2022 Colorado Junior PGA Championship

July 11-13, 2022 - Fossil Trace

Supported by UCCS PGA Golf Management

The 2022 Colorado Junior PGA Championship was hosted by Fossil Trace Golf Club in Golden, Colo. on July 11-13, 2022. 88 Colorado junior golfers competed for the honor of receiving this Championship title and a qualifying spot to the Junior PGA Championship. The top two finishers for both boys and girls earned spots into the 46th Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Palos Park, Illinois on August 2-5, 2022.

After a weekend of high 90 degree weather, Monday morning brought a welcomed changes with a high of low to mid-70’s. Gage Messingham (Arvada, Colo.) and Qwenton Caldwell (Littleton, Colo.) took the leaderboard by storm with 5-under 67’s for a day one finish. In the girls competition, Sophia Choi (Littleton, Colo.) took a confident lead finishing at 1-over with the closest competitor , Olivia Steen (Fort Collins, Colo.), trailing by 2 strokes.

Day two brought not only warmer weather but changes to the leaderboard, as well, with Gage dropping back to seventh. Qwenton kept a hold on his lead finishing with a 5-under 67 for the day. Hunter Swanson (Denver, Colo.), jumped up from his day one sixth place finish to tied for first with 5-under 67. Another huge improvement came from Brenna Higgins (Centennial, Colo.) who finished day two with a 3-over 75 after her day-one ninth place finish. Sophia finished her day in second.

The final day of a Championship always brings a certain level of excitement, as well as droves of spectators. Gage made a huge comeback shooting a 6-under 66, while Hunter secured his lead with a 5-under 67 for the day. This left Kyle Leydon (Commerce City, Colo.) and Matthew Wilkinson (Centennial, Colo.) both at 7-under for the tournament resulting in a playoff for the first alternate position. Kyle drove the green on the par four tenth hole and finished out with a birdie securing the alternate spot and a third place finish for the tournament! Gage, 10-under-par for the tournament, and Hunter, 12-under, proudly claimed second and first place overall and the two boys’ qualifying spots in the 2022 Junior PGA Championship! Lily Nelson (Commerce City, Colo.) shot the best score of the week with an even-par 72! That excellent score left her tied with Olivia for overall second place and resulted in a playoff on the tenth hole. Lily made par on the playoff for a second overall finish and the second qualifying spot! Olivia and Abigail Aeschleman (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) finished the week in third and fourth place, respectively, earning the two alternate spots. With her dominant play, Sophia was named Champion!

Congratulations to the 2022 Colorado Junior PGA Champions, Sophia and Hunter! Good luck to our qualifiers, Hunter, Gage, Sophia, and Lily at the Junior PGA Championship!

Thank you to Head PGA Professional and PGA President, Jim Hajek, PGA, Assistant Golf Professional, Adam Finch, PGA, the entire Fossil Trace staff, and our partner UCCS for their support in this Championship.

Full Leaderboard Girls Junior PGA Championship Boys Junior PGA Championship

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