Harkins Sets Course Record to Win CoBank Colorado Women’s Open

Aspiring pro cards 64 to overtake CSU star Katrina Prendergast.

[easyazon_infoblock align=”right” identifier=”B07DVRLWCC” locale=”US” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″]Lexi Harkins picked the perfect time for her personal-best round.

The recent University of Wisconsin graduate, who also played three years at the University of North Carolina, carded a 64 in the final round of the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open to capture the title by two strokes over Colorado State University senior Katrina Prendergast.

Harkins’ third-round score also established a women’s course record at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.

The victory, her first as a professional, earned her $50,000—the highest first-place prize for a women’s state open in the nation.

Harkins, who last week qualified for the second stage of LPGA Qualifying School, would have won that amount even if she had finished second to Prendergast—the leader after each of the first two rounds—since the CSU star was competing as an amateur.

[easyazon_infoblock align=”right” identifier=”B071S2C7VK” locale=”US” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″]But with Prendergast leading by one with three holes left, Harkins holed long birdie putts on the par-4 16th and par-5 18th, while Prendergast went par-bogey-par on the final three holes, finishing with a 2-under-par 70 and an 8-under 208 total.

Earlier this month, Prendergast also finished in second place the Utah Women’s Open. But the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion (with CSU teammate Ellen Secor, who finished T-13 in the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open) did capture low-amateur honors by six shots.

And although the Sparks, Nev. resident led the field by three shots going into Friday’s action, she knows it took a course-record 64 to beat her. Prendergast also finished six shots clear of the next closest amateur, Slovakia’s Aneta Abrahamova, and nine ahead of her CSU teammate, Secor.

As it did with first-time winner Liz Breed in 2017, the $50,000 check will no doubt fuel Harkins’ quest to make it as a professional.

So will shooting 64s.

Click here for the complete results.