High school biology teacher from Colorado playing in U.S. Open

Colorado high school biology teacher Colin Prater is teeing it up in one of golf’s most prestigious events this week.

Colin Prater, whose day job is passing along knowledge to students at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, is in the field at the U.S. Open.

And his practice round on Wednesday is one he’ll never forget.

Colin Prater is a high school biology teacher in Colorado.

But he beat out 9,000+ other people to qualify for this year's U.S. Open and is now spending the day at Pinehurst playing a practice round with world number one Scottie Scheffler.

So cool. pic.twitter.com/BzIOOD9Dy7

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 12, 2024

Joe Pompliano initially reported Prater is playing with Scottie Scheffler at Pinehurst No. 2 to get warmed up for the big event, but it looks like that changed. Still, Prater found himself in a group with Jordan Spieth, which isn’t a bad consolation prize.

According to 9NEWS, Prater shot a three under par in the final qualifying round at an event in Bend, Oregon earlier this month, good enough to get him a spot in the tournament.

“I mean obviously you have goals and aspirations to one day play in a major, but to fulfill that dream and accomplish that goal is pretty incredible,” Prater told Jacob Tobey.

And while teaching is his day job, Prater is pretty darn good at golf. Of course, you have to be to get a chance to share the links with the like of Scheffler, Spieth and the other best players in the world.

Prater won the Colorado Golf Association Amateur twice in 2016 and 2020, and was also the Colorado Golf person of the year in 2021.

Now, Colin Prater is living a dream so many others can only imagine. He’s making Colorado proud, along with the likes of Wyndham Clark, who actually won the U.S. Open in 2023.