The State of Competitive Golf in California, 2026

There is no other state where the amateur calendar runs 52 weeks a year, where the local qualifier fields look like national ones, and where a state championship can go 39 holes between two teenagers who both already have Division I scholarships in hand. California in 2026 produced the U.S. Women's Amateur champion, the U.S. Amateur runner-up, the Western Amateur champion, the world's No. 1 women's amateur, five of the eight Americans on the winning Curtis Cup team, and both NCAA women's finalists. And that's the national résumé. The story we care about most is the one that plays out on the state's own fairways — at Valencia and Spyglass Hill, Hacienda and Poppy Ridge, Alisal and Black Gold, Torrey Pines and Harding Park.

This is our annual accounting of that season: the state championships, the SCGA and NCGA majors, the city titles, the senior and mid-amateur races, the women's and junior pipelines, and the players who defined them. It's long because the season is long. Bookmark it.

🏆 The California Amateur: Stone over Emberson on the 39th hole

The 115th California Amateur rotated south this year, to Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights, and delivered one of the great finals in the championship's modern era. Kailer Stone of Alameda — 19 years old, a three-time NCGA Junior champion and an incoming Pepperdine freshman — survived stroke play as the No. 16 seed at 2-over, won his first two matches in extra holes (including a 20-hole Round of 16), and then found himself in a 36-hole final against Max Emberson of Thousand Oaks, the Georgia Tech-bound No. 6 seed who had won four straight matches by 3-up or more.

Emberson had been the more convincing player all week. Stone simply refused to lose. The match went past the 36th hole, past the 37th, past the 38th, and ended with a Stone birdie on the third sudden-death hole — the 39th of the day — tying the record for the longest Cal Am final since 1999. Medalist honors had gone to Mitchell Hoey of Alamo at 13-under, nine shots clear of the field; semifinalists were Brady McHenry (lost to Stone) and Will Tanaka (lost to Emberson). Stone's reward was an exemption into the U.S. Amateur at Merion and a permanent line in the state record book.

The 2025 champion, Jacob Goode of San Francisco (now at Washington), was 8&6 over Evan Liu at Granite Bay a year ago. He spent the summer on the national circuit, finishing T6 at the Trans-Miss at Southern Hills.

Kailer Stone after winning the 115th California Amateur on the 39th hole at Hacienda Golf Club.

🌸 The California Women's Amateur: Maggie Ma, age 14

If Stone's win was about resilience, Maggie Ma's was about pure nerve. The 14-year-old from Irvine — an incoming freshman at Crean Lutheran — was the No. 9 seed at the 60th California Women's Amateur at El Macero Country Club in Davis. Two down to Cal sophomore Michelle Woo in the final, Ma shot 30 on the back nine to win 2&1, joining Mina Harigae and Angel Yin among the youngest champions in the event's history. Emily Song of Irvine, a high school senior, was medalist at 11-under 133.

Ma wasn't done. Two weeks later she was the youngest player in the U.S. Women's Amateur field at The Honors Course, holed a 40-yard bunker shot on the 18th to force extra holes against reigning U.S. Girls' Junior champion Clairey Lin, won in 19, and reached the quarterfinals before running into Asterisk Talley. She currently leads the SCGA Women's Player of the Year standings on the strength of two events — a state title and a USGA quarterfinal.

🥇 Californians on the national stage

We'll keep this section tight, because it could be its own article — but the context matters for what follows.

Asterisk Talley (Chowchilla, 17) won the U.S. Women's Amateur 8&6 over Japan's Anna Iwanaga after trailing 3-down at the turn of the morning round — her first USGA individual title after runner-up finishes at both the Girls' Junior and Women's Am in 2024. Her path ran straight through California: she beat Maggie Ma 6&4 in the quarterfinals and Lily Peng (San Ramon, 17, UCLA-bound) 6&4 in the semifinals. Three of the eight quarterfinalists and two of the four semifinalists were Californians. Talley also repeated at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, went 3-0-0 at the Curtis Cup, and sits No. 1 in the Rolex AJGA Girls Rankings.

Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla won the U.S. Women's Amateur 8&6 at The Honors Course.

Jay Leng Jr. (San Diego, Stanford junior) had the best summer of any California man. He won the Western Amateur at Beverly Country Club, beating fellow San Diegan Michael Riebe (Encinitas, Vanderbilt) 5&4 in an all-San Diego final; finished T2 at the Northeast and T5 at the Southern; clinched the Elite Amateur Cup points title and the PGA Tour exemption that comes with it; then went to Merion and reached the U.S. Amateur final, losing 4&3 to England's Jack Whaley after leading at the lunch break. Leng needed just 76 holes to get through five matches — fewer than anyone in the field. He'll play the Walker Cup at Lahinch on Sept. 5–6 alongside Newport Beach's Stewart Hagestad, now 35 and playing in his sixth match. Brandon Knight of Pleasanton (Colorado) also made the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals.

Jay Leng Jr. of San Diego reached the U.S. Amateur final at Merion two weeks after winning the Western Amateur.

Kiara Romero (San Jose, Oregon) won the McCormack Medal as the world's No. 1 women's amateur for the second straight year, was low amateur at the U.S. Women's Open at Riviera (T6), and went 3-0-0 as the United States reclaimed the Curtis Cup at Bel-Air. Five of the eight Americans were Californians: Romero, Talley, Anna Davis (Spring Valley), Jasmine Koo (Cerritos, USC) and Kelly Xu (Claremont, Stanford).

Jaden Dumdumaya (Benicia, USC) won the Pacific Coast Amateur at Poppy Ridge for the second straight year — the first back-to-back champion since Billy Mayfair in 1987–88 — at 12-under, two clear of Temecula's Ryan Abuan. The NCGA won the Morse Cup team competition with Dumdumaya, Stone and Joshua Kim of Danville.

Clairey Lin (Palos Verdes Estates, plays internationally for Canada) was medalist and champion at the U.S. Girls' Junior. Brayden Jones (Seal Beach, Arizona State commit) was co-medalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur. Jaden Soong (Burbank, 16) won the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Fields Ranch and is No. 2 in the Rolex AJGA Boys Rankings. Eric Lee (Fullerton, Oklahoma State) qualified for the U.S. Open at Del Paso and made the cut at Shinnecock.

And the NCAA Championships came to Carlsbad: Stanford beat USC 4.5–0.5 in an all-California women's final at Omni La Costa, and UCLA reached its first men's final of the match-play era before falling to Auburn.

Now — back to the state.

🌴 Southern California: the SCGA season

SCGA Amateur — Nick Fowlkes, at home

The 127th SCGA Amateur went to Valencia Country Club, and Valencia's own Nick Fowlkes of Stevenson Ranch won it. A West Ranch High product who played at CSUN and finished his college career at Troy, Fowlkes got in on a host-club exemption, put his father Ryan on the bag, and shot 69-68-71-71 for 5-under 279, winning by three over Cole Kim of La Crescenta. It was, remarkably, his first tournament since graduating — he has said he plans a career with the Los Angeles Fire Department — and it earned him a U.S. Amateur exemption and a 10-year pass into the SCGA Am. He's the second former CSUN Matador to win it, after Tim Hogarth in 2004. Coy Dobson of Del Mar was within two entering the final round.

Nick Fowlkes won the 127th SCGA Amateur at his home club, Valencia CC, with his father on the bag.

SCGA Match Play — Scotland Schmidt, the hard way

Scotland Schmidt of San Diego won the SCGA Match Play at Black Gold in August as the No. 5 seed, closing out the 26th-seeded Tiger Tahvildari on the 19th hole with a 10-foot birdie after Tahvildari found the penalty area. Tahvildari had led most of the back nine; Schmidt squared it at 18. Schmidt's path included a 5&3 semifinal over Cole Kim, the SCGA Am runner-up. He also finished second in the SCGA Foursomes with Nik Neal and qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur at La Cumbre — a full season that has him second in the SCGA Player of the Year standings.

SCGA Mid-Amateur — Matt Mitchell's 65

Matt Mitchell won the SCGA Mid-Amateur at Bear Creek in April after opening with three bogeys in five holes. He answered with a championship-low 65 in the second round — four birdies in his first five holes — and finished at 5-under, two clear of Torey Edwards of Long Beach and Kyle Sharp of Santa Ana. Edwards, the 2020 and 2024 SCGA Player of the Year and 2024 Mid-Am champion, remains the standard for SoCal mid-ams; he's third in the POY race and qualified for the U.S. Mid-Am at TPC Pasadera.

SCGA Women's Amateur — Ishiyama, twice

Annika Ishiyama of Tustin, who plays at the University of Houston, won her second SCGA Women's Amateur in three years at Valencia, and did it on the last green: Ashley Yun of West Covina, the 2022 SCGA Women's Player of the Year, missed a par putt on 18 and Ishiyama made hers. Sophia Lin of Arcadia was third after a triple bogey on 15. Ishiyama missed five fairways and eight greens in the final round and still found a way — including a low, hooking 6-iron from 160 on the 17th.

SCGA Women's Match Play — Alyson Sor

Alyson Sor of Long Beach State won the Women's Match Play at Red Hill 2&1 over Fay Jia of Murrieta, a Team California member, on her mother's birthday. She beat top seed Kelsey Kim in the quarterfinals and LBSU teammate Emma Kang in the semis. Addison Kloch (Westlake Village) and Mitzi Duarte (Norwalk) won the Women's Four-Ball wire-to-wire at Black Gold at 12-under, opening with a bogey-free 63.

The 2026 SCGA Player of the Year picture

• Men: Max Emberson (Thousand Oaks) leads with 1,175 points on the strength of the Cal Am runner-up; Scotland Schmidt (1,005), Torey Edwards (1,000), Nahum Mendoza of San Diego (965) and Eric Lee (900) follow. Fowlkes is sixth with two events played, Jay Leng Jr. ninth. Reigning POY Matthew Robles of Downey — who also qualified for the U.S. Open this year — is T48.

• Women: Maggie Ma (1,350) leads Clairey Lin (1,100), Juliet Oh of Diamond Bar (840), Ishiyama (750), Jia (730) and Kuree Little of Palmdale (700). Reigning POY Katelyn Kong is not in the hunt.

• Senior Men and Senior Women: see below. Both races have a clear frontrunner.

Still to come on the SCGA slate: the Public Links at El Dorado Park (Aug. 27–28, where Claremont's Mitchell Fedorka is defending), the Super Senior at Coronado (Sept. 14–15), the Mixed Team at Desert Willow, the Junior Amateur at Morongo in October, and the men's Four-Ball at The Saticoy Club in November.

🌉 Northern California: the NCGA season

The Aliaga double

Sebi Aliaga of Hillsborough, a 20-year-old sophomore at Claremont Mudd-Scripps (which won the Division III national title in the spring), did something only three players had done before him: win the NCGA Stroke Play and the NCGA Amateur Match Play in the same year. Verne Callison did it in 1959, John Lotz in 1962, Ben Geyer in 2013.

The Stroke Play at Poppy Hills in July came down to a 4-foot birdie on the 72nd hole for a 4-under 209, one clear of Reid Buzby and Stevenson School senior Zachary Hawkins; only seven players broke par for the week, and the first round produced two albatrosses (Corey Ghiringhelli on 10, Ryan Vaughan on 18). A month later at Spyglass Hill, Aliaga went in as the No. 18 seed and beat Brasen Briones (New Mexico State) 2&1 in the 36-hole final after the two of them knocked out medalist Ayden Fynaut of Fresno and Sam Baumuller in the semifinals. He'll be at the 2027 U.S. Amateur on the exemption.

Sebi Aliaga became the fourth player ever to win the NCGA Stroke Play and NCGA Amateur in the same year.

NCGA Mid-Amateur — Cohn's seventh

Matt Cohn of San Francisco, 45, won his seventh NCGA title at the Mid-Amateur at Poppy Ridge in June, going 65-71 and holing a 10-footer for birdie on the last to beat Jeremy Gearhart of Atascadero (who opened with a bogey-free 64) and Adam Yount of Danville by one. Third place went to Jeff Wilson of Fairfield — the 2018 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, still contending in open-age mid-am fields at 61. Cohn, the reigning NCGA Player of the Year, also won last year's SCGA Mid-Am, giving him both associations' mid-am titles inside 12 months.

NCGA Four-Ball — the caddies' record

Brett Thawley and AJ Fitzgerald, both Cypress Point caddies, shot 62-67-65 for 21-under 194 at Poppy Hills and Spyglass — a 54-hole scoring record and a tie for the to-par record — to win the 59th NCGA Four-Ball by four over Yale's Robert You and Darren Lin. Fitzgerald was the 2023–24 NCGA Player of the Year.

NCGA Women's — Peng, Zhang and Gebauer

Lily Peng of San Ramon, a Carondelet High senior, shot 67-65-68 for 16-under 200 to win the NCGA Women's Stroke Play at Poppy Ridge — then went to the U.S. Women's Amateur and reached the semifinals. Cathy Zhang (San Ramon, 17, an Illinois commit and the reigning JTNC Girls' Player of the Year) won the NCGA Women's Amateur Match Play at Spyglass as the No. 15 seed, 1-up over UNLV sophomore Lana Yamagata of South Pasadena, holing a 5-footer for bogey on the last with her father on the bag. And Lauren Gebauer of Orinda — a 41-year-old dermatologist and the 2022–23 NCGA Women's POY — went wire-to-wire to win the NCGA Women's Mid-Amateur by four over Renata Young, six months after winning the NCGA Women's Four-Ball.

NCGA Junior — Stone's three-peat, Umali's breakthrough

Before the Cal Am, Stone won his third straight NCGA Junior at Lake Merced at 11-under 205, two clear of Calvin Etcheverry of Pebble Beach — the first three-peat since Eddie Fry in 1941–43. Stevie Umali of San Francisco won the girls' division at 7-under 209 over Emma Wang of Palo Alto.

Still to come in the north

The NCGA Senior Championship (stroke play) is Sept. 21–23; the Super Senior Championship at San Luis Obispo CC is Oct. 5–6; the California Senior Women's Amateur goes to Monarch Dunes Oct. 5–7, and the California Senior Amateur closes the state calendar Nov. 9–11 at Serrano CC in El Dorado Hills, where Bob Niger defends.

🎖️ The senior race: who's the best 55-and-over player in California?

This is the question we get asked most, and 2026 made it hard to answer — which is the point. Four names, in rough order.

Bob Niger, Sacramento. The 66-year-old won the NCGA Senior Amateur Match Play at Spyglass Hill as the No. 1 seed, beating Craig Miyamoto of Sacramento 5&4 in the final and Randy Haag 4&3 in the semis — his third NCGA Senior title. He also won the San Francisco City Senior (3&2 over Todd Doss), the NCGA Senior Valley Amateur at Old Greenwood by 11 shots, and, last November, the California Senior Amateur at the Valley Club of Montecito in a playoff over Bobby Schaeffer. He's the reigning NCGA Super Senior Player of the Year and set both scoring records at the 2025 NCGA Super Senior at Bayonet. He defends the Cal Senior Am at Serrano in November.

Jason Pridmore outlasted Dick Engel in a five-hole playoff for the SCGA Senior Amateur at Alisal Ranch.

Jason Pridmore, Ventura. The SoCal breakthrough of the year. Pridmore won the Trans-Miss Senior Amateur at Mission Hills in May (opening with a 62), then won his first SCGA Senior Amateur at Alisal Ranch in June in a five-hole playoff over Dick Engel of Lancaster — after Tim Hogarth had opened 66 and led at 9-under through 36 holes. Pridmore and Engel had already won the SCGA Senior Foursomes together in March. He is No. 6 in our national Senior Men's ranking.

Todd Doss, Millbrae. Doss won the Golfweek Senior Amateur at Desert Willow in April with a closing 67 for 209, four clear of Jerry Gunthorpe, and was runner-up with Corey West at the NCGA Senior Four-Ball. He sits No. 2–3 in our Senior Men's ranking.

Tim Hogarth, Northridge. The reigning SCGA Senior Player of the Year is having what would be a career year for almost anyone else: six wins and a commanding lead in the 2026 Senior POY standings (2,475 points to Pridmore's 1,700), a repeat SCGA Senior Four-Ball title with Scott Anderson Sr. of Bakersfield at Spanish Hills, and a wire-to-wire six-shot win at the Pasadena City Senior. But the two biggest SoCal senior trophies slipped — a final-round 80 at Alisal after leading by four, then a 4&3 loss to Engel in the SCGA Senior Match Play final at Black Gold, where Engel (a 7 seed) played bogey-free for his first individual SCGA title.

Behind them: Randy Haag of Orinda, now No. 3 in our Super-Senior ranking, won a record sixth NCGA Senior Four-Ball with Steve Sear (18-under, by five), finished T3 at the Golfweek Senior Am and reached the NCGA Senior Am semis. James Sewell of Cameron Park, a retired State Farm agent, won the NCGA Super Senior Amateur on the 19th hole with a 45-foot birdie over Andy Gabelman of Carmel — his first NCGA title in more than 40 years of trying. And Dan Sullivan of Pasadena and Craig Davis of Chula Vista round out the SCGA senior top five.

Eight Californians earned spots in the U.S. Senior Amateur at Baltimore Country Club (Aug. 29–Sept. 3): Engel, Brandon Goethals (Corona del Mar) and Corby Segal (Santa Clarita) from Soule Park; Jeff Thomas (Costa Mesa), Brian Smyth (North Tustin) and Kory Frost (Trabuco Canyon) from Rancho Bernardo; Toby Osborn (Redding) and Corey West (Burlingame) from Green Valley.

Sherry Zhong of Hillsborough completed the NCGA senior women's Mini-Slam, then was low amateur at the U.S. Senior Women's Open.

Senior women: the year of Eunice Cho — and Sherry Zhong

Eunice Cho of Manhattan Beach, a UCLA alumna, did something no one had ever done: win two SCGA championships in the same week. She took the SCGA Senior Women's Match Play at Red Hill 6&4 over Diane Irvin in an all-Bruin final (after a 23-hole semifinal), then two days later won the SCGA Senior Women's Four-Ball at Black Gold with Wendy Ohlmeyer of Ladera Ranch. That came after she won the SCGA Senior Women's Amateur at Rancho Bernardo in a playoff over Sherry Wright of Oxnard, having opened 76 and trailed by six. Add last October's California Senior Women's title, a T2 at the SCGA Women's Mid-Am, and four wins and 2,430 points in the Senior Women's POY race — 1,280 ahead of Itsuko Moridaira — and Shelly Haywood's four-year run as SCGA Senior Women's Player of the Year is over barring something extraordinary.

In the north, Xiaolong "Sherry" Zhong of Hillsborough, a former touring professional in China and Japan, completed the first-ever NCGA senior women's "Mini-Slam" — the Senior Women's Stroke Play at Poppy Ridge, the Legacy Stroke Play at El Macero, and the NCGA Senior Women's Amateur Match Play at Spyglass, where she beat medalist Joy Robinson of Monterey Peninsula CC 8&6. She then finished as low amateur at the U.S. Senior Women's Open at Barton Hills last week.

💼 The mid-amateur race

California's mid-am scene has a clear national headliner in Stewart Hagestad (Newport Beach) — three-time U.S. Mid-Am champion, exempt into Sand Valley next month, and about to play his sixth Walker Cup at 35. But the state-level story in 2026 belongs to two men named Matt.

Matt Cohn (San Francisco) holds the NCGA Mid-Am and last year's SCGA Mid-Am and is the reigning NCGA POY. Matt Mitchell holds the SCGA Mid-Am. Behind them, Torey Edwards (Long Beach) keeps showing up on leaderboards in every division he's eligible for, and Scotland Schmidt (San Diego) turned the SCGA Match Play into a mid-am win.

The U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifiers told the same story: Ryan Keith (San Diego, 67 at Red Hill), Ryan Metzler (Los Angeles, 66 at La Cumbre), Roy Cootes (Rolling Hills), Ty Macias (Alameda, 68 at Peninsula), Steven Warne (Santa Rosa), Jon Shaw (Los Angeles), Tongun Lako Losarah (Upland), Jahaan Nargussi (Auburn), Connor Campbell (Newport Beach), Logan Lanier (Hermosa Beach), Edwards and Schmidt all punched tickets to Sand Valley. The Bear Creek qualifier is today.

Also worth noting: Wes Payne, the 2025 NCGA Mid-Am champion, won the NCGA Valley Amateur at Old Greenwood by nine with a 61-72; and Mitchell Fedorka of Claremont, the CMS men's coach and 2025 SCGA Publinks champion, is T10 in the SCGA POY standings and defends at El Dorado Park this week.

🏙️ City championships: where the depth shows

California's city championships are a competitive tier unto themselves, and 2026 delivered.

San Francisco City Championship (TPC Harding Park, March): Joey Hayden, the No. 21 seed, beat No. 26 Will Hardy 3&2 in the men's final after knocking out top seed Alexander Thu. Gianna Singh beat medalist Staci Pla 4&3 for the women's title. Niger won the senior bracket; Jeff Thomas took the super senior on the 19th hole.

San Diego City Amateur (Torrey Pines South, July): Alexander Elia beat Phillip Kench in a playoff after both finished at 8-under 208.

Pasadena City Championship (Brookside, March): Enzo Lee of Irvine shot 69-69-70 to win the 90th edition by two over Tom Yu.

Santa Barbara City Championship (May): Vicente Rodriguez of El Dorado Hills, an Alabama A&M junior, shot 66-66-68 for 10-under 200 and birdied the last to beat Cal Poly's Leo Metzger — the 2022–23 champion, who had led by two with two to play — by one. Defending champion Hudson Vedder tied for third.

Sacramento City (Haggin Oaks MacKenzie, June): Cru Sullivan of Ripon won the 105th edition at 16 years old, 69-68, by one over a four-way tie that included Rodriguez.

San Jose City (Santa Teresa, May): Jordan Hashimoto 72-71, one clear of Liam Eyer — the same Liam Eyer who was co-medalist with Kailer Stone at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Desert Mountain.

Alameda Commuters (Corica Park South, April): Luke Dariotis, 68-66-71.

Pasadena City Senior: Hogarth by six. Long Beach, Los Angeles City and Oakland City results were not available to us at press time; we'll update this piece as they're confirmed.

🧒 The junior pipeline

Burbank's Jaden Soong, 16, won the 50th Boys Junior PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East.

The state's junior class is why none of this ends. Kailer Stone (Alameda) and Max Emberson (Thousand Oaks) played the Cal Am final. Jaden Soong (Burbank, 16) — the 2024 SCGA Am champion who shot 62 at Poppy Hills to win the 2025 CIF state title — won the Boys Junior PGA and is No. 2 in the AJGA Rolex Rankings, with Luke Ringkamp of Palm Desert No. 3, Ayden Fynaut of Fresno No. 14 and Evan Liu of Rancho Santa Fe No. 22. On the girls' side, Talley is No. 1, Lily Peng No. 5, Amber Lee of San Diego No. 18 and Emily Song of Irvine No. 25.

At the Rolex Girls Junior, San Diego's Inseoul Jiamanukoonkit beat Chino Hills' Kaili Xiao by one, with Song and Lee tied for third — a Californian 1-2-3-3. Eliana Saga of Stevenson Ranch won the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic at Bethpage Black over Clairey Lin. Erin Le Nguyen of San Jose won the 76th California Junior Girls at Palo Alto Hills 2&1 over Kelley O'Keefe of Lodi. At the Junior World at Torrey Pines, San Diego's Oliver Mayson finished one back of Arizona's Frederick Egnatios in the boys' 15–18 division. Stevenson School repeated as CIF state boys' team champion, and De La Salle's Drue Sanchez won the individual title.

The Team California rosters are the watch list: in the south, Emberson, Jones, Liu, Ringkamp, Hill Wang, Shawn Nawata, Ethan Schramm (the 2025 state junior champion), Fay Jia, Kuree Little, Hailey Kim and Aubrey Lee; in the north, Stone, Fynaut, Richard Ding, Cooper Westphal, Cathy Zhang, Hazel Hooper, Emma Wang and Kelly O'Keefe, captained by Pat Hurst.

📋 2026 California championship results at a glance

🔭 What's left in 2026

• Aug. 27–28 — SCGA Public Links, El Dorado Park

• Aug. 29–Sept. 3 — U.S. Senior Amateur, Baltimore CC (eight Californians)

• Sept. 5–6 — Walker Cup, Lahinch (Leng, Hagestad)

• Sept. 14–15 — SCGA Super Senior, Coronado

• Sept. 21–23 — NCGA Senior Championship

• Sept. 26–Oct. 1 — U.S. Mid-Amateur, Sand Valley (Hagestad plus a dozen-plus CA qualifiers)

• Oct. 5–6 — NCGA Super Senior Championship, San Luis Obispo CC

• Oct. 5–7 — California Senior Women's Amateur, Monarch Dunes (Cho defends)

• Oct. 16–18 — SCGA Junior Amateur, Morongo

• Nov. 9–11 — California Senior Amateur, Serrano CC (Niger defends)

• Nov. 16–17 — SCGA Four-Ball, The Saticoy Club

The Player of the Year races in both associations close around Sept. 30. We'll update this page as the fall results land.

→ California Tournament Schedule · California Rankings · Qualifiers Hub

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 California Amateur? Kailer Stone of Alameda, an incoming Pepperdine freshman, beat Max Emberson of Thousand Oaks on the 39th hole at Hacienda Golf Club — tying the record for the longest final in the championship's modern era.

Who is the best senior amateur in California in 2026? It's a real debate. Bob Niger (Sacramento) won the NCGA Senior Amateur and holds the California Senior Amateur; Jason Pridmore (Ventura) won the SCGA Senior Amateur and the Trans-Miss Senior; Todd Doss (Millbrae) won the Golfweek Senior Amateur; and Tim Hogarth (Northridge) leads the SCGA Senior Player of the Year race with six wins.

Who is the top mid-amateur in California? Nationally, Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach — three-time U.S. Mid-Am champion and a six-time Walker Cupper. At the state level, Matt Cohn (NCGA Mid-Am, reigning NCGA POY) and Matt Mitchell (SCGA Mid-Am) hold the two association titles.

Which Californians won USGA championships in 2026? Asterisk Talley (Chowchilla) won the U.S. Women's Amateur. Clairey Lin, who lives in Palos Verdes Estates and plays for Canada, won the U.S. Girls' Junior. Jay Leng Jr. (San Diego) was runner-up at the U.S. Amateur.

Who leads the SCGA Player of the Year standings? As of late August: Max Emberson (men), Tim Hogarth (senior men), Maggie Ma (women) and Eunice Cho (senior women).