Coloradans Connor Jones and Chris Korte medalists in Monday qualifying for Ascendant at TPC Colorado; teen sensation Blades Brown, Colorado Christian’s Sangha Park also qualify for Korn Ferry Tour event
By Gary Baines – 7/7/2025
The original field for this week’s Ascendant presented by Blue included just a few contestants who have significant Colorado connections. But recent qualifiers have fleshed that out the local contingent quite a bit.
The Korn Ferry Tour event which starts Thursday at TPC Colorado in Berthoud will now feature eight golfers with major local ties. After former Air Force Academy players Kyle Westmoreland and Tom Whitney were exempt into the field — along with Cheyenne native Josh Creel — five golfers with significant connections to the Centennial State were added via qualifying tournaments on Saturday and Monday.
Zahkai Brown of Golden and 17-year-old Brayden Forte of Aurora landed spots through sponsor-exemption qualifying events on Saturday at TPC Colorado. Then this week, Coloradans Connor Jones and Chris Korte — plus former Colorado Christian University golfer Sangha Park — made the grade via Monday qualifiers.
Jones, a Westminster resident who won the national Elite Amateur Series in 2024, earned medalist honors at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, where four berths into The Ascendant were at stake out of a field of 82 players. The former Colorado State University golfer and CGA Player of the Year shot a bogey-free 9-under-par 63, including carding a 7-under 29 on the back nine at Colorado National, his first nine of the day. For the round, he recorded nine birdies.
It will be the first Korn Ferry Tour start for Jones, though he did play in a PGA Tour event last fall, finishing 65th in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Among those also making the grade at Colorado National was Park, a native of South Korea who went bogey-free for a 64, making eight birdies. In addition, 18-year-old phenom Blades Brown of Nashville, Tenn., posted a bogey-free 65 to earn his spot. Brown, the stroke-play medalist in the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club at age 16, has played in seven PGA Tour events and six on the KFT, with one runner-up finish on the latter. And Daniel Robinson of St. Petersburg, Fla., claimed the last spot via a three-man playoff for those who shot 66. Robinson will be making the second KFT start of his career.
Colorado native Chris Korte has played in three PGA Tour events in the last year, posting one top-20 finish. (file photo)
Meanwhile, at another four-spot site, Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster, Korte shared medalist honors out of 85 players by shooting a seven-birdie, no-bogey 7-under-par 65. In March, the former CGA Amateur and CGA Match Play champ tied for 16th at the Puerto Rico Open, his third PGA Tour start ever — and third in the last nine months.
Korte’s lone previous Korn Ferry Tour start came at the 2021 TPC Colorado Championship, the previous name for The Ascendant presented by Blue, where the former University of Denver golfer missed the cut.
Joining Korte as co-medalists with 65s at Walnut Creek were Griffin Wood of Phoenix and Jared Wolfe of Ponde Vedra, Fla. Wood made three eagles — plus two birdies — on Monday.
In the six-man playoff of the final qualifying spot, former Clemson golfer Andrew Swanson of Bluffton, S.C., prevailed. Among those who fell short in that playoff was AJ Ott of Fort Collins, who was edged out in Saturday’s sponsor-exemption open qualifier by one stroke.
For Monday’s scores, click on the following: COLORADO NATIONAL, WALNUT CREEK
For Thursday and Friday tee times, CLICK HERE.
****************
2025 Ascendant Presented by Blue: The Essentials
What: The seventh annual Ascendant presented by Blue, a Korn Ferry Tour event.
Where: TPC Colorado in Berthoud.
When: Championship rounds Thursday-Sunday, July 10-13, which are the only days fans can attend unless participating in a pre-tournament event.
Practice rounds Monday-Wednesday, July 7-9. Pro-am Wednesday, July 9. A Folds of Honor ceremony will be held at hole 18 at the conclusion of Friday play. Fans are encouraged to wear red, white and blue on Folds of Honor Friday.
Course Set-Up: TPC Colorado will be set up at roughly 8,015 yards and play to a par-72. That includes the 773-yard par-5 13th hole.
Tee Times: For rounds 1 and 2 Thursday and Friday, CLICK HERE.
Cut: The 156-player field will be cut to the low 65 players and ties after 36 holes.
Trophy Presentation: On 18th green on Sunday, July 13, at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Purse: $1 million, with the winner receiving $180,000.
Junior Activity Area: Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Located between the first green and 14th hole.
Tickets: For ticket information, CLICK HERE. Kids 15 and under admitted free with a ticketed adult. Active-duty U.S. military and retirees — as well as first responders — and their families receive free admission when a valid military ID is presented at a ticket sales window.
Additional Information: For more information regarding The Ascendant presented by Blue, 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