Colorado native Jim Knous soars to victory in Colorado Open with 69-yard hole-out for eagle in playoff; his 62 in regulation is lowest final round by champ in tourney history; Charlie Tucker takes low-am honors
By Gary Baines – 7/27/2025
DENVER — The Inspirato Colorado Open has been around for 61 years, and the 2025 edition will certainly go down as one of the most memorable of the bunch.
Let’s count the reasons:
— Considering where the tournament is held, a golfer who grew up in Colorado won — Jim Knous, who was born in Basalt and grew up there, graduated from the Colorado School of Mines and lived in the Centennial State until taking a job with Phoenix-based Ping in recent years. Winners with strong Colorado ties are certainly the exception rather than the rule these days. In the last 11 Colorado Opens before this year’s, just two “locals” had won — Davis Bryant of Aurora (2024) and part-time Boulder resident Jonathan Kaye (2017).
— As far as drama goes, Sunday’s finish at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club rated a 10. A year after losing in a Colorado Open playoff to Bryant, Knous got redemption in a spectacular way, ending a four-hole sudden-death playoff very — well — suddenly. The 35-year-old holed out for eagle from 69 yards on his fifth time playing the 18th hole on Sunday (including regulation). His ball bounced once and went straight into the cup, leading to a big cheer from the assembled gallery.
— Playoffs always add a little something to the proceedings. Since 2008 there have been only three sudden deaths, and two have come in the last two years. The other, oddly, had Sam Saunders of Albuquerque as the playoff loser — the same player who lost to Knous on Sunday.
— And, to add to it all, Knous — well known for his spectacularly low rounds on the golf course — followed up a third-round 64 with a 9-under-par 62 in regulation on Sunday. That’s the lowest final round by a Colorado Open champion in history — by two strokes, in fact.
Knous shows off his trophy to family and friends on Sunday.
You get the idea. This was no run-of-the-mill Colorado Open.
“This has been one (tournament) I’ve always wanted to win,” said Knous, who played in 45 events in his PGA Tour career before becoming a fitting and performance engineer at Ping. “To do it in a fashion like that with a walk-off eagle, one-hop (in the hole) in was pretty incredible.”
Indeed, though Knous has long been a very accomplished player, he called Sunday’s victory the biggest of his career “for sure.” And it came with a $50,000 first prize to boot.
“I won the San Juan Open two years in a row. That was big for me as well,” he said. “But I don’t think there’s any bigger in my history than this one.”
Knous reacts to a birdie on his final hole of regulation.
Knous had to sink several clutch putts down the stretch to keep himself in the running for the title. In regulation, he birdied his first three holes — and a whopping 10 in all — to overcome the three-stroke deficit he had coming into the day.
He closed his round with 5-foot par save on 17 and an 8-foot birdie on 18. Then, after Saunders likewise birdied the 18th in the group behind (via a two-putt on the par-5), Knous lipped in a 6-foot par putt on the second playoff hole (No. 18 at GVR was the only one used for the playoff). And Knous drained a 6-foot bogey putt on the third extra hole after both players hit their second shots into the cattail-filled penalty area.
Then there were no putts needed on the fourth playoff go-around thanks to Knous’ wizardry with his wedge.
“Obviously I’m disappointed that I didn’t win, but if you have to lose, that’s the way you’d like it to be — to a shot like that,” said Saunders, the 2019 Colorado Open champion and two-time runner-up in playoffs.
Colorado School of Mines golf coach — and Knous’ caddie at GVR — Tyler Kimble celebrates a birdie on the eighth hole Sunday.
Regarding that shot, Knous said his caddie — and Colorado School of Mines coach — Tyler Kimble planted a seed in his mind that helped the cause.
He “said ‘Stay down through this one (and) keep the (clubhead) speed up’ — which I think is really good advice,” Knous noted. “… I caught it just how I wanted. (It was) definitely one of the top shots of my career. I was shocked that it went in. I knew it was going to be good when I hit it. When everybody started going crazy, I was in shock.”
Not counting the playoff, Knous played his final two rounds at GVR in a remarkable 16 under par, making 18 birdies and two bogeys on the weekend.
Runner-up Sam Saunders tries to will in a putt on the 18th green during Sunday’s playoff.
Super-low rounds are not at all unusual for Knous. Just in Colorado, for instance, he’s fired a 10-under-par 60 in the final round of the 2010 CGA Amateur at Boulder Country Club to force a playoff with Wyndham Clark, who in 2023 won the U.S. Open. A year later, Knous carded a 63 during U.S. Amateur qualifying at Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club. And at the Colorado Open, he’s posted a 61 and two 62s.
Kimble, who coached Knous at Mines, knows all to well what “Jimmy Hard K” is capable of. So even though Knous came into Sunday three out of the lead, everyone knew to keep an eye on him.
“Me and Tyler kind of talked about that after the third round,” Knous said. “He said, ‘Everybody in that final group is going to say, ‘Jimmy might be coming. He might be right there.’ We kind of always had that in our head. If I go out and shoot a good round, it puts a little pressure on those (leading) guys.
“It was a similar thing last year with Davis. I like that kind of chasing feeling, putting the pedal down. Obviously birdieing the first three holes was an ideal start today. You can’t script it any better than that.”
Saunders has played enough with Knous that he was not taken by surprise when the former Mines golfer started surging.
“I knew Jim was probably going to play good today. He always does; he’s a great player,” Saunders said. We’ve played quite a lot together. He’s a great person and a great competitor.
“I played great, Jim played great too, so it was great. But playoffs are the best thing about golf, honestly. It’s so much fun to be in the heat of battle. I loved it. It was fun.”
Knous and Saunders (who lost despite a final-round 65) finished at 22 under par as most of Sunday turned into a two-player battle.
AJ Ott of Lakewood (right) tied for third on Sunday, marking his second straight top-10 in the Colorado Open. His former CSU teammate, Davis Bryant (left) finished 11th in his title defense.
AJ Ott of Lakewood, the former Colorado State University golfer who won the Wyoming State Open earlier this month, matched Saunders’ 65 and earned a third-place tie with Carson Lundell of Alpine, Utah, and Josh Anderson of Scottsdale, Ariz., with each earning $10,333. They ended up five back of Knous and Saunders.
It was the second straight top-10 finish in the Colorado Open for Ott, who placed ninth a year ago.
“It was very fun competing at home this weekend,” Ott said. “The Colorado Open is always the best event. (Tournament director) Julie Bryant and everyone at GVR do their best to make it feel like a tour event.”
Among those just missing out on a top-10 Sunday’s was Ott’s former CSU teammate, Bryant, the 2024 champion. He shot four rounds in the 60s (67-67-68-69) but ended up 11th, nine strokes behind Knous and Saunders.
Bryant, who has two recent top-10 showings on the DP World Tour, will return to Europe this coming week — specifically Scotland — and begin a long stretch of DPWT tournaments.
As for Knous, given how strong a player he’s been for many years, no one should be surprised that he now has a Colorado Open title under his belt. But Knous himself didn’t know if it was in the cards.
“I was never sure if I was going to win this tournament just because there’s so many good players that play here,” he said. “I had to play extremely well this weekend to beat Sam, being the incredible competitor that he is. It took all that I had — let’s just say that.”
In the end, Knous loved having to drain many a pressure putt to have a chance to win the Open.
“I always relish the opportunity to have putts that matter,” he said. “That’s a big thing for me. I kind of get up for those moments. I don’t putt with doubt; I putt with conviction, knowing I practice a lot for those situations.”
Knous blasts out of a bunker on the 18th hole during the playoff.
And winning a sudden-death playoff in the Colorado Open after losing one the year before was pure redemption for Knous.
“It’s really weird to be in a playoff two years in a row,” he said. “The doubts kind of creep into your mind: Am I going to finish runner-up here two years in a row? That would kind of stink.
“Just to be in the playoff — just to shoot 9-under 62 — was incredible. I knew Sam was going to play well, so I had to bring my ‘A’ game.”
Charlie Tucker was all smiles after closing with two straight birdies on Sunday.
Charlie Tucker Finishes Strong for Low-Am Honors: Charlie Tucker of Castle Pines made his first Colorado Open a memorable one.
The 19-year-old Colorado State University golfer birdied his final two holes to overtake former European Tour player Matt Zions and claim low-amateur honors on Sunday.
Tucker, winner of the CGA State Junior and the 5A state high school individual title in 2023, sank a 12-foot birdie putt on his 17th hole and two-putted for birdie on his 18th after hitting a stellar hybrid into the par-5 from 289 yards.
Being the Colorado Open low amateur “is pretty cool. I just (came into the week) wanting to make the cut and see how things went on the weekend,” he said. “Low-am is icing on the cake for sure. It means a lot. Connor (Jones, a former CSU standout) got it a couple of years ago. A lot of good players have gotten it.”
Tucker with his Colorado Open low-am trophy.
Tucker made eight birdies on Sunday and shot a 66, which left him with a four-day total of 8 under par.
“I hit it pretty good all week,” he said. “I didn’t get myself out of play at all.”
Zions, a former CGA Mid-Amateur champion, finished a stroke behind Tucker, with fellow former University of Colorado golfer Pat Grady placing third among amateurs.
Parker Edens, the South Dakota State men’s golf head coach who grew up in Greeley, saw his run of consecutive Colorado Open low-ams end at two as he closed with a 74 and finished at 3 under par, five back of Tucker.
Kirchner Award winner Duffy Solich (right) with Colorado Open Golf Foundation CEO Kevin Laura.
Duffy Solich, General Chairman of 2024 BMW Championship, Honored with Kirchner Award: The 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club, the first PGA Tour event held in Colorado in a decade, was a success on many levels.
The tournament drew more than 138,000 fans for the week; it raised a record-setting $10.2 million for the Evans Scholars Foundation, which funds scholarships for youth caddies; and it was named the PGA Tour Tournament of the Year for 2024.
So it’s only fitting that 2024 BMW Championship general chairman Duffy Solich and the team that made the tournament run like clockwork receive accolades. One of those came on Sunday, when Solich earned the Robert M. Kirchner Award, which goes to individuals who have greatly contributed to golf in Colorado.
“I’m very proud of what we accomplished and how successful the tournament was, but if there was ever an award that belonged to so many — and not one individual — it would be this award,” said Solich, an Evans Scholar alum who was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame last year. “It’s difficult to explain how many different people from so many different groups came together under the direction and management of the Western Golf Association and our executive committee and put on a world-class event that made all of Colorado proud.
“I’m honored to accept this award on behalf of all those folks. It was a great team effort.”
Solich called being the general chairman of the BMW Championship “one of the greatest thrills of my life.”
Kirchner founded the Colorado Open and is a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2019. Past winners of the Kirchner Award including such golf luminaries as Judy Bell, Jack Vickers, Pat Hamill, Ed Mate, Myron Craig, Les Fowler, Joan Birkland and Kent Moore.
Duffy’s younger brother George, who as chairman and president of Castle Pines Golf Club also greatly helped the 2024 BMW Championship become a success, received the Kirchner Award in 2015, the year after he served as general chairman of the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Notable: Four-time PGA Tour winner Sean O’Hair (69-68-71-69) finished at 7 under par and in 30th place on Sunday. … With a sixth-place tie and a $7,000 payday on Sunday, two-time Colorado Open champion Wil Collins of Albuquerque remains the all-time money leader in the event, now with $172,635.
For all the scores from the Colorado 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