Former Littleton resident Ashley Kozlowski sees her magical U.S. Women’s Amateur run end in the round of 32
By Gary Baines – 8/7/2025
Pardon the pun, but after extricating herself from very challenging circumstances Tuesday and Wednesday at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Ashley Kozlowski couldn’t engineer her way out of the situation she faced on Thursday.
The former Littleton resident, now a systems engineer at Northrop Grumman in Florida, saw her run end in the round of 32 at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon. Ohio State golfer Kary Hollenbaugh of New Albany, Ohio, the 20th-ranked female amateur in the world, trailed briefly early in the match but won six holes from No. 4 through 14 en route to a 5-and-4 victory over Kozlowski.
But it was quite an experience at the Women’s Am for the Rock Canyon High School and Purdue graduate. She needed to birdie her final hole of stroke play on Tuesday to get into a playoff, then she birdied the first hole of that playoff on Wednesday morning to earn one of the final spots in match play. Then Wednesday evening, she pulled off the really improbable, rallying from a 3-down-with-three-holes-to-go deficit to oust the No. 42 women’s amateur in the world, Canadian Vanessa Borovilos. In that match, Kozlowski eagled the 18th hole, made a 25-foot par on the 19th hole for a tie there, and then prevailed with a par on the 20th hole, where the former Coloradan gained the lead for the first time.
That put Kozlowski into the round of 32 out of a field that started with 156 competitors.
The 2024 CGA Women’s Stroke Play champion started off well enough on Thursday as a birdie on the par-5 third — after two straight pars — gave her a 1-up lead. But Hollenbaugh, who has five victories to her credit in 2025, won three of the next four holes — and six of the next 11 — en route to victory.
Hollenbaugh finished 5 under par and went bogey-free for 14 holes, while Kozlowski was even-par.
Players who grew up in Colorado have made strong runs at the U.S. Women’s Amateur several times in recent years. In 2022, Lauren Lehigh of Loveland advanced to the quarterfinals, and the next year she made it to the round of 16. Then Kozlowski, competing in the U.S. Women’s Am for the second straight year, made the final 32 this week.
The results for all the players with strong Colorado ties at the U.S. Women’s Amateur:
THURSDAY’S MATCH PLAY ROUND OF 32
Kary Hollenbaugh, New Albany, Ohio, def. former Littleton resident Ashley Kozlowski, 5 and 4
WEDNESDAY’S MATCH PLAY ROUND OF 64
Former Littleton resident Ashley Kozlowski def. Vanessa Borovilos, Canada, 20 holes
STROKE PLAY MONDAY AND TUESDAY
Advances to Match Play
59. Former Littleton resident Ashley Kozlowski 71-74–145
Failed to Advance to Match Play
74. CSU golfer Kara Kaneshiro 73-73—146
80. CU golfer Carolyn Fuller 78-69–147
149. Loveland resident Katelyn Lehigh 81-75—156
For all the results, 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