Miles Kuhl of Boulder becomes first Colorado male since 2021 to win an AJGA title in the Centennial State; Logan Hale (8th) the top local finisher in girls tourney at AJGA Colorado Junior
By Gary Baines – 6/6/2024
There was a period — from 2018 through ’21 — when Colorado boys golfers appeared unbeatable in the tournament now known as the AJGA Colorado Junior, an event that attracts not only most of the best local junior golfers, but quite a few other standouts from around the country and internationally.
But after a couple of years of non-Coloradans claiming the boys title in the AJGA Colorado Junior at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster, Miles Kuhl of Boulder returned the tournament’s boys championship to a Coloradan in emphatic fashion on Thursday.
The junior-to-be at Fairview High School, who won both the Colorado Junior PGA and the CPGA Junior Match Play last year, claimed the AJGA tile by five strokes at Walnut Creek. And, all of the top four finishers among the boys were Coloradans, with Jack Newton of Littleton placing second, Tyler Long of Evergreen third and Austin Barry of Fort Collins fourth.
Kuhl, the individual runner-up in the 5A boys state high school tournament last year, went 67-76-70 to finish at 3 under par at Walnut Creek. He ended up with 10 birdies and seven bogeys for the week.
It marked Kuhl’s first career AJGA victory.
Kuhl joins Hadley Ashton of Erie (2022), Owen Cornmesser of Fort Collins (2021), Jack Hughes of Snowmass Village (2019), Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins (2018) and Hailey Schalk of Erie (2017) as Coloradans who have won the AJGA Colorado Junior.
Newton (73-73-72) checked in five back of Kuhl, while Long (74-74-71) was six behind.
In the girls competition, Avery Schartz of Wichita, Kan., who just completed her eighth-grade year in school, earned the AJGA Colorado Junior title by three strokes. She carded scores of 68-73-71, good for a 4-under-par total.
The top Colorado finisher among the girls was Logan Hale of Erie, a University of Denver-bound golfer who recently won her second 4A girls state individual title. At Walnut Creek, Hale went 76-77-70 and placed eighth at 7 over par.
Two more AJGA tournaments based in Colorado remain this year:
— The Colorado Springs Junior at Cheyenne Shadows Golf Club in Fort Carson June 11-13.
— The AJGA Junior Open at The Bridges presented by City of Montrose at The Bridges Golf & Country Club July 30-Aug. 1
Neither of those tournaments, each first held in 2021, has been won by a Coloradan — either on the boys or girls side.
For scores from the AJGA Colorado Junior, click on the following: BOYS, GIRLS.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com