2-for-2

In final CGA championship of 2026, Zach Gomez successfully defends his title in finals of season-long Mid-Am Match Play, winning the event both times he’s competed in it

By Gary Baines

BERTHOUD — Zach Gomez would love to win state golf championships anytime of the year the opportunity presents itself. But in 2025 and ’26, the Westminster resident has demonstrated a particular knack for ending the season on a high note.

Almost exactly a year after winning the season-long CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play with semifinal and final victories at Cherry Hills Country Club, Gomez successfully defended his title on Wednesday at TPC Colorado.

The 27-year-old defeated 2026 U.S. Amateur qualifier Collin Engelhardt of Castle Pines 1 up in the semifinals, then cruised to a 5-and-4 win over Joel Perez of Longmont in the title match of the final CGA championship of 2026.

Gomez thus remains perfect in this particular CGA tournament, having won it both years in which he’s entered.

“I’ll take it,” he said with a smile.

Despite never having played TPC Colorado before Wednesday, Gomez avoided the troublesome bunkers on the course — aside from this one occasion in the semifinals.

Gomez becomes the first player in this current iteration of the CGA Mid-Am Match Play to win the championship twice. This year marks the third Mid-Amateur Match Play held since 2015. During the championship’s original run (2012-15), such local mid-am luminaries as Jon Lindstrom (once) and Michael Harrington (twice) were among the winners. But this time around, the event had slightly a different look for the 25-and-older field. Prior to Wednesday, the rounds of 64, 32, 16 and 8 were played at venues of the choosing of the participating players.

However it came about, going back-to-back as champion is no small feat.

“It’s so awesome,” Gomez said. “I didn’t think it was going to happen. There were a couple of matches that were really close, and I was able to be lucky enough to get the right bounces and make the putts I needed to.”

The putts were falling Wednesday for Gomez, including this one on No. 10 in the finals.

In a 64-man championship which started in the spring, Gomez won five matches on the golf course and one via a coin flip when he and former pro AJ Morris of Aspen couldn’t arrange a date and site for their round-of-16 matchup.

Only one of Gomez’s victories was particularly close — Wednesday’s 1-up decision against Engelhardt, the 2026 CGA Western Champion. Otherwise, Gomez went 4 and 3, 6 and 4, 4 and 3, and 5 and 4. Gomez had advanced to Wednesday with a 4-and-3 quarterfinal victory over former pro Matt Call, the 2000 CGA Player of the Year.

Making Gomez’s two match victories on Wednesday especially impressive is that they were his first two times seeing the TPC Colorado course. He had never played it before Wednesday — or even been a spectator at the Korn Ferry Tour event that’s been contested annually at the venue since 2019.

“It’s a tough course to initially play,” he said. “It was definitely difficult not knowing where everything was, but I felt like just getting it on the green and giving myself a putt was kind of my strategy. And I’m a really good putter, so I was able to bury the ones I needed to, and that helped a lot.”

Joel Perez, here pitching to the 10th green, didn’t get many openings in the title match.

Gomez’s only “experience” at the course prior to this week was an 18-hole flyover via YouTube.

“That was what I did just to get the initial look, so I wasn’t completely surprised when I saw it,” he said. “I knew I needed to stay out of the bunkers (which often feature steep, revetted faces). That was a big key today. I only hit it in one.”

Ironically, that one was behind the green on the 18th hole of the semifinal against Engelhardt. Gomez had made a 3-foot birdie on the picturesque par-3 16th hole to take a 1-up lead, and after Engelhardt recorded a par on 18, Gomez need to match it to avoid being forced to extra holes. He did so by blasting to 4 feet and sinking the par putt for the victory. Engelhardt lost despite his only two bogeys of the match coming via three-putts.

Then in the final against Perez, Gomez not only never trailed, but he didn’t lose a hole. The Ralston Valley High School graduate, who played a season of college golf at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota, finished 2 under par for 14 holes — despite bogeying the last two.

Perez’s drive on the third hole of the final found the water, leaving him 2 down early in the match.

Even when Perez, a 41-year-old who plays out of the Fox Hill Club, did make a birdie, he couldn’t win a hole. For instance, he drained a 10-footer for birdie on No. 10, and Gomez promptly holed a 4-foot birdie of his own.

“He played great,” Perez said of Gomez. “I didn’t have my best stuff. So I was just trying to get any edge where I could. Even when I make that birdie on 11, he just made one on top of me. So it was tough. I mean, he played great and that’s how a final match is supposed to be.”

Perez, a 2025 U.S. Mid-Am qualifier, had defeated one former CGA Mid-Am Match Play champ on Wednesday as he won the last two holes for a 2-up victory over 2024 winner Mark Henderson of Highlands Ranch in the semifinals. They were tied through 16 holes, then Perez prevailed on the tough 17th with a bogey as Henderson carded a double. Henderson, who’s 2024 win in this event came at TPC Colorado, had a chance to force extra holes, but he not only missed a 10-foot birdie putt, he ended up three-putting, accounting for the final margin.

Collin Engelhardt took Gomez to 18 holes in the semifinals, but his putter let him down on Wednesday.

But in the final against Gomez, Perez quickly found himself behind the 8-ball despite being the longer hitter of the two. Gomez birdied the first hole from 12 feet, then Perez squandered an opportunity after hitting his tee shot to 3 feet on the par-3 second hole but missing the putt. Then Perez put his drive in the water on the potentially drivable par-4 third hole, which Gomez won with a par.

And Gomez built on the lead with birdies from 15 feet on both No. 6 and 10, going 4 up. Perez had a chance to chip away on the 773-yard 13th hole as Gomez needed four shots to find the putting surface. But Perez three-putted after facing a big-breaking first putt and the hole was tied with bogeys.

Gomez closed things out on the long par-3 14th despite making bogey as Perez’s tee shot went well over the green and then he three-putted again, this time for double bogey.

“We’re playing for a state championship, right?” Perez said. “You’ve got to be playing good golf and you’re going to be playing great competition. (Gomez) managed (his game) incredibly well. You know, all the layup shots were right where he needed to be. So it was well played.”

Mark Henderson won the CGA Mid-Am Match Play at TPC Colorado in 2024, but his 2026 run ended in the semifinals.

Still, Perez was impressive in making it to the championship finals as along the way he took down 2025 CGA Mid-Amateur champion Jimmy Makloski and former Trans-Miss Mid-Master winner Jay Livsey, along with Henderson.

“It felt good because I have a (software) startup and so I work too much,” said Perez, who didn’t start playing competitive golf until he was 26 or 27. “I don’t play enough golf right now, so the game hasn’t been where it was last year.”

As for Gomez, he was outfitted for the win. He wore a belt from Cherry Hills — where he won last year’s title — and was dressed in black shorts and a black shirt. Perhaps he was channeling World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player, the Black Knight.

“I normally wear all black,” Gomez said. “I feel like it’s always worked out for me. I kind of like it. It keeps me kind of under the radar. On days that I need to play well, I always wear black. It’s good mojo for me.”

Wednesday was a picture-perfect day at TPC Colorado.

And it worked out just fine on Wednesday as Gomez was 2 under par for 32 holes and won two matches and the championship at a course he had never played before.

“I had to play perfect golf to (win),” he said. “It was not easy. They didn’t give it to me.”

Gomez prides himself on managing his game well and not beating himself. When he’s playing well, that doesn’t leave a lot of openings unless opponents are really on top of their games.

“I try my best to avoid (beating myself),” he said. “That’s kind of the key to my game. I don’t really hit it super long, but I felt like my strategy and how I play keeps me in it. Just a lot of fairways, a lot of greens.”

This prairie dog was an interested observer on Wednesday.

And getting an early lead in the title match was helpful too.

“I felt like it just freed me up to play good golf,” Gomez said. “I didn’t feel like I had much pressure in the beginning. It kind of just went my way initially, and I just kind of rode that.”

Gomez, who’s currently working at Lakewood Country Club, has been on a good roll the last couple of years. Besides his two victories in the CGA Mid-Am Match Play, he qualified for the 2025 U.S. Amateur and the 2026 U.S. Mid-Am.

CGA Mid-Amateur Match Play

SEMIFINALS WEDNESDAY AT TPC COLORADO

Zach Gomez, Westminster def. Collin Engelhardt, Castle Pines, 1 up

Joel Perez, Longmont def. Mark Henderson, Highlands Ranch, 2 up

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH WEDNESDAY AT TPC COLORADO

Zach Gomez, Westminster def. Joel Perez, Longmont, 5 and 4

For all the results from the Mid-Am Match Play, 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