Coloradan Luke Cushman scores first college golf individual victory, leading Boise State to team title as DU places 2nd
By Gary Baines – 4/8/2025
Luke Cushman from Castle Rock has been knocking at the door. On Tuesday, he broke through.
The Boise State sophomore, a graduate of Castle View High School, scored his first college individual victory as he prevailed by one stroke out of a field of 60 players in the UC Santa Barbara’s Gaucho Invitational in Goleta, Calif.
Cushman went 70-67-70 for a 9-under-par total, which was good enough to hold off Boise State teammate Cole Rueck as the Broncos posted a 21-stroke victory over the runner-up University of Denver squad in the team competition.
Cushman ended up with 14 birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey over the three rounds.
It was a big victory for Cushman, who has come close to notable titles quite a few times in his career. Previously this season at the college level, he has posted third- and eighth-place finishes. In Colorado, he was a quarterfinalist in both the 2024 CGA Match Play and the 2023 CGA State Junior; runner-up in the 2021 AJGA Colorado Springs Junior by Centura Health; and he placed third at the 5A state high school tournament in 2021. He also advanced to the final qualifying for the U.S. Open in 2022, the same year he played in the U.S. Junior Amateur.
But Cushman wasn’t the only Boise State player from Colorado to finish in the top 10 on Tuesday. Freshman Reese Knox of Peyton — a graduate of Falcon High School who was the 4A state high school runner-up in 2021 and placed fifth at the CGA Amateur last year — finished 10th at the Gaucho, marking his best showing as a college golfer. He posted scores of 69-71-75 for 1-under total.
Meanwhile, the DU men notched a runner-up team finish out of 11 teams — their best of the season. Jack Dozer (10th place, 1 under, after rounds of 73-74-68) led the way for the Pioneers.
For all the scores from Gaucho Intercollegiate, 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