As CGA Women’s Stroke Play ventures further south than ever, CU’s Carolyn Fuller emerges as champ at Eisenhower GC; former Buff Kirsty Hodgkins wins Women’s Mid-Am after claiming 3 Mid-Am titles in Arizona
By Gary Baines – 7/16/2025
AIR FORCE ACADEMY — The CGA Women’s Stroke Play, one of the most prestigious women’s amateur golf championships held in Colorado, has been contested annually since 1948. But never before this week had the event been played in the Colorado Springs area — or anywhere south of Parker, for that matter.
But Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course, which hosted the 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior, proved quite a test for many of the state and region’s top female amateurs. In fact, in the end, no player in either the Women’s Stroke Play or the Women’s Mid-Amateur Stroke Play (for players 25 and older) finished at or under par for 54 holes. The facility’s challenging greens largely saw to that.
They were “insane,” noted Kirsty Hodgkins, winner of the CGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Stroke Play on Wednesday.
“They were a good test for sure,” said CGA Women’s Stroke Play champ Carolyn Fuller. “I love this course. It exposes (the shortcomings) in your game.”
In the end, two University of Colorado golfers — one current and one past — emerged with the trophies. CU junior-to-be Carolyn Fuller, a resident of Phoenix, finished at 1 over par for three rounds, good for a two-shot victory in the Women’s Stroke Play. And former Buff Hodgkins, who grew up in Australia and now lives in Lafayette, prevailed by 10 strokes in the Mid-Amateur, which was contested for the sixth time. But, believe it or not, that wasn’t close to the record winning margin in the event as Kris Franklin prevailed by 15 in 2021.
“Sko Buffs” Fuller said with a smile as she recognized CU’s title sweep on Wednesday.
It was Fuller’s first CGA championship win, and the second for Hodkins, who won the 2020 CGA Women’s Match Play during her years as a CU player.
Fuller was on the mark on Wednesday, with four birdies and two bogeys leading to a closing round of 70.
Here’s how it all played out on Wednesday at Eisenhower:
— CGA Women’s Stroke Play: The 20-year-old Fuller battled with Timbre Shehee for the lead on the back nine until the par-5 16th hole proved pivotal as Fuller sank a 3-foot birdie putt and Shehee suffered a triple bogey.
That four-shot swing turned a tie for first place into a comfortable win for Fuller, who prevailed by two strokes over Addison Dorsey of Colorado Springs and by five over Shehee.
Fuller closed with a 2-under-par 70 to end up at 1-over-par 217. The victory comes on the heels of her tying for seventh last month in the Irish Women’s Amateur Open and earning medalist honors in Phoenix-based qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur last Thursday.
“I think this is my biggest win so far,” said Fuller, who had boyfriend — and CU men’s golfer — Hunter Swanson caddying for her most of the way at Eisenhower. “It feels really nice, with the work I’ve put in over the last year. I haven’t won anything that special since high school. I struggled for a while with the transition from high school to the collegiate level and getting my confidence back up.
“Last week I won the U.S. Am qualifier, so I think coming off of that I had good momentum. It just feels really good to see that my hard work has paid off in a good way.”
Fuller’s victory marks the second time in the 2020s that a CU golfer has won a CGA women’s major as Hodgkins prevailed in the 2020 Women’s Match Play. Prior to that year, a CU golfer hadn’t won a CGA women’s major since 1998.
This was the second straight year in which the winner of the CGA Women’s Stroke Play was supposed to be awarded a spot in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. But since Fuller had already qualified, there will be no addition to the Women’s Am field based on the results from Eisenhower.
“I feel terrible” about that, Fuller said. “I wish that could be passed on to the first alternate, but a win’s a win.”
Timbre Shehee’s hopes for the title ended on the 16th hole, where she took a triple bogey.
Fuller went into Wednesday’s final round tied for the lead with Shehee, who will be a senior on the University of Northern Colorado women’s golf team. Shehee was 1 under par for the day through 15 holes to leave her knotted with Fuller for the lead at 2 over par. But after Fuller pitched up to 3 feet past the hole on No. 16, Shehee’s third on the par-5 sailed about 30 feet over the back edge of the green. With the putting surface sloping steeply away from her, Shehee left her next two shots shy of the putting surface. Her sixth shot hit the flagstick and ran 9 feet past the cup. Then her first putt produced a 90-degree lipout, leaving her with a triple-bogey 8. With Fuller’s birdie, it produced the four-stroke swing.
“I just thinned it,” Shehee, the daughter of two Colorado PGA golf professionals, said of her third shot on the 16th hole. “I kind of rushed my routine and everything. I haven’t been feeling too good over wedges. I just caught it a little bit thin. That’s all right. It happens.”
Perhaps the thing that stung most was that her hopes for the title went away on a single hole after she’d played so solidly for the rest of the tournament.
“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Shehee, whose brother TJ finished runner-up in the 2023 CGA Match Play. “But I’m proud of myself. And I’m really proud of Carolyn. I love playing with her and I learned a lot from her actually. She’s awesome to watch and she really sticks to her routine and stuff. It’s fun to be in the final group and give myself a chance. Someday I’ll get it done.”
Ironically, Fuller said in the past she’s had difficulty closing out tournaments strongly. But on Wednesday, she was solid, making four birdies and two bogeys on the day.
“I’ve struggled with that finishing piece,” she said. “I haven’t put myself in position to be defending a lead much. I’ve always been the one to chase them. I’ve fallen short a few too many times, so that’s why this one feels a little extra special to me.”
16-year-old Addison Dorsey closed with a 69 to claim second place in the Stroke Play.
Meanwhile, Dorsey closed with three straight birdies to shoot the low round of the tournament — a 69 — and take second place. In fact, that 69 was one of just four sub-par rounds shot in the tournament overall.
“It was a good round,” said Dorsey, a 16-year-old junior-to-be at Manitou Springs High School. “I had a lot of help from (my caddie and Team Colorado member) Jesse Hand, who made some good decisions for me and helped me stay calm out there.
“Obviously, not winning is disappointing, but I had a good run (against) those good players. It was something to be proud of, but there’s also some things to work on. I left shots out there.”
Angela Zhang of Bellevue, Wash., a U.S. National Junior Team member and a University of Southern California commitment, shared fourth place at 9 over par overall with former Stanford golfer Brooke Seay. Zhang has won three AJGA titles this year, including two in Colorado.
Meanwhile, Fuller prevailed with Swanson on her bag most of the week. (The CU men’s golfer had to exit about halfway through Wednesday’s round to play a practice round at Columbine Country Club ahead of Thursday’s U.S. Amateur Final qualifier there.)
“His experience playing Eisenhower definitely helped me a little bit and we have real good chemistry on the golf course aside from our relationship,” Fuller said of Swanson. “It’s pretty nice to have him on the bag. He keeps me steady; that’s for sure. That definitely helps, especially for a 54-hole event. It was great.”
Kirsty Hodgkins’ victory Wednesday marked her second CGA title as she won the 2020 CGA Women’s Match Play.
— CGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Stroke Play: For a person who pretty much gave up golf for a year and a half after her college days at CU and a brief run at Q-school, Hodgkins certainly seems to be making up for lost time in recent years.
Wednesday marked her fourth state mid-amateur title, with the previous three (2023, ’24 and ’25) coming in Arizona, where she lived from 2022 until returning to Colorado early this year.
“The last couple of years I’ve slowly been getting back into golf,” the 27-year-old said. “… I’m trying to play more. This year I will have doubled the number of events I’m playing in so the practice has gone up to like five days a week. Next year I think I’m going to do even more, so then it will be a seven-days-a-week practice deal.
“I got pretty burned out (on golf several years ago). I graduated and immediately went to Q-school, realized I wasn’t going to go pro, then stopped (playing) for like a year and a half. I currently work for a golf company (Ping), so all of my co-workers are very obsessed with golf, so I feel like they kind of pushed me back into it. Now I’ve kind of got the competitive bug again.”
Hodgkins scratched that itch at Eisenhower with a 10-stroke victory over Leigh Klasse of Cumberland, Ariz., with five-time CGA Women’s Senior Player of the Year Kris Franklin another two strokes back, in third place.
Suffice it to say that the lead pairing for the final round of the Mid-Am was a comfortable one as Hodkins and Franklin practice together at times, and Franklin’s husband (and caddie) Brent was a CU women’s golf associate head coach during Hodgkins’ time at the university. And during Hodgkins’ time living in Arizona, she played in several events with Klasse.
Through 45 holes of the Mid-Amateur, Hodgkins was very solid as she stood 3 over par overall at that point. She was less-than-thrilled with a closing-nine-hole score of 42, but even with that, she still won by double digits.
In fact, Hodgkins was so far ahead going into the final day that she played a little mind game with herself in an effort to stay focused on finishing strong.
“I just pretended we were all even” with playing partners Franklin and Klasse heading into the last round, she said. “So I was like, ‘I have to beat them (for the round) to win. I did, but only just.” Indeed, Hodgkins closed with a 78, slightly better than Klasse’s 79 and Franklin’s 80.
Hodgkins had to give it to Eisenhower and its formidable greens, which presented quite a challenge this week.
For the tournament overall, Hopkins checked in at 9 over par for her first CGA Mid-Am title to got with her three from Arizona.
“I would say the Colorado field is tougher than the Arizona field, so it’s nice to come out on top,” she said.
Arizonan Leigh Klasse, here fist pumping after a birdie on No. 11 Wednesday, placed second in the Mid-Am.
Meanwhile, in the flighted competition at Eisenhower, the winners were Laura Wetzel of Longmont (gross division, after rounds of 85-81-84) and Carla Stearns of Aurora (net, with scores of 74-81-80). Both prevailed in playoffs after being tied after 54 holes.
For all the results from the CGA Women’s Stroke Play and the Women’s Mid-Amateur Stroke Play, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com