Sam Saunders, a former champ who once shot 60 at the Colorado Open, vaults into lead with 3rd-round 63; 2024 runner-up Jim Knous and former CU golfer Tucker Clark also go low to stay in the hunt
By Gary Baines – 7/26/2025
DENVER — If you weren’t going low on Saturday, you were getting lapped at the Inspirato Colorado Open.
Which worked out very well for Albuquerque-based pro Sam Saunders.
On a moving day that featured 14 scores of 66 or better, Saunders matched the low round on Saturday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club with an 8-under-par 63 that gave him a two-stroke lead going into the final day of the $200,000 tournament.
Considering Saunders shares the record for low Colorado Open round ever at Green Valley Ranch — a 60 in 2018 — and now also has two 63s and two 64s to his credit at GVR, he’s definitely among the masters of the course in northeast Denver.
Not surprisingly, that makes Saunders one of the top performers in the Colorado Open over the last seven years or so. Besides winning in 2019, he finished second in a playoff in 2018 and also posted top-10 showings in 2020 and ’22. And now he holds the 54-hole lead in 2025.
“I’ve played well here a lot,” said the 33-year-old who’s now an assistant coach for the University of New Mexico men’s golf team. “I love this place. I’m going to play it forever. Until they kick me out, I’m playing here.”
On Saturday, Saunders birdied the first three holes — sinking putts of 18, 20 and 6 feet — the spread out five more birdies, including one on the final hole, where he got up and down after hitting his second shot just over the green on the par-5.
“It was fun. I played really good,” Saunders said.
So what makes GVR such a good set-up for Saunders?
“I feel like my distance is perfect out here, for whatever reason,” he said. “Some guys hit it a little further and it makes them in between driver and 3-wood on those drivable holes — or even on 18 off the tee. That helps me. I can hit my stock shot all the time and it’s like the right distance. It just really fits my game well out here. I play well because of that, so it’s been fun.”
Plus, Saunders is a very accomplished player at this level. He’s won the New Mexico Open twice, the San Juan Open twice (including this year), the Utah Open, and he also has a 2021 PGA Tour Canada victory to his credit.
Skyler Finnell, who sits in second place, will try to chase down Saunders.
After rounds of 67-67-63, he owns a 16-under-par total and leads second-place Skyler Finnell of Carmel, Calif., by two, and former PGA Tour player and Colorado School of Mines graduate Jim Knous and former University of Colorado player Tucker Clark by three. Knous, a native of Basalt who’s now a fitting and education engineer at Ping in Phoenix, finished second in a playoff at last year’s Colorado Open, while Clark is making his pro debut this week.
“Only being three back of the lead tomorrow is very exciting,” Knous said. “That’s where I was at last year — three back of (eventual champion Davis Bryant). So I have another crack at it, and I’m very excited for it.”
As for Clark, a 63 on Saturday vaulted him 19 spots up the scoreboard.
“This is my pro debut. So far, so good,” Clark said. “Hopefully, I’ll keep it going tomorrow. It’s been exciting so far — a good week. We have one more day tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll make it an even better week with a win. That would be awesome. Nonetheless, I’ve got a lot to take away from this week with the experience so far. It’s been amazing.”
Whoever prevails on Sunday will walk away with a $50,000 first-place check. That’s half of what it was last year, but still a very large amount by the standards of state and regional opens.
In all, 15 players will go into Sunday either in the lead or within five strokes of it. That includes several players with strong Colorado connections — in addition to Knous and Clark: Bryant, who will need a big-time rally to become the first back-to-back winner of this event since the 1970s; 36-hole leader Chris Korte; and Wyoming State Open winner AJ Ott. All of those three share ninth place at 11 under par, five back of Saunders. Ott shot a 66 on Saturday, Bryant a 68 and Korte a 71.
Overall on Saturday, two players carded 63s, and there were two 64s, three 65s and seven 66s.
“It’s definitely out there,” Finnell said, speaking of low scores. “Guys are good. If you give them pretty good conditions, sunny and it’s hot where the ball is flying, guys are going to find ways to score low even if it’s firm and fast.”
Colorado native Jim Knous, the runner-up last year, fired a 64 on Saturday to move into third place.
One of those guys is Knous, who shot a 61 last year in the third round of the Colorado Open to get himself back in contention. On Saturday, he looked like he was headed for something similar as he was 7 under par through 12 holes.
“I was definitely thinking about (what he did last year in round 3),” Knous said. “61 on Saturday last year was awesome. We were 7 under through 12 (today). I even said, ‘It’s a par-71; to shoot 59 you’ve got to be 12 under. I’ve got to go 5 under the rest of the way.’ That was a quick thought, then back to business.”
Alas, a tee shot into a bunker on the short par-4 14th led to a bogey and Knous had to “settle” for a 64 this time around.
“I stalled out there a little bit,” he said. “But it was a great day and I was very happy about it.”
Ex-CU golfer Tucker Clark fist pumps after closing with a birdie to shoot 63.
As for Clark, he went one lower (63), capping the round with a 15-foot birdie on No. 18. It was one off his career low, and the fact that it came in his first tournament as a pro left him one happy 23-year-old.
“This is a great start to the weekend,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep that rolling tomorrow and make some more birdies.”
Clark has gone bogey-free two straight days. And, actually, his only over-par score of the whole tournament is a triple bogey at hole 4 on Thursday. On Saturday, he estimated he sank seven putts of 10 feet or more.
“It was definitely up there (among his best career rounds) for sure,” he said. “It really didn’t feel like anything too crazy. It was a really good day with the putter. I made a bunch of putts from 10-20 feet, which really helped.”
As for Finnell, the former University of San Diego golfer recorded seven birdies in his round of 65, with his lone bogey coming on the relatively easy par-5 ninth.
“The greens are rolling so true,” the 31-year-old said. “Condition-wise, it’s amazing how they get them out here for a public course.”
Finnell looks forward to trying to rally for a victory on Sunday.
“It’s nice to be chasing,” he said. “It’s just pedal to the metal. I’m going to try to shoot as low a score as I can and hopefully that’s good enough to get it done.”
Defending champion Davis Bryant trails by five going into the final round.
As for Bryant, who is playing his home course (GVR) while pursuing a second straight Colorado Open title, he’ll need something special to emerge as a champion on Sunday, being five behind to start the day.
“I’ve got a chance. I’ll give it my all tomorrow,” he said. But “I certainly need to be more aggressive. Putts have got to get to the hole tomorrow. I’ll try to make a move on the front nine and hopefully give myself a chance on the back.”
The sand was just the beginning of Zahkai Brown’s troubles on the eighth hole on Saturday.
A Fickle Game: Golf giveth and golf taketh away.
On Friday, Zahkai Brown of Golden made an unusual — and very fortunate — birdie on the par-3 13th hole, one-hopping a bunker shot straight into the cup.
On Saturday, on another par-3 at GVR, the 2013 champion was far less lucky. His tee shot on the eighth hole plugged in the front bunker. His sand shot went a little long and trickled over the back edge of the green into a collection area. His pitch shot from there hit the flagstick on the fly, deflected almost straight back toward him and once again trickled off the back edge into the collection area. His ball ended up inches from where he’d just hit his third shot.
The second pitch finished about 5 feet from the hole, and he missed the putt. A very odd triple bogey, indeed.
Brown ended up posting a round of 72 and shares 23rd place at 7 under par overall.
Nick Nosewicz of Aurora leads the amateur competition by one.
Nick Nosewicz Still Leads Amateur Competition, But Things Tighten Up: Two-time CGA Match Play champion Nick Nosewicz had a see-saw round of golf on Saturday that saw him finish at even-par 71. That was just enough for him to retain the lead in the amateur competition as he stands at 7 under par through 54 holes.
Parker Edens, who grew up in Greeley, has been low-amateur each of the past two years, and even though he needed to make a 25-foot birdie on his final hole on Friday to make the cut, he’s very much in contention to make it three low-ams in a row. Edens made six birdies in a round of 67 on Saturday to move within a stroke of Nosewicz.
Tied for third place among the amateurs, at 5 under, are two former University of Colorado golfers, Matt Zions and Pat Grady.
An interested observer met the leaders near the 10th tee on Saturday.
Notable: Pro Franklin Huang of Lafayette, who made the cut on the number at 2 under par through 36 holes, shot a 7-under-par 29 on his first nine holes on Saturday (the back side at GVR). Even with a final nine that included eight pars and one bogey, he posted a 65 and jumped 32 spots up the scoreboard, into 21st place. … For the second time in three days, two-time Colorado Open champion Wil Collins closed out his round with a chip-in birdie on the 18th hole. He’s tied for 16th place at 10 under.
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