Crowd at the top heading into final round of Inspirato Colorado Open

Fourteen players within four shots of lead

By Jim Bebbington

The greens at Green Valley Ranch Golf Course firmed up Saturday, scores started to bunch together, and by the end of the Saturday’s rounds more than a dozen players came off the course with a reasonable shot at the $50,000 first-place check on Sunday.

The 2026 Inspirato Colorado Open has become a scrum at the top.

Zander Winston of Dallas and Carson Lundell of Alpine, Utah, lead the pack at 15-under par. Both navigated Saturday’s rounds without big numbers and took advantage of scoring opportunities when they arrived. Winston carded two eagles – on Nos. 9 and 14 – and had just one bogey on his round. Lundell shot a bogey-free round with five birdies as he stayed out of trouble.

Lundell said he is not surprised the scores began to bunch together on the weekend as the course has firmed up and making birdie putts is not a given.

“Some of those pins are getting pretty dicey so no I wouldn’t say I’m super surprised that it’s pretty stacked,” he said.

The wind also picked up in the afternoon and players repeatedly backed off shots to wait for gusts to calm down.

“If it gets windy it makes this place real tough,” Lundell said.

Wilson got into the field with a sponsor’s exemption and is making the most of it. Sleeping on a lead does not change anything in his approach to the course, he said.

“Just more of the same – see ball, hit ball,” he said. “Whether it’s the first round or the last round, how I play golf is just trying to do the same thing every time. Pressure’s pressure. Pressure’s a privilege.”

Some of the other players near the lead were in charge until blow-up holes. Rylan Johnson of Arizona was cruising in the lead until a quadruple-double 8 on the par 4 15th.

Out in the first group, Zac Jones of Utah climbed 19 strokes to enter the conversation at 9-under. “I still haven’t made putts all week and didn’t really change today,” he said. “I didn’t make any putts today but I was able to hit the greens on the par 5s on the front nine.”

He played this tournament for the first time last year, and learned a painful lesson on the weekend as the course played significantly faster than on Thursday/Friday. This year he was ready.

“When the course gets super firm, last year it kind of caught me by surprise,” he said.

This year, on No. 16 – a short par 4 with a narrow approach window – he got an eagle by hitting 8-iron off the tee and a wedge into the pin.

Also near the top is Hunter Swanson, a former University of Colorado player who just transitioned to professional golf. Swanson has had a small gallery of supporters follow him every day and heads into Sunday in third place at 13-under, two back.

With family alongside and his friend Jeff Nelson caddying for him, Swanson said he’s proud of what he’s accomplishing in his first pro event.

“Coming into the week all I worry about was keeping things light, keep it fun, really, and make sure I enjoy my pro debut no matter what happens,” he said.

The other top Colorado pro near the top, AJ Ott, is tied for ninth at 11-under. Ott played five seasons at Colorado State University and is working to grow his professional tournament resume.

Ott has played in many Colorado Opens, since high school, and said anyone in the group crowding the top of the leaderboard can win if their putting is working well on Sunday.

“Especially on this course the greens are so good you can make some putts and anything can happen,” he said.

Ott is among the players for whom this tournament is a tune up as they get ready for the Rocky Mountain Open on the western slope Aug. 20 through 22 at Tiara Rado Golf Course in Grand Junction. Then he’s headed toward the qualifying tournaments for both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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