CGA Fall Amateur gives college players — and others — another chance to tee it up for a championship
By Gary Baines – 10/8/2020
In a fall devoid of NCAA Division I intercollegiate college golf in Colorado, we’re set to complete the “replacement season.”
Three void-filling tournaments took shape in the Centennial State on relatively short notice following the announcements that led to no intercollegiate golf for the nine Colorado-based DI programs due to Covid-19-related safety concerns. And following the playing of the Fort Collins GCAA Amateur last month at Fort Collins Country Club and the Colorado National Women’s Amateur last weekend at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, the last of the three will be held this weekend at CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora.
All three were/are designed primarily to give tournament opportunities to college golfers at a time when their schedules would normally be filled by their schools’ fall season. In addition, a smattering of non-college players have participated at each event.
This weekend’s CGA Fall Amateur Championship, a 54-hole walking-only event set for Friday through Sunday, will feature separate men’s and women’s competitions. In all, 81 players are entered — 70 men and 11 women, all age 18 and older.
Among the men signed up are many Colorado products now playing for local DI teams. Included are four-time U.S. Amateur qualifier and 2018 CGA Player of the Year AJ Ott (Colorado State); 2019 Summit League champion Cal McCoy (University of Denver); Fort Collins GCAA Amateur runner-up Jackson Solem (DU); Connor Jones (DU); Cole Krantz (University of Colorado); Gavin Hagstrom (CSU); and 2019 CGA Amateur runner-up Jack Castiglia (University of Northern Colorado).
In addition, 2020 CGA Mid-Amateur champion Chris Thayer is entered, along with CSU assistant coach Parker Edens, who lost in a playoff to Thayer at the Mid-Am.
The women’s field features three-time CGA Women’s Player of the Year Mary Weinstein (DU), Colorado National Women’s Amateur runner-up Kelsey Webster (CU) and Issy Simpson (CU), who shot a 69 at CommonGround last month competing as a one-person team in U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball qualifying.
For Friday’s tee times for the CGA Fall Amateur, CLICK HERE.