The Steam Room by midamgolfHQ Vol 28
The Steam Room by midamgolfHQ
March 2026
What we are steaming on this month:
February delivered in spades! The Gasparilla Invitational brought players, competition, and camaraderie together in a way that set the tone for what is shaping up to be one of the best years of mid-am golf ever. Whether you were out on the course or following along from home, it was a weekend that had no shortage of meida coverage that was worth talking about. We've got the full breakdown coming your way in this month's recap.
As we close the book on Gasparilla, the attention now turns to March and the Snedeker Memorial. One of the now most anticipated events on the calendar carries with it a tradition of excellence, tough competition, and the kind of atmosphere that elevates everyone's game. We'll have have a full preview and are excited to see who takes home the title. Beyond the Snedeker we also get some high quality four ball action with everyones favorite the Champions Cup in Houston.
In this months issue you will notice a few updates including the return of the East West Matches and the relevant player standings to qualify for a team. The event returns in mid November at the storied Maridoe and will track all the rankings as we lead into this biennial event! We have also added the Canadian Mid-Am as well as the European Mid-Am as majors to follow this year.
As always, this month’s issue is brought to you by Forme. If you do decide to buy anything from them, please use our code MIDAMHQ at checkout for a 15% discount. Thanks, as always, for the support. Now onto the newsletter!
2026 February Major Mid-Am Tournament Results
The Gasparilla Invitational
February 19-21, 2026
Champion: Hayes Brown
The 71st Gasparilla Invitational at Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club in Tampa once again delivered a finish worthy of the tournament's storied history. Hayes Brown of Charlotte, North Carolina, posted rounds of 67-73-68 to finish at 2-under 208 and claim the title by a single shot over Peyton White. Only two players in the entire field broke par for the week, a classic Palma Ceia separation that reminded everyone why this event, played on just 90 acres of tight corridors and slick greens, remains one of the most demanding tests in mid-amateur golf.
One of the unique features of the Gasparilla is the Monday qualifier, which gives players who didn't earn a direct invite a chance to play their way into the field. The qualifier has produced some remarkable stories over the years. Most famously, 2022 champion Logan Blondell shot a 73 in the Monday qualifier the week he won, and it turned out to be the highest score he posted all week en route to breaking the tournament scoring record. That tradition of giving hungry competitors one last shot at the field adds a layer of excitement before the championship rounds even begin, and it's a model other mid-am invitationals would be wise to adopt. This year we saw a 63(!) from Andrew Morris take medalist honors.
Fast forward to the main event and Brown's week was a masterclass in resilience. He fired a 3-under 67 in round one to put himself near the top, then absorbed a second-round 73 that could have derailed his momentum. But he responded exactly the way champions do, posting a closing 68 on Saturday that featured the shot of the tournament on the 18th hole: a 30 yard wedge shot from long of the 18th green to 5 feet. He went on to make the birdie putt on a hole that regularly becomes a pressure point and has been the stage for some of the most iconic moments in Gasparilla history. With White firing a final-round 67 and charging hard from behind, Brown needed every bit of that closing birdie to secure the one-shot margin. It was the kind of gut-check finish that Palma Ceia's 18th was built for.
Behind Brown and White, Michael Buttacavoli turned in a remarkably steady week with three consecutive rounds of 70 to finish even-par at 210, tying Logan Blondell for third. From the Monday qualifier hopefuls grinding for a spot to Brown's clutch birdie on the 72nd hole, the 2026 Gasparilla once again proved why it's considered the unofficial kickoff to the mid-amateur season and why Palma Ceia never gives anything away.
The event was covered by everyone from us here at midamgolfHQ to other media outlets like The Back of The Range and No Laying Up. It was really cool to see all the media coverage and how the event gets bigger and better every year! Congrats to everyone involved and we look forward to an even bigger 2027.
Leaderboard-2 | Hayes Brown | 67-73-68=208-1 | Peyton White | 72-70-67=209
Two tied at E
Full results HERE
Up Next
The Snedeker Memorial
March 13-15, 2026
Defending Champion: Nate Smith
The Snedeker Memorial returns for its third edition March 12–15 at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Alabama, and it's safe to say this event has arrived. What started as an intimate tribute to Larry and Candice Snedeker whose love for the game helped launch the careers of sons Haymes and Brandt, has quickly become one of the most coveted invitations on the mid-amateur calendar. The 54-hole stroke play championship, which also features a simultaneous team competition, expanded to 80 players last year after its successful inaugural run in 2024, and demand has only grown from there. This year, roughly 100+ players are sitting on the wait list trying to get in, a testament to how fast the Snedeker has established itself as a must-play event in the mid-am world.
Last year's edition belonged to Nate Smith from start to finish. The former 2024 Idaho Amateur champion posted rounds of 70-68-67 to reach 11-under 205, running away from the field in wire-to-wire fashion and winning by a commanding six shots over Bobby Wyatt and Sam Jackson who tied for second at 5-under. Smith's final round was a thing of beauty with a bogey-free, 5-under 67 that slammed the door on any hope of a comeback. Will McCurdy, Blair Hamm, and Shane Sigsbee rounded out the top five at 2-under, and McCurdy added a memorable footnote to the week by acing the third hole in the final round.
The Dogwood Course at Lakewood provides a venue worthy of the field it attracts. The club's roots go back to 1944, when legendary architect Perry Maxwell the same mind behind Southern Hills in Tulsa, brought his vision to the Alabama Gulf Coast. The Dogwood opened in 1947 as the first professional-quality course in south Alabama, and its DNA reflects Maxwell's signature style: rolling fairways, tight greens, spring-fed lakes, and mature trees that frame every hole. The course joined the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in 2005, underwent a significant renovation in 2018, and has hosted three USGA championships, including the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur in 1974, 1986, and 2021. At 7,104 yards and par 72, it wanders through pines, magnolias, and century-old oaks a setting that feels more like a stroll through the old South than a modern tournament test, but make no mistake, the Dogwood bites.
With the field expanding and the wait list running 100 deep, the third Snedeker Memorial is shaping up to be the strongest edition yet. Players will again be housed at the nearby Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa, and the week's social calendar from cocktail parties at the Sky Lounge to the awards ceremony on the clubhouse lawn keeps the event's identity intact as something more than just a golf tournament. It's a gathering that honors a family's legacy while giving mid-amateurs a championship-caliber stage on one of the Gulf Coast's most historic layouts. The question heading into March: can anyone challenge Smith's dominance, or will the Snedeker need a new storyline to match last year's wire-to-wire clinic?
Up Next
The Champions Cup
March 26-29, 2026
Defending Champions: Will Davenport and Nick Maccario
The Champions Cup Invitational is one of mid-amateur golf's most unique events. Its a 72-hole, two-man best ball competition conceived in 1961 by Jack Burke Jr. and the late Jimmy Demaret at their beloved Champions Golf Club in Houston. When Burke and Demaret opened Champions in 1957, they dedicated themselves to keeping competitive amateur golf alive in the Houston area, and the Cup became the crown jewel of that mission. Played on the Cypress Creek Course the same layout that hosted the 1967 Ryder Cup, the 1969 U.S. Open, the 1993 U.S. Amateur, and the 2020 U.S. Women's Open the Cup demands that both members of a team be 25 or older with a handicap of three or below, ensuring the field is stacked with serious players. Champions is a golf-only club with many scratch or plus handicap members so the atmosphere is unlike almost anything else in amateur golf. The club still runs on Burke's original philosophy: no tennis courts, no frills, just golf at the highest level.
The 57th edition in April 2025 was a coronation. Will Davenport and Nick Maccario put together one of the most dominant performances in Champions Cup history, posting rounds of 67-64-64 to reach 20-under 264 and win by a staggering eight shots. The pairing of Phil Arci and Simon McInnis tied with Liam Logan and Blake Vinson for second place at 12-under 272, while Kade Stewart and Josh Gibbons along with Kristoffer Marshall and Jake Byrum rounded out the top five at 11-under. It wasn't close, and with Davenport fresh off a runner-up at the 2025 Gasparilla and Maccario continuing to stack elite results, their pairing was the most feared in the field before they even teed it up. We will see if this dynamic duo can defend their title of if another team will snatch it away!
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2026 “Major” Mid-Am Event Final Results
The Tree Farm Invitational - January 2026 - Rescheduled
The Gasparilla Invitational - February 2026 - Hayes Brown
The Snedeker Memorial - March 2026
Champions Cup Four-Ball - March 2026
The Giles Invitational - May 2026
The Jupiter Invitational - May 2026
The Walter J. Travis Invitational - May 2026
John T. Lupton Memorial - May 2026
The Huddleston Cup - May 2026
C.B Macdonald Invitational Tournament - June 2026
Anderson Memorial Four-Ball - June 2026
George C Thomas Invitational - June 2026
European Men’s Mid-Amateur - June 2026
Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur - August 2026
The Picard Cup - August 2026
The Valentine Invitational - August 2026
USGA Women’s Mid-Am - September 2026
Trans-Miss Mid-Master Championship - September 2026
The Farrell - September 2026
The Crump Cup - September 2026
USGA Men’s Mid-Am - October 2026
The Stocker Cup - October 2026
John R. Williams Four-Ball - October 2026
The Berkeley Cup - October 2026
Carlton Woods Invitational - October 2026
National Invitational Tournament - November 2026
Ewing Cup Four-Ball - November 2026
East West Matches
Mid-Am Standings
As of February 24, 2026
Christian Cavaliere | East | 805.50
Bobby Massa | West | 792.18
Andrew Bailey | East | 649.00
Brandon Holtz | East | 475.00
Evan Beck | East | 462.50
Drew Kittleson | West | 400.00
Chris Wheeler | West | 398.00
Ryan Terry | 360.00
Jeg Coughlin | 350.00
Christian Brand | East | 338.50
Johnny Spellerberg | 333.68
Joe Deraney | East | 331.25
Parker Edens | West | 321.50
Stewart Hagestad | East | 317.00
Ben Reeves | 311.00
Will Davenport | East | 304.50
Bobby Wyatt | East | 300.00
Steele Dewald | 292.50
Marc Dull | East | 286.50
Dan Walters | East | 274.00
Brad Nurski | West | 273.00
Andrew Price | East | 270.00
Tucker Jenkins | 268.50
Colby Harwell | West | 265.50
Blanton Farmer | 255.00
Worth the Detour
When people think of elite golf destinations in Florida, the conversation usually starts and ends with Palm Beach, Hobe Sound, and the Jupiter corridor……and understandably so. But Tampa has some awesome golden age architecture, paired up with a competitive golf culture that runs deep. The area doesn't have the same name recognition among the country club set, but the courses speak for themselves, and the players who know, know. Tampa is a golf town that's been hiding in plain sight. And we would be remiss not to mention the incredible steaks one can procure at Berns while visiting Tampa!
The crown jewels of the area golf wise are Palma Ceia Golf & Country Club and the West Course at Belleair Country Club, two Donald Ross designs separated by about 25 miles of Tampa Bay waterfront. Palma Ceia, founded in 1916 and reworked by Ross in 1923, is Tampa's first private club and one of the game's great hidden gems 82 acres of tight corridors, slick greens, and century-old oaks that have hosted the Gasparilla Invitational since 1956 and served as the site of the very first LPGA tournament in 1950. Bobby Weed's 2012 restoration brought back the Ross features and won Renovation of the Year from Golf Inc. Across the bay, Belleair's West Course might be even more impressive after its 2022 restoration by Fry/Straka, which used original Ross sketches from the Tufts Archives at Pinehurst to rebuild the layout to its 1924 design. The result is arguably the most faithful Ross restoration in the country with 30 feet of elevation change, half a mile of Clearwater Bay frontage, and a dramatic new par-3 7th on a peninsula jutting into the water. Golf has been played at Belleair since 1897, making it one of the oldest courses in the state, and the West Course now looks and plays like the masterpiece Ross always intended it to be.
Beyond those two anchors, the supporting cast is just as strong. Old Memorial Golf Club, founded in 1997 by the creators of Outback Steakhouse and designed by Steve Smyers, is a walking-only, caddie-required sanctuary tucked behind a high school with no signage and no pretense just Melbourne Sand Belt-inspired bunkering, firm and fast conditions, and a course that Golf Digest has ranked among the best in the state. Then there's The Pelican Golf Club which was originally a Ross layout reimagined by Beau Welling in 2018 into what the owners openly call their attempt at building the Augusta National of women's golf. With Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley (a Tampa Bay local) involved from the start in everything from writing the bylaws to selecting the crushed quartz sand, Pelican hosts the LPGA's annual ANNIKA tournament. Tampa Bay isn't just sneaking up on the east coast golf establishment it's already arrived.
The pro shops at all these clubs are elite and worth a visit anytime you’re lucky enough to get an invite and make sure to load up on H&B gear of course! Cheers to everyone in the 813.
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Until next month…..