Monument’s Becca Huffer fires 67, puts herself in contention again at Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open; 6-time U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Mariel Galdiano holds lead; Colorado Open championships not a sure thing to return to GVR next year
By Gary Baines – 5/28/2025
DENVER — Back in the 1940s, Babe Zaharias was dubbed “Denver’s Queen of the Fairways” when she lived in Edgewater and won an astonishing 17 consecutive amateur tournaments, many of them top-level events.
With a nod to Zaharias, it might be time to label Becca Huffer a Green Valley Ranch Great.
The Denver native, who graduated from Littleton High School and now lives in Monument, has proven herself over and over to be one of the most formidable competitors ever at the Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open, which has been contested at GVR since 2004.
Between 2008 and last year, Huffer has won the CWO twice (2013 and ’19), posted runner-up finishes four times (most recently in 2023) and has thrown in one other top-10 to boot.
The only reason she isn’t No. 1 on the Colorado Women’s Open career money list is that her earnings from her two victories combined ($61,000) didn’t come close to the $100,000 awarded to each of the winners from 2022-24. For the record, Huffer’s total CWO earnings ($111,068) is second only to 2022 champion Clariss Guce, who is $2,232 ahead.
So, it should be a “knock me over with a feather” moment that Huffer is near the top of the leaderboard after Wednesday’s opening round of the 31st CWO, which features a $200,000 purse. The former LPGA Tour pro fired a 5-under-par 67 at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club and trails only LPGA Tour rookie Mariel Galdiano of Orlando, Fla. Galdiano birdied her first four holes of the tournament and carded a 66 that included seven birdies total.
“It’s a fun week because my family gets to come out and watch,” the 34-year-old Huffer said. “They don’t get to come out to too many events anymore. And I get to sleep in my own bed this week. And obviously I have great memories from this tournament. It’s such a fun one to play. It’s always fun.”
Indeed, Huffer’s 67 — which featured six birdies and a bogey on the par-13th, where she hit her tee shot into the water — was one of Huffer’s best rounds at the CWO, just a shot behind her opening 66 two years ago.
“It helps with the confidence that I’ve had good rounds out here,” Huffer said. “I love the course. It’s such a fun course to play. There’s lots of birdies out there that you can get.”
After getting six starts on the LPGA Tour last year — and 15 in 2019 — Huffer is playing full time again on the Epson Tour in 2025. So far, she’s posted four top-30 finishes, with a best showing of 12th place. She sits No. 42 on the 2025 money list.
“My game is coming together right now,” she said. “It was a little shaky to start at the beginning of the year. I was pretty happy coming into this week with everything starting to work well and being in a place I’m happy with. Last year this time of year it wasn’t very good. I’m much more happy with (my game now).”
Mariel Galdiano prepares to tee it up at the 18th hole on Wednesday.
Galdiano, a former UCLA golfer, is a rookie on the LPGA Tour this year, and she posted a 36th-place showing at last week’s Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba. But that doesn’t mean she lacks experience at the highest level of women’s golf. In fact, she’s competed in six U.S. Women’s Opens, starting at age 13 in 2011. A year ago, she placed 44th at the USWO, her second top-45 showing in the event.
Ironically, the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open is being contested this week at Erin Hills in Wisconsin. But after the field for her preferred qualifying site filled up quickly, Galdiano decided to not even try to qualify this year.
“They’re playing at Erin Hills and I’ve seen snippets of it so far, and it looks like a beast,” she said. “So I’m a little happy. They can go deal with the super thick rough and the narrow fairways. I’m just glad I’m out here in Denver with some cool weather. I can still test my game during an ‘off week’. This is always a good tournament and a good field. It’s nice to be out here.”
This year, Galdiano is happy to have LPGA Tour status after five years of plugging away as a pro.
“It’s a long time coming,” the 26-year-old said. “I graduated from UCLA in 2020 and I didn’t do Q-school this year prior, so it set me back quite a bit. I spent some years on Women’s All Pro Tour and some years on Epson. I had a solid Q-series this past December. I was like, ‘Finally.’ I always knew that I belong on the top level. It’s just about execution; that’s what it boils down to a lot of the time.”
Galdiano has played the CWO just once previously — in 2023 — and she missed the cut on that occasion.
“But I was still playing mini tours and figuring things out,” she said. “I’m much more seasoned now, and I’ve got better skills.”
Indeed, Wednesday marked a significantly different experience as 2023, as a hot putter led Galdiano to a seven-birdie, one-bogey day.
The wind picked up in the afternoon on Wednesday at GVR.
Among those joining Galdiano and Huffer on the day 1 leaderboard are former University of Texas golfer Sophie Guo of China (68 in the afternoon/evening); 2023 champion Haylee Harford of Leavittsburg, Ohio (69) and Brianna Do of Lakewood, Calif. (69), who placed ninth on Sunday at the LPGA Tour event in Mexico. Also at 69 were Kiana Oshiro of Central Point, Ore., Nika Ito of Japan, and Lauren Peter of Carmel, N.Y.
Also among those under par on Wednesday were sisters Lauren (Lehigh) Dickey and Katelyn Lehigh, both of whom grew up in Loveland and won two individual girls state high school titles apiece. Playing in the same threesome, they matched 2-under-par 70s on Wednesday, each carding three birdies and one bogey. Dickey is playing professionally after wrapping up her career at the University of New Mexico a year ago, while Katelyn Lehigh is an amateur going into her senior season at Fresno State.
Katelyn leads the amateur competition after day 1, with University of Colorado golfer Morgan Miller (71) and Colorado State player Kara Kaneshiro (71) next best. Miller was the CGA Women’s Player of the Year in 2023.
Most of the golfers at the top of the leaderboard played in the morning wave on Wednesday as the wind kicked up in the afternoon and the temperature dropped — with Guo being an exception.
— Future Title Sponsorship/Course Update: With this being the final year for Inspirato’s title sponsorship of the Colorado Open championships — after being granted its release a year early by the Colorado Open Golf Foundation — it’s worth considering what awaits the tournaments next year and beyond.
Kevin Laura, CEO of the Colorado Open championships, has been working on finding a new title sponsor, but no deal is imminent. But, it should be noted, Inspirato didn’t finalize its current title sponsorship deal until March 2022, with its first tournament as title sponsor just a couple of months later.
With a new title sponsor, it’s not a lock that Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver will continue to be the host site for the championships — a role it has played since 2004. The leadership at GVR is very interested in keeping the tournaments at the site, but another course has strong interest as well, according to a source. So more than one option will be considered.
— Notable: Haley Moore, who played regularly on the LPGA Tour in 2020 and ’21, was in contention for the CWO title in 2022, eventually finishing fourth. But Moore struggled mightily in Wednesday’s opening round, shooting a 15-over-par 87. Much of the damage was done on the par-3 13th hole, where she carded a 10. … Lightning stopped play at 3:32 p.m. on Wednesday, with the suspension lasting 49 minutes. … After 36 holes, the championship field will be reduced to the top 45 players and ties. The 54-hole tournament will conclude on Friday. … Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill, winner of three USGA championships and a former longtime LPGA Tour player, carded a 2-over-par 74 that included four birdies on Wednesday. … The Beavalo team, made up of former Oregon State golfer Ellie Slama and amateur Bob Webster (whose daughter Kelsey was an OSU teammate of Slama’s), leads the pro-am competition by two after posting a 9-under-par net four-ball total.
For all the scores from the Colorado Women’s Open, 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