Riding High

Torrid start in title match lifts Greeley’s Traejan Andrews to victory in 126th CGA Match Play

By Gary Baines

COLORADO SPRINGS — The temporary clubhouse at Flying Horse North sits at more than 7,600 feet of elevation.

And though Traejan Andrews was plenty tired after playing eight rounds of tournament golf in five days, he was certainly riding high at the aptly named course that opened just six years ago.

The 22-year-old Greeley resident, who calls RainDance National his home course, added a career highlight to his golf resumé on Friday as he rode a torrid start in the scheduled 36-hole final to claim the title in the 126th CGA Match Play, the oldest continuously-held state golf championship in Colorado.

With his 6-and-5 victory over Brayden DeStefano of Peyton, Andrews will have his named etched on the Match Play trophy alongside such luminaries as Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Kevin Stadler and Lawson Little — all of whom went on to win on the PGA Tour.

“It’s really cool” to be a state amateur champion, said Andrews, who has played college golf at Fort Lewis in Durango the last four years and will transfer to Eastern Washington for his final season. “I kind of was always disappointed that I never won a (state) junior or one of the bigger events. It feels really cool to get one of these.

“This definitely ranks up there (as a personal golf accomplishment). It’s probably my favorite one so far. There were a lot of big names in the field, a lot of really great golfers.”

Andrews blasts from a bunker during Friday’s action.

For the week — Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora, and Thursday and Friday at Flying Horse North — Andrews won six matches, though he did lose once in pod play — to Mac Buckley of Denver, 2 and 1.

“That’s the beauty of pod play, I guess,” Andrews said. “You (can) get a second chance.” He also rallied from 2 down with two holes left in regulation against 2005 champ Pat Grady in the quarterfinals, winning in 19 holes. And in two other matches, Andrews prevailed 1 up.

All told for the five days of the Match Play, Andrews played 133 holes of tournament action.

“It’s exhausting,” he said. “Everything hurts. But I think college golf kind of prepares you for it a little bit with 36-hole days.”

Andrews muscles an approach shot out of the deep rough.

Against DeStefano, a Team Colorado junior elite squad member who won a 2024 boys state high school individual title, Andrews vaulted out to a quick lead on Friday, winning the first three holes and being 6 up after eight and 8 up after 13 of the scheduled 36-hole final.

Andrews, a first-team All-RMAC player last season at Fort Lewis, ended up shooting a smooth 6-under-par 66 in the first round — a fact of which he was unaware until hours later. He made eight birdies and two bogeys on the first 18.

Brayden DeStefano chips onto a green during Friday’s final.

Meanwhile, DeStefano — fresh off beating defending champion Colin Prater, one of his high school golf coaches and his anatomy class teacher, in the semifinals — battled an uncooperative putter on Friday as he couldn’t dial in the speeds of the greens at Flying Horse North.

“All week it’s kind of gone my way,” the 17-year-old future University of Colorado golfer said. “And today, a lot didn’t go my way. The putter was awful today. I feel like I hit the ball pretty well, but I just couldn’t make a putt and I made a lot of dumb mistakes. I don’t think I felt very nervous, but I think I was nervous, and I just didn’t realize it.

“I think the greens were a little faster today, but it’s something I should have and could have figured out by the third hole. But I wasn’t able to adjust all day, and it caused a lot of three putts.”

Team Colorado member DeStefano hit the ball well at times on Friday, but faltered with the putter.

Had DeStefano won on Friday, four straight CGA open-age major championships would have been won by players with strong connections to Cheyenne Mountain High School, where Thomas Herholtz (2025 CGA Amateur winner) and DeStefano play or have played, and where Prater (2024 CGA Amateur and 2025 CGA Match Play) teaches and coaches.

But Friday turned out to be very much Andrews’ day. Though he couldn’t keep up his torrid pace from the morning round, he still played even-par golf for the 13 holes of the second round. That left him 6 under for the day overall. He closed things out with a two-putt par from 40 feet on No. 13 as DeStefano just missed his 25-foot birdie try.

“I kept telling my caddie that we’ve got to play like we’re 2 down,” Andrews said. “No lead is safe in golf, as we all know, and I just knew that I couldn’t get complacent. I had to keep my foot down — especially with Brayden being an incredible player. If I was 8 up through 13, there was no reason he couldn’t get back (even just as quickly).”

Even an occasional stray drive didn’t derail Andrews on Friday.

Along the way, Andrews demonstrated his power multiple times, including hitting a 415-yard drive on the slightly downwind par-5 fifth hole.

“It’s definitely my biggest strength,” Andrews said of his long-ball ability. “If I’m hitting my driver good, I feel like I can play some really good golf. But honestly this week, my putter did a lot more work. My wedges have been so shaky that I’m hitting these incredible drives, and I just couldn’t put my ball close, but I was making putts anyways.”

Defending champion Colin Prater and his daughter Blake were on hand Friday.

Among those on hand to watch part of the final match was two-time Match Play champ Prater, who was rooting on his protege, DeStefano. Prater brought his young daughter, Blake, to join him taking in the action.

In the end, not only did Andrews receive the historic CGA Match Play trophy for his victory, but also the Michael Lee medal, in honor of 2011 champion Michael Lee, who passed away in late 2020 at age 28 after battling Covid-19. The Lee medal has been/will be awarded to every CGA Match Play champion from 2021-30. Like Lee, Andrews grew up in Greeley.

“To the Michael Lee family, a huge thank you,” Andrews said at Friday’s awards ceremony.

Lee, a graduate of Greeley Central High School, played his college golf at the Colorado School of Mines, where he twice was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He earned NCAA Division II honorable-mention All-American status in 2013 and was inducted into the Colorado School of Mines’ athletics Oredigger Hall of Fame in 2022. That same year, the Mines’ indoor golf center was dedicated to the memory of Lee and renamed in his honor.

John and Amy Lee created the Michael Ray Lee Foundation in their son’s honor, and have donated a significant amount of funds to various causes — mostly golf-related — in recent years. That includes helping to fund the Colorado Junior America’s Cup team, a squad on which Lee competed.

CGA MATCH PLAY

At Flying Horse North in Colorado Springs

QUARTERFINALS THURSDAY

Colin Prater, Colorado Springs def. Zach Gomez, Westminster, 2 and 1

Brayden DeStefano, Peyton def. Jordan Jennings, Montrose, 3 and 2

Zane Aiken, Parker def. Julian Drapela, Highlands Ranch, 7 and 6

Traejan Andrews, Greeley def. Pat Grady, Westminster, 19 holes

SEMIFINALS THURSDAY

Brayden DeStefano, Peyton def. Colin Prater, Colorado Springs, 3 and 2

Traejan Andrews, Greeley def. Zane Aiken, Parker, 1 up

SCHEDULED 36-HOLE FINAL FRIDAY

Traejan Andrews, Greeley def. Brayden DeStefano, Peyton, 6 and 5

For all the results, 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