Coloradan Zahkai Brown fires 64 in qualifying tourney to land a spot in Ascendant Korn Ferry Tour event for fourth time; CGA State Junior champ Brayden Forte also earns a berth with 64 at TPC Colorado
By Gary Baines – 7/5/2025
A year ago, a former CGA Player of the Year and Colorado State University golfer won the open division of the unique sponsor-exemption qualifying tournament for The Ascendant presented by Blue, the Korn Ferry Tour held at TPC Colorado in Berthoud.
On Saturday, a different former CGA Player of the Year and CSU golfer did the same — ironically edging out last year’s winner of this qualifying event — to earn a spot in the 156-golfer field for The Ascendant, which starts on Thursday.
Zahkai Brown of Golden, winner of the 2013 Colorado Open, shot a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 on Saturday at TPC Colorado to earn the lone sponsor-qualifying spot in the open division. Brown carded an eagle on the par-4 sixth hole to go along with six birdies to prevail in a division which featured 40 players.
Brown will be making the 15th Korn Ferry Tour start of his career, but first since 2023. Three of his previous KFT appearances have come at TPC Colorado as he placed 59th there in 2019, 67th in 2022, and missed the cut in 2020.
This time around, 2024 sponsor-exemption qualifying tournament open-division winner AJ Ott of Fort Collins was leading Saturday’s event for quite a while with a bogey-free 65. But Brown, a fellow former CSU golfer and 2011 CGA Player of the Year, birdied the tough last two holes at TPC Colorado to edge Ott by one for The Ascendant berth.
In all, four sponsor exemptions to The Ascendant were awarded through Saturday’s qualifying tournaments, unique events that debuted last year. In addition to the open division that Brown won, there were two spots via a PGA Tour/Korn Ferry Tour member qualifying tournament, and one for players in a 21-and-under tourney.
17-year-old Brayden Forte made nine birdies on Saturday. (file photo)
Prevailing in that latter category in an 11-player tournament was 17-year-old Brayden Forte of Aurora, who prevailed by three over University of Colorado golfer Ty Holbrook.
Forte, a senior-to-be at Cherokee Trail High School, made nine birdies over his first 15 holes and added a bogey on No. 17 en route to shooting an 8-under 64 at TPC Colorado.
Forte, a member of the Team Colorado junior elite squad who plans to play his college golf at Xavier University starting in 2026, recently won the boys division of the CGA State Junior. He competed in the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur and has earned a spot in this year’s championship.
Landing the two Ascendant berths on Saturday in the 12-man PGA Tour/Korn Ferry Tour division were Evan Brown of Hilton Head Island, S.C. (9-under-par 63) and Aman Gupta of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (65), both of whom went bogey-free on Saturday. This will be Brown’s Korn Ferry Tour debut, though he recently made his first PGA Tour start, missing the cut in the Rocket Classic. Gupta will be playing in his sixth KFT event, having made two cuts.
For all the results from Saturday’s sponsor-exemption qualifying tournament, CLICK HERE.
For more information about the 2025 Ascendant field — and the tournament in general — CLICK HERE.
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