Through two rounds of the 2020 Colorado Open, the battle for low-amateur is shaping up to be a contest of the who’s who of Colorado high school boys golf alums.
And on his home course of the Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, Eaglecrest grad and former Class 5A boys state champion Davis Bryant is right in the mix. Bryant shot a 3-under-par 69 on Friday to make the cut and put himself in the mix for low-am honors on the course he grew up playing on. Bryant currently plays at Colorado State University.
The cut at the event came in at 4-under par at two alums in Cal McCoy (Regis Jesuit) and Brennan Dolan (Fairview) came in right at the number. They trail Palmer grad and current Doherty girls golf coach Colin Prater by four strokes.
Prater shot 71 in a weather delayed second round to enter the weekend as the low-amateur on the board at 8-under. Lakewood has a pair of contenders in Griffin Barela (7-under) and Jack Castiglia (5-under). Bryant’s college teammate AJ Ott shot a 68 on Friday to also get under the cutline. The teammates are paired together for Saturday’s round.
The overall lead in the tournament entering Saturday is Jared du Toit, a pro out of Kimberely, British Columbia.
Tee times for recent Colorado high school golf alums
Eaglecrest alum Davis Bryant is no stranger to Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. The 2017 Class 5A boys golf champion practically grew up on the course and even volunteered at the course during the annual Colorado Open Golf Tournament.
Now he’s poised to attack the course as a player in that very same tournament. Bryant is among several Colorado high school golf alums ready to take on the biggest annual tournament in Colorado. Like most golfers this summer, competitive tournaments have not been as plentiful as they have in years past.
Bryant is hoping to return to Colorado State with a competitive battle under his belt and the Colorado Open is the best level of competition that he’ll get to see.
“I obviously want to play well,” Bryant said. “I don’t want to go out there shoot 75 a couple of times and miss the cut. If I can use this right way and build off the people that are supporting I can take advantage of this.”
Each player in the field feels that way, especially the amateur players that grew up playing golf in Colorado.
Colin Prater. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Among the other Colorado high school alums playing in the Colorado Open are Griffin Barela (Lakewood), Jack Castiglia (Lakewood), Brennan Dolan (Fairview), Jackson Klutznick (Kent Denver), Joshua McLaughlin (Thompson Valley), AJ Ott (Fort Collins), Kyle Pearson (Highlands Ranch), Colin Prater (Palmer), Beau Schoolcraft (Kent Denver), Jackson Solem (Silver Creek), Marcus Tait (Columbine) and Dylan Wonnacott (Silver Creek).
The field is also packed with notable names around Colorado, especially within the golf world. Jefferson Academy alum Jennifer Kupcho will also be teeing it up and after conquering the boys’ club at Augusta National last spring, she’s embarked on a professional career. Her first professional win came earlier this summer at the Colorado Women’s Open.
Fort Collins resident Sam Saunders, the grandson of the late Arnold Palmer is in the field along with Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus.
The real key to the event are the older players that can inspire someone like a young Davis Bryant. He can remember working the event as a volunteer and being amazed when he saw what some of the players can do.
“I remember I saw a guy from Arizona way back in the day, probably 10 years ago and he hit a golf shot on hole No. 13, the par 3, and I had no idea how he did what he did with a golf ball,” Bryant said. “Now I can hit a similar golf shot, maybe nothing that good, but I just remember picking up on things. Watching them and watching how they handled themselves.”
Everyone is looking to someone close to help them through the event. Each player might turn to a friend or family member to provide caddy support. Bryant is turning to his father, Matt, the general manager at GVR.
“He’s going to talk to me about some yardages,” Bryant said. “Not club choice per se but but he’s also going to help me on the mental side to keep my mind off golf.”
Bryant, Ott and the rest of the Colorado high school alums begin play at Green Valley Ranch on Thursday with the final round being played on Sunday.
COLORADO SPRINGS — The good news for Eaglecrest senior-to-be Emma Bryant is that she’s never lost a Class 5A girls golf state tournament that didn’t play out to a full two rounds.
Her freshman year, she shot an impressive 2-under-par 70 at the Boulder Country Club to claim gold in her first try at a state tournament. It was a feeling she was hoping to capture at least one time in her high school career.
But fate has not been on her side in that time. The 2019 state tournament was cut short to one day due to weather and she finished tied for 15th, eight strokes behind champion Lauren Lehigh of Loveland. The 2020 season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than dwell on what could have been in those two years, Bryant continues to work on her game and put herself in a position where she must compete against the best players in the state.
Last week she finished third at the Colorado Jr. PGA Championship, the first major of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado’s summer tour season.
The summer is a long way from over and Bryant knows that the time she has is vital in order to represent Eaglecrest with another championship win.
“I have one year left of high school,” Bryant said. “I just have to go full speed ahead. This summer is really important. I’ve already committed to the University of Denver and now it’s about getting ready for college and using this time refine my skills and perfecting the small things.”
Those small things were crucial when it came to winning her freshman year. She sank five bridies on the front nine of that final round which helped her shoot up the leaderboard.
When she sank a birdie putt on 18, she officially made the 5A individual golf titles a family affair as her older brother Davis had won the boys title that fall.
Davis’ title was the only one of his career and he’s now established himself as a vital member of Colorado State’s men’s golf team.
Emma is hoping to do the same for DU, but among the many reasons that she wants to claim another state title is to have a bit of family bragging rights.
“Of course I want to beat him,” she said with a laugh. “I mean, I already beat him in way if we look at when I won and when he won, but it would be great to say I won twice. He only has one so I’d be in the record books there.”
It was recently announced that the 2021 girls state golf tournaments would be moved into June. Although associate commissioner Tom Robinson cited many reasons for the change, pushing them out of questionable times in terms of weather was certainly an added benefit.
“It kind of sucks that I’ve only played in one (full) state tournament,” Bryant said. “I am hoping my senior year I can come out on top and say that I’m undefeated in (two round) tournaments.”
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Sometimes games befitting of an atmosphere that the Denver Coliseum is sure to offer in the coming weeks happen before teams can even reach the building. Playoff basketball has a way of bringing out thrilling moments and gut wrenching outcomes and that’s even in the early rounds.
Happiness, heartbreak and jubilation were all on display at Valor Christian High School for the Class 5A boys basketball Sweet 16. Valor started fast. Eaglecrest rallied. The teams exchanged blows late.
But a 60-52 win ensured only the Eagles will advance to this weekend’s Great 8 just northeast of downtown Denver.
The beneficiaries of a 7-0 run to start the game, the Valor Christian put belief in themselves and their teammates that they could live to fight another day.
“I think our guys have been pretty focused on coming out and being ready to go from the beginning,” Valor coach AJ Kuhle said. “When you start well, usually you finish well.”
That was certainly the case. The Eagles (19-6 overall) scored 15 points in the first quarter and 23 in the fourth. In the final eight minutes of the game, the team shot 11-for-13 from the free throw line.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
That’s a big difference in an eight-point game.
“We’ll get in practice and we’ll be tired after running and we’ll come out and Coach makes us shoot free throws,” AJ Kula said. “He tells us to make them both.”
Kula scored a team-high 12 points, eight of which came from the charity stripe. Amondo Miller, Talin Unruh and Roger Rosengarten also scored in double figures.
As balanced as the scoring was, the defensive effort for the Eagles was arguably more impressive, specifically in the first half. Ty Robinson came into the game averaging 13.3 points per game for the Raptors (17-8) but was held to one in the first half.
“It was a big thing for us,” Unruh said. “Our coach did a great job with the scouting report and it was an awesome thing to see all of our guys defend him.”
But a kid like Robinson can’t be held down every minute he’s on the floor. He came out firing in the second half, scoring 10 of his game-high 16 points in the third quarter.
“I probably should’ve gone to him one or two more times down the stretch,” Eaglecrest coach Jarris Krapcha said. “He had a big momentum dunk, but the momentum got lost pretty quick.”
With Robinson’s intensity dialed up, the Raptors jumped right back in the game. Zion Rickard sank a pair of free throws with three minutes, 29 seconds left in the third quarter to give Eaglecrest a 30-29 lead, its first lead of the game.
But the Eagles refused to let down. Each time Eaglecrest took the lead or got close to retaking the lead, Valor stretched it back to five or seven points.
And that was good enough to keep the game out of reach.
“It’s a group that’s played a lot of basketball together and they care about each other,” Kuhle said. They know that in the games there are ups and downs and they just have to be consistent in their behavior.”
The Eagles will meet George Washington in the Great 8 following the Patriots’ win over Ralston Valley.
Valor and GW met earlier in the year so there is some familiarity with each other heading into the weekend.
“We beat them by (11),” Unruh said. “We just have to play as a team like we did tonight and we’ll be fine.”