The 2026 Poplar Creek Golf Club Tournament of Champions
There are golf tournaments.
There are championships.
And then there is the Tournament of Champions.
On Saturday, September 26, the winners came together.
Every golfer in the field had already done something during the 2026 season that most golfers never do: win. There were no accidental invitations. No filling out the field. No “just happy to be here” entries.
To get into this tournament, you had to earn it.
Thirty-two tournament winners from Poplar Creek Golf Club made the trip to Eagle Vines Golf Club in Napa knowing exactly what was at stake: one final chance to put an exclamation point on an already successful season.
The setting was worthy of it — 6,353 yards from the white tees, a 71.2 course rating and 127 slope, with enough trouble, demanding approaches and difficult finishing holes to make sure nobody was simply going to coast home with a trophy.
And from the opening tee shots, the Tournament of Champions lived up to its name.
There were birdies. There were rallies. There were spectacular recoveries. There were players who found another gear on the back nine. There were champions who simply refused to go away.
And at the very top of the leaderboard, there was one extraordinary round.
SCOTT REHN — THE CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS
Scott Rehn didn't merely win Flight 1.
He authored the round of the tournament.
Rehn posted an 80 gross and a sensational net 69 — three under par, the only player in the entire 32-man field to break par on a net basis. He steadied himself with nine pars, giving him remarkable consistency across a demanding golf course, and then supplied the exclamation point with a birdie on the par-5 ninth.
He opened with three straight pars, made the turn in 39, and even late in the round refused to surrender ground, making par at the difficult 17th before another par at 18.
When 32 winners assembled to determine who could produce one more championship performance, Rehn answered.
A tournament winner during the season. Flight 1 champion. Overall low net.
Scott Rehn left Eagle Vines as the man who conquered the champions. Congratulations Scott!
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FLIGHT 1 — A LEADERBOARD THAT WOULDN'T BREATHE
Behind Rehn, Flight 1 became a remarkable battle for position. Three players finished at 75, another at 76 and another at 77. Every missed putt mattered. Every saved stroke mattered.
Alfred “Bogie” Bogenhuber — Two Birdies and a Furious Back-Nine Charge
Alfred Bogenhuber claimed second place in Flight 1 with a net 75, but the number alone doesn't tell the story. Nor does his nickname Bogie. It’s suggested he change it to “Birdie” the way he played on Satuday. Bogie produced two birdies — at the 3rd and 12th holes — one of the strongest birdie performances in the field. Even more impressive was the way he accelerated after the turn, improving from 46 on the front to 42 on the back, a four-shot improvement.
He also handled the demanding eighth with a par and showed exactly why he belonged in a field reserved exclusively for winners. He didn't just hang around the leaderboard; he kept throwing punches at it until the final holes.
Tom Kmak — Ten Holes of Par-or-Better Golf
If anyone wants a definition of relentless, look at Kmak's scorecard.
Kmak shot 80 gross, matched Rehn's excellent gross total, and finished at net 75. He recorded nine pars and a birdie at the 12th, meaning he played an extraordinary 10 of the 18 holes at par or better.
He also produced perhaps the most balanced round of the day: 40 going out and 40 coming home. From holes 3 through 6, Kmak reeled off four consecutive holes without giving a stroke to par.
No panic. No wild swings. Just championship-level persistence from beginning to end.
Stephen Makishima — A Birdie at the Turn and No Surrender
Stephen Makishima joined the crowded group at net 75, and his round had plenty of fireworks of its own. He made six pars, negotiated the extremely difficult fourth hole in par, and then electrified his front-nine finish with a birdie on No. 9.
That birdie meant Makishima played holes 8 and 9 in one under par, giving him momentum at exactly the right time. He followed a 43 on the front with an improved 42 on the back, continuing to fight all the way home.
His 75 was not a quiet 75. It was earned.
Sid Shimabuku — Eight Pars and a Stronger Second Nine
Sid Shimabuku quietly assembled one of the steadier scorecards in the championship, recording eight pars on his way to a net 76.
He opened the tournament with consecutive pars at 1 and 2, later made consecutive pars again at 14 and 15, and improved from 44 on the front to 42 on the back. When the course demanded patience, Shimabuku supplied it.
Eight pars, an improving back nine and a finish only seven strokes behind the overall winning net score made his Tournament of Champions appearance a strong one.
Mike Shaffer — One of the Best Back Nines in the Field
Mike Shaffer refused to let his first nine define his championship.
After turning in 45, Shaffer came charging home in 41, improving by four shots and producing one of the better back-nine gross scores of the day. He made six pars overall, including a par at the difficult 17th, one of Eagle Vines' highest-rated handicap holes.
Shaffer also steadied himself immediately after trouble early in the round, answering with a par at the second. His net 77 kept him firmly in the thick of a brutally competitive Flight 1.
Joe Canepa — The Comeback of the Day
If there were an award for refusing to quit, Joe Canepa would have a very strong claim to it.
Canepa made the turn in 50.
Then he transformed his round.
He came home in a spectacular 41 — nine shots better than his front nine. Even more impressive, Canepa strung together three consecutive pars at 13, 14 and 15, right in the heart of the back nine. He finished with five pars overall and a net 79.
That back-nine charge was one of the defining individual performances of the entire Tournament of Champions. Plenty of golfers can play well when everything is going right. Champions show themselves when it isn't.
Canepa did exactly that.
Dave Butzman — Fighting Back Again and Again
Dave Butzman gave the course very little satisfaction when it knocked him backward. He recorded five pars, including pars on both the demanding 13th and 17th holes.
More tellingly, Butzman repeatedly answered difficult holes with good ones. He bounced back with pars at 11, 13 and 17 at moments when his round could easily have slipped away.
His net 80, five pars and repeated ability to recover demonstrated the trait that got every golfer into this event in the first place: champions don't disappear after a bad hole.
Art Klein — A Stronger Back Nine and a Champion's Finish
Art Klein got better as the championship went along.
Klein improved from 48 on the front to 47 coming home, made pars at 3, 7 and 11, and then saved one of his best moments for the very end — a par on the 18th hole.
There's something fitting about finishing the Tournament of Champions with a four on the card.
Klein's net 82, four pars and strong closing hole meant he walked off the course having finished the championship exactly the way every golfer wants to: with a score worth remembering.
Artie White — Two Birdies and Some Serious Firepower
There may not have been anyone in Flight 1 who showed more sudden scoring power than Artie White.
White made two birdies, first attacking the par-3 fifth and then taking another stroke from the course at the par-5 ninth. Those birdies helped him shoot an excellent 44 on the front nine, and he added pars at 7 and 15.
Two birdies in a Tournament of Champions field will get everyone's attention.
White's net 82 doesn't fully reveal just how much firepower appeared on his card. On two different holes, he didn't simply survive Eagle Vines.
He beat it.
Josh Baltor — Three Times Knocked Down, Three Times Back Up
Josh Baltor delivered a round that was far more impressive than the final number might suggest.
He made pars at 3, 5 and 9, and each had something in common: each came as a response after the course had just hurt him. Three separate times Baltor could have allowed a difficult hole to become the beginning of a slide.
Three separate times he answered with par.
He also improved by a stroke on his back nine, shooting 48 after a 49 going out. That combination of resilience, recovery and perseverance is exactly why Baltor was part of this field of champions.
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FLIGHT 2 — A BATTLE OF ENDURANCE
Flight 2 became a contest where steadiness and survival were everything, and at the end one player stood above the rest.
Skip Sanzeri — Flight 2 Champion
Skip Sanzeri captured the Flight 2 championship with a net 77, building his victory on remarkably consistent golf from beginning to end.
Sanzeri shot 45 on the front and 46 on the back, never allowing the round to get away from him. He made four pars, including one on the difficult par-5 sixth, and after trouble late in the round responded immediately with a par at 16.
Most importantly, he did what Tournament of Champions golf demands: he stayed alive.
Hole after hole, Sanzeri kept the round together until everyone else in the flight ran out of opportunities to catch him.
A winner during the season — and now a Tournament of Champions Flight winner as well.
Dave Koons — Dead Even and One Shot Away
Dave Koons made Sanzeri earn every bit of it.
Koons finished only one stroke behind with a net 78, taking second place in Flight 2. His round was almost impossibly balanced: 47 on the front, 47 on the back.
He recorded four pars and produced one of his best stretches late in the round with back-to-back pars at 14 and 15.
There was no collapse, no disappearing act and no easy path for the winner. Koons stayed in the chase throughout the championship and finished only a single net stroke from the top of the flight.
Bret Evans — Opening the Championship With a Birdie
Some players need a few holes to settle into a major event.
Bret Evans needed exactly zero.
Evans walked onto the first tee and promptly birdied the par-5 opening hole, announcing his presence before most of the field had even settled into the round. He followed with a par at the third and posted a solid 46 on the front nine.
The result was a net 79 and third place in Flight 2.
Opening a Tournament of Champions with a birdie takes nerve. Staying high on the leaderboard takes persistence. Evans supplied both.
Al Miyake — Better and Better as the Day Went On
Al Miyake saved his better golf for the second half of the championship.
After a 51 going out, he improved dramatically with a 47 on the back, cutting four shots from his first-nine total. He broke through with a par at the 12th and then navigated the next several holes without allowing the round to unravel.
That rally carried Miyake to a net 81 and fourth place in Flight 2.
The mark of a tournament winner isn't whether every nine is perfect. It's whether you can find something when you need it.
Miyake found it on the back nine.
Marc Trapani — A Birdie Before the Course Knew What Hit It
Marc Trapani delivered one of the day's most emphatic starts.
Like Evans, Trapani stepped onto the first tee and immediately birdied the opening par 5. He went on to make five pars, including consecutive pars at 8 and 9, and then added more at 12 and 14.
Trapani also improved from 48 to 47 on the back, finishing at net 81.
A birdie, five pars and an improving second nine gave Trapani plenty to take away from a championship round in which he repeatedly showed he could go toe-to-toe with the golf course.
Bill Capote — Taking On One of the Toughest Holes and Winning
Bill Capote produced several moments worthy of the Tournament of Champions stage.
He shot 46 on the front, made three pars and, most impressively, made par on the fourth hole — the No. 2 handicap hole on the golf course.
That's precisely the kind of hole where a championship round can come apart. Capote didn't let it.
He also made par at the second and added another at 14, finishing with a net 81 and remaining in the Flight 2 battle throughout the day.
Rob Carballar — A Perfect Pair of Nine-Hole Sendoffs
Rob Carballar found a great way to finish both sides of the golf course.
He made par at the third, then finished his opening nine with a par at No. 9. Nine holes later, with the Tournament of Champions nearly complete, he did it again — par at No. 18.
That means Carballar closed both the front nine and the back nine with pars, exactly the kind of moments golfers remember when they replay a round afterward.
Three pars, two strong nine-hole finishes and another season-ending appearance earned by winning his way into the field made Carballar's day one worth recognizing.
Randy Gubert — Ready From the First Swing
Randy Gubert came to the Tournament of Champions ready to play.
He opened with back-to-back pars at 1 and 2, taking on the par-5 opener and the par-3 second without surrendering a single shot. That gave Gubert one of the cleanest starts in the entire field.
He also kept his two nines within a single stroke of each other, refusing to let the round turn into a runaway despite Eagle Vines' pressure.
And above all, Gubert was there because he had already proven during the season that when a tournament was on the line, he knew how to win.
That distinction alone made Saturday a celebration of a successful 2026 season.
Thierry Jahan — Pars at Opposite Ends of the Challenge
Thierry Jahan produced two excellent par saves in very different circumstances.
He carded a par at the third, settling himself early, and later made another par at the short but dangerous 14th. Between them, Jahan continued grinding and then improved his back nine by a stroke, shooting 51 after a 52 on the front.
The scorecard shows persistence, improvement and the ability to reset after adversity.
Those are not accidental characteristics. They're the characteristics of a golfer who had already earned a tournament victory just to reach this event.
Rick Salzer — Standing Up to the Course's Toughest Tests
The final number doesn't tell the most interesting part of Rick Salzer's round.
Look instead at holes 4, 10 and 17 — the three highest-rated handicap holes on the course.
Salzer kept all three to bogey.
On the holes most likely to destroy a scorecard, he limited the damage, and he followed a 54 front nine by improving to 52 on the back. He also continued fighting all the way through the closing stretch rather than allowing a difficult day to defeat him.
That ability to manage the hardest holes and keep competing is championship golf of a different kind.
Robert Liedtke — Balance, Recovery and a Back-Nine Par
Robert Liedtke turned in one of the most symmetrical rounds of the tournament: 53 on the front and 53 on the back.
Whatever the course threw at him, he never allowed one side to overwhelm the other. His finest moment came at the 15th, where he responded to trouble on the previous hole by making par.
That immediate recovery mattered.
Add in the fact that Liedtke had already won his way into this exclusive season-ending field, and his Tournament of Champions appearance becomes what it should be: recognition of a golfer who proved during 2026 that he could get the job done when a trophy was available.
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FLIGHT 3 — THE CHARGE FOR 74
Flight 3 produced its own championship drama, with the winner posting the second-lowest net round in the entire tournament.
Steve Rueda — Flight 3 Champion
Steve Rueda came to Eagle Vines and delivered.
Rueda fired a net 74, second-lowest in the entire 32-player field, and took the Flight 3 championship by a single stroke.
He made five pars, including consecutive pars at 7 and 8, and also steadied himself with pars at 3, 5 and 11. His 45 on the opening nine put him in position, and from there he did what champions do: he protected that position under pressure.
One stroke.
That's all that separated Rueda from Manny Casillas when the day was finished.
In the Tournament of Champions, one stroke is an eternity.
Steve Rueda — 2026 Flight 3 Tournament of Champions winner.
Manny Casillas — One Stroke From the Crown
Manny Casillas made sure Flight 3 went to the wire.
Casillas finished at net 75, only one shot behind Rueda, and improved from 49 on the opening nine to 47 coming home.
He made pars at 3, 5 and 7, and two of those came immediately after difficult holes — the kind of instant recovery that keeps championship rounds alive.
Casillas didn't fade as the finish approached. He got better.
A season winner, a Tournament of Champions runner-up and a player who forced the flight champion to keep working all the way home — that's a strong way to close a year.
George Kellner — A Birdie and a Podium Finish
George Kellner brought some fireworks of his own.
Kellner birdied the third hole, made four additional pars and posted a strong 45 on the front nine. He later added pars at 13 and 16, continuing to produce quality holes deep into the round.
His reward was a net 77 and third place in Flight 3.
A birdie in a championship, multiple pars and a top-three flight finish made Kellner one of the day's notable performers.
Frank Parcell — Five Shots Better When It Mattered Most
Frank Parcell staged one of the championship's strongest second-nine rallies.
After a 51 on the opening side, Parcell stormed back with a 46 on the back — five shots better.
He made pars at 5, 9 and 14, including an excellent par at the ninth to finish his front side on a high note. His net 79 placed him fourth in Flight 3.
Most important was the direction of the round.
As the day became longer and the pressure increased, Parcell got better.
That's how a champion responds.
Michael Sevillia — Four Pars and a Back-Nine Rally
Michael Sevillia also saved his best golf for later.
Sevillia improved from 51 on the front to 47 on the back, a four-shot turnaround, and made four pars during the round.
His strongest early sequence included pars at 5 and 6, with the latter coming on one of the more difficult holes on the course, and he added another par at 11.
The result was a net 79, tying one of the better Flight 3 scores of the day.
Four pars. Four-shot improvement. A competitive 79.
Sevillia kept fighting.
Kirk Hansen — Pars on Three Very Different Tests
Kirk Hansen found success across three very different kinds of holes.
He made par at the third, another at the long 491-yard par-5 11th, and another at the 169-yard 16th. That's quality golf across a short par 4, a long par 5 and a demanding par 3.
Hansen also posted a net 81, keeping himself within the middle of a competitive Flight 3 field.
Three pars on three completely different tests showed the versatility that helped put Hansen into the Tournament of Champions in the first place.
Emil Picchi — Every Time the Course Hit Him, He Hit Back
Emil Picchi may have produced one of the clearest displays of resilience anywhere on the scorecard.
Picchi made pars at 5, 8 and 11 — and each came at an important point when a round could easily have headed in the other direction. He also improved from 54 on the front to 50 on the back, shaving four shots as the day progressed.
Three pars, a four-shot second-nine improvement and repeated recoveries after difficult stretches made Picchi's round a testament to persistence.
He earned his place among the champions, and he kept competing like one.
Kelly Ina — The Immediate Answer
One hole can test a golfer's patience.
Kelly Ina gave the perfect response.
After a difficult 11th, Ina stepped onto the 12th and immediately made par, refusing to carry the previous hole one step farther than necessary. He also improved his second-nine score by a stroke and kept fighting through the closing stretch.
That ability to erase what just happened and play the next golf shot is one of the hardest skills in the game.
Ina demonstrated it on a championship stage — and his appearance itself commemorated something even more important: a tournament victory during the 2026 season that earned him the right to be there.
Walter Koning — Nine Shots Better and Charging Home
Then there was Walter Koning.
Few players in the entire field changed the direction of their day as dramatically. And even more to his credit, he walked and carried the entire 18 while most rode in carts.
Koning made the turn in 56.
He came home in 47.
That's a nine-shot improvement from one nine to the next.
And it wasn't simply the absence of mistakes. Koning made four pars, at 5, 12, 14 and 17. That final par came on the No. 3 handicap hole, one of the toughest tests on the entire course.
A nine-shot rally. Four pars. A par on one of Eagle Vines' hardest holes.
Koning didn't just finish his round.
He launched a comeback.
David Delbon — Remarkable Nine-to-Nine Consistency
David Delbon produced something very few golfers manage on an unfamiliar and demanding course: identical nine-hole totals.
51 going out. 51 coming in.
That's remarkable balance over 18 holes.
Delbon also handled the extremely difficult fourth hole with only a bogey and recovered from his toughest back-nine stretch by settling himself over the following holes rather than allowing one score to dictate the rest of the day.
And like every golfer whose name appears here, Delbon's presence at Eagle Vines was itself an achievement.
You couldn't buy an invitation to this tournament.
You had to win one.
David Delbon did.
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ONE FIELD. THIRTY-TWO WINNERS. ONE FINAL CHAPTER.
When the last putt fell, the numbers told part of the story.
Scott Rehn — Flight 1 Champion and overall low net, 69.
Skip Sanzeri — Flight 2 Champion, 77.
Steve Rueda — Flight 3 Champion, 74.
Bogie Bogenhuber, Dave Koons and Manny Casillas claimed the three runner-up positions, and the championship distributed a total purse of $270.
But this tournament has never really been about the purse.
It is about earning your way into the room.
Every golfer who teed it up at Eagle Vines had already faced a tournament field sometime during the year and beaten it. Saturday simply brought all of those winners together and asked one final question:
What happens when the champions have to play the champions?
We found out.
We saw players get knocked down by Eagle Vines and answer immediately with birdies and pars.
And we saw 32 golfers who had already accomplished something significant this year gather for the one tournament where simply getting your name onto the starting sheet meant a great deal.
The 2026 season produced dozens of tournaments.
It produced memorable shots, great rounds, close finishes and deserving winners.
But only one tournament could bring all of those winners together.
The Tournament of Champions.
Congratulations to Scott Rehn, Skip Sanzeri and Steve Rueda on their flight championships.
And congratulations to every member of the 2026 Tournament of Champions field.
You didn't get invited.
You earned it.