Henly Wilson feels right at home in winning 111th CGA Women’s Match Play at an oh-so-familiar course; at 15, she’s one of the youngest champs in history of event
By Gary Baines
COLORADO SPRINGS — Home, sweet home.
Perhaps Henly Wilson was contemplating some variation of that familiar phrase Friday as she was doing her best to hoist the hefty CGA Women’s Match Play trophy.
You see, Wilson not only resides in Colorado Springs — where the Women’s Match Play concluded on Friday at Flying Horse North — but she calls FHN (as well as the nearby original Flying Horse layout) her home course.
And the home-course advantage apparently served Wilson well as she captured the title in the Women’s Match Play, the oldest continuously held women’s state golf championship held in Colorado. On Friday, she rallied from being 1 down after 16 holes to defeat Elle Higgins of Centennial in 19 holes in the tournament finale.
Henly had reason to smile following her victory.
In the process, the 15-year-old sophomore-to-be at Pine Creek High School became one of the youngest winners in the 111-year history of the championship. She’s not quite the youngest as it’s believed that distinction goes to Becca Huffer, who recently won her third Colorado Women’s Open. Huffer just turned 15 the summer she won the CGA Women’s Match Play in 2005, while Wilson is roughly 15 years and 8 1/2 months old.
“I think it’s just so cool that I’m at this age, and I won it, especially at my home course,” said Wilson, who was playing in the Women’s Match Play for the first time. “Just the tradition of this tournament, lasting so long, is amazing.”
Actually, Wilson winning the Women’s Match Play continues a recent trend regarding teenagers prevailing for the title in the event. For instance, Rylee Salome won at age 18 last year, while Pimpisa Rubrong was 16 in 2023, Kennedy Swann 19 in 2018, Jennifer Kupcho 17 in 2014 and 19 in 2016, Allie Johnston 18 in 2012 and Somin Lee 19 in 2011.
On Friday, Wilson — all 5-foot-5 and 115 pounds of her — rallied to win the 17th hole with a 14-foot birdie to tie the match, then made an 8-foot par putt on 18 to extend it. And on the extra hole, she lagged a 50-foot birdie try to 2 feet and converted it to prevail.
“I thought she was going to get up and down,” Wilson said, referring to Higgins, “and I just wanted to get myself a chance at par with my long putt. My lag putts weren’t good over the course of the day, so I just wanted to make the last one count — or what I thought was the last one. So I just thought about a 3-foot circle (around the cup) and settled it in there.”
Wilson tries to work her magic around the greens on Friday.
Meanwhile, after chipping from over the green, Higgins watched her 5-foot par effort slip across the front of the cup, leaving her with a bogey and essentially ending the match.
Asked her emotions in securing the championship, Wilson said, “I’m relieved. I’m excited. I’m in shock. I can’t believe it. So many emotions.”
Wilson estimates she’s played Flying Horse North about 100 times, which certainly gave her some inside knowledge that most — if not all — of her fellow competitors did not have.
Elle Higgins pitches from over the green on the 19th hole of the match. She would go on to miss her par putt, opening the door for Wilson’s win.
And she probably needed that edge as all three of the matches she played at FHN — after the initial three days of the championship were held at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora — weren’t decided before the 18th hole. She defeated Lilie Cohen of Parker 1 up in the quarterfinals, Zoe Bar-Or of Greenwood Village 2 up in the semifinals, and Higgins in 19 holes in the final.
“I feel like just having my name on that trophy at my home course and just knowing that I won here is just awesome,” Wilson said.
Meanwhile, falling short in the manner she did left Higgins — a 21-year-old senior-to-be on the University of Wyoming women’s golf team — feeling frustrated.
“I didn’t play well at all, so that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t play good,” said Higgins, who paid the price for three-putting the ninth and 10 holes, losing them in the process. “I just didn’t play like I prepared, so that kind of sucks.”
Higgins held some 1-up leads, but couldn’t expand them.
And compounding the frustration was that Higgins felt she hit a very good approach shot on the par-4 extra hole, only to see it roll over the back edge of the green, where she failed to get up and down for par.
“I had a great shot on the 19th hole,” she said. “But I got kind of unlucky that it landed on the downslope and went over. There’s not really much you can do about that.”
Wilson’s birdie on No. 17 tied the match.
Meanwhile, while Wilson’s lag putting left something to be desired on Friday, she relentlessly sank putts in the 6-8-foot range, which kept the match close.
“I didn’t want to give up the holes, and I was just confident with confident strokes,” she said. “So I just felt good about those putts.”
Neither player ever led by more than 1 up on Friday. And the match was tied after all but one hole from No. 9 through No. 18. That was after No. 16, where Henly missed a 6-footer for par — a rarity on Friday. But she bounced back by driving it near the front edge of the green on the par-4 17th and draining a 14-foot birdie, then kept her chances alive with an 8-foot par on 18 after hitting a greenside bunker shot well over the putting surface.
Despite playing on her home course, Henly said she didn’t feel any added pressure on Friday.
“I’m just loose,” she said. “I have many years to play.
“I feel like the past three rounds here have been just pretty calm, and I’ve just enjoyed my time playing because I’m playing on my home course. I think I had a lot of positive energy out on the course, even though I got a little frustrated. I feel like I stayed pretty calm.”
Higgins was left frustrated by her play during the final.
It probably didn’t hurt that her caddie, Luke Trujillo, gave her plenty of guidance along the way.
Wilson won the match despite Higgins out-scoring her — medal-play wise — in regulation, 76 to 78.
CGA WOMEN’S MATCH PLAY
At Flying Horse North in Colorado Springs
QUARTERFINALS THURSDAY
Rylee Salome, Los Lunas, N.M. def. Peyton Landon, Fort Collins, 2 and 1
Elle Higgins, Centennial, def. Maddie Makino, Parker, 2 and 1
Henly Wilson, Colorado Springs def. Lilie Cohen, Parker, 1 up
Zoe Bar-Or, Greenwood Village def. Ashleigh Wilson, Highlands Ranch, 2 and 1
SEMIFINALS THURSDAY
Elle Higgins, Centennial def. Rylee Salome, Los Lunas, N.M., 5 and 3
Henly Wilson, Colorado Springs def. Zoe Bar-Or, Greenwood Village, 2 up
FINAL FRIDAY
Henly Wilson, Colorado Springs def. Elle Higgins, Centennial, 19 holes
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