Preston Summerhays among Monday qualifiers for The Ascendant presented by Blue

Celebrated amateur Preston Summerhays earned a spot at The Ascendant presented by Blue via Monday’s qualifier, carding 6-under 65 at Highland Meadows CC to earn one of eight available spots in this week’s field at TPC Colorado.

Summerhays, a rising sophomore at Arizona State, helped the Sun Devils to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Division I men’s golf championships earlier this month; he defeated Haskins Award winner Chris Gotterup of Oklahoma, 7 and 5, in a quarterfinal matchup. He was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2021-22, with his 71.33 scoring average the second-best by a freshman in Arizona State history.

Summerhays won the 2019 U.S. Junior and also became the youngest winner of the Sunnehanna Amateur in 2020. He has made three PGA TOUR starts, including the 2020 U.S. Open; he also competed at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship in 2019 and 2020.

Summerhays’ uncle Daniel played eight seasons on the PGA TOUR and also finished runner-up at the 2020 Utah Championship, falling in a playoff after a scintillating final-round 62 at his home club.  

Geoff Keffer of Lakewood, Colorado earned medalist honors in Monday’s qualifier, carding 9-under 62, with 10 birdies against one bogey, to earn a tee time Thursday. Keffer is a teaching professional in the greater Denver area and is set for his first career Korn Ferry Tour start. He has been named Colorado Section PGA Player of the Year on seven occasions and will relish the opportunity to compete in front of local fans this week at TPC Colorado.

Zahkai Brown of Golden, Colorado, carded 7-under 64 with three birdies and two eagles to also secure a spot in this week’s field. The Colorado State alum has made 12 prior Korn Ferry Tour starts, highlighted by a T55 at the 2013 Utah Championship. A renaissance man of sorts, Brown plays the alto saxophone and dabbles in horseback riding, snowboarding and country dancing. He’ll aim to dance his way up the board this week.

Joining Summerhays at 6-under 65 were George Markham, Travis Gonda, Logan McCracken and Zachary Caldwell, all earning tee times this week in the process.

Four players carded 5-under 66, necessitating a 4-for-1 playoff to determine the final spot in the field. Caleb Ramirez survived, with the odd men out being Noah Hofman, Ryan Grider and Shun Yat Hak.

In all, 114 players competed for eight spots in this week’s field.

For all scores from The Ascendant presented by Blue qualifier, click here.