Albuquerque native Aiden Krafft returns home for ‘full-circle moment’ in NB3 Matchplay

SANTA ANA PUEBLO — To Aiden Krafft, it’s a true full-circle moment.

The Albuquerque native was good enough to win two individual state titles at Cibola High School. Good enough to card a state record round 12-under 60 in 2022. Good enough to win multiple junior golf tournaments and honors.

And, at least according to some programs, not quite good enough to be recruited.

“I wasn’t getting looked at by many schools,” he said Monday.

Enter Notah Begay III.

Krafft was first introduced to the former PGA Tour professional as a junior in high school during a round at The Canyon Club. Then, Krafft qualified for Begay’s junior tour, inspiring the latter to place a call to an old friend: Oregon golf head coach Casey Martin.

“(He) just said, ‘hey, I have this New Mexico guy who’s pretty good,’” Krafft remembered.

Now with the Ducks, Krafft is back on his home turf for a tournament that means that much more: The NB3 Matchplay. Sponsored by Nusenda Credit Union and Santa Ana Pueblo, the second-annual match play event tees off Tuesday, pitting local teams such as New Mexico and New Mexico State against Oregon and UNLV on the men’s side and Arizona and Texas A&M on the women’s side.

The first and second rounds of the round-robin 54-hole tournament at Twin Warrior Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo will be played Tuesday; the final round is set for Wednesday. Five points are available in each match, and winners will be declared off total points.

Golf Channel will broadcast the event from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, with Begay participating in the broadcast.

In the final stages of preparing for the tournament, Begay was also more than happy to welcome the golfer he first knew as an overlooked junior from New Mexico back home — this time as an All-Big Ten honoree entering his senior season.

“I saw Aiden just a second ago and kind of got a little choked up (at) just how much he’s matured … He goes (to Oregon) and comes back as one of their highest-ranked players for a highly-ranked team,” Begay said Monday. “And I think being able to come back and play in front of your family and your friends, to a place where he’s had a lot of success, is a great reflection on his coach and his willingness to bring the team back to where Aiden’s from.

“It also gives Aiden a chance to sort of bring things full circle and tell his story — and I don’t think it’s going to end here. I think he’s gonna go on and have a very successful career.”

For the rest of the field, it’s also an opportunity to experience a format rare in college golf. With match play reserved for the finals of the NCAA Championships, players and coaches alike said they were excited to get put to the test at Twin Warriors.

“This is the only tournament I’ve played (since) I came to college that our individual scores don’t really matter — it’s more (about) the team, which is one of the coolest things,” Krafft said.

“I think match play brings out the inner competitor if you’re a golfer,” UNM women’s golf coach Jill Trujillo said Monday. “Because that one-on-one, just wanting to beat somebody, it’s totally different than a stroke play event … I think I tend to see more aggressive play during match play, which I like.

“And for us, it’s good right now because it carries over into our upcoming tournaments after this.”

For now, at least one player is focused on enjoying the next few days.

“Being here at (Twin Warriors), I played here in high school, did pretty good with my high school team,” Krafft said. “Now I’m here with my college team and having all my friends from college and just those people that I bonded with, (having them) here in my hometown is just so cool. It’s so special — I mean, I just couldn’t be more thankful for it, really.”