Zander Grant prevails in Gaucho Invite to record DU men’s first outright individual title since 2022
By Gary Baines – 4/7/2026
Zander Grant is ranked No. 981 in the nation among NCAA men’s Division I golfers and until a few weeks ago he had never posted a top-15 finish individually in a college golf tournament.
But that didn’t keep the University of Denver junior from emerging with a victory on Tuesday in the Gaucho Invitational in his home state of California.
After placing fifth in a tournament on March 24, Grant came out on top Tuesday in a 56-man event at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara. The champion at the 2024 Thunderbolt Invitational — a non-collegiate event held in the final week of the calendar year — shot rounds of 73-66-71 to finish at 6 under par in the Gaucho Invite. That was one stroke better than Boise State’s Cole Rueck and UC Santa Barbara’s Ryan Gay.
For the week, Grant carded 13 birdies and seven bogeys over the three rounds.
Grant became the DU men’s first outright individual tournament champion since Carson Griggs won the Tucker Invitational in September 2022. DU’s Willis Panzarello shared the individual Summit League title in 2025.
With Grant winning and junior teammate Jet Hernandez tying for fourth at 4 under (73-73-66), DU finished a season-best second as a team — the same as it did last year at the Gaucho. This time around, the Pioneers ended up at 7 under par as a team, two strokes behind host UC Santa Barbara.
Joining Grant and Hernandez in the top 10 individuals on Tuesday was Colorado resident Reese Knox, a sophomore at Boise State. Knox placed solo 10th at even par (69-76-71).
For all the scores from the Gaucho, CLICK HERE.
— Elsewhere in college golf tournaments that concluded on Tuesday, Colorado State University senior Kara Kaneshiro finished 10th out of 91 competitors in the Huntington Bank Collegiate in Dallas. Kaneshiro went 70-69-72 to check in at 5 under par, eight strokes behind the co-champions. As a team, CSU ended up 12th out of 17 schools, at 21 over par. SCORES
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