Sunday Contention

Coloradan Davis Bryant runner-up again on DP World Tour after sharing lead late in final round; former CU golfer Jeremy Paul third in KFT event after leading with 9 holes left

By Gary Baines 

The site of the DP World Tour event this week — Kutzbühel, Austria — kind of has a Colorado look to it, with mountains defining the area.

That apparently made Davis Bryant of Aurora feel right at home as, for the second time in a little more than three months, he finished second in a DP World Tour event.

After placing solo second in the Magical Kenya Open in the second half of February, the Eaglecrest High School and Colorado State University grad posted a tie for second on Sunday in the Austrian Alpine Open.

In fact, Bryant was tied for the lead while playing his 72nd hole — until eventual champion Kota Kaneko of Japan chipped in for birdie on the 16th hole. That, combined with Bryant’s bogey on the last left the 2024 Inspirato Colorado Open champion tied for second with Ricardo Gouveia of Portugal, two behind Kaneko, who claimed his first DPWT title.

In matching his best finish on the DP World Tour, Bryant earned 204,320 euros ($238,288) — his second-largest tournament payday ever.

The 26-year-old, a former CGA Player of the Year, shot rounds of 64-70-65-65 for a 16-under-par total. In round 1, he reeled off six consecutive birdies in the middle of his round during en route to the 64.

With the results in Austria, Bryant moved up to 17th in the season-long Race to Dubai point standings.

Sunday’s round for Bryant was highlighted by an eagle on the 555-yard, par-5 10th hole, where his second shot from 226 yards finished on the fringe, 9 feet from the cup, and he drained the putt. He also made a 7-inch birdie on No. 12, a 2-foot birdie on No. 14 and a 7-foot birdie on No. 15. The bogey on No. 18, where he missed the green and couldn’t convert his 14-foot par try, was his only one of the final round, which was interrupted by a 71-minute lightning delay.

For the entire 2025-26 DP World Tour season, Bryant has two second-place finishes and five top-20s overall — with a 12th, a 14th and a 19th.

For all the scores from the Austrian Alpine Open, CLICK HERE.

Elsewhere in high-level tour golf involving players with strong Colorado ties:

— Former University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul held the outright lead after 18 holes, 36 holes and with nine holes left in the Korn Ferry Tour’s UNC Health Championship in Raleigh, N.C.

But a weekend in which he didn’t make a birdie until the final hole led to a third-place finish on Sunday. After making par putts of 17, 12 and 12 feet in his first seven holes of the final round, Paul three-putted Nos. 12 and 17 and missed a 4-foot birdie try on No. 14. But he broke his birdie-free streak at 35 holes with a 22-foot birdie on the 72nd hole.

Paul went 63-64-73-72 for an 8-under-par total, which left him two strokes behind winner Alvaro Ortiz. Paul played his final eight holes in 2 over par after parring his first 10 holes.

Paul, who won a KFT event in early 2024 and played on the PGA Tour last year, recorded his first top-20 finish on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2026, though he tied for eight on the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open in March.

Sunday’s finish pushed Paul from 127th to 50th on the season-long KFT points list.

For all the scores from the UNC Health Championship, CLICK HERE.

— Part-time Colorado resident Scott Vincent recorded his second top-5 finish of the 2026 LIV Golf season, placing fifth in Busan, South Korea.

Vincent recorded scores of 65-70-67-69 for a 9-under-par total as he ended up three strokes behind champion Joaquin Niemann.

In the last three tournaments, Vincent has placed fourth, eighth and fifth.

For all the scores from Korea, 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