Season Preview · Summer 2026

Five WAGR Events to Build Your 2026 Summer Around

The team behind the Orlando International Amateur has curated a five-stop summer slate for competitive amateurs — from a PGA TOUR course in Tampa to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama. Every event counts for the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and applications are open now.

AmateurGolf.com  ·  Tournament News

For a competitive amateur, the summer is the season. It's when college players sharpen their games away from team schedules, when rising juniors test themselves against older fields, and when international players cross the Atlantic chasing ranking points and exposure. The hard part isn't finding events — it's finding the right ones, stacked closely enough to build real momentum.

This year, the organizers behind some of the most respected amateur tournaments in the country have made that decision easier. 50Flag Events — the group responsible for the Orlando International Amateur, the Sunshine State Amateur and the Next Tee Invitational — has assembled a five-event summer series that runs from early June through the first week of August. Each tournament counts toward the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), each is staged at a championship-caliber venue, and each draws a field weighted toward college golfers and elite juniors competing in both men's and women's divisions.

Taken together, the five events form a coherent summer schedule rather than a scattered set of one-offs. Here's the lineup, in order, and why each one earns a place on your calendar.

Event 01 · June 2–4, 2026

Tampa Bay Amateur

TPC Tampa Bay — Lutz, Florida

The series opens on Florida's Gulf Coast at TPC Tampa Bay in Lutz, just north of the city. Now in its third edition, the Tampa Bay Amateur is staged on a course with serious championship pedigree: built by the PGA TOUR in 1991 and designed by Bobby Weed, TPC Tampa Bay served as the home of 21 consecutive Champions Tour events. It carries a 4½-star rating from Golf Digest and is one of only two courses in the Tampa Bay area designated as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, with the layout winding through natural wetlands, cypress heads and lagoons.

As the first stop on the calendar, the Tampa Bay Amateur is the natural place to log your opening WAGR points of the summer. It's a fair but demanding test — the kind of course that rewards a complete game early in the season and sets the tone for the weeks ahead.

Tampa Bay Amateur — event details & application ›

Event 02 · June 22–26, 2026 · Match Play

The Florida Match

Cabot Citrus Farms, Karoo Course — Brooksville, Florida

The most distinctive event on the schedule is also the newest. The Florida Match is an inaugural tournament built around a format rarely seen in elite amateur golf: match play. Competitors begin with two rounds of stroke play, and only the low 32 advance into a championship bracket contested over the back half of the week.

The venue is a draw in itself. The Florida Match will be played on the Karoo Course at Cabot Citrus Farms in Brooksville — Cabot's first American property, set across 1,200 acres of the central-west Florida region known as the Nature Coast. Designed by Kyle Franz, the 7,201-yard Karoo layout features wide fairways, multiple routes to the pins and bold green contours, rewarding creative short-grass recovery shots. For players who relish the strategy and pressure of head-to-head golf, this is a rare and welcome addition to the summer.

The Florida Match — event details & application ›

Event 03 · July 1–3, 2026

North Atlantic Amateur

Royce Brook Golf Club — Hillsborough, New Jersey

The series heads north for the only stop outside the Southeast. The North Atlantic Amateur, in its third edition, is contested at Royce Brook Golf Club in Hillsborough, New Jersey — a course ranked among Golf Digest's Top 20 in the state and a four-star Places to Play honoree.

Royce Brook has entered a new era. What were once two distinct courses, the East and the West, have been unified into a single championship layout that combines the best holes of each. A complete bunker renovation has sharpened both the strategy and the visual appeal, and several holes have been reimagined to better showcase the natural landscape. For competitors based in the Northeast — or those who simply want a break from Florida heat in early July — the North Atlantic Amateur is the premier WAGR option of the midsummer stretch.

North Atlantic Amateur — event details & application ›

Event 04 · July 27–29, 2026

Florida Legacy Cup

PGA National Resort, Champion Course — Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Back in Florida, the Florida Legacy Cup returns for its third edition at one of the sport's most recognizable venues: the Champion Course at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens. Redesigned by Jack Nicklaus, the Champion Course is the longtime host of the PGA TOUR's Honda Classic and home of the famous closing stretch known as the Bear Trap.

Few amateur events offer a stage like this. Playing the same holes that decide a TOUR event — and confronting the same water-guarded greens that have rattled the world's best — is the kind of experience that defines a summer. For players looking to peak in late July, the Florida Legacy Cup is a schedule highlight and a genuine résumé builder.

Florida Legacy Cup — event details & application ›

Event 05 · August 4–6, 2026

Yellowhammer Invitational

RTJ Golf Trail, Grand National — Lake Course — Auburn/Opelika, Alabama

The series closes in Alabama at one of the most celebrated public golf properties in the country. The Yellowhammer Invitational is played on the Lake Course at Grand National, part of the acclaimed Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Voted the No. 1 public golf facility in America by the readers of Golf World, Grand National is built on the 600-acre Lake Saugahatchee, with 32 of its 54 holes draped along the water's edge.

The pedigree is hard to overstate. Grand National has hosted the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Championships, the LPGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA TOUR — making it a fitting and rigorous finale to the summer. For players hoping to close the season on a high note before the fall, the Yellowhammer Invitational delivers a championship test on a course the best in the game already know well.

Yellowhammer Invitational — event details & application ›

Building Your Summer Schedule

Spread across nine weeks and three states, the five events offer flexibility: enter one as a marquee target, string several together as a competitive run, or use the full slate as the backbone of your 2026 summer. All five count for the World Amateur Golf Ranking, all five welcome both men's and women's fields, and all five draw the caliber of competition that makes results meaningful.

Applications are open now and reviewed on a rolling basis, so the strongest move is to identify your priority events early and apply before fields fill. Whether you're a college player chasing ranking points, a junior ready to test yourself against a deeper field, or an international amateur planning a US summer, this series is built to help you gain experience, sharpen your game and improve your standing — all on courses worth remembering.

Visit each event's website to review schedules, eligibility and venue details, and to submit your player application.

AMATEURGOLF.COM

The home for competitive amateur golf — rankings, results, and the schedule you need to play your way into the next level. All five events are WAGR-counting and produced by 50Flag Events.