“If he just keeps playing like this, he’s going to run away with this thing,” Jhared Hack said to me about our playing partner, Carson Lundell, walking to the 17th tee.
Lundell was a few yards and eight shots ahead of me on the par-5 18th — our ninth of the day — at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Round 2 of the Inspirato Colorado Open. Lundell shot 7-under in the opening round, leaving him two shots off the lead, and was 2-under through eight in the second round. His tee shots couldn’t be caught, his irons never left the flags, and he looked like he’d arm wrestle any golfer to the ground.
We were waiting for the green to clear on a warm Denver morning and talking about the game. Despite being at the top of the leaderboard and having finished third and sixth in the past two Colorado Opens, the professional game had been getting to him.
Lundell and his swing coach worked on changes early in the season and it had been paying off at home. He’d been shooting low scores and making putts in friendly matches, but that game wasn’t traveling to tournaments with him. Mostly, the putts just weren’t falling when it mattered.
Two weeks earlier, the long-hitting 28-year-old Monday qualified into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Blue Championship at TPC Colorado. Despite the course setting up perfectly for him, Lundell missed the cut — like he had last fall when he Monday qualified into the PGA Tour’s Bank of Utah Championship in his home state.
The former BYU Cougar turned pro in 2023. Three years later, he wondered how much longer he could remain patient.
Local reporters talked to him after each round of the Colorado Open. One asked what his greatest golf accomplishment was.
“I didn’t know how to answer,” Lundell says. “It’s been an underwhelming career so far.”
He felt like a few bad swings here and a couple missed putts there had held him back. The pro game can require unreasonable, grinding patience.
“On 18 (at Green Valley Ranch), I was wondering how many tournaments can it be, ‘if i just had of done this okay I would have performed well,’” Lundell said. “It’s a tough sport. Professional golf isn’t easy.”
I told him his game was good enough to compete anywhere. Apparently, it wasn’t reassuring: we both hit our next shot into a penalty area. Another setback, this time minor.
Lundell bounced back with a birdie two holes later. A soaring hybrid to six feet from over 300 yards set up an eagle on the driveable 4th. He shot 3-under 68, entering the weekend one back of the lead.
Starting Round 3, Lundell told himself not to let any previous setbacks limit him. It was time to play to his potential.
"Saturday I was perfect inside of seven or eight feet," Lundell says. "That was huge.”
While he didn’t feel as comfortable over full shots, Lundell knew his putter wouldn’t let him down. He made save after save to post a bogey-free 5-under 67 and take a one-shot advantage into Sunday.
Playing alongside BYU teammate Keanu Akina in the final round helped Lundell feel more comfortable in the 100-degree heat. The third member of the final group, Zander Winston, applied pressure with four birdies on the front nine. Lundell birdied the 11th and Winson doubled the par-5 12th, fading away.
Colorado-native A.J. Ott teed off 45 minutes before the leaders and was charging: five straight birdies to take the clubhouse lead at 19-under. While he didn’t know it, Lundell had a one-shot advantage playing the difficult 15th. With a helping wind, Lundell hit a 4-iron off the tee and caught it high on the face, leaving him 220 yards into a pin tucked into a narrow corner of a firm green. He launched an 8-iron into the thin air, but the ball bounded over the green into a bad lie. An uncomfortable chip left 14 feet for par.
“When I first looked at that putt, I just knew I was going to make it,” Lundell says. “It was like it already went in.”
Lundell was right. The putt dropped.
On the 200-yard par-3 17th, Lundell was feeling the pressure and pulled his tee shot left of the hole. He thought his ball might have caught the green, but it kicked down a hill into a low area of rough. It was a demanding chip with little margin for error. The ball came off his wedge softly and settled to a foot.
The 18th tee on the long par-5 had been moved up 40 yards, and Lundell didn’t know what to hit. The day before, he’d hit a hybrid just short of dangerous cross bunkers about 270 yards from the green. Just get it in the fairway to 280 yards from the green and then figure it out, he thought.
He chose a 4-iron. Because he hit that club high on the face off the 15th tee, Lundell chose not to use a tee at all. With 15 fresh in his mind, he hit the shot frighteningly thin.
“I hit the equator of the ball,” he says. “I was begging for it to get over the long grass in front and go. Fortunately, it reached the fairway and rolled out far enough.”
Lundell decided he’d play boldly for his second and took out a hybrid. A vexing marsh guards the green short and out of bounds looms long. With the pin cut just over a bunker in the back of the green, Lundell wondered whether he’d be able to hold an approach shot on the green if he laid up.
Just as he was about to start his backswing, he backed off, put the hybrid in his bag and grabbed an 8-iron. The conservative play left him 170 yards with a helping wind to a pin tucked over a bunker — the scenario that had caused him to initially choose a hybrid on the previous shot.
With adrenaline surging and wind blowing, Lundell grabbed his gap wedge and flushed it. It was the shot of the day: the ball settled to 15 feet from the hole. Two putts to win.
Sometimes having to two-putt can feel more difficult than being forced to make a putt. It was the longest 15 feet of his life. Lundell cozied the putt close.
On a sweltering Sunday in Denver, Lundell’s wait ended. He pumped his fist as the final putt fell. He reached 20-under par, fending off an accomplished field of pros to capture the $50,000 first-place check.
“I felt relief. More than anything, relief,” Lundell says. “It means everything. I knew I could do it and to have that chance to win was a surreal moment. I proved to myself I could do it. It was really satisfying and really helpful for the mental side.”
There was no time to celebrate and no time to rest. Lundell flew home to Utah on Sunday night, planning to tee it up in the Monday qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship. He had an afternoon tee time and an hour-and-a-half drive to Glen Eagle Golf Course.
Lundell was so exhausted Monday morning that his mom drove so he could sleep. He played the opening nine holes in a lethargic daze, managing to turn in 3-under. Birdies 11 and 12 woke him up.
“That’s when I caught a second wind,” he says. “I thought I had to get to 8-under.”
Standing on the 18th tee, a short par-5, Lundell was 7-under. Like the day before, he played conservatively off the tee and was left with 215 yards to the flag. Like he had the day before, he hit the best shot of the day when it mattered most. The ball again settled to 15 feet.
The Colorado Open winner had played freely and his confidence was surging. Now he felt nervous on the final putt.
The nerves focused him. This time, he didn’t two-putt. The 15-footer dropped for eagle, and Lundell reached 9-under. It turned out he needed the eagle to avoid a five-for-two playoff.
While he’s never played Ogden Golf and Country Club, this week’s Korn Ferry Tour event is an hour and a half from his house. His patience has paid off and Lundell doesn’t have to wonder if he belongs at the next level any longer.
Now he gets to show everyone else.
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