By Jim Bebbington
In a year of change for the Inspirato Colorado Open golf tournament series, organizers managed to keep a lot the same – big purses for the winners, excellent course conditions, and good competition.
After the first round of the Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open former champions Alyaa Abdulghany (2025), Haylee Harford Sanchez (2023), Becca Huffer (2013, 2019) and Clariss Guce (2022) all are in the top 4 on the leaderboard.
Joining Abdulghany and Harford Sanchez at the top at 4-under was Kate Villegas, a 23-year-old former UCLA player from Arcadia, Calif. All three compete on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s developmental league.
The course, Green Valley Ranch Golf Course, received 2.5-inches of rain two days ago and hail, so greens were still a little soft and allowed players to shoot for pins. But no one went outrageously low, with the players tied for the lead at 4-under.
The three-tournament series – the Women’s Open which began play Wednesday, the Open in July, and the Senior Open in August – showcases some of the best golfers in the state and country, offers hundreds of thousands in purses and helps fund the First Tee program at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.
But a multi-year agreement with lead sponsor Inspirato expired last year and organizers spent the year since seeking new corporate support. In the end, they and Inspirato agreed to a one-year extension for the Denver-based luxury travel service to stay the lead sponsor.
This year’s Inspirato Women’s Open is the first to not sell out its professional slots in 19 years..
The women’s tournament has sold out its tee times every year since 2007 until this year, said Colorado Open Foundation CEO Kevin Laura.
“It’s very disappointing,” Laura said.
The tournament is scheduled on purpose to be opposite the U.S. Women’s Open because the LPGA’s developmental league, the Epson Tour, takes the week off. Typically that means dozens of high-ranking Epson Tour players from around the world flood into Denver. But this year the Epson Tour cleared nearly a month of the calendar, and many international players went home for an extended stay and didn’t return until their tournaments resumed in mid-June.
“We work hard, it’s like we always do, and we’ve never not been sold out since 2007, so the fact that they had as much break time as they have, and those that are from other countries, go back to their home, it’s really disheartening that we didn’t have more players,” Laura said.
The men’s and senior tournaments, however, show no signs of slowing with full fields of players signing up seeking to do well in one of the highest-paying state opens in the country.
The winners of the women’s opens receives $50,000, and the overall purse size makes it one of the most lucrative state open competitions in the country. The tournament continues Thursday and concludes with the final round Friday.
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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Former winners crowd the top of the leaderboard after Day 1 By Jim Bebbington In a year of change for the Inspirato Colorado Open golf tournament series, organizers managed to keep a lot the same – big purses for the winners, excellent course conditions, and good competition. After the first round of the Inspirato Colorado
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