Every tour needs an ending that matches its ambition. For the Malbon Buckets Cup, that ending is Pinehurst.
After a season that has taken the tour from Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo to Conway Farms, Chambers Bay and Maridoe, the Buckets Cup closes its 2026 regular season on Tuesday, November 17, on Pinehurst No. 4 in the Sandhills of North Carolina. It is the last Buckets Cup start of the year, and it is built to feel like it.
Why the Buckets Cup exists
The Buckets Cup started with a golfer who loved to compete and couldn't find an event worthy of it. Stephen Malbon spent years as a single on Los Angeles municipal courses, and the tournaments he could get into all felt the same: a folding table at check-in, a cart-path-only afternoon, a scorecard in a plastic sleeve. The golf was real. The experience wasn't.
So he built the event he wished existed. Elite venues. Real purses. GHIN-verified fields of qualified professionals and top amateurs. One day that feels closer to a tour stop than a member-guest. What began as a single event has grown into a national tour, and Pinehurst is where the season comes to a close.
The finale at Pinehurst No. 4
The format is simple and serious: one 18-hole stroke-play round, a 100-player field, and a $36,000 purse, with season points on the line toward the Buckets Cup Championship.
The venue needs little introduction. Pinehurst is the closest thing American golf has to a home, and No. 4 is one of the resort's marquee tests. Gil Hanse's redesign reopened in 2018, and the course served as a stroke-play co-host for the 2019 U.S. Amateur alongside No. 2. Sandy waste areas, wiregrass and firm, rumpled fairways ask for the same patience and imagination Pinehurst has always demanded.
More than a tee time
Malbon has built the finale as a full Pinehurst week, not a one-day outing:
- Accommodations at The Carolina Hotel, the resort's historic centerpiece
- An awards reception dinner to close the season
- Welcome gifting from Malbon and its brand partners
- Access to resort amenities, including the famed Thistle Dhu putting course
Entry is $2,195, which reflects the package: stay, dinner, gifting and a championship-caliber round on one of the most storied properties in the game.
Watch: inside a Buckets Cup stop
Want a feel for what a Buckets Cup day looks like? Here's the recap from Conway Farms earlier this season.
The AmateurGolf.com member advantage
Playing a Buckets Cup event normally requires a $300-a-year Buckets Club membership. AmateurGolf.com members don't need one. Malbon waives the requirement for our paid members, because our members are exactly the competitive amateurs they want in the field: verified handicaps, real tournament records, and calendars built around competition.
Paid members register directly for Pinehurst with the Buckets Club requirement waived. The event entry fee still applies.
Not a member yet? Join AmateurGolf.com and get your way into the field, plus everything else that comes with membership.
At a glance
- Event: Malbon Buckets Cup — Pinehurst
- Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2026
- Course: Pinehurst No. 4, Pinehurst, N.C.
- Format: 18 holes, stroke play
- Field: 100 players
- Purse: $36,000
- Entry: $2,195 (includes The Carolina Hotel, awards reception dinner and welcome gifting)
- Member benefit: $300 Buckets Club requirement waived for AmateurGolf.com members