Opportunities Await

With 44-year-old, 4-time PGA Tour winner Sean O’Hair moving into top 10, and 22-year-old GVR product Hunter Swanson remaining in contention in his pro debut, storylines remain plentiful at Colorado Open; Zander Winston & Carson Lundell setting the pace through 3 days

By Gary Baines 

DENVER — Sean O’Hair has been to golf’s promised land, where Inspirato Colorado Open leaders Zander Winston and Carson Lundell — as well as challengers such as Hunter Swanson — would love to go.

O’Hair has won four times on the PGA Tour, including the RBC Canadian Open. He’s played in 439 events on the Tour, earning more than $25 million on golf’s top circuit.

Yet there he was on Saturday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, inconspicuous as could be, using a push cart for his bag and not utilizing a caddie.

Yet even at age 44, while competing against a bunch of 20- and 30-somethings, O’Hair is holding his own this week at the Colorado Open. Indeed, a 5-under-par 66 on Saturday moved him into the top 10 and he’ll go into Sunday’s final round in a tie for ninth place, four out of the lead.

“I love to compete and I still feel like some of my best golf is ahead of me,” O’Hair told Colorado Golf Journal on Saturday as he stood at 11 under par for 54 holes. “And I’m not going to do that by not competing. So I really don’t care if it’s the Colorado Open or the Screen Door Open. It doesn’t matter to me. I just want to compete. There’s a lot of really good players here, a lot of competition, so it’s not like you can just show up and just play average and be there on Sunday, you know? So I still get the same feelings as I do in a PGA tour event. So that’s kind of the whole point is just put myself in that situation as often as I can.”

Sean O’Hair lines up a putt at GVR on Saturday.

The fact that a player who first won on the PGA Tour 21 years ago is just four strokes out of the lead through 54 holes of the Colorado Open may or may not inspire fellow competitors in the field who have PGA Tour dreams. O’Hair is playing at the Colorado Open for the second straight year, having finished 30th in 2025.

“I don’t have many opportunities to play on Tour or anything like that,” said O’Hair, who has made just two PGA Tour starts this year. “But it’s fun to still compete. I’d rather be playing on the PGA Tour, but this is a great tournament and I enjoy coming out here. It’s a beautiful golf course a really well-run event.”

While O’Hair will likely need a stellar Sunday to win at GVR, guys like Winston, Lundell, Swanson and others have given themselves a little easier path. Winston, who splits time between Scottsdale and Dallas, and Lundell, from Alpine, Utah, share the 54-hole lead at 15 under par. Swanson is tied for third place — two shots out of the lead — with Hawaiian Keanu Akina and Tommy Kuhl of Morton, Ill.

O’Hair, winner of more than $25 million on the PGA Tour, is using a push cart — without a caddie — this week.

A victory at the Colorado Open — and the $50,000 first-place check that comes with it — would certainly be quite an accomplishment for just about all the players on the leaderboard. But for considerably different reasons, it would be a particularly big deal for someone such as O’Hair or Swanson.

We’ve already noted O’Hair’s unique case as a guy in his mid-40s who has succeeded at the highest levels of the game but keeps plugging away even in events where the stakes aren’t nearly so high.

“I don’t think playing 100 percent (from a physical standpoint) is ever really going to be in my future,” O’Hair said. “I’m beat up, I’m old, and I just try and do the best I can.”

Then there’s the case of Swanson, who grew up in GVR’s First Tee program, has played the course 600-plus times, and is a lifelong Coloradan, now living in Superior. The 22-year-old spent his college golf career at the University of Colorado and will be a part-time assistant coach for the Buffs starting next season.

And this week marks his first full-on tournament as a pro. In several respects, he’s trying to accomplish something similar to what fellow GVR product Davis Bryant did two years ago in winning the Colorado Open.

Asked Saturday if he’s entertained such thoughts, Swanson didn’t deny it.

“When you see my name at the top of the board, it’s hard to not think about what could be,” he said. “Davis is a great person for me to look up to. You know, he’s always been there for me even when I was a kid. I didn’t really know what competitive golf was all about, and he was already four years ahead of me through that process. So he was guiding me in what tournaments to play, helping me go in the right direction. So seeing how he’s doing (on the DP World Tour) is absolutely unbelievable. It’s super inspiring to me for sure, just because we used to play as kids all the time out here. But yeah, (winning the Colorado Open like Bryant did), that wouldn’t suck at all.”

Swanson has had plenty to smile about this week.

A day after hitting all 18 greens in regulation, Swanson missed just one on Saturday in shooting a 4-under-par 67 that left him at 13 under overall. After bogeying two of his first three holes on Thursday, the former Buff has gone 51 holes bogey-free. Swanson, who spent 13 years as a member of the First Tee at GVR, has always been good at bogey avoidance, but 51 holes is an exceptional run even by his standards. For instance, his best run during a college event was 42 holes.

“I’ve never been the longest hitter, I’ve never been the show bomber,” said Swanson, a former two-time Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado boys player of the year. “I’ve always hit it pretty good. Especially going to college, I really learned how to avoid stupid mistakes. I think I’ve really gotten good at just leaving myself in the right spot to have a very good look at par no matter what.”

For the week, Swanson has racked up one eagle, 13 birdies and two bogeys.

“It just feels good to be out here playing my home course in the Colorado Open with good course conditions,” he said. “And I’m just trying to keep it as fun and light as possible.

“I think this is all I could ever ask for, right? Give me an opportunity (to win). My goal coming in here was to just enjoy myself to the best that I can, play my game and stay level-headed. I’m trying to not be too down on myself, trying not to be too high, keep having fun, keep things light. But I’m super excited for tomorrow and I’ll see if I can put up another good round.”

Co-leader Zander Winston made two eagles in Saturday’s round.

But both Swanson and O’Hair — and everyone else in the field, for that matter — will start the final round chasing Winston and Lundell. The 33-year-old Winston used two eagles in a six-hole stretch to vault himself to the top. He chipped in on the par-5 ninth from about 18 feet, then drove the green on the 347-yard 14th, draining a 20-foot eagle putt. Throw in three birdies and a bogey and he shot a 6-under 65 to come in at 15 under for three days.

Not too shabby for a guy who’s making his Colorado Open debut this week.

“Eagles are good, because it’s just like two birdies, you know?” Winston said. “They definitely help the cause.”

Winston has won nine times professionally, and would love to get into double digits on Sunday.

Asked about sharing the lead going into the final round, Winston said, “’Im just thankful for the opportunity. It’s just another day at golf — there’s still a lot of golf to play — but I’m thankful that I’ve given myself the opportunity with a chance to win tomorrow.”

When the subject of Winston’s biggest accomplishment in golf comes up, he noted, “Honestly, my biggest accomplishment is that I haven’t given up yet. I’ve had a lot of really, really close calls that would break anyone. Last November, I missed a 6-footer on my last hole (in Q-school) to get Korn Ferry (Tour) status. It would have been really easy to hang it up right there. But I love golf and I love working at golf. I’m so blessed that I wake up and I’m able to play golf every day.”

Utahn Carson Lundell has been sitting near the top of the leaderboard all week.

Meanwhile, Lundell will try to add to his list of golf accomplishments in Colorado. He won the Rocky Mountain Amateur at Colorado National in 2020 and Monday qualified — sharing medalist honors — for this month’s Blue Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour. And on Sunday, the 28-year-old would be overjoyed to make a big addition to that list.

The former BYU golfer started slowly on Saturday — with eight straight pars — before going 5 under for his final 10 holes en route to a 66. A birdie on 18 moved him into a share of the lead with Winston.

“I just kept telling myself to be patient, don’t force anything,” Lundell said. “And I was really patient, and (the opportunities) started to come, and I capitalized when they did.”

Lundell won an event on the Asher Tour a couple of years ago, and would love to add to his golf resumé with another pro victory on Sunday.

“I know I’m playing great, and I know I’m hitting it well and hitting the lines with my putter,” he said. “I’m just going out with the same game plan (Sunday) — , hit fairways, go from there and be patient. I’ll try to let everything come to me.”

Former DU golfer John Sand finds himself three strokes out of the lead.

John Sand, AJ Ott Among Other ‘Locals’ In Contention: While Swanson is the top player on the scoreboard with major Colorado ties, he’s certainly not the only one on the leaderboard that falls into that category.

Former University of Denver golfer John Sand played his final seven holes in 3 under par on Saturday, shooting a 69 and sharing sixth place at 12 under par, leaving him three back of the leaders.

AJ Ott of Denver is in line for another strong finish at the Colorado Open.

And AJ Ott of Denver, a former Colorado State University golfer, is another stroke back after a bogey-free 68 on Saturday. Ott, making his first tournament start since breaking his right hand in a pickup basketball game on Memorial Day, is seeking his third straight top-10 finish at the Colorado Open, having placed third last year and ninth in 2024.

Notable: Brent Tomlinson of Salt Lake City, who held a one-stroke lead after two days, quickly fell out of the top spot on Saturday. He hit his approach shot on the par-4 first hole over the green and out of bounds, eventually posting a triple bogey. He had to hit a shot left-handed en route to a bogey on No. 9. And he bogeyed his final three holes. Add it up and he shot a 78, which dropped him from solo first place to 41st. …Another Utahn, Zac Jones of Provo, holed out from 125 yards with a sand wedge for eagle on the par-4 16th hole en route to a 66. With the tees up, he played the hole 8-iron, sand wedge. … Sam Renner of Bend, Ore., who recently wrapped up his senior season at Washington State, will take a four-stroke lead in the amateur competition into Sunday as a bogey-free 5-under-par 66 on Saturday left him at 11 under. He shares ninth place overall. Former University of Colorado golfer Matt Zions is second among amateurs, four back of Renner, after going 64-67 the last two days. … Rylan Johnson of Gilbert, Ariz., was in or near the overall lead most of Saturday until carding a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 15th hole. He shot 70 and shares six place, three strokes behind the leaders. … The 54-hole leaders will tee off for Sunday’s final round at 9:20 a.m.

For all the scores from the Colorado Open, CLICK HERE.

For Sunday’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