13-time LPGA Tour winner Liselotte Neumann headlines field for CoBank Colorado Women’s Open; 8 of top 13 finishers from last year’s tournament are competing in U.S. Women’s Open this week
By Gary Baines – 6/1/2021
Today (June 1) is Women’s Golf Day, so it’s fitting that arguably the most prestigious women’s golf tournament of 2021 in Colorado — the CoBank Colorado Women’s Open — is likewise taking place this week.
But, for those paying close attention, you might notice that many of the big-time names who played in the 2020 Colorado Women’s Open are competing in another Women’s Open this week. That would be the biggest event in women’s golf, the U.S. Women’s Open, which starts Thursday at Olympic Club in San Francisco.
In fact, of the top 13 finishers in last year’s Colorado Women’s Open, a remarkable eight are in the field for this U.S. Women’s Open: Colorado native Jennifer Kupcho (who made the 2020 CWO her first professional victory); 2020 CWO runner-up Carlota Ciganda; Kim Kaufman; former University of Colorado golfer Jenny Coleman; Kathleen Scavo; Sophia Popov; Allie White; and Louise Stahle. That group includes three of the top 30 ranked women’s golfers in the world: Popov (16th), Kupcho (21st) and Ciganda (29th).
That shows what a unique year 2020 was for the Colorado Women’s Open as it attracted very possibly its best field ever in large part because the LPGA and Symetra Tour events were shut down for the entire spring and early summer of last year due to Covid-19 safety concerns. That left top players who were eager to compete with the option of doing so at the CWO, which features a $50,000 first prize.
With this week’s scheduling conflict with the U.S. Women’s Open, things are much different — though the Symetra Tour doesn’t have an event opposite the CWO, which helps.
The bottom line is that the field for the 2021 Colorado Women’s Open, which runs Wednesday through Friday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northwest Denver, will look more like what it has in the few years prior to 2020. This week’s CWO will have one marquee name teeing it up along with many good up-and-coming players and quite a few of Colorado’s best female golfers.
The headliner, as ColoradoGolf.org reported early last month, is Liselotte Neumann, whose 13 career LPGA Tour victories include the 1988 U.S. Women’s Open. Neumann, also a winner of 10 Ladies European Tour events, wasthe captain of the first European team to win the Solheim Cup on U.S. soil. That victory happened to come at Colorado Golf Club in 2013.
The 55-year-old Neumann’s last individual LPGA Tour win came in 2004. She’s scheduled to tee off at 12:15 p.m. off No. 1 on Wednesday, and at 7:10 a.m. off No. 10 on Thursday.
Others competing at Green Valley Ranch this week are two-time CWO champion Becca Huffer of Monument; two-time U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Robyn Choi, a former CU golfer; one-time CWO champion and former LPGA regular Kendall Dye; and former Buff and 2005 CWO winner Erin Houtsma.
Spectators are welcome this week, and admission and parking are free. As usual, a pro-am competition will be held in conjunction with the event, similar to the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.
For Wednesday and Thursday tee times for the $150,000 Colorado Women’s Open, CLICK HERE.