After Alex Kephart won the championship flight of the Pikes Peak Amateur on Saturday, his caddie ran up and embraced him.

His caddie was in tears.

His caddie was his dad.

“I’m a wreck because I don’t have any control over it,” Gary Kephart said as he rubbed his eyes. “He’s out there hitting the ball, it’s easy for him. I had to hold my nerves back the whole day.”

Gary’s emotions were understandable — the feat Alex accomplished matched his dad’s win in the 1989 championship flight. It made the Kephart’s the first father-son combination to win the Amateur since it started in 1948.

“To have my name etched with his in that trophy … it’s unbelievable,” said Alex who attended Liberty High School and graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in May. “My dad’s a wreck right now, but he’ll get over it. We’re both just elated right now.”

In his first year competing at the Amateur at the Patty Jewett Golf Course, Alex Kephart, 22, beat Taylor Stamp 1-up in the 36-hole final.

While Alex won the championship, it was another Colorado Springs product who won the senior championship.

Darrell Dafoe beat Steve Chambers 1-up for the senior championship title, making him the second co-sponsor to win his flight. Earlier in the day, Skip Borham, the other co-sponsor, won the senior fourth flight.

“If you want to win, you got to be a sponsor,” Dafoe joked. “I just can’t believe we both won. It’s pretty bizarre. I should’ve sponsored back when I was in the regular flights … maybe I would’ve won.”

It may have been a coincidence that both co-sponsors won, but Alex Kephart said there was no chance he was going to let his opportunity slip by.

“I was 5-up on Taylor at one point, but he kept battling back and making his putts,” Kephart said. “But having my dad there with me the whole day kept me focused. I just wanted to have my name up there with his.”

Alex Kephart, right, celebrated his championship flight win with his caddie and father, Gary Kephart at the Pikes Peak Amateur on Saturday at Patty Jewett Golf Course. Photo by COLE W. EBERLE, THE GAZETTE