The Malbon Buckets Cup started its 2026 season on the first day of February at Torrey Pines, with a simple premise and a lot to prove: that a golf brand born from culture could run a real tournament series — elite venues, GHIN-verified fields, actual purses — and that serious competitors would show up for it.
Seven stops later, the question is settled. The tour has played Torrey Pines and Pasatiempo in California, Panther National in Florida, The Seawane Club and Plainfield through the Northeast summer, Conway Farms outside Chicago, and Chambers Bay on the Puget Sound — a venue list most amateur circuits would take a decade to assemble. At every stop: 18 holes of stroke play, Pro, Gross, and Net divisions, cash prizes, and season points accumulating toward a Buckets Cup Championship with a $100,000 purse and a field of roughly 40 qualifiers. More than $300,000 in total prizing is on the line across the season.
The origin story is worth retelling, because it explains why the series feels different. Stephen Malbon started the Buckets Cup after years of grinding for tee times as a solo player on Los Angeles municipal courses — loving the game, and wondering why the tournament experience around it felt so far behind the culture. So he used his brand to build the event he wished existed. No folding-table check-in, no charity-scramble energy. A day that feels closer to a tour stop than a member-guest.
Now comes the stretch run — and the two biggest stops of the year.
Next Up: Maridoe Golf Club — October 6
If the first seven stops proved the Buckets Cup could get on great courses, Maridoe is where the tour finds out who can actually play them.
Maridoe, in Carrollton, Texas, is not a course that flatters anyone. Built as a proving ground for elite competition, it has quietly become one of the most demanding modern tests in the country — a club whose résumé includes a USGA championship (the 2021 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball) and hosting duties at the professional level. It's the kind of venue where par is a real score and every part of your game gets asked a question. Most golfers never get through the gates. On October 6, a Buckets Cup field will get to compete there.
The stakes match the venue: an 18-hole stroke-play championship with a $36,000 purse, GHIN-verified qualified professionals and top amateurs in the field, and — with only Pinehurst left on the calendar after this — one of the final chances to bank season points toward the Championship. The top gross and top net finishers at each stop advance automatically toward that ~40-player Championship field.
The details:
When: Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Where: Maridoe Golf Club, Carrollton, Texas
Format: 18-hole stroke play · $36,000 purse
Entry: $750 · Registration closes October 2
Then the Finale: Pinehurst No. 4 — November 17
Six weeks after Maridoe, the season ends where American golf keeps its soul. On November 17, a 100-player field closes the 2026 Buckets Cup Tour on Pinehurst No. 4 — a single 18-hole stroke-play round for another $36,000 purse, with the last season points toward Championship qualification decided in the Sandhills.
Pinehurst is built as a full destination experience, not just a tee time: accommodations at The Carolina Hotel, an awards reception dinner, welcome gifting from Malbon and its brand partners, and access to Pinehurst Resort amenities including the famed Thistle Dhu putting course. Entry is $2,195, and a 100-player field at Pinehurst will not sit open for long.
The Member Benefit: Skip the $300 Buckets Club Requirement
Normally, teeing it up in a Buckets Cup event requires a $300/year Buckets Club membership. For paid AmateurGolf.com members, that requirement is waived entirely for both Maridoe and Pinehurst — same field, same purse, same experience, no Buckets Club membership needed. Event entry fees still apply, and it's one entry per member.
How it works:
Log in to your AmateurGolf.com account
Open the event listing for Maridoe or Pinehurst No. 4
Register through your member registration link on the listing page
Not a member yet? An AmateurGolf.com membership gets you into both fields this fall — plus tournament search, rankings, and coverage of the amateur game all year. Join or upgrade here →
Seven stops are already in the books. Only two remain — and one of them closes registration on October 2. If you've watched this tour build all season and told yourself you'd get to one eventually, Maridoe is your eventually.
This article is presented in partnership with Malbon Golf and the Buckets Cup Tour.
