Junior Achievement

Sophia Lee completes girls sweep of top 2 state junior titles with victory at Colorado Junior PGA, where 15-year-old Braylon Ball prevailed on boys side; Colorado teen Murphy Rowen selected for PURE Insurance PGA Tour Champions event at Pebble Beach

By Gary Baines – 7/8/2026

The golfer who less than two weeks ago won the girls title at the CGA’s top junior championship did likewise at the Colorado PGA’s premier junior tournament on Wednesday.

Sophia Lee of Columbine Valley, the CGA State Junior champ last month, successfully defended her girls title this week at the Mizuno Colorado Junior PGA at the Country Club of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

The 16-year-old was joined as a champion on Wednesday by 15-year-old Braylon Ball of Windsor, who claimed the boys victory.

Lee, a member of the Team Colorado junior elite squad who won the 2025 2A girls state high school title for Colorado Academy, prevailed on Wednesday by two over 15-year-old Henly Wilson of Colorado Springs, the 2026 CGA Women’s Match Play champ. Lee birdied the final hole and went 72-71-74 for a 3-over-par total. Both Lee and Wilson qualified for the National Junior PGA Championship in Frisco, Texas, set for July 28-31. Team Colorado member Addison Dorsey of Colorado Springs took third place in the Colorado Junior PGA.

Ball, who placed ninth last year at the 2A boys state high school tournament for Windsor Charter Academy, finished at 7 under par this week, two better than Parker Shaw of Pueblo. Those two will qualify on the boys side for the National Junior PGA Championship in Texas.

Ball carded rounds of 71-68-67  at the Country Club of Colorado, where he made seven birdies and three bogeys on Wednesday.

For all the results from the Colorado Junior PGA, click on the following: GIRLS, BOYS.

Local Teenager Headed for Pebble Beach: Elsewhere in junior golf, the PURE Insurance Championship PGA Tour Champions event in Pebble Beach, Calif., announced the field for its First Tee junior players who will team up with the tour pros for a pro-junior competition. One Coloradan was among those included for the Sept. 18-20 tournament.

Murphy Rowen of Denver-based First Tee Colorado Rocky Mountains will be one of 80 teenagers who will tee it up at Pebble Beach Golf Links, site of the 2027 U.S. Open, for the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee. The PURE event also will be conducted at Spyglass Hill.

First Tee participants were selected based on both golf ability and their growth through the organization’s youth development program. The junior field was announced on Golf Channel.

For the entire junior field for the PURE Insurance Championship, CLICK HERE.