Wyoming Junior Golf Season Kicks Off With Tate Nichols' Victory

Wheatland’s Tate Nichols is a highly touted golfer. He continues to prove that. Last weekend, Nichols won the USwing Mojing Junior World Championship Qualifier in Laramie at Jacoby Golf Course. Tate will advance to the Junior World Tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, CA, July 5-10, 2025. The event was the first Wyoming State Golf Association junior event of the year.

Nichols was two-over-par after the first round and trailed the leader by two strokes. He fired a 68 on Day Two and won by one shot.

Wheatland High School Golf Coach Tony Nichols explained how big it was for Tate, his son, to find his way to first place and move on in this elite event.

“The junior world qualifiers always seem to start off the competitive summer season for junior golf. These qualifiers are high stakes as the field at Torrey Pines in San Diego is limited to 200-250 spots for the top 15–18-year-old junior golfers worldwide. The only way to gain entry is to qualify. I’m proud of our Wheatland golfers for going out and competing on a tough course that was played at a college-level yardage. In high school golf tournaments, the courses play anywhere from 6,000-6,400 for the boys and 4,800-5,200 for the girls. For this event, the boys played close to 7,000 yards and the girls 6,000 yards. Tate really dug deep to beat one of the best junior golfers in the region, who was the Colorado junior match play champion last year. He overcame three double bogeys on day one to shoot two over and finished day two by shooting three under. Our other guys also got the opportunity to put their games to the test with a little over two months until we look to compete for another state title in the fall.”

As a sophomore, Nichols was the Class 3A state champion in the 2024 Wyoming High School golf season. He won the title by 16 shots and helped Wheatland win the team title. Nichols finished third as a freshman in the 2023 season.