Kenyan golfer Serah Khanyereri set up for a long putt at the Mile High Women’s Open on the Sapphire Golf Tour this weekend.
The crowd stood on the edge of the 18th and final hole of the CommonGround Golf Course, waiting for her swing to potentially win the weekend.
When the ball dropped in the hole, they gave her a large ovation as she made an emotional fist pump into the air.
“The greens were a little tricky at the beginning,” Khanyereri said while holding the crystal trophy after her win. “But thanks to PJ, my caddie, he read my notes really well. So, we went all in, and just like off the tee, no fear, just step up to the ball, commit to it, and let it rip.”
Khanyereri had played in a Pro-Am event a couple of days earlier. She took some notes about the course, which were key to her success.
The golfer has come a long way on her journey to getting her first win as a pro. The native of Nairobi, Kenya, turned professional last November after playing for Raritan Valley Community College in New York and St. Thomas University in Florida.
The professional developmental circuit was founded as a pathway for Black women to reach the highest level in women's golf, the LPGA. Only eight Black women have earned membership on women’s golf's biggest tour throughout its 75-year history. She hoped the Sapphire Golf Tour could create the same opportunity for other Black women golfers.
“It has given me a family, and I feel very appreciated,” Khanyereri said. “When we celebrate this stuff, it's all sisterhood and the community behind it.”
The Sapphire Golf Tour is in its second season. Denver was featured as one of six stops on this year’s tour. Olivia Roper knows the importance of stopping in her hometown.
“It is the best feeling in the world no matter what it is,” said Roper, who competed in her first tournament on the tour. “Just we're making history with it being the first time this has ever been a thing. I'm grateful to be a part of that for sure.”
Opening doors for Black women in the sport
The Sapphire Golf Tour is more than an all-Black women’s tour. It is an initiative of the United Golfers Association, an organization founded in 1925 to help the sport grow among the Black community.
UGA executive director and tour commissioner Tarek DeLavallade founded the tour in Memphis, Tennessee.
“We are looking for allies and people who see the value in who we are and what these women are doing and what we could do to change that because we are creating a pipeline,” DeLavallade said. “We want young girls to see this. We want girls in college to see this and say, ‘I want to be there.’”
Sapphire is not exclusive to where golfers can’t compete in other tournaments. For example, Georgia Oboh plays on the Ladies European Tour. She opted to play in the Ladies Open de France over the weekend and made the cut.
Tour chief operating officer Dani Wilson said that the tour lost money from her not competing in the Mile High Women’s Open. But she considers that a good problem.
“She's not even attending our event today because she made the cut on the big big tournament. So, that is what we hope for,” Wilson said. “In the best way, to hear that you have made the cut in one of the biggest tournaments because you're that good and you've developed here, that's just a huge accomplishment for her and for us, and we couldn't be happier.”
Currently, the Sapphire Tour features players from around the globe and from different backgrounds. Some are holding down jobs, from nursing to Wall Street trading.
Shania Jones juggles being a mother of two and a high school early childhood special education teacher while playing on the tour. The Orlando product describes her life on the tour as 25-hours a day-8-days-a-week. But she knows what kind of opportunities it offers and has enjoyed the reaction in each destination.
“Everywhere we go, we're loved in every state we've been in, every community we are around, they make an impact,” said Jones, who was a two-time SWAC Champion at Alabama State University. “They show us love, they show us how we are supposed to feel in an environment like this.”
The tour allowed Roper to return to the sport after being away for a long period. She was a two-time team captain at Denver East High School, a four-time Colorado state qualifier, a two-time winner of the Denver Public Schools Cup, and the 2018 Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Player of the Year.
Her accolades on the course earned her an athletic scholarship to play for the University of South Dakota. After a brief stint in Vermillion, she returned home and stopped playing. But she missed the game. Then, she heard about the Sapphire Tour coming to town.
“The love of the game, I would say a hundred percent, brought me back to the sport. I was itching and missing golfing so much,” Roper said. “It was honestly everybody, CGA (Colorado Golf Association), everyone at CommonGround, they all know me very well. This is my home course. So, as soon as they heard that Sapphire was coming here, they recommended me for a spot. I ended up looking into it, absolutely loving what they stood for, and it was a no-brainer after that.”
Last weekend’s tournament opened the door for Roper to represent Colorado Black women on a bigger stage. She was one of six golfers on the Sapphire Golf Tour to earn exemptions in the Colorado Women’s Open.
Growing the sport in Denver and Colorado
The tour has made stops in more diverse cities like Memphis, Atlanta, and Jacksonville. But was it a hard sell to bring it to Denver with less of a Black population?
CommonGrounds Golf Course Director of Golf Ben Pennymon will tell you, “Don’t sleep on Denver.”
“Everybody comes through CommonGround Golf Course, and that includes all of the different Black organizations, minority organizations, and women's organizations,” Pennymon said. “And I saw and was like, 'Hey! We have the support to be able to do this.'”
Pennymon first saw the tour on social media and contacted DeLavallade, a friend of 13 years.
The three-day tournament was the main event. But other events made the weekend more special.
About 118 golfers, executives, entrepreneurs, and others participated in the charity pro-am tournament on Friday. That’s 40 more than they’ve had at any other destination.
A women's and youth clinic organized by Culture Club, a Denver-based golf group focused on bringing more minorities into the game, also helped bring a renewed interest in the sport over the weekend.
“I see the vision and I see the change happening not only just with men but with black women too and they realize, oh my God, this can be our sport too,” said Nina Kemp, Culture Club founder. “We can dominate this. We can take over as they should because honestly, Black women are the best and I don't know, I just really believe in them and creating a space for them.”
Debra Ellis played golf throughout high school and hadn’t played the sport for a while. She and her niece, Julia Love, used the Women’s Clinic to get back into the sport.
“I think a lot of women in general just don't think of golf. They just think it's a men's sport,” Ellis said. “And I really hope that more and more women just will get involved in the game of golf in general.”
Love, who played collegiately at Dordt University in Iowa, said the tour could change opinions.
“I think just a lot of people in general don't feel like golf is a super accessible thing. Financially it's really not a very accessible thing,” Love said. “It opens a lot more doors than just athletically. It's a huge networking tool. It's great for business, it's a great opportunity for life in general.”
Koree Pryor brought her 8-year-old daughter Kasana to the youth Saturday’s youth clinic. Even though it was her first time on a course, Pryor knew golf was a sport Black women could do. But there wasn’t much representation growing up in Colorado. The tour and clinic left her inspired to take Kasana to more golfing events.
“Her curiosity has been so peaked since we've been here, which is just a direct indication of how interested she is in the sport,” Pryor said. “We have another golf course nearby where we live. But even talking amongst some of the parents here, they've been able to tell us about some other programs that are offered for youth here in Colorado. So we'll definitely make this a part of our summer plans moving forward.”
Six Sapphire Golf Tour players earn exemptions to Colorado Women’s Open
The Sapphire Golf Tour got a major boost this week when six players earned exemptions to compete in the 2026 Inspirato Colorado Women’s Open. It’s the first time the Sapphire Golf Tour and the tournament had an official partnership for the winner and runner-up of the tour.
Roper was joined by Kegan Dunn, Christyn Smith, Micca Thomas, Georgia Oboh, and Alyiah Williams in the field of 108 players in the tournament.
Pennymon and the Colorado Golf Association approached the tournament about the partnership in January. The tour was given two automatic exemptions and invited others to join the field prior to registration opening in March.
“What we're talking about is an opportunity, and you'd be hard pressed to find any year where you have (at least) four professional black women playing in the Colorado Women's Open,” Pennymon said. “And I'm just thankful for them for supporting our movement and our effort to get these ladies the opportunity to play in that.”
The Colorado Women’s Open is a pro-am format tournament that boasts one of the biggest state open purses in the country. The winner is paid a $200,000 purse and $50,000 in other prizes, which is a U.S. record.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to fix a typo in the headline.
