Eagle on final hole gives CU students Wes Erling and Hunter Swanson victory in CGA Four-Ball a year after placing third; they score breakthrough for non-mid-ams in the event
By Gary Baines – 5/4/2025
WESTMINSTER — There’s nothing on the CGA Four-Ball Championship information section that restricts the tournament to mid-amateurs — players 25 and older. But looking at the recent list of champions, an observer certainly might be left with the impression it’s a mid-am event.
Going into this year, the last winning team that featured both players under age 25 was then-University of Denver teammates Jordan Burgess and Ole Ramsnes. Two years later, then 18-year-old Sam Marley won with 37-year-old James Richardson.
But on Sunday, a blow was struck for the young guys for the first time in a long while at the CGA Four-Ball. University of Colorado students and apartment roommates Hunter Swanson and Wes Erling eagled the final hole at Legacy Ridge Golf Course to win the 54-hole better-ball event by one stroke. (Swanson plays on the CU golf team and Erling spent one season on the squad before quitting last year, but still helps out with the Buffs’ strength training.)
Erling, winner of a Colorado Junior Tour Championship, blasted a drive 382 yards, leaving him just 106 yards left on the par-5 18th, and he nestled a soft lob wedge to 6 feet and made the eagle putt for the victory.
Thus, the 21-year-old Swanson and the 20-year-old Erling fended off a leaderboard full of mid-ams — along with a few teams of similar ages or even younger than themselves — in the first CGA championship of the 2025 season.
Swanson (left) and Erling each captured his first open-age CGA championship title.
It was the first open-age CGA championship for both Swanson and Erling, though each won one junior major in the state.
“It is actually a little bit surprising that more college players don’t come out and play this event like we do,” Swanson said. “But I feel very proud of us. We’re the first younger guys to win this event in a while.That’s actually a pretty cool stat.
“Colorado has a lot of really good mid-ams, and they’re all such good people. It’s so nice to be in this summer swing playing with these guys again. It really shows Colorado has a lot to offer (talent-wise). There’s a lot of depth (golf-wise) from 18 years old up to 50 years old.”
Swanson and Erling closed with a 9-under-par 63 better ball and won with a 24-under-par total. Unlike last year, when Parker Edens and Jimmy Makloski prevailed by six strokes to claim their second straight Four-Ball title, there were numerous teams in the hunt for the victory on the final day.
Former champs Chris Thayer (left) and Bryan Rusin high-five after Rusin’s birdie on the 16th hole on Sunday.
As it tuned out, 2021 champions Chris Thayer and Bryan Rusin made a big run at another win, this one in their mid-40s. But Rusin’s 8-foot birdie on No. 18 in the group ahead of Swanson and Erling gave them the lead for only a few minutes — before Erling sank his tournament-winning eagle putt.
Edens and Makloski, the two college golf coaches who were bidding for an unprecedented third straight Four-Ball title, tied for third, three back of Swanson and Erling. Also at 21 under and tied for third were last year’s runners-up, college golfers Charlie Tucker and Nick Fallin, and Jesse Hand and Austin Hunt, two members of the Team Colorado elite junior squad. Hand and Hunt posted their top-3 showing despite a better-ball double bogey and bogey in the last six holes.
Nick Nosewicz and Cole Nygren, the 2022 CGA Four-Ball champs, placed sixth at 20 under par.
For Swanson and Erling, they used a final-round 60 in last year’s Four-Ball — which vaulted them into third place — as a launching point to this year’s victory.
“It was some of the most fun golf I’ve ever played in my life,” said Swanson, who soon will tee it up for CU in NCAA regionals. “After seeing us back-door a third place here, that was definitely motivating for us. (We thought) 100 percent we can win this tournament. We have the skill set and the game to be able to win this event against these top amateurs in Colorado. I think coming into this, we definitely weren’t thinking about anything but winning this tournament and having a fun time together.”
Swanson, a junior on the CU golf team, hits a flop shot from behind the 15th green on Sunday.
And even more fun than winning is to make an eagle on the final hole for a one-stroke victory.
Going into the par-5 18th hole, Swanson/Erling and Thayer/Rusin were tied for the lead. Swanson hit a good drive on the hole, but Erling, taking advantage of his strength-training work and some final-hole adrenaline, hit it so far that the teammates briefly had trouble locating his ball.
“There was adrenaline and nerves for sure,” said Erling, who was playing in his first tournament since the 2024 CGA Four-Ball. “I’ve hit the ball unbelievable off the tee this week, so for me it was just another one, but this time I was pumped up with adrenaline. I hit it really good with like no spin. We get up there and looking for my ball and I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ We couldn’t believe where this thing was at. It ended up being 382 yards. It was just a chip lob wedge (from the rough 106 yards out). I thought it was going to be short but it turned out to be perfect.”
As Rusin was sinking an 8-foot birdie putt ahead to give him and Thayer the lead, he looked back down the hole and saw the spot from which Erling was hitting his second shot.
“I was like, ‘Did he lay up? Is that really his drive?,’” Rusin noted later. “He hits it deep. … It’s hard to beat guys who make a (6)-footer for eagle on the last hole.”
Jimmy Makloski (left) and Parker Edens finished third in their title defense.
After Swanson two-putted for birdie on 18, he patted his partner and reassured him.
“Hunter tapping in for birdie freed me up,” Erling said. “He came over and he’s like, ‘Hit your line. If it goes in, great. If it doesn’t, we’ve got more golf to play.’ I felt I was very due for an eagle during this entire tournament. Finally, on the 54th hole, we got one to drop.
“It was a great feeling — one I haven’t experienced in a couple of years.”
Indeed, both Erling and Swanson said they last won a tournament outright as junior golfers — two and three years ago, respectively.
“I’m not going to lie: The nerves that I felt today, even with this just being a fun little four-ball event, it was very comparable to nerves I felt coming down the stretch at (NCAA) regionals my freshman year trying to make the national championship, or coming down the stretch in match play at the U.S. Four-Ball (where he and Max Lange advanced to the match-play quarterfinals in 2023).
“That feeling, when Wes made that putt on 18, I wish everybody had a chance to feel something like that because that is an unmatched feeling — winning a tournament like that, especially with your buddy, having fun like that.”
Team Colorado members Austin Hunt (left) and Jesse Hand also earned a tie for third place.
Getting back to that U.S. Amateur Four-Ball run in 2023 with Lange, that was one of several times Erling has caddied for Swanson in big-time events. And it was at that national Four-Ball that they bought the Kiawah Island Resort golf shirts that they wore on Sunday. In fact, they also wore them in the final round of the 2024 CGA Four-Ball when they shot that stellar 60.
“This shirt has powers for us,” Swanson said. We bought these shirts in memory of that (U.S. Four-Ball run) — and the good times and good memories. Last year in this tournament we wore these shirts in the final round when we shot 60. We brought them back (Sunday), and now they’ve got an even better memory on them.”
Swanson and Erling, who have known each other since they were in their early teens, have now played in the CGA Four-Ball together three times. They’ve gone from fifth place in 2023 to third last year to first in 2025.
Charlie Tucker (left) and Nick Fallin shared third place a year after being runners-up in the CGA Four-Ball.
This time, they won despite Swanson missing a 3-foot birdie try on No. 14 on Sunday and Erling missing a 4-foot birdie attempt on the next hole. But Swanson converted a 9-footer for birdie on the long par-3 16th, then Erling came up big on 18.
“Honestly, looking back on it, us missing those putts, us both making bogey on 7, and still coming back and winning this tournament shooting 9 under par (on Sunday) is unbelievable,” Swanson said. “We played some really good golf and didn’t let that stuff affect us, which is the reason we won this tournament today — 100 percent.”
As for Thayer and Rusin, this marks the third time in the last five years that they’ve placed in the top five at the CGA Four-Ball.
“We played well, but we left a couple extra shots out there,” said Thayer, the 2021 CGA Player of the Year. “We hit good putts that in the end didn’t go in. That was probably the difference. We started slow today (even par through six holes) but kept our head down, kept plugging along. Bryan played great and made the birdies on 16 and 18. It was disappointing (to fall a shot short), but we played well.”
For all the scores from the CGA Four Ball, CLICK HERE.
Former champs Nick Nosewicz (left) and Cole Nygren placed sixth on Sunday.
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