John Derrick of Waco, Texas, won the Senior Division of the 2026 Ojai Senior Cup on Sunday at Soule Park Golf Course. He closed with a 4-under 68 for a 7-under 209 total (69-72-68) and won by one shot. In the Super Senior Division, defending champion John Pate of Santa Barbara led wire to wire and won by five at 3-under 213 (69-70-74).
The Senior title came down to one hole, two players and a two-shot swing. Derrick came to the par-5 18th one stroke behind Bob LeDoux of Anderson, California, who was playing in the group behind him. Derrick made birdie. LeDoux made bogey. LeDoux finished second at 6-under 210, and Daniel Sullivan of Pasadena and 36-hole leader Edward Fryatt of Las Vegas tied for third at 4-under 212.
Two-shot swing at the last
Derrick didn't have the 18th set up the way he wanted. Forced to lay up, he was left with 80 yards for his third shot, and he knew he was one stroke behind LeDoux. He hit it to 5 feet and holed the putt to tie for the lead at 7-under.
"I couldn't really get home on 18, and I hit my wedge really good," Derrick said. "When I hit it in there close, I'm like, you know, just knock it in. And I was lucky to do it."
At that moment LeDoux was back in the left rough, 220 yards from the green. With a penalty area snaking down the left side of the hole, he played his second out to the right, about 50 yards from the pin. His third came up short in the rough. He chipped down the slope to 6 feet, which left him a putt to force a playoff, and missed it.
LeDoux had led most of the back nine. He bogeyed the second but then birdied five of the next nine holes, the fifth, seventh, ninth, 10th and 11th, and reached 8-under, two clear of Derrick and Fryatt. He didn't make another birdie. A bogey at the 13th cut his lead to one, and he parred his way to the 18th still one ahead. The first-round leader, who opened with a 67, signed for a 70.
How Derrick got there
Derrick started Sunday alone in fourth at 3-under, three behind Fryatt and one behind LeDoux and Trae Cassell. He had finished in the top 10 at last year's championship, but a 72 on Saturday, with four bogeys, left him with ground to make up. He went off at 10 a.m. with Matt Petersen and Mark Sanchez, 10 minutes ahead of the final group of Fryatt, LeDoux and Cassell.
He birdied the second and ninth holes to turn in 2-under 34, then birdied the par-5 11th to reach 6-under. A birdie 2 at the par-3 16th took him to 7-under and briefly level with LeDoux. Then came his only bogey of the day at the 17th. It cost him the share of the lead and meant he needed a birdie at the last just to tie. He got it.
The finish echoed 2023, when Greg Sato also came from three back and birdied the final hole to win at 7-under.
For Derrick, the win came in his fifth trip to Ojai. He and his wife make the trip from Texas every year.
"This is one of my favorite events," he said. "I've had some good success here, but this was my year, I guess, and I'm just really happy to win."
Asked whether he'd be back next year to defend, he answered with one word: "Absolutely."
Fryatt's two doubles
Fryatt began Sunday at 6-under after rounds of 68 and 70, two clear of LeDoux and Cassell, his playing partners in the final group. His lead disappeared at the second hole, where a double bogey dropped him to 4-under. LeDoux bogeyed the same hole.
He came back: a birdie at the par-5 fourth and another at the 11th put him at 6-under again with six holes to play. The par-4 14th then cost him two more shots. Fryatt made a 6 there and parred in for a 74, tying for third at 4-under 212.
Sullivan, who shared third with Fryatt, played the cleanest final round among the leaders. After a Saturday 75 dropped him well back, he shot a bogey-free 69 with birdies at the fifth, eighth and ninth.
Greg Cesarek of Tucson, Arizona (69-73-72) and Philip Hurlbut of West Hills, California (72-71-71) tied for fifth at 2-under 214. Cassell, of Rancho Santa Fe, California, started the day tied for second but closed with a 75 to finish seventh at 1-under 215.
The Senior Division had no defending champion this year. Tim Hogarth, who set the tournament record of 11-under 205 to win last October, was not in the field.
Derrick explained why he keeps coming back. "The field is always really good, and it just continues to get better," he said. "Ojai, the town is so nice, and Keith [Brown, the tournament director] and the staff do such a good job. The golf course is fun to play, it's always in great shape, and the weather's good. I mean, what's not to like, really?"
Pate goes back-to-back in the Super Senior Division
Pate did not need any late heroics this time. Last year he won the Super Senior title in a playoff with Craig Calkins and Doug Williams after all three finished at 1-under 215. This year he led after every round.
Pate opened with a 69 and added a 70 on Saturday to take a five-shot lead into Sunday at 5-under. He went off the 10th tee at 10:10 a.m. with his closest pursuer, Casey Boyns of Monterey, and Steve Lass.
Pate's lead held at five through his first four holes. His fifth hole, the 14th, was the same par 4 that cost Fryatt in the Senior Division, and Pate made a double bogey 6 there to drop to 3-under, three clear of Boyns. Boyns then bogeyed the 15th, and Pate answered his own bogey at the 17th with a birdie at the 18th to make the turn four ahead.
Boyns got closest on the front nine. He birdied the par-3 third, and Pate bogeyed the par-5 fourth, which put Boyns two behind with five holes to play. Pate birdied the fifth right away, and Boyns bogeyed the sixth. Over the group's closing holes, the seventh through ninth, Pate made three pars while Boyns bogeyed the eighth. Pate finished with a 74 and a five-shot win at 3-under 213.
"The first two days were pretty solid. It's about as well as I've played," Pate said. "Today, I don't know. I drove it so bad today and I putted so bad. I'm actually kind of amazed I shot 74. … It was nice to hang on."
Boyns finished alone in second at 2-over 218 (71-73-74). Rick Shlemmer of Manhattan Beach, California, was third at 7-over 223, and John Mack of Alta Loma, California, closed with an even-par 72 to take fourth at 9-over 225. Bob Johnson of Vacaville, California, shot the best final round among the top finishers, a 3-under 69, to tie for fifth at 227 with Chris Miller of Brentwood, California, and Tom Sweigart of Vail, Arizona.
Pate's final-round pairing was among friends. He has known Boyns "for a long, long time," and Lass has been his best friend since college. "We just kind of laughed at how many bad shots we all hit. That's golf," Pate said. "It's a really fun event, and to be able to play in something this good so close to home is really special."
On-site reporting by Blaire McKeithen and Bailey Arredondo for AmateurGolf.com. All photos are by AmateurGolf.com and may not be used without permission.
Soule Park Golf Course, Ojai, Calif. · Par 72 · October 16–18, 2026
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