Alyaa Abdulghany, all 5 feet of her, stands tall as bogey-free round and playoff par saves give her CO Women’s Open title — and $50k; mid-round hiccup costs Becca Huffer shot at 3rd CWO win; soon-to-be-pro Morgan Miller earns low-am honors
By Gary Baines – 5/30/2025
For a golfer who checks in at 5 feet tall, Alyaa Abdulghany came up mighty big on Friday.
Five years after claiming low-amateur honors at the Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open, and a year after tying for fourth in the overall competition, the 26-year-old from Newport Beach, Calif., earned the title at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. And she defeated a player who posted a top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour on Sunday — Brianna Do of Lakewood, Calif. — on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to do it.
Abdulghany also won the pro-am team title and earned $52,800 in prize money overall — $50,000 for the championship and $2,800 for the team win with amateur partner Joseph Skovgaard of Colorado Springs.
That’s what you call standing tall.
“I don’t think (my size) is a big deal,” Abdulghany said. “If you look at any of the longer hitters out there (in women’s golf), they’re not winning week in and week out. It really comes down to short game — who makes the most birdies and putts. The last stroke on the golf course is a putt (usually).
“I’m not too worried about my height. My distance is just fine. I just have to be as accurate and consistent as possible. And I can take a deep breath with my short game.”
Abdulghany with one of the three trophies she’s won from the Colorado Women’s Open over the last five years.
Indeed, Abdulghany demonstrated that on Friday by twice getting up and down for par during a playoff against Do. The first time, she extended the playoff by lofting a pitch from over the green to 4 feet from the cup and sinking the putt. The second time around — also on the par-5 18th hole at GVR — she pitched from sketchy lie just outside the back bunker to 7 feet, and holed that. And when Do three-putted — missing a 6-foot comebacker — the title was Abdulghany’s.
It was the first tournament victory for the native of Malaysia in almost four years as she won her first start as a pro in 2021.
“It feels great, honestly,” Abdulghany said. “There was a drought there for sure — a lot of self-doubt. Four years and not being in the winner’s circle. This is a testament to sticking to the process, sticking to my game, knowing where my strengths and weaknesses are, and trying to improve where I can. This week it really paid off. I’m really happy.”
Abdulghany pitches to the green on the second playoff hole, setting up her winning par putt.
It was the first playoff for the overall CWO title since 2019, when Becca Huffer defeated Yealimi Noh after the latter had taken a quadruple-bogey 9 on the final hole of regulation.
With the victories in the overall tournament and the pro-am competition — combined with her being the CWO low-am in 2020 — Abdulghany has now won all three trophies the Colorado Women’s Open presents to winning competitors. And she joins Erin Houtsma, Paige Mackenzie, Huffer and Jennifer Kupcho as CWO low-ams who have gone on to win the overall Colorado Women’s Open championship.
“It’s great,” Abdulghany said of pulling off the CWO trifecta. “It wasn’t in my head to win all three; it just so happened. But I love coming out here and playing well.”
Abdulghany, who competes mainly on the Epson Tour and Annika Women’s All-Pro Tour, came into the final round two strokes out of the lead. But she went bogey-free for 20 holes on Friday to overtake the players in front of her and overcome Do in the playoff.
Abdulghany, a 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinalist, made five birdies in a six-hole span (holes 7-12) en route to a 5-under-par 67 in the final round. In fact, in finishing at 13 under par (72-64-67), she made only one bogey all week while recording an eagle (from 82 yards on a par-4 Thursday) and 12 birdies.
Brianna Do, who posted a top-10 on the LPGA Tour on Sunday, came up just short of following it up with a victory.
Do (69-67-67) earned $23,000 for her second-place showing. Becca Huffer of Monument, who was bidding for an unprecedented third CWO title, placed third at 11 under, good for a $12,250 payday. Sophie Guo, who led by one going into Friday, took fourth place after closing with a 72.
Huffer led by two strokes at the turn on Friday after posting a 4-under-par front nine. (More on that below.) But Abdulghany took the top spot with her stellar play in the middle of the round combined with bogeys by Huffer on Nos. 10 and 11.
Down the stretch it turned out to be a three-person competition as Do birdied 14 and 16 to tie Abdulghany, and Huffer birdied 14 to sit a stroke behind. After Do and Abdulghany finished at 13 under, Huffer needed a birdie on 18 to join them in a playoff. But she three-putted for bogey after facing a slick 30-footer from the fringe, missing a 10-foot comeback attempt.
In the playoff, while Abdulghany got up and down twice for par, Do missed a 14-foot birdie try the first time around. Then on a similar line on the second extra hole — but about 25 feet away this time — she ran her birdie try 6 feet past and under-read her par attempt, making a bogey and ending the tournament.
“That first putt (on the second extra hole), you could give me a few more putts of those and I might get it within 3 feet; it’s a pretty slippery putt,” Do said. “The greens got pretty fast today. I had a similar putt in regulation — and I hit that past about 6 feet as well. I knew it was fast. I thought I hit it soft enough and it (still) ran by. On the next one, I just didn’t give enough break. I don’t have any regrets; I did what I did and it ended up how it did.”
It could have been a fairytale ending for Do, who on Sunday finished ninth in an LPGA Tour event in Mexico. Had she followed that up with a victory on Sunday …
“There’s a lot of emotions,” said Do, who will play in the LPGA Tour’s ShopRite Classic next week. “I had a good week on the LPGA last week in Mexico. I thought about not coming this week because I was pretty tired. My schedule just totally changed after Mexico. I know Kevin (Laura, CEO of the Colorado Open Championships) pretty well and I wanted to honor the commitment. I came out wanting to play golf — and I played golf. It got me into a playoff. It didn’t end how I wanted it to, but I learned a lot about myself the last two weeks; that’s for sure.”
As for Abdulghany, she claimed the title a year after tying for fourth at the 2024 Colorado Women’s Open. And she won while having her mom caddie for her — at a course she’s come to like very much.
“I know I play well on this course, and it’s about making the most of it,” she said. “My game fits pretty well for this course and I really like the layout.”
Becca Huffer celebrates her chip-in for par on the 12th hole with caddie/brother Zach, with amateur partner Pat Hamill in the background.
As for Huffer, just when the stars seemed to be aligning for her third Colorado Women’s Open title, things turned on a dime.
Part of that was due to Abdulghany’s five birdies in six holes mid-round. But Huffer made the turn on a big roll herself as she drained birdie putts on 5, 6, 8 and 9. As noted, going into the back nine, she led the tournament by two.
But on the par-4 10th, she missed the green slightly and made bogey after mis-reading a 7-foot par try. Then her tee shot on the par-4 11th gathered some mud on the ball. She decided to over-club to compensate, and though her ball found the green, she was left with a long downhill putt. Her ball ran by the cup quite a bit and she faced a tricky par attempt, which she missed. Another bogey.
Water runs up the right side of the par-5 12th, but Huffer can’t remember the last time her tee shot found the H2O. But it did this time. “I’ve done it before, but not recently,” she said.
Facing the prospect of leaking more oil on a hole that yields quite a few birdies, Huffer did gather herself for a little fireworks. Her fourth shot — following re-teeing — ended up several yards short of the green, about 50 feet from the cup. And — you guessed it — she pitched in for a not-so-routine par.
“It was just one of those where you’re like, ‘That’s just golf,’” Huffer said.
A three-putt bogey on No. 11 was part of a tough stretch for Huffer on Friday.
But even with the hole-out, Huffer now trailed by two after leading by two less than an hour earlier. And though she did birdie 14 to get within one, she never did regain a share of the top spot.
The bottom line was a third-place finish to go along with two victories and four second places for Huffer in the Colorado Women’s Open.
“It’s always great to win a tournament, but you have to close it,” she said. “And I just didn’t today. I had a couple of close (birdie tries) that just didn’t go in. It’s just kind of one of those (days).
“But overall I’m pleased with how I played this week.”
For some added consolation, the $12,250 Huffer earned on Friday put her in the top spot in the Colorado Women’s Open career money list. The Denver native now sits at $123,318 earned at the event, with 2022 champion Clariss Guce at $118,800. Guce tied for eighth on Friday.
Former CU golfer Morgan Miller prevailed by one in the amateur competition.
— Soon-to-be-Pro Morgan Miller Claims Low-Amateur Honors: Morgan Miller, who’s played for the University of Colorado women’s golf team for the last three years, still has one year of college eligibility remaining. But she said Friday she plans to turn pro this summer and test herself at a new level.
This week at the Colorado Women’s Open, Miller got some gauge on how her game might stack up. The 2023 CGA Women’s Player of the Year shot three consecutive rounds of 71 and finished at 3 under par, good for 13th place against a field that features some LPGA Tour players and many aspiring ones.
Meanwhile, coming down the stretch run of her amateur career, Miller earned low-am honors at the CWO by one stroke over Colorado State University golfer Kara Kaneshiro (71-71-72) and by two over home-course favorite Emma Bryant of Aurora (72-72-72).
“It feels great to compete with (some of) the best,” said Miller, a two-time winner of the prestigious Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur. “I’m going to turn pro this summer, so it’s good to get a feeling for this before I turn.
“College golf is great, but I felt like I got the most out of it that I can. I feel really good about my game right now. Everything is kind of consistent.”
Miller lines up a birdie putt she made at No. 10 on Friday.
Helping Miller’s cause this week was a change in putters — from a “short, short” one to a broomstick-style. “I feel so comfortable with this,” she said. “My short putter was so inconsistent and this brought in the consistency and made me more confident with my putting.”
Miller, a Texan who is living in Parker this summer (when she isn’t playing tournaments), plans to try to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur before turning pro.
Lauren (Lehigh) Dickey, who grew up in Loveland, earned a top-10 finish on Friday.
— Notable: Besides Huffer, one other player with strong Colorado ties posted a top-10 overall finish on Friday at GVR. Two-time girls state high school individual champion Lauren (Lehigh) Dickey, who grew up in Loveland, tied for 10th place, earning $3,500. Dickey, a quarterfinalist in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur, has played quite a bit lately on the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour. … Three former CWO champions placed in the top 10 on Friday: Huffer (third place), Haylee Harford (fifth) and Guce (eighth).
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