Former CGA Amateur and state high school champ Drew Stoltz and partner Drew Kittleson advance to match play for fifth straight year at U.S. Amateur Four-Ball
By Gary Baines
At this point, it might seem inevitable that Team Drew — Drew Stoltz and Drew Kittleson — would advance to match play each year at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. But golf can be a fickle game.
Whether inevitable or not, on Sunday the two ran their streak of making match play in the national four-ball to five. In other words, every year from 2022 through ’26, the pair have earned one of the 32 team berths into match play — out of the 128 duos who start the championship.
Stoltz, who grew up in Fort Collins and won the 2004 CGA Amateur and the 2001 5A state high school individual title in Colorado, and Kittleson, a fellow reinstated amateur who was runner-up in the 2008 U.S. Amateur, almost claimed stroke-play medalist honors this time around.
On Sunday, they backed up a first-round 63 with a 5-under 66 best-ball to finish stroke play at 14 under, two behind medalists Liam Eyer of San Jose, Calif., and Kailer Stone of Alameda, Calif
So it’s on to Monday’s match-play round of 32 once again. Stoltz and Kittleson finished national runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in their first two years as a team — 2022 and ’23 — but have lost in the round of 32 the last two years.This time around, Stoltz and Kittleson are competing close to home as they live within an hour’s drive of the Desert Mountain courses. In December, they finished third together at the nationally televised Grass League Championship, a two-day, 36-hole two-person scramble.
This weekend, they were the only one of five teams with significant Colorado ties to be assured of making match play — though one other such twosome has a chance to join them. Charlie Tucker of Castle Pines, the 2025 CGA men’s open-age Player of the Year who just wrapped up his sophomore season at Colorado State, and Nick Fallin of Highlands Ranch, who plays for Central Missouri, will be in a playoff on Monday morning for the final match-play spots. They tied for 30th place in stroke play and will tee it up in an 8-for-3 playoff.
Tucker and Fallin went 71-66 in stroke play for a 6-under total.
Here are the stroke-play results for players with strong Colorado ties at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball:
Advance to Match Play
T2. Former Coloradan Drew Stoltz/Drew Kittleson 63-66–129
In Monday Playoff for Final Match-Play Spots
T30. Nick Fallin, Highlands Ranch/Charlie Tucker, Castle Pines 71-66–137
Failed to Advance to Match Play
38. Former Coloradan Parker Edens/Trey Kidd 65-73–138
47. Chris Thayer, Golden/Bryan Rusin, Denver 69-70–139
105. Jason Browder, Gunnison/Sean Thomas, Castle Rock 76-71–147
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