Danford and Johnson, meanwhile, sprinkled 10 best-ball birdies through their round. Lucas shot a 66 with his own ball — including a 31 on the front nine — on Tuesday.

In all, 56 two-man teams were in the field on Tuesday.

Among the people on hand for the Four-Ball qualifier on Tuesday were two two-time Colorado Open champions. Brian Guetz competed with partner Alex Buecking, and Derek Tolan was caddying for the team of Jonathan Marsico and Tommy Hart, who have qualified for this event twice previously. Marsico and Hart shot a 65 on Tuesday, while Guetz and Buecking carded a 66. (Pictured above are Tolan, in red, and Hart.)
 

U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Qualifying
At Par-72 The Broadlands GC in Broomfield
ADVANCE TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Alex Kephart/Kurtis Lucas, Colorado Springs 30-32–62
Kyle Danford/David Johnson, Fort Collins 31-31–62
Wilson Belk, Greg Carlin, Denver 32-32–64
ALTERNATES (In Order)
Matt Call/Norton Rainey, Parker 32-33–65
Richard Bradsby/Brian Dorfman, Denver 31-34–65

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

With the University of Colorado men’s golf team having lost two of its top three players from last season — David Oraee and Yannik Paul — the opportunity to help fill a void is certainly at hand this fall.

And several home-grown players — all graduates of Colorado high schools — are doing their best to address the issue.

That was apparent the last two days at CU’s own Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational at Boulder Country Club.

Three Coloradans finished in the top 11 out of a field of 74, including freshmen Ross Macdonald and Wilson Belk. And junior Ethan Freeman and Macdonald, who established and tied their best college finishes, respectively, on Tuesday by sharing fifth place, played major roles in helping the Buffs tie for the team title.

For the third consecutive year — and fourth overall — CU earned a least part of the team championship at the Simpson Invite. Against all odds, they’ve tied for the title two of the last three years, this time with Missouri-Kansas City.

The Buffs (left) rallied from five strokes behind entering last round to shoot a Tuesday-best 1-under-par 279. That left them and the Roos at 7-over-par 847 for three rounds.

And besides their overall solid play, Macdonald and Freeman helped seal the deal for CU on the final hole.

Macdonald drained a very fast downhill 5-foot putt for bogey. Then junior Jeremy Paul, Yannik’s twin brother, chipped in for birdie on that same hole from 30 feet. And Freeman made an impressive up and down from a greenside bunker, sinking a challenging sidehill 4-footer for par. (Freeman is pictured at top getting congratulated by CU head coach Roy Edwards.)

And the Buffs needed all three of those things to happen to earn a tie for the title.

“The whole team is riding on you,” said Freeman, who was in the final group. “You’re the last guy in. I had to make that putt or we wouldn’t have tied for the win, so I definitely felt the nerves. I knew I had to pull it out for my team.

“That was huge for me. We’re at our home event and this is the one we want to win every year. That putt definitely meant a lot. It was just (4) feet, but that felt like a really long putt. I was real excited to make that.”

As for two-time CGA Junior Stroke Play champion Macdonald (at left preparing to fist-bump with CU assistant coach Pat Grady), CU coach Roy Edwards was likewise impressed by his play, especially given that he’s in his first month of college golf.

“That’s one big thing for Ross Macdonald,” Edwards said. “He’s come right in and been a huge part of our success early in the season. We’ve got some good talented young players. It’s always a developmental process. They’re in the middle of it and sometimes it doesn’t feel as good as other days. They’re doing a lot of really good things. There are some growing pains, but I actually enjoy it because you get to see guys (make strides, and) the fruition is guys like Philip (Juel-Berg, a senior) and Jeremy and Ethan. That’s what those young guys are going to be in a couple of years. They’re thrown right into the fire right now.”

All told, CU put five individuals in the top 11 Tuesday, with Jeremy Paul (210) finishing third — marking the 12th top-10 of his career — Macdonald and Freeman (212) sharing fifth, and Juel-Berg (213) tying for 11th. Belk, competing solely as an individual, also shared 11th place.

Freeman, a two-time state high school champion from Kent Denver, has recorded three fifth-place individual finishes so far this season.

While the Coloradans certainly made their contributions on Tuesday, Paul had the most impressive moment of the day. With CU trailing UMKC by a stroke, he spun his approach shot off the front of the final green, then proceeded to hole out his chip (left) for birdie, tying things up.

“I was trying to make it because I knew we needed to make up one shot,” said the native of Germany. “Usually it never goes in (under those circumstances), but this time it did so it was really emotional. It’s just important for us as a team to at least share the victory. I was just super excited about it.”

UMKC’s Antoine Rozner, No. 53 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, claimed the individual title Tuesday, though he missed a 15-foot birdie attempt on No. 18 that would have given the Roos the outright team championship. He shot a 1-under-par 69 Tuesday for a 2-under 208 total.

While the Buffs notched their second team victory of the season — the first came in a three-team field at Ballyneal — Air Force (878) placed seventh on Tuesday and Northern Colorado (885) was 10th.

A small junior-golf event was held in conjunction with the Simpson Invitational. Fairview High School golfer Daniel Pearson, from Longmont, posted the low 54-hole total for the group, a 17-over-par 227. Here are the scores of all the junior players who competed:

Daniel Pearson 73-76-78–227
Cole Krantz 80-75-73–228
Timothy Amundson 80-80-76–236
Jackson Solem 81-77-80–238
Austin Burgess 82-82-80–244

Boulder Country Club will host the men’s Pac-12 Conference Championships in the spring of 2017.

Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational
At Par-70 Boulder CC

T1. (out of 12 teams) Colorado 275-293-279–847
3. Jeremy Paul 67-75-68–210
T5. Ethan Freeman 69-72-71–212
T5. Ross Macdonald 67-75-70–212
11. Philip Juel-Berg 72-71-70–213
47. Kade Crossland 74-76-74–224
CU Players Competing Only as Individuals
11. Wilson Belk 73-69-71–213
53. Drew Trujillo 77-72-77–226
58. Pierce Aichinger 76-76-76–228

7. Air Force 289-293-296–878
16. Brenden Bone 71-73-72–216
27. Sunwoo Choi 71-74-74–219
41. Bryant Falconello 76-72-74–222
58. Kyle Fuller 71-81-76–228
61. Michael Fan 77-74-78–229
Competing as Individuals
45. Tate Tatom, Air Force 72-74-77–223
64. Dan Hankamer 78-75-75–230
66. Troy Berglund 74-79-79–232

10. Northern Colorado 293-288-304–885
16. Conner Barr 74-68-74–216
35. Steven Kupcho 70-70-81–221
35. Joshua Matz 75-74-72–221
61. Sam Marley 75-76-78–229
68. Julian Woodfork 74-79-80–233
Competing as Individual
47. Li Chen 74-77-73–224

Also
27. Colton Yates, Colorado State 73-71-75–219
27. Blake Cannon, Colorado State 73-72-74–219
47. Coloradan Glenn Workman, Wyoming 75-76-73–224
 

But no matter how new the programs are to the local high school golf scene, that hasn’t kept them from producing some of the best talent to come from Colorado in recent years.

That’s been proven this past week during the early national letter of intent signing period for golf and other sports. Both Valor and Jefferson Academy had multiple players sign with college programs. Valor’s Ross Macdonald and Pierce Aichinger are going to the University of Colorado, while teammate Jake Staiano is headed to Colorado State. Jefferson Academy’s Jennifer Kupcho (pictured) signed on Monday with Wake Forest, while teammate Mariah Ehrman formally committed to Colorado Mesa University.

Well over a dozen Colorado junior players have inked NLIs since last Wednesday, including at least 12 with NCAA Division I programs. Valor was particularly a center of activity with all three seniors from this year’s 4A state championship team going to Division I programs in-state.

“There were attractive options for all three out of state,” said Jason Preeo, Valor’s boys golf coach and the individual instructor for Macdonald, Staiano and Aichinger. “But their first choice was in-state. They all got pretty much what they were looking for. It’s really important for in-state schools to make sure the top talent stays in the state. You have to own your home turf.”

Indeed, the University of Colorado men’s team, which had just six players on its roster in the fall season, landed three in-state players, all of whom finished in the top eight in the ultra-competitive 4A state tournament — Macdonald (third), Aichinger (sixth) and Cheyenne Mountain’s Wilson Belk (eighth). Macdonald, the CGA Junior Player of the Year, has won the last two CGA Junior Stroke Plays and Aichinger claimed the Colorado Junior PGA Championship this year.

As for CSU-bound Staiano, he won the 2013 CGA Junior Match Play, advanced to match play at the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur, and was the runner-up in the 4A state tournament.

It’s little wonder why Valor, which once featured Oklahoma State-bound Wyndham Clark, has won four of the last six 4A state team titles and has now produced seven NCAA Division I signees.

All four Colorado players who signed with either the CU or CSU men are currently ranked among the top 500 boys national/international players on Junior Golf Scoreboard.

On the girls side, Kupcho is ranked No. 104 nationally/internationally among girls by Junior Golf Scoreboard. Although the reigning 4A state high school champ also considered the University of Denver and Colorado State, she’s headed for Wake Forest, which is currently the No. 10-ranked women’s college program in the nation.

“It’s really exciting to have it done,” said Kupcho, the CWGA Player of the Year and three-time Junior Player of the Year at age 17. “I’ve been looking forward to this day. Finally to just get it over with and know I’m going to college is kind of exciting. To go play Division I golf is a real exciting accomplishment.”

Wake Forest has been to 13 NCAA Championship finals in the last 22 years. Laura Diaz, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour and a former Wake Forest standout, is a volunteer assistant coach for the Demon Deacons.

Kupcho cited the coaches and the climate (Wake Forest is in Winston-Salem, N.C.) as the primary reasons she chose to be a Demon Deacon.

“Obviously, I’ve always wanted to play for a higher (ranked) school so I can hopefully go play professional” eventually, said Kupcho, who finished runner-up in the 2014 HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open, a tournament that featured numerous top-level Symetra Tour players. “I would say that’s part of the steppingstone to playing professionally.”

Kupcho’s brother, Steven, plays for the University of Northern Colorado, though he’s redshirting this season. Jennifer Kupcho’s parents coach the Jefferson Academy girls golf team.

Here are the in-state players who have signed national letters of intent this month, and out-of-state players who have signed with Colorado-based NCAA Division I schools (note: this list was updated in May 2015):

BOYS
Pierce Aichinger, Valor Christian — Colorado
Wilson Belk, Cheyenne Mountain — Colorado
Li Chen, Legacy — Northern Colorado
Bretton Krantz, Windsor — Colorado Mesa
Ross Macdonald, Valor Christian — Colorado
Hayden Plewe, Montezuma-Cortez — Southern Utah
Grant Rogers, Boulder — Rice
Jake Staiano, Valor Christian — Colorado State
Taylor Rodriguez, 4A individual champ at Pueblo South — CSU-Pueblo
Jackson Vacek, Fairview — Occidental

GIRLS
Mariah Ehrman, Jefferson Academy — Colorado Mesa
Courtney Ewing, Pueblo West — CSU-Pueblo
Tori Goodman, Falcon — CSU-Pueblo
Anna Kennedy, Legend — BYU
Ashlyn Kirschner, Ralston Valley — Colorado Mesa
Jennifer Kupcho, Jefferson Academy — Wake Forest
Adara Pauluhn, Niwot — Boise State
Kylee Sullivan, Cheyenne Mountain — Oakland U.
Gillian Vance, Dakota Ridge — Colorado

Out-of-State Players Committed to Colorado Div. I Schools
Boys
Ben Bradley of Frankfurt, Germany — Colorado (eligible to compete in spring semester 2015)
Kade Crossland, transfer from Corban University in Solem, Ore. — Colorado
Tate Tatom of Gallatin Gateway, Mont. — Air Force Academy
Girls
Hanna Atkins of Phoenix — Northern Colorado
Lauryn Keating of Elma, Wash. — Colorado
Sophie Newlove of Nottingham, England — Denver
Katrina Prendergast of Sparks, Nev. — Colorado State
Janet Yeo of Los Angeles — Northern Colorado