Moving Day

Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland flies into contention at Blue Championship with 64; he trails only Ross Steelman, the 54-hole leader for the 2nd straight year; Colorado native Chris Korte rounds back into form; ex-Buff Justin Biwer sets sights on top 25 after early-riser 67

By Gary Baines 

BERTHOUD — As Rodney Dangerfield famously would say during his stand-up routines, “Tough crowd. I tell ya, tough crowd.”

Kyle Westmoreland said he doesn’t normally notice much in terms of fan reaction. But when the former Air Force Academy golfer hit his second shot from 228 yards on the par-5 15th hole at TPC Colorado, and it ended up less than 20 feet from the cup — directly behind the hole — there was virtually no reaction from the gallery near the green at the Blue Championship.

Talk about a tough crowd.

But cheers or not, it was a stellar shot up the hill, and when he subsequently rolled in the 19-foot eagle putt from the fringe, this time there was plenty of cheering — as should happen when a golfer with strong Colorado ties does such things to move near the top of the leaderboard.

In fact, Westmoreland would birdie the 16th hole from 9 feet to go to 10 under par for the day. Had he played the last two in even par, he would have been the solo owner of a new tournament and competitive course record. Even going 1 over on the last two would have given him a share of those records.

Alas, for the second time in three days, Westmoreland went bogey-bogey to finish. Despite that, he shot an 8-under-par 64 that puts him in the thick of things to earn his second career Korn Ferry Tour title. Specifically, he shares second place at 16 under par overall, two shots behind Ross Steelman of Atlanta, who leads after 54 holes for the second straight year at TPC Colorado.

“I just like playing in Colorado,” said Westmoreland, who competed at the Academy from 2010-14, then remained in Colorado for a time immediately thereafter before moving to South Carolina. “I’m pretty comfortable with the style of golf here. I think it’s an advantage (for him playing in the state).

“… It should be a good one tomorrow.”

Westmoreland will look to become the first player with strong Colorado ties to win the event in Berthoud. Former University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul has given it a good run twice, finishing third in 2022 and fifth two years ago.

On Saturday, Westmoreland was in fast-forward mode most of the day, only making seven pars. Besides the eagle on 15, he carded eight birdies and the bogeys on 17 and 18.

Being in contention “is way cooler than being in 50th place,” he said. “You get to have some consequence on shots — good and bad.”

This is the fourth time Westmoreland has competed in the KFT event at TPC Colorado, and his best finish was 23rd place in 2022. He played regularly on the PGA Tour from 2022-23.

Westmoreland signs autographs after wrapping up his round.

On the Korn Ferry Tour, Westmoreland won the 2025 Astara Golf Championship and also has a second- and a third-place finish to his credit. A very high showing on Sunday would help him considerably in his quest to regain a PGA Tour card as the top 20 in season-long points at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour season get promoted for the 2027 season. He went into this week 39th in KFT points for 2026.

On Saturday, Westmoreland was on course-record pace until missing the greens in regulation on the tough last two holes at TPC Colorado and missing par putts of 6 and 5 feet, respectively. He also finished round 1 by going bogey-bogey on 17 and 18.

Holes “17 and 18 have my number so we’re going to try to finish those a little better” on Sunday,” he said.

“The mindset is still good, but everyone has taken the bite of a nice fruit that’s a little sour. You get that a little bit (when you finish like that). It’s not how you want to finish. It’s how I finished; there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

Ross Steelman (right) is no stranger to the weekend lead at TPC Colorado.

Part II for Ross Steelman: If Ross Steelman has a little sense of deja vu this weekend, it’s perfectly understandable.

On Saturday, the 25-year-old from Atlanta made his eighth birdie of round 3 on the formidable par-4 18th hole at TPC Colorado to shoot a 7-under-par 65 and give himself a two-stroke lead going into the final round at TPC Colorado.

Now the deja vu part: Just last year, the former Georgia Tech golfer was also the 54-hole leader at this tournament — by three in the case of 2025.

But this time, Steelman would like to change the ending. A year ago, he followed up a course-record-tying 63 in round 3 with a 75 on Sunday that left him in fourth place.

“It’s funny how golf kind of mirrors life in the sense that you oftentimes have a chance to correct your mistakes,” he said. “Not like last year was a mistake per se, but it was a big opportunity for me — the biggest that I’d had in my career. And instead of kind of accepting and embracing the challenge and emotions of it, I almost tried to run away and hide from it. And so tomorrow, I’m just going to try to remind myself as often as I can that this is exciting, this is why I play — to be in the middle of the competition and to try to win tournaments, not just show up and play. So looking at (Sunday) with this sense of excitement. If you had told me five years ago that this is where I’d be two years in a row at this tournament, I’d have signed up and said, ‘Absolutely.’

“I’m going to try and replace the emotions of nervousness and borderline terror from last year and just see how much I’ve been able to grow from that and learn from it.”

Steelman, who sits 23rd on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long points list, will be looking for his first career KFT victory.

Steelman’s 18-under-par total is one off the 54-hole tournament record for TPC Colorado.

Joining Westmoreland two behind Steelman, in a share of second place, are Tommy Morrison, who led after 18 and 36 holes, Joseph Bramlett and Noah Goodwin. Another four players are at 15 under, and three more at 14 under.

Bramlett went 11 under par for the 11-hole stretch from No. 3 through 13 on Saturday, making eagles on both No. 3 and 5.

“Eleven under for 11 holes is pretty damn good,” he noted, putting himself in contention for the understatement of the day.

Chris Korte acknowledges the applause after draining a birdie putt at No. 16 on Saturday.

Upward Trend for Chris Korte: Playing in the state where he grew up, Chris Korte may be in line for his best Korn Ferry Tour finish in more than four months.

The Colorado native and Regis Jesuit High School and University of Denver grad finished second in the Argentina Open in early March, then spent two months of the spring out of action competitively due to a wrist injury.

But thanks to some very strong ball-striking at TPC Colorado, Korte has posted rounds of 70-69-68 and stands 9 under par going into the final round of the Blue Championship. He sits in 33rd place. If he stays there, it would be his best KFT showing since the runner-up. As it stands now, his best in recent months has been a 40th place.

“The game — the ball-striking at least — is as good as it’s been, probably even before the injury,” the former CGA Amateur and Match Play champion said. “I’m working on some good stuff, and it’s definitely been showing the past few days.”

So far this week, Korte ranks sixth in the field in strokes gained approach to green. Translated, that means he’s hitting a lot of good irons and fairway woods.

On the negative side, Korte hasn’t gotten the putter going as he’s 75th in strokes gained putting — among the worst for the players who made the cut.

“I saw a couple (of putts) go in, had some shorties that didn’t, so not my best,” he said. “Hopefully tomorrow we get it hot.”

On Saturday, Korte recorded five birdies and a bogey. He made three 17-foot birdie putts, but missed a 4-footer on No. 17, according to the stats on PGATour.com.

Now, Korte hopes he’s off to the races on Sunday and vaults up the scoreboard.

“There’s nothing to lose tomorrow,” he said. “On this tour, there’s not a whole lot of difference between 30th and 50th. So just get it going early tomorrow and keep that pedal down.”

Justin Biwer is enjoying his first start on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Ex-Buff Justin Biwer Goes from Last to First — in One Respect, at Least: In all his time playing competitive golf, Justin Biwer said he can’t recall ever doing it before.

The former University of Colorado golfer was the last group off the course on Friday at the Blue Championship, wrapping up his second round at about 8:15 p.m. And he was the first on the course for round 3, starting at 6:40 a.m. So roughly 10 hours between finishing one tournament round and starting the next.

In between, he said he got maybe four hours of sleep with the driving to and from the course from Superior, having some trouble falling asleep, then everything that goes into getting ready for another round of high-level competitive golf — going to the gym, stretching, hitting balls, practicing putting, etc.

“The drive up, it just did not feel like reality almost,” Biwer said.

But for a guy who got up at 4 a.m., Biwer played pretty darn well on Saturday, moving up 24 spots on the scoreboard — to 37th place — with a 5-under-par 67 that included six birdies. Not bad for a player who had to “grind” to make 11 straight pars to finish round 2 while on the cut line. In the end, the 24-year-old made the weekend on the number.

Then, with fresh greens and good scoring conditions, he did his business and climbed through the field on Saturday morning.

“I hit the ball a lot better today and gave myself a lot of good looks,” he said. “I felt comfortable. It’s different having to play for the cut than playing first off and pretty much have nothing to lose. I think that helped a little bit today as well. And obviously first off, perfect conditions, no wind, that definitely helped as well.”

Biwer wasn’t thrilled with his second shot at No. 18, though it rolled within 8 feet of the flag.

Biwer almost became one of the very few players to go birdie-birdie on the very difficult 17th and 18th holes, par-4s that play 487 and 539 yards. He birdied 17 from about 7 feet, but missed an 8-foot birdie try on 18. Actually, he acted pretty disgusted with his second shot there, but after his ball hit near a tent well into the right rough, it bounded down to very close range.

In the end, the career stroke average leader in CU history posted six birdies and a single bogey on Saturday.

Biwer is competing in his career-first Korn Ferry Tour event this week — after Monday qualifying — but would get another KFT start (two weeks from now in Glenview, Ill.) if he finishes in the top 25 and ties on Sunday. Helping his cause this week has been former CU teammate — and now freshly-minted pro — Hunter Swanson, who is caddying for Biwer.

“I’ll still need a good round (on Sunday), But things are there to do so,” Biwer said. “I’ll try to just focus on my own game, and not the result at the end of the day. If I play well enough, I’ll get rewarded for it. If not, I’ll go play a couple of (PGA Tour) Americas events. It’ll be fun, one way or another.”

Former CU teammate Hunter Swanson (left) is looping for Biwer this week.

Either way, Biwer has come a long way from not having any status on a PGA Tour-affiliated circuit as of April 1.

After successfully negotiating Q-school in the spring, Biwer is mainly competing on PGA Tour Americas, where he’s made six of seven cuts and posted two top-10 finishes.

“I would say it’s been a very successful year all things considered,” he said. “I’ve exceeded some expectations for sure. A big thing also is just a first Korn Ferry Tour start, regardless of where it goes. Knowing I can make a cut and everything, that’s very big. I’m just proud of myself up to this point. I’m excited to see where I can potentially take things.”

As for the other player with strong Colorado connections who made the cut this week, former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney, he couldn’t sustain any momentum on Saturday. After being even par through four holes, he went 3 under his next six, but played the final six holes in 2 over. His 17 left him at 5 under par and in 59th place.

Former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney had his ups and downs on Saturday.

Notable: Biwer and 18-year-old amateur Miles Kuhl of Boulder, the latter having missed the cut by one on Friday, helped conduct a junior clinic on Saturday afternoon at TPC Colorado.

Scores for players with strong Colorado/area ties at the Blue Championship:

T2. Former Air Force Academy golfer Kyle Westmoreland 70-66-64–200

33. Regis Jesuit High School and University of Denver alum Chris Korte 70-69-68–207

37. Former CU golfer Justin Biwer 69-72-67–208

59. Former Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney 70-70-71—211

Missed 36-Hole Cut

78. Amateur Miles Kuhl of Boulder 70-72–142

78. Cheyenne native and former CU golfer Josh Creel 71-71–142

140. Dillon Stewart of Fort Collins 75-73–148

140. Rhett Johnson of Littleton 77-71–148

140. Colorado native and former Colorado School of Mines golfer Jim Knous 74-74–148

For all the results from the Blue Championship, CLICK HERE.

For Sunday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.

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2026 The Blue Championship: The Essentials

What: The eighth annual Blue Championship, a Korn Ferry Tour event.

Where: TPC Colorado in Berthoud, a par-72 course playing about 8,022 yards.

When: Championship rounds Thursday-Sunday. Gates are expected to open to the public at 6 a.m. each day.

Note: The trophy ceremony will follow the conclusion of play on Sunday on the 18th green.

Purse: $1 million, with the winner receiving $180,000.

Tickets: Tickets start at $10 per day. For ticket information, CLICK HERE. Kids 17 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult and do not require their own ticket for grounds-only access. 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. Tournament proceeds support Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Additional Information: For more information regarding The Blue Championship, 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