Returning to a $50,000 first prize, Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open set for its 31st playing, with 3-time USGA champion Jill McGill and 2-time CWO winner Becca Huffer set to tee it up
By Gary Baines – 5/27/2025
It’s been a few years since the professional golfers at the Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open have teed it up for a “mere” $50,000 first prize — 2021, to be exact.
But, for what it’s worth, one of those years (2017-21) when the winner earned a $50k check was arguably the most notable of the 30 CWOs held to date, That was in 2020 when Colorado native Jennifer Kupcho fended off fellow LPGA Tour player Carlota Ciganda to pick up her first professional victory. Kupcho has since won three times on the LPGA Tour, including a major, and been inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.
That year (2020) was certainly an unusual one given that the LPGA Tour was on hiatus at the time of the CWO due to Covid-19 safety concerns.
Two years later, the Colorado Women’s Open increased its first prize to $100,000 — equal to that of the Inspirato Colorado Open. But, as was reported on March 20, the winner’s portions in those two events in 2025 will return to $50,000, with the first championship affected being the CWO, which runs Wednesday through Friday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver.
With Inspirato requesting an early termination of its title sponsorship deal with the Colorado Open championships — and being granted its release a year early by the Colorado Open Golf Foundation— 2025 will mark the final year of Inspirato in the title role for the tournaments at GVR. It’s hoped that cutting the first-place money in half will make a potential deal with a new title sponsor easier to come by.
The overall purses for the two open-age Colorado Open championships will be reduced from $250,000 to $200,000, with the entire reduction coming from the winner’s portion, meaning second-place finishers on down will be unaffected. Leadership at the Colorado Open Golf Foundation anticipates redirecting a portion of the purse-reduction savings to a dedicated scholarship fund that would benefit First Tee-Green Valley Ranch participants.
So, will the first-place money reduction affect the strength of field for the CWO and the Colorado Open?
“We had no drop in interest/demand (from contestants) due to the purse (decrease),” Kevin Laura, the CEO of the Colorado Open Championships, said last week via email.
This year’s field is expected to include Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill, who has won three different USGA championships; two-time CWO champion and former LPGA Tour player Becca Huffer of Monument; and other former CWO champions Clariss Guce, Savannah (Vilaubi) Carlson and Haylee Harford.
Among the others scheduled to tee it up are Coloradans and former college standouts Emma Bryant and Leigha Devine; Colorado State University golfer Kara Kaneshiro, who almost qualified for this week’s U.S. Women’s Open; former two-time 5A state high school champions Katelyn Lehigh, Brenna Higgins and Huffer (FYI: Katelyn’s sister Lauren (Lehigh) Dickey, who claimed state titles in 5A and 4A, is also in the CWO field); former CGA Women’s Player of the Year Morgan Miller; NCAA Division II standout Lily Nelson; 2024 Colorado PGA Women’s Player of the Year Ashley Tait-Wengert; and former CU standouts Brittany Fan and Sabrina Iqbal. Grace Charis, who has millions of followers on various social media outlets, also is scheduled to compete in the tournament, which features a pro-am-style format throughout the championship.
For Wednesday’s tee times, 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