At the Ojai Senior Cup, it pays to save something for the finish.
Each of the last three Senior Division titles has been settled by a birdie over the closing holes, and last year’s Super Senior Division needed a playoff. As the championship returns October 16–18, its recent history offers a useful warning: there is little room to coast toward the clubhouse. AmateurGolf.com’s 2025 recap
The eighth annual Ojai Senior Cup will be contested over 54 holes at Soule Park Golf Course in Ojai, California, with Senior and Super Senior divisions. The setting beneath the Topa Topa Mountains is part of its appeal, but the championship’s identity also rests on a course whose recovery from devastating flooding became an unlikely success story for public golf. Tournament website, Soule Park
Soule Park began with a public purpose. The Soule family offered its land to Ventura County in 1959 for a park and golf course, preserving a place where the community could enjoy the outdoors. William F. Bell’s course opened in 1962, giving Ojai a municipal golf destination that would serve generations of local players. SCGA’s course history
Bell’s name belongs to a substantial chapter of Southern California golf. His work included Torrey Pines’ North and South courses and Sandpiper, and at Soule Park he had a property with natural movement and a mountain backdrop. The course’s own history traces its beginnings to Bell’s 1962 design and its modern transformation to Gil Hanse’s renovation following the 2005 floods. Soule Park’s official history
The storm damage was severe. Floodwaters destroyed bridges and irrigation infrastructure and tore into the golf course. The recovery brought in Hanse and Jim Wagner, whose work reshaped the greens and bunkers while retaining much of the original routing. Later, after another period of declining conditions, Keith Brown helped restore the turf and irrigation and foster a more welcoming atmosphere. Brown is also the Senior Cup’s tournament director, connecting the course’s revival to the championship now played there. SCGA’s account of Soule Park’s recovery
The result is a course with room to play and reasons to think. Soule Park’s broad fairways offer choices, while the green complexes make the angle of approach matter. That combination should be especially appealing in a senior championship: players can use placement, trajectory and judgment to create opportunities, with more than one way to solve a hole. Soule Park’s design overview
The par-5 fourth illustrates the challenge. Hanse and Wagner fashioned a green that bends around a raised, closely mown spine. Reaching the putting surface is only part of the problem; finishing on the wrong side can leave an awkward recovery. The decision after a good drive becomes whether to attack or lay back to an angle that makes the contours useful.
The fifth presents another temptation, with a punchbowl green obscured from view on the approach. In his detailed account of the renovation, Fried Egg Golf’s Garrett Morrison described the contrasting fourth and fifth greens as central examples of the architects’ creativity. For championship players, the implication is clear: a short par 5 can offer a scoring chance without making the second-shot decision easy. Fried Egg Golf’s course profile
Soule Park lists its championship tees at just over 6,800 yards, with a course rating of 72.8 and slope of 128. Those are the course’s published back-tee figures, rather than a confirmed setup for either 2026 division. Its recent tournament résumé includes 2025 U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying, along with the 2026 SCGA Senior Foursomes Championship. Course specifications, Tournament venue information
The Senior Cup has developed alongside that reputation. AmateurGolf.com’s coverage of the inaugural 2019 championship described a 36-hole event shared by Ojai Valley Inn and Soule Park. The event has since grown into the current three-day competition at Soule Park. Organizers identify the Senior Division as a World Amateur Golf Ranking event and highlight its place in the SCGA Senior Player of the Year schedule. AmateurGolf.com’s inaugural preview, Official tournament history
The scoring standard in the Senior Division has climbed with it. Last year’s winning total of 11-under 205 set a tournament record, according to AmateurGolf.com’s recap. Jason Pridmore finished one stroke back at 206, while Brad Steven closed with a tournament single-round record 64 to take third at 9-under. AmateurGolf.com’s 2025 coverage
John Pate is the reigning Super Senior champion. His 2025 title required extra holes after he, Craig Calkins and Doug Williams finished regulation at 1-under 215. Pate eventually settled the playoff with a 20-foot putt on the 17th. Both divisions, then, arrive at this edition with recent evidence that the decisive moment can come very late. AmateurGolf.com’s Super Senior recap
The broader history reinforces that point. In 2023, Greg Sato began the final round three strokes behind and birdied the last to win at 7-under. That finish, followed by two more one-stroke decisions, suggests the most useful question for this year’s leaderboard may be who still has birdies available over the closing holes. AmateurGolf.com’s 2023 recap
The field: 88 players, 12 states, one new Senior champion
The Round 1 tee sheet, released this week, lists 88 players: 66 in the Senior Division (55 and older) and 22 in the Super Senior Division (65 and older). That number is by design. In a note to the field, Brown wrote that the championship is deliberately kept to 84–90 players “to have a week where we really can all spend some time together, and appreciate our connection through a great game.” The field is largely Californian but reaches well beyond the state, with players traveling from Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Arkansas and South Carolina. Tournament website
One name is missing. Tim Hogarth, whose 11-under 205 set the tournament record last October, is not on the Round 1 tee sheet, so the Senior Division will crown a new champion on Sunday. The two players who chased him closest are both back. Jason Pridmore, runner-up by a single stroke, tees off at 11:50 a.m. from the first with Jon Lindstrom and Neal Barfield. Brad Steven, whose closing 64 remains the single-round record, is in the first wave off the 10th at 10:10 a.m. alongside John Donahue and Robert Funk. Greg Sato, the 2023 champion who birdied the last to win, has the final time off No. 1 at 12:10 p.m. with Daniel Sullivan and Joe Sawaia.
The Super Senior Division fills the first seven groups off the first tee on Friday, beginning at 10 a.m., and the 11 a.m. pairing is the one to watch. Defending champion John Pate goes out with Craig Calkins, the man he beat on the 17th green in last year’s playoff, and Steve Lass. Casey Boyns, one of Northern California’s most decorated amateurs, is ten minutes ahead of them with Chris Miller and Craig Steinberg.
Brown is not only running the championship; he is playing in it, off the first at 11:40 a.m. with Edward Fryatt and Goran Hagegard. His note described the event as “a labor of love” for him, his wife Marie and daughter Kaia, 10, who has been greeting players with donuts and sitting at the scoring table since she was two. The course is blocked off for practice all Thursday afternoon, and players without a time are welcome to simply show up.
Round 1 tee times begin Friday at 10 a.m. from both the first and 10th tees, followed by 8 a.m. starts Saturday and Sunday, with awards after the final round. Eligible Super Seniors may elect to play the Senior Division. The $550 entry includes green fees, carts, range access, food and beverage, a prize fund and a player gift. Official event information
Round 1 tee times — Friday, October 16
First tee
| Time | Players |
|---|
| 10:00 AM | Rex Reese (NV), Lionel Rodriguez (CA), Dan Burrell (CA) — Super Senior |
| 10:10 AM | Ron Fernandez (CA), Tony Caiazzo (NV), Ernie Fernandez (CO) — Super Senior |
| 10:20 AM | David Sand (CA), Dan Kras (CA), Tom Sweigart (AZ) — Super Senior |
| 10:30 AM | Michael Healey (AZ), George Muhar (CA), Bob Johnson (CA), Dave Runberg (CO) — Super Senior |
| 10:40 AM | Rick Shlemmer (CA), Bob Baker (AR), John Mack (CA) — Super Senior |
| 10:50 AM | Chris Miller (CA), Casey Boyns (CA), Craig Steinberg (CA) — Super Senior |
| 11:00 AM | Craig Calkins (CA), Steve Lass (CA), John Pate (CA) — Super Senior |
| 11:10 AM | Mark Sanchez (CA), Chris Carlson (CO), Jody Brothers (FL) |
| 11:20 AM | Fred Mills (CA), Stephen Nichols (MI), Rob Campbell (CA) |
| 11:30 AM | John Derrick (TX), Dick Engel (CA), Darren Dortch (TX) |
| 11:40 AM | Keith Brown (CA), Edward Fryatt (NV), Goran Hagegard (CA) |
| 11:50 AM | Jason Pridmore (CA), Jon Lindstrom (CO), Neal Barfield (TX) |
| 12:00 PM | Ed Kerr (CO), Trae Cassell (CA), Brian Smyth (CA) |
| 12:10 PM | Daniel Sullivan (CA), Joe Sawaia (NV), Greg Sato (CA) |
10th tee
| Time | Players |
|---|
| 10:00 AM | Edward Susolik (CA), Bob LeDoux (CA), Kirk Stark (CA) |
| 10:10 AM | Brad Steven (OH), John Donahue (TX), Robert Funk (CA) |
| 10:20 AM | Michael Stieler (CA), David Hernandez (CA), Steve Ivan (CO) |
| 10:30 AM | Brad Wayment (AZ), Owen Ellis (CO), Phil Ebner (MN) |
| 10:40 AM | Steve Bodenheimer (TX), Tony Ralph (CA), Scott Smith (AZ) |
| 10:50 AM | Greg Cesarek (AZ), Greg Puga (CA), Matt Petersen (AZ), Eric Joseph (TX) |
| 11:00 AM | Mike Staskus (CA), Joe Podolski (OH), Andrew Sterge (SC) |
| 11:10 AM | Mike Hatch (TX), Robert Beaulieu (AZ), Tony Chieffo (CA) |
| 11:20 AM | John Brellenthin (TX), Keith Ward (CA), Philip Hurlbut (CA) |
| 11:30 AM | Jason Beebe (CA), David Ober (CA), Barry Soicher (CA), Tom Marlborough (CA) |
| 11:40 AM | Paul Rice (CA), Jeff New (AZ), Len Komar (CA) |
| 11:50 AM | Steve Roodzant (CA), Scott Trafford (CA), Jason Goode (CA) |
| 12:00 PM | Loren Lopeman (CA), Doug Krone (CA), Forrest Blake (NV), Rob Engel (CA) |
| 12:10 PM | Craig Miyamoto (CA), Jerry Pearsall (MT), Kory Frost (CA) |
All groups are Senior Division unless noted.
For three days, the competition will put Soule Park’s choices under pressure: which side of a fairway to favor, when to chase a par 5, and when to accept a longer birdie putt. By Sunday afternoon, the championship may again turn on one final opportunity at the 18th—a fitting finish for a course whose own story is built around making the most of another chance.
Official tournament website and event portal · AmateurGolf.com tournament page and past coverage
