‘Almost Unprecedented’

On same day fellow Team Colorado member Brayden Forte won an NCAA Div. I tournament as a freshman, Nicholas Brooks of Parker claimed title in his first college start

By Gary Baines – 9/16/2025

It happened roughly 2,400 miles apart, but it felt so similar for two Colorado golfers who often forged their games side by side in the Centennial State’s junior ranks.

On the same day one college freshman from Colorado — Brayden Forte of Aurora — won an NCAA Division I tournament title in just his second college start, one of his fellow Team Colorado players managed a similarly outstanding feat at a tournament across the country.

Nicholas Brooks of Parker, a Lutheran High School graduate, also won an individual championship in a DI tournament on Tuesday, but he did it in his first college start.

Both Brooks and Forte claimed their victories roughly two weeks after returning to Colorado to receive male Future Famer honors from the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. And it was about a month and a half after both represented Colorado and the CGA at the boys Junior America’s Cup competition, where Forte claimed the individual title.

Brooks, a left hander playing his college golf for Butler University in Indianapolis, shared the individual title at the RedHawk Intercollegiate in Pittsburgh with senior Robert Burns of Oakland on Tuesday. Brooks recorded rounds of 68-67-69 for a 9-under-total. He made just one bogey over 54 holes while carding 10 birdies. He was bogey-free for his final two rounds.

Nicholas Brooks (right) with Brayden Forte at the CGA Four-Ball in May.

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Mark Crabtree, a college golf coach for 31 years before retiring in 2020, plays a key role as one of the mentors for Team Colorado. And on Wednesday, Crabtree called what Brooks and Forte did — winning individual DI tournament titles so early in their freshmen years — “almost unprecedented.”

While Brooks won his college title in Pittsburgh, Forte’s came in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

Brooks had a stellar junior golf resumé in Colorado. He won the 2025 AJGA Colorado Springs Junior, going bogey-free for all 54 holes and posting the third-lowest score, relative to par, in AJGA history. He not only qualified for the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur, but he became the first Coloradan since 2017 to advance to match play in that championship. And last October, he won the state 3A boys state high school title by seven strokes.

For the last year, Brooks was a member of Team Colorado, the elite junior squad that’s part of the USGA’s national junior development program. Forte was part of that team in both 2025 and ’26.

For all the scores from the RedHawk Intercollegiate, 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