By Jim Bebbington
Carson Lundell stood on the 18th tee box at Green Valley Ranch Golf Course Sunday afternoon one shot up on the field, $50,000 on the line, and facing a decision.
The course set-up had been changed for Sunday – the 18th tees were where the men’s blue tees typically are, 50-yards closer than the last three rounds.
The par 5 18th would play at about 600 yards, very reachable in two. But that set-up made the landing zone for most players hitting drivers a narrow pinch in the fairway, between a long bunker on the right and a reedy swamp on the left.
Lundell had played three other Inspirato Colorado Opens previously, finishing in the top 10 each time but never breaking through. He was determined to make this the year he won.
He hit a 4-iron off the tee, then agonized for five minutes in the fairway holding a hybrid club that could reach the green. At the last second he switched to an iron, pointed his shot away from the green more than 250 yards away over yet more swamp, and toward a wide, safe section of fairway. He laid up with honor, and from there he hit to 10 feet and two-putted for his first Colorado Open and the $50,000 first-place check.
Chalk one up for playing it safe.
“I just had to trust the way I’ve been hitting it all week and I laid up, made a great shot into the green,” he said. “That was supposed to a be pretty comfortable two-putt from 15 feet, but it’s a little easier said than done. I’m happy it ended the way it did.”
Lundell, 28, played just well enough on a scorching 100-degree Sunday to fend off a crowd of talented 20-something pros – and one 40-something – all of whom wanted to win.
He and Zander Winston were going head-to-head, tied for the lead, the entire first nine and up until the 12th tee. Winston hit his drive into the long lake players must clear and ended the hole with a double bogey to Lundell’s par.
Then on 14 Lundell made his final birdie – driving next to the green on the par 4 and chipping to tap-in distance.
But the shot of the day for Lundell came on the next hole, the long par 4 No. 15. He needed to make a 10-foot par putt set up by a poor chip. It slid down the slope and into the cup, putting him at 20-under and making it so parring in would give him the title.
“Greens get so firm in the afternoon and I didn’t have a great lie back there and came up a little short,” he said. “It was one of those putts where when I got over it and just knew it was going to drop.”
It had been a long week for Lundell and all the players. Temperatures soared every afternoon, and in a tournament in which players can use caddies or push-carts Lundell carried his bag all four rounds. “(It means) the world,” Lundell said. “This is a big event, and I’ve taken sixth twice and third once, so I’ve been knocking at the door every year and I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d be able to get it done.”
Coloradan A.J. Ott, lurking in the weeds all week near the top of the leaderboard, finished with a 63 and rose up to take second place, one shot back. With light winds Sunday many players made runs at deep under par, including four-time PGA Tour winner Sean O’Hair, 44, who had four strong rounds to finish fifth at 16-under.
“I got off to a good start and I just wasn’t hitting it my best but I was just plodding my way around,” Ott said. “To be honest a couple putts just accidentally went in. I had a couple 20-footers that were fast, downhill and just hit my line and it happened to just drop in the front.”
As birdies piled up on his scorecard Sunday Ott said he got only a little more aggressive – shooting closer to pins than he would have otherwise. The Green Valley Ranch greens were praised all week for being in pristine shape, and Sunday’s rolled fast.
“For the most part here you still just kind of try to take your medicine if you can it it to inside 30 feet on a lot of these pins,” he said.
The Fort Collins native has played in eight Colorado Opens since high school and Sunday’s second place was his highest finish yet.
The Inspirato Colorado Open series concludes for 2026 with the Senior Open Sept. 2, 3 and 4.
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Carson Lundell wins in his fourth Colorado Open attempt By Jim Bebbington Carson Lundell stood on the 18th tee box at Green Valley Ranch Golf Course Sunday afternoon one shot up on the field, $50,000 on the line, and facing a decision. The course set-up had been changed for Sunday – the 18th tees were
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