Long Time Coming

2-time CGA Player of the Year Pat Grady collects his first big tournament victory in a decade, making a late birdie to win Trans-Miss Mid-Master title at Lakewood CC; Tennesseean Ryan Terry pulls away for Mid-Am triumph

By Gary Baines – 9/16/2026

LAKEWOOD — Perhaps, in some cases, ignorance is indeed bliss.

And Wednesday may very well have been one of those cases — at least for Pat Grady.

The Westminster resident was unaware — intentionally so — of how he stood on the leaderboard for all of Wednesday’s final round of the Trans-Miss Mid-Master Championship at Lakewood Country Club. Grady didn’t see any value in that real-time knowledge, which might only add more pressure to the situation of being in contention.

And, it turned out, he may have been right — at least based on how things played out down the stretch. Tied for the lead with Haymes Snedeker — the older brother of 10-time PGA Tour winner Brandt Snedeker — with four holes left, Grady got up and down for pars on Nos. 15 and 16, birdied 17 from 18 feet and sank a knee-knocker of a 4 1/2-foot par putt on No. 18 for a one-stroke victory in the prestigious amateur event.

“I didn’t look at the leaderboard because there’s no point,” said Grady, a member at The Ranch Country Club. Lakewood CC “is so insanely difficult, you’re just trying to survive. Looking at the leaderboard wouldn’t have changed anything at all — not one shot. No way. That’s why I didn’t do it. I didn’t want to have any extra pressure.”

Pat Grady (right) had reason to smile after wrapping up his round on Wednesday.

In fact, “ignorance is bliss” also played out in another form. This Trans-Miss championship is broken up into two separate tournaments, essentially — one for players 40 and older (the Mid-Masters, which featured a larger field) and one of those 25 and up (the Mid-Amateur). While registering, golfers 40 and older chose the event in which they would compete. But Grady, who turned 40 earlier this year, wasn’t clear on all that this week.

“It’s weird because I didn’t know that you are only in the 40-year-old division; I thought I was in the 25-year-old division (as well). So I didn’t think I won. I wasn’t putting any merit in it. Because on the first day they had the open leaderboard (for both events combined), but there is no open. It’s really confusing.”

And in the Mid-Am, where the golfers played the same tees as the Mid-Masters, Ryan Terry of Brentwood, Tenn., finished with a 10-under-par total — five better than Grady.

But in the end, Grady found out that both he and Terry were winners — but of different, albeit concurrent, tournaments.

It wasn’t easy, but Grady emerged with the spoils of victory.

And in the case of Grady — a former University of Colorado golfer who was the CGA Player of the Year in both 2007 and ’08 — that victory was his first in a decade regarding big-time state and regional tournaments. When Grady was still a pro in 2016, he claimed the title in the Colorado Assistant PGA Professional Championship. He regained his amateur status in 2022, and made runs at the title at the 2023 and 2025 CGA Amateur — finishing fifth and third, respectively — but hadn’t won a big-time title since his amateur reinstatement.

So what does Wednesday’s victory — and ending the drought — mean to Grady?

“I put less merit on it now just because it’s not as much a part of my life,” said Grady, winner of the 2005 CGA Match Play and the 2006 CGA Amateur. “I’ve got two kids, a wife and an (accounting-related business). It’s fantastic to still compete and feel those feelings, but it’s not like I work at it, if that makes sense. I’m not grinding for the whole summer; I’m just happy to play a tournament if I can. … But it’s better than (finishing) second.”

And with that, Grady becomes the second Coloradan since 2021 to win the Trans-Miss Mid-Masters as Lakewood Country Club member Jay Livsey claimed the title five years ago.

Grady reacts to a birdie putt on No. 17 that put him ahead for good.

Grady, who has only played about a half-dozen rounds at Lakewood Country Club despite living almost his entire life in Colorado, closed with a 1-over-par 72 on Wednesday to end up at 5 under for three rounds. That was one better than Snedeker, who finished 36th in this year’s U.S. Senior Open and now has been runner-up in the Trans-Miss Mid-Master for two straight years.

Like Grady, Snedeker didn’t look at the leaderboard down the stretch on Wednesday. He backed up a first-round 71 with consecutive 69s.

“I burned the edge (on several putts on the final holes),” said Snedeker, a resident of Daphne, Ala. “If one of them had fallen, it would have been a different story. But it’s hard to make putts out here. The greens were really, really good despite having some (agronomic) struggles earlier in the year.

“It’s different for me playing a course like this because I’m from sea level. It took me a good solid round or two to figure out the right yardages on the irons and how far the ball would carry. But it’s really a fun course. And it’s such a strong field, so I’m proud of how I played. I came in second last year too, and I’m going to win it at some point. When it’s a senior event, I’ll win it.”

Haymes Snedeker finished second in the Mid-Master for the second straight year.

Livsey, playing at his home course, took a distant third place on Wednesday at 1 over par after going 72-69-73. Other Coloradans in the top 10 out of the 45-man field were Ryan Axlund of Englewood and Joel Perez of Longmont (tied for seventh), and two-time CGA Match Play champion Nick Nosewicz of Aurora and John Woody of Highlands Ranch (tied for ninth).

But the Mid-Master was largely a two-man race for the title by the time the leaders made the turn on Wednesday. Snedeker moved into a share of the lead with Grady after making birdies on the back-to-back par-5s, Nos. 12 and 13. But despite some near-misses, Snedeker parred his last five holes.

Home course favorite Jay Livsey, the 2021 Mid-Master champ, finished third this time.

Grady, with his par saves on 15 and 16, retained a share of the lead. Then on the par-3 17th, he and playing partner Kevin Wolf had almost the same birdie putt. With Wolf going first, Grady was a very interested observer. Then when it was his turn, he drained his 18-foot birdie, punctuating the moment with a fist-pump.

“It was like a double breaker,” Grady said of the putt. “It broke left and then hard right at the end. I would have never made it if I (had gone first). It was so lucky” to be on the same line.”

Grady tries to give a tee shot a little body English.

On the par-4 18th, after a good tee shot and a solid second, Grady was left with 35-foot birdie try straight uphill. He left it about 4 1/2 feet short, but confidently knocked in the inside-right putt for par to avoid a playoff with Snedeker.

“I think it was nice to not know where I was at,” leaderboard-wise, Grady said. “Not knowing where I was maybe was the reason I made that putt because I didn’t have any nerves. It was great.”

Grady extricates his ball from a bunker on the 12th hole Wednesday.

So with that, Grady won the Mid-Master in his first time competing in a Trans-Miss championship at any level.

“I had never played in a 40-and-up tournament,” he noted. “And I don’t feel like I’m 40 because I’m hitting it really far still. So there is a huge advantage to being the youngest guy in the field, I think, especially when I’m maybe the longest guy.”

In the Mid-Am tournament, Terry trailed leader Cory Chavez of La Mirada, Calif., by one entering the final round. But the former Lipscomb University golfer made seven birdies on the day en route to a 4-under-par 67 that resulted in a five-stroke victory.

For the three days (65-71-67), Terry carded 17 birdies and seven bogeys to come out on top.

“Obviously the Trans-Miss is one of the oldest golf organizations in the U.S., so to win any event with their name on it, I’m happy to do it,” the 34-year-old said. “Anytime you win, it’s obviously special. It’s hard to win in golf, regardless of how big or small the field is, or how easy or hard the course is. I really enjoyed this course a lot. It was a lot of fun.”

Mid-Am champion Ryan Terry (left) was the Tennessee Golf Association’s Player of the Year in 2025.

And if Terry had any problem adjusting his game to a mile-high altitude, it certainly didn’t show. But he has won the Mexico Mid-Amateur, played at altitude significantly higher than that of the Denver area.

Terry’s only previous Trans-Miss Championship was last year’s Mid-Am, where he finished second. But in 2025, he qualified for and competed in the U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. His resumé also includes being named the Tennessee Golf Association’s Player of the Year and Mid-Am POY in 2025.

Though Terry is a financial planner by trade, he also operates a side business called “Amateur Golf Info”, which dives into rankings and statistics for amateur golfers and tournaments.

Terry finished 10 under par for the three rounds.

Chavez, the leader or co-leader after each of the first two days at Lakewood CC, struggled early in his round on Wednesday — he was 3 over par through seven holes — and ended up with a 73 and a 5-under-par total for the week. That was good for a runner-up finish in the 24-man event.

The highest Colorado finisher among the Mid-Ams was Thomas Balderston of Denver, who went 69-73-72 to take fourth place at 1 over par.

For all the results from the Trans-Miss Mid-Master and Mid-Amateur, 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