Colorado native Jennifer Kupcho battles back from ‘lost swing’ earlier in spring to end almost-3-year LPGA victory drought; Colorado Golf Hall of Famer now has 4 LPGA wins to her credit
By Gary Baines – 6/8/2025
Things seemed to come so easily for Jennifer Kupcho in 2022.
The Colorado native who grew up in Westminster picked up her first three LPGA Tour victories — all in the course of 15 weeks — including a major, the Chevron Championship.
But since mid-July 2022, the Jefferson Academy graduate hadn’t added to her LPGA victory total.
Until Sunday, that is.
Kupcho sank a 7-foot birdie putt on the final hole — and birdied three of the last five holes overall — to shoot a 5-under-par 66 and win the ShopRite LPGA Classic by one stroke in Galloway, N.J. She overcame a leaderboard full of international players, including runner-up Ilhee Lee of South Korea. In fact, Kupcho was the only American in the top 10, and she became just the third U.S. player to claim victory on the LPGA Tour this season.
“’It’s been a long time” between victories, Kupcho said on Sunday. “I felt like last year was one of my best seasons, maybe my best season with how consistent I played; obviously I just didn’t get a win.
“But then coming into this year off last year I just expected my game to stay the same. I struggled a lot at the beginning of the year. I struggled mentally. I completely lost my swing back in L.A. pretty much (in mid-April) — so really just like trying to figure that out.
“Going into Chevron (in late April) I didn’t know where the ball was going. So to be able to say I’ve won now, like only really a few weeks later, is kind of insane.”
So how did Kupcho turn the corner and win not so long after being in dire straits with her game?
“I think mostly my husband (Jay Monahan) and my mental coach and swing coach (Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Ed Oldham),” she said. “I mean essentially just going to them and being like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to swing a golf club. I don’t know; I have no idea how to do this anymore.
“I felt like I had completely lost what I was doing. I think that’s basically what I went to them with. So essentially them just calming me down and bringing back me to earth, that I was being a bit crazy. I just really needed to dumb it down to the fundamentals basically.
“So I think they just brought me back to earth with that kind of situation, and I just went out there and played the best I could.”
Kupcho shot rounds of 68-64-66 for a 15-under-par total, earning her $262,500. Upon sinking the winning birdie, she was showered in celebratory water by a few fellow LPGA players.
“I think in my mind I had set on 14-under, so I was really just trying to get to that number,” Kupcho said after her victory in foggy, drizzly and windy conditions. “Obviously did a little better. It just feels really nice. I just kind of stayed in my zone the whole time.”
The 28-year-old, who was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame on Dec. 1, hadn’t recorded an official top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour since late September — until Sunday.
It didn’t hurt that Lee, with whom Kupcho was paired for the final round, was cheering on the 2020 Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open champion to some extent.
“It was so fun to watch Jennifer playing, and I was always watching her on TV,” Lee said. “I was right next to her and actually I was cheering for her because it’s just golf. We all try our best.
“So I was actually cheering for her. I said ‘good shots’ and ‘nice putts’ and stuff. And we were talking a little bit on 18th hole about pace of play because it was my first time playing this quick on Sunday. It was awesome to watch her play.”
Given that she hadn’t been at her best, it took Kupcho a little time to get re-acclimated to battling for an LPGA title on a Sunday.
“I haven’t been in contention in so long that I was kind of nervous already, so I was just like, ‘I’m not going to look at a leaderboard,’” she said. “I’m just going to focus on what I need to do. I really didn’t look at a leaderboard pretty much all day.”
Former University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi, from Australia, also had a strong showing at the ShopRite, tying for 11th place (68-66-70). Choi was coming off a ninth-place showing two weeks ago in Mexico.
For all the scores from the ShopRite LPGA Classic, CLICK HERE.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Denver-area resident David Duval and Matt Gogel tied for eighth place in a team event on PGA Tour Champions, the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wis. They finished seven strokes behind winners Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke.
It marked Duval’s second top-10 finish in 2025 on the Champions circuit.
For all the scores from Wisconsin, 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