2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball: Everything to Know After the Quarterfinals

Tournament hub: 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Coverage · prior: After the Round of 32 · see also: U.S. Amateur · Desert Mountain Club

The 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball will be decided Wednesday between four sides no one was talking about a week ago. The highest seed remaining is the No. 8. The lowest is the No. 29. Every storyline favorite is gone.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Two full rounds of match play at Desert Mountain’s Cochise course Tuesday eliminated every contender who walked into the week wearing a target. Defending champion Tyler Mawhinney fell to Welsh duo Jonathan Bale and Tomi Bowen in the Round of 16. Twice runners-up and hometown favorites Drew Kittleson and Drew Stoltz lost in 19 holes to Lawrence Allan and Grady Brame Jr., who then took out the senior side Bryan Hoops and Jeremy Defalco 4-and-3 in the quarterfinals. Two-time champions Chad Wilfong and Davis Womble were already gone Monday. The medalists, the 2025 runners-up, the 2024 champions — all out before the semis.

What’s left is a final four that reads like a regional qualifier bracket: Alpharetta, Georgia brothers Craig Long II and William Long (No. 8 seed, alternates who got the call eleven days ago), Cave Creek/Dallas brothers Cody and Bobby Massa (No. 11 seed, the last Arizona side standing), Lawrence Allan and Grady Brame Jr. (No. 18 seed, the Southeastern Louisiana University teammates who went 19 holes to beat Kittleson/Stoltz and then dispatched the senior side 4-and-3 in the same day), and Wales’ Jonathan Bale and Tomi Bowen (No. 29 seed, 4-0 across the 4, 20, and 12 seeds in three rounds of match play and now 24-under-par in cumulative match-play scoring).

Semifinals begin Wednesday at 7 a.m. MST. The 18-hole championship match tees off at 1 p.m. By sundown, two players you have never heard of will be U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champions.

Quarterfinal action at Desert Mountain’s Cochise course, where the Massa brothers, Long brothers, Allan/Brame, and Bale/Bowen advanced to the semifinals of the 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. PHOTO · EAKIN HOWARD / USGA

Quarterfinal Results

Winners advance to Wednesday’s semifinals at Cochise

Round of 16 Results: Where the Bracket Broke

The R16 played at sunrise Tuesday; QFs followed at 1 p.m.

Full bracket at USGA.org →

Five Stories Heading into Wednesday

Wednesday’s Semifinal Bracket

SF1 tees off 7:00 a.m. MST · SF2 at 7:20 a.m. · Championship match 1 p.m.

All four sides advanced through match play undefeated. None has previously held a USGA championship trophy. The Wednesday afternoon champion will be a first-time U.S. Amateur Four-Ball winner.

What Wednesday’s Champions Will Earn

The Wednesday afternoon winners receive a gold medal, a 10-year exemption back into the championship, and exemptions for each member of the winning side into the 2026 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club — one of the hardest tickets in the amateur game — plus U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Mid-Amateur, and U.S. Senior Amateur exemptions if age-eligible. The four sides eliminated in Tuesday’s quarterfinals also earned a consolation prize: an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Erin Hills, in Erin, Wis. (May 22-27, 2027), provided the side remains intact.

Sides Eliminated Tuesday of Note

• (2) Drew Kittleson / Drew Stoltz — Scottsdale, twice runners-up at this championship, lost in 19 holes to Allan/Brame in the Round of 16. The hometown story of the week ends.
• (3) Zach Healy / Jack Larkin Jr. — Atlanta, Georgia alums, with Jack Larkin Sr. (1979 U.S. Junior Amateur champion) on the bag. Beat 2024 champions Blanchard/Engel in the R16, then lost 3-and-2 to the Massa brothers in the QF.
• (7) Bryan Hoops / Jeremy Defalco — the oldest side in the field, ages 57 and 53. Lost 4-and-3 to Allan/Brame in the quarterfinals, one match shy of becoming the first senior pair to reach a U.S. Amateur Four-Ball semifinal in eleven editions of the championship.
• (9) Evan Beck / Dan Walters — 2025 runners-up, with Beck holding the 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur title. Eliminated by the Long brothers in 19 holes in the Round of 16.
• (14) Brian Blanchard / Sam Engel — 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champions, Scottsdale. Eliminated by Healy/Larkin in the R16, 2-and-1.
• (20) Luke Colton / Tyler Mawhinney — the defending champion with new partner. Eliminated by Wales’ Bale/Bowen 3-and-2 in the R16, ending Mawhinney’s bid to become the first back-to-back champion in championship history.
• (32) Jacob Beckman / Charlie Erlandson — the Wisconsin teammates who chip-shot their way into the playoff Sunday, won it Monday morning, took out the medalists Monday afternoon, and snapped a driver mid-round. Lost to the Long brothers 3-and-2 in the QF. The most unlikely four-day run of the championship.

Notable

• The 16th hole was set up drivable Tuesday. The USGA moved the tee up to make the par 4 reachable at 293 yards — a clear short-par-4 risk-reward decision that paid dividends across multiple Tuesday matches.
• Six matches have gone extra holes this week. That puts the 2026 championship within striking distance of the championship record of eight, set in 2021 at Chambers Bay.
• Bale is a Royal Porthcawl member. Wales’ classic links course hosted the 1995 Walker Cup Match (Tiger Woods on the USA Team), the 2025 AIG Women’s Open, and will host the 2026 British Senior Open. Bowen, by contrast, is playing desert golf for the first time this week. As he put it: “As long as you keep it on the grass the fairways are great, greens are great.”
• Mawhinney’s former partner is leading an NCAA Regional. Will Hartman, the Vanderbilt sophomore who won the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball with Mawhinney at Plainfield, holds a three-stroke lead going into Wednesday’s final round of the NCAA Athens Regional — in a field that includes world No. 1 amateur Jackson Koivun.
• The Arizona contingent: from 16 to 1. Sixteen Arizonans entered Desert Mountain in the field. Five of the six players eliminated Tuesday were Scottsdale residents: Kittleson, Stoltz, Hoops (Scottsdale-tied), Blanchard, and Engel. The Massa brothers’ Cody (Cave Creek) is the last man with Arizona ties still playing.

About the 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball

The 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Desert Mountain Club is the 11th edition of the championship and the first USGA event held at Desert Mountain since the 1999 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The field of 128 sides was cut to 32 after two rounds of stroke play across Cochise (Par 71, 7,042 yards) and Outlaw (Par 72, 7,090 yards). All match play this week is contested at Cochise.

For tournament background, full bracket, daily coverage, and complete history, see our 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Coverage Hub →