2013 Champion Zahkai Brown Leads 51st Colorado Open

Eight birdies put CSU grad up by one stroke

Kristen Hicks

Denver, CO: Zahkai Brown of Arvada, CO came out of the blocks early on a picture-perfect day posting a 7-under par 65 to take the first round lead by one stroke in the 51^st HealthONE Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver. Brown, the 2013 champion and a graduate of Colorado State, made eight birdies and a single bogey in the morning wave to sit atop the leaderboard over Kurt Kitayama of Chico, CA and Parker Edens of Greeley, CO who are tied for second with 6-under 66s. Brown, who usually starts slowly in the opening rounds, raced to the quick start and would not have had a blemish on the card if not for a sloppy three-putt bogie from 15 feet on #16.

Kitayama, the 22 year-old invitee who just turned professional last month, is playing in his first Colorado Open after a stellar career at UNLV. Kitayama carded six birdies to post an impressive inaugural round at the difficult 7,273 yard layout in northeast Denver. Like Brown, Edens is a graduate of CSU who carded eight birdies and two bogies in his 6-under round.

Alone in fourth is Chris Ward, a Texas Tech graduate from McKinney, TX that finished tied for 5^th in the 2014 championship.

Three University of Colorado Buffaloes (recent graduate David Oraee of Greeley, junior-to-be Ethan Freeman of Denver and incoming freshman Ross Macdonald of Castle Rock, CO) and two others (Tanner Janson of Parker, CO and Connor Klein of Lone Tree, CO) are tied for low amateur at 4-under par 68 and are tied for 5^th overall with eight. Two of those eight players include Brown’s older brother Zen and USAFA graduate Tom Whitney of Ft. Collins who won the Waterloo Classic last weekend.

Notables: Jimmy Gunn of Dornoch, Scotland (T-27 at US Open last month) and defending champion Ian Davis of Edmond, OK finished at 3-under 69 in a tie for 18^th. Shane Bertsch of Parker, CO (past champ and 2015 web.com tour winner) finished at 2-under in a tie for 29^th. Notah Begay of Albuquerque, NM (4-time PGA Tour winner and Golf Channel analyst) shot a 1-over par 73 and is tied for 66^th. Chris Riley of San Diego, CA (PGA Tour winner and 2004 Ryder Cup player) shot 76 (4-over) and is tied for 108^th.

All 156 players will compete in the second round on Friday with a cut being made to the top 60 and ties advancing to weekend play competing for their share of the $125,000 purse (first place $23,000).

Shot of the day: Barry Milstead of Castle Rock, CO, head golf professional at Valley Country Club and past board member of the Colorado Open Golf Foundation, knocked his 9-iron into the hole on the fly on the par-3 13^th for his fourth career ace.

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