But this week could very well be the piece de resistance for women’s competitive golf in Colorado for 2012.

Two significant events are on the agenda.

The HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open, with a total purse of $73,000, will be held Wednesday through Friday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver. Then on Sunday, the West Course at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs will host the 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open Sectional Qualifying.

Many of the top female players with strong Colorado ties will compete in both events. That list includes former University of Denver golfer Katie Kempter, who competed on the LPGA Tour in 2010; recent CWGA Players of the Year Becca Huffer (2008) and Somin Lee (2011); and Jessica Wallace (pictured), who just completed her University of Colorado golf career.

Here’s a look at what’s in store in each of this week’s events:

— Colorado Women’s Open: Cindy Figg-Currier, who won a tournament on the LPGA Tour in 1997 and finished third at last year’s Women’s Open, is among the headliners in this year’s field.

Meanwhile, four players who just wrapped up their college careers will be making their pro debuts at Green Valley Ranch: Huffer (Notre Dame), Wallace (CU), Kayla Mortellaro (Idaho) and Brittany Penny (Grand Canyon).

Huffer, a two-time Colorado state high school champion at Littleton, won her first college tournament as a senior at Notre Dame. She finished second in the Colorado Women’s Open as an amateur in 2008 and ninth in 2010.

Wallace spent only her junior and senior seasons at CU after transferring from Pepperdine, but that didn’t keep her from tying the program record for college victories, with two, including one as a senior.

Meanwhile, Mortellaro won an impressive three times as a senior, including her second consecutive Western Athletic Conference championship.

Lee, who just completed her freshman season at Pepperdine, placed sixth in the Colorado Women’s Open last spring. She also finished sixth earlier this month at the NCAA West Regional that was hosted by Colorado National Golf Club in Erie.

Also playing in the Colorado Women’s Open is Anya Sarai Alvarez, who made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open that was held at the Broadmoor last year.

Between the championship and pro-am competitions, the pros will be playing for $64,000 in prize money at the Colorado Women’s Open, while there will be another $9,000 of prizes available for the amateurs.

Last year’s Colorado Women’s Open proved memorable as 2010 PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer caddied for his girlfriend Allison Micheletti, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Jody Conradt made a hole-in-one.

— U.S. Women’s Open Sectional Qualifying: For the third consecutive year, the Broadmoor will host one of the Sectional qualifiers for the most prestigious event in women’s golf, the U.S. Women’s Open. Of course, the Broadmoor’s East Course was the site of the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open itself. But Sunday’s 36-hole qualifier will be held on the West Course.

Besides Kempter, Huffer, Lee and Wallace, among the 76 competitors vying for three spots in the national championship are Alvarez, last year’s qualifying co-medalist at the Broadmoor, and CU golfer Alex Stewart. Stewart, who just completed her sophomore season, is No. 36 in the World Amateur Golf Women’s Rankings.

In all, the USGA received a record 1,364 entries for the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open, which will be played July 5-8 in Kohler, Wis. The Broadmoor is one of 19 sites for Sectional qualifiers this year.

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2012 HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open

When: Wednesday through Friday (May 30-June 1). Tee times Wednesday and Thursday run from 7 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.

Where: Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver (4900 Himalaya Road).

Format: 54 holes of stroke play. Most of the professionals will play with amateur partners, competing simultaneously in the championship and in a best-ball pro-am team event. A cut will be made after round 2.

Purse: $73,000 total — including the pro-am — with $64,000 going to the pros and $9,000 in prizes to the amateurs.

Field: Approximately 116 players for the championship, 150 overall.

LPGA Champion in Field: Among those entered is Cindy Figg-Currier, winner of an LPGA event in 1997 and more than $1.9 million in her LPGA career.

Tee Times: CLICK HERE. 

Fan Information: The tournament is open to spectators free of charge. 

Conference tournaments, the lead-ins to possible NCAA regional meets and cherished berths in the NCAA Championship finals, will be held over the next three weeks for Colorado-based schools. The University of Denver women, and men’s teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference — which includes a couple of nationally ranked Division II programs — will kick things off on Monday (April 16).

The various conference meets feature several notable storylines for local teams. The DU women, for instance, are seeking their ninth consecutive Sun Belt Conference title, and the DU men are looking for their third Sun Belt championship in five years.

Meanwhile, the University of Colorado women, ranked among the top dozen Division I female teams in the nation, will face a formidable test in the Pac-12, arguably the toughest women’s golf conference in the nation. That league meet will set the table for the Buffs hosting the NCAA West Regional May 10-12 at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie. (CU sophomore Alex Stewart, winner of a tournament in late February, is pictured above.)

Here’s a rundown of all the Division I conference championships featuring Colorado teams, plus the RMAC men’s meet, which includes the top local non-Division I programs the state has to offer. (The tournaments are listed in chronological order.)

— Sun Belt Conference Women, April 16-18 in Muscle Shoals, Ala. — Colorado team competing: Denver. … The Pioneers, winners of the last eight Sun Belt championships, are ranked 34th in the nation by the coaches and 44th by Golfstat. … DU’s only top-five team finish of the season was a second in Dick McGuire Invitational in late September. … Denver’s best individual showings of the season are eighths by Kelly Drack and Tonje Daffinrud. Drack is ranked 98th in the nation by Golfweek.

— RMAC Men, April 16-17 in Litchfield Park, Ariz. — Colorado teams competing: Adams State, Colorado Christian, Colorado Mesa, Colorado Mines, Colorado State-Pueblo, Fort Lewis, Regis and CU-Colorado Springs. … Colorado School of Mines, winner of five team titles this season, owns the league’s best stroke average and is ranked 30th nationally in the Division II coaches’ poll. … CU-Colorado Springs, twice a team champion this season, checks in even higher, at No. 21 in the coaches’ rankings. … CSU-Pueblo is the defending conference tournament champion but hasn’t won a team title this season. … Mines senior Jim Knous is the highest-ranked male golfer from a Colorado school — regardless of classification — standing 155th in the country, according to Golfstat. Knous has won three individual titles this season.

— Mountain West Conference Women, April 20-22 in Phoenix — Colorado team competing: Colorado State. … CSU is coming off its best team finish of the season, a runner-up showing at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic. … CSU senior Brianna Espinoza won the individual title at the Cowgirl Classic. … Rams teammate Betsy Kelly was second in 2011 MWC tournament.

— Big Sky Conference Women, April 22-24 in Chandler, Ariz. — Colorado team competing: Northern Colorado. … UNC’s best team finish of the season was a third in October. … The Bears’ top individual finish was also a third, by Carleigh Silvers in the Santa Clara Colby Invitational in late October.

— Sun Belt Conference Men, April 23-25 in Muscle Shoals, Ala. — Colorado team competing: Denver. … The Pioneers will be defending their team title after prevailing in the weather-shortened conference tournament in 2011. … DU’s two third-place team finishes are their best of the season. … Individually, a fifth-place showing by Oskar Arvidsson has been tops by a Pioneer.

— Pac-12 Conference Women, April 27-29 in Pullman, Wash. — Colorado team competing: Colorado. … The Buffs are ranked the highest they’ve ever been nationally, sitting 11th according to the coaches and Golfweek, and 12th in Golfstat. … The Buffs will face one of their biggest challenges of the season as three fellow Pac-12 teams — UCLA, USC and Arizona State — are ranked in the top four in the country. UCLA is the only team in the top 25 to have won more tournaments (five) than CU this season. … The Buffs have claimed a program-record three team titles this season, including back-to-back championships in their last two invitationals. They’ve also been runner-up twice. But CU will be competing in a multi-team event for the first time in a month. … CU’s Stewart and senior Jessica Wallace have posted individual victories this season. … Stewart is ranked as high as 36th nationally among female college players, while Emily Talley is 47th and Wallace 74th.

— Pac-12 Conference Men, April 27-29 in Corvallis, Ore. — Colorado team competing: Colorado. … The Buffs won their first tournament of the season, then tied for first and lost in a playoff in their second meet. CU’s only top-five showing since then came in its last event, the Wyoming Cowboy Classic, where the Buffs placed second. … Junior Beau Schoolcraft has recorded first- and third-place finishes individually this season. … CU was hurt in midseason by the loss of Sebastian Heisele, who turned pro in December. Heisele had one of the team’s top scoring averages in the fall (72.08). … The Buffs face a tall task at their first Pac-12 Championships as six of the top 14 teams in the nation are from the conference, according to Golfstat. CU is currently ranked 72nd.

— America Sky Conference Men, April 30-May 2 in North Stonington, Conn. — Colorado team competing: Northern Colorado. … Earlier this month, UNC had its most impressive performance of the season. The Bears tied for first and lost in playoff to Seton Hall at the Fireline Towson Invitational. UNC freshman Steven Kupcho placed second individually at the Towson Invite. … The Bears finished third at the America Sky Championship in 2011.

— Mountain West Conference Men, May 4-6 in Tucson, Ariz. — Colorado teams competing: Air Force Academy and Colorado State. … CSU senior Mike Wuertz shared the individual title in his last event, the Wyoming Cowboy Classic. Zahkai Brown, Kirby Pettitt and Cameron Harrell have joined Wuertz in posting top-five individual finishes during the course of this season. … CSU’s best team performances of the season have been two third-place showings, both in the fall. The Rams are ranked 64th in the nation, according to Golfstat. … Air Force won the Service Academy Golf Classic in the fall. The Falcons’ Kyle Westmoreland claimed the individual title in the Service Academy Classic. … Both CSU and Air Force will compete in the Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah April 27-28 before playing in the conference tournament.
 

On Monday, the sophomore turned 20 years old. And, as a surprise, her mom, dad and two sisters traveled to New Orleans to celebrate the big day, which fell during the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate tournament. And to cap things off, Stewart came up with a little surprise of her own, winning a college event for the first time — and against one of the best women’s fields of the season.

“That was pretty awesome,” Stewart said in a phone interview with COgolf.org. “The tournament had such a good field. I guess that was one of the best tournaments to do it in.”

That Stewart had the right stuff wasn’t any major surprise, though. After all, she ranks No. 7 among all the world’s women’s amateurs, according to amateurgolf.com. Still, she proved she’s worthy by beating many of college golf’s top women’s players in posting the victory in the Big Easy.

Among those in the Sugar Bowl field were six of the top 20 women’s college golfers in the nation, according to Golfweek, including No. 1-ranked Lindy Duncan of Duke.

Stewart, who’s in her first season at CU after transferring from NCAA runner-up Purdue, played her last 11 holes in 5 under par and shot a 67. That was enough for her to overcome an eight-stroke deficit on the final day and win by one. (Stewart is pictured above in a photo taken by Tulane University officials.)

It was just the sixth college individual title ever won by a CU women’s player, and coach Anne Kelly said it was the best field a Buff player has ever won against.

“Alex is a great player, and she was a great player when she got here,” Kelly said. “She came back for the spring season ready to play, and (assistant coach Brent Franklin) and I said she was right on the verge. She was in the zone and broke through, which was very exciting to see.”

But Stewart admits she had “no idea” where she stood on the leaderboard coming down the stretch.

“As a player you don’t quite know how you’re doing unless you ask your coach or someone,” Kelly noted. “I was just trying to stay out of her way. When she got off the 18th green I said, ‘Alex, I think you just won.’ And a big smile came across her face.”

Stewart’s performance helped the Buffs beat three of the top four teams in the nation and finish second in the tournament, behind only Duke. That showing helped moved CU up to No. 14 in the most recent Golfstat rankings — the highest in the history of the program.

“That was a real confidence booster for everyone on the team,” Stewart said.

Stewart’s presence has helped take CU from being a strong team to one that can compete effectively with just about any opponent in the country. Stewart joins seniors Emily Talley and Jessica Wallace in leading a CU team that hopes to qualify for the NCAA Championship finals for the first time ever.

Stewart joining the Buffs marked the second very fortuitous addition to the CU roster via transfer in recent years.  Wallace transferred to CU from Pepperdine in 2010 after finishing 21st individually in the NCAA Championships. Then Stewart made a similar decision, leaving 2011 NCAA runner-up Purdue to become a Buff.

Stewart grew up in Elk Grove, near Sacramento, Calif., before moving to Arizona when she was 17. She was homeschooled and didn’t play high school golf, but was a very highly recruited golfer by virtue of her performance on the AJGA circuit and in other competition. The 2009 U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team member committed early to Purdue, a team that would go on to win the 2010 NCAA title.

Stewart said she considered CU “a little” during the recruiting process, but wanted to go to a higher-ranked program. And though she played seven tournaments last season for Purdue, she opted to transfer.

“It wasn’t the right fit,” she said of the Boilermakers. “And it was far from home, and I wanted to transfer somewhere closer.”

But there are a lot of quality women’s teams in the western U.S. What made her choose CU?

She said the decision was mainly based on conversations she had with Talley and Wallace, who Stewart knew from junior golf.

“They had a lot of good things to say” about CU, Stewart said. “And I knew I could trust their opinion.”

So after asking Wallace — via Facebook — about the transfer process, Stewart switched to CU, with the move being announced less than two weeks after the 2011 NCAA Championships, in which Stewart didn’t compete for Purdue.

And what Stewart did during tournaments last summer only made Kelly and the Buffs more optimistic about their prospects for this season. Stewart finished second in the prestigious Women’s Trans-National and third in the Canadian Women’s Amateur. 

In addition to posting three top-10 individual finishes this season for CU, Stewart had very strong performances at tournaments outside of college in January. She placed fourth in the South Atlantic Amateur and went to the semifinals of the Jones-Doherty Women’s Amateur.

“I watched her as a junior (player) and I was impressed then, and she gets better and better,” Kelly said. “She’s a hard worker and is dedicated to becoming the best player she can be. She has the ability to take it to the LPGA Tour if that’s what she wants.”

And Stewart does want to be a professional tour player. But in the meantime, she has some big aspirations for the remainder of her college career.

“My goal is to play in nationals and win as an individual and as a team,” she said.
 

The head coach and her players are set to embark on the spring portion of their schedule, which begins Sunday at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. And a perfect convergence of events could make it the most memorable semester in the 18 years the CU women’s program has existed.

What’s in store for the Buffs?

First, a 5,700-square-foot indoor practice facility, complete with five heated hitting bays, is tentatively scheduled to open later this month at Colorado National Golf Club, the Buffs’ home course in Erie. The CU women will share the George Boedecker Jr. Golf Practice Facility with the Buff men.

Second, the CU women will be the host team when an NCAA Championship tournament is played in Colorado for the first time ever. The women’s NCAA West Regional is scheduled for May 10-12 at Colorado National.

Third, in a matter of ideal timing for the Buffs, Kelly believes she has the best team in the history of the CU women’s program. After a fall schedule in which the Buffs posted one team victory, they’re ranked 20th in the nation by Golfweek, 23rd by Golfstat and 24th by the coaches.

“It’s a very exciting semester,” said Kelly, CU’s women’s head coach since 1997. “To see this all come true — getting the golf course a couple of years ago, the (practice) facility about to be completed, and hosting this big tournament — it’s great for CU golf, but it’s also great for women’s golf in general.”

If ever there was a semester where the Buffs can make inroads nationally, it’s this one. They have two seniors (Emily Talley, pictured, and Jessica Wallace) who were first-team All-Big 12 Conference players last season. And sophomore Alex Stewart, a transfer from Purdue, is currently the No. 7-ranked women’s amateur in the world, according to Golfweek/amateurgolf.com.

Last month, Stewart was a contender in two prestigious women’s amateur tournaments in Florida, finishing fourth in the South Atlantic Amateur and making it to the match play semifinals of the Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur. Last year, Stewart was runner-up in the Women’s Trans National.

“Quite honestly, this is probably the best team that’s been here (at CU) so far,” Kelly said. “They’re committed to the team and to their games. They’d like nothing more than to see the team go as far as it can. To have players like that is pretty nice. All of them are excited to play an (NCAA) regional at our home course.”

In addition to Wallace, Talley and Stewart, the Coleman twins — sophomores Jenny and Kristin — make up CU’s normal travel squad.

Twenty-four teams will qualify for the women’s NCAA West Regional, one of three regional tournaments overall. If other Colorado-based teams earn regional berths, they’ll also play at Colorado National in May. Given how highly it’s ranked, CU shouldn’t have a problem earning a regional berth. But the Buffs have bigger things in mind, namely gaining a spot in the NCAA Finals.

The Buffs have qualified for NCAA regionals twice, but have never made it to the Finals.

“Our goal is not to make it to regionals, but to make it to the Championship (finals),” Kelly said. “We definitely have talented players that are capable of that.”

While CU has high expectations given the significant stakes this semester, Kelly has been careful to keep things on an even keel for her team.

“Any extra pressure in golf is not beneficial,” she said. “If we keep doing what we’re doing and play the way we’re capable, I think we’ll be fine.

“I have high hopes and I know what kind of players they are. We have depth and are committed. But golf is such a fickle game. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself. You play your best golf when you stay in the present.”

This will be the second consecutive May that Colorado National has hosted an NCAA regional. Last year, a men’s regional was held there, though the host CU men’s team didn’t qualify. Colorado State not only made it in, but advanced to the NCAA Finals.