The 2026 Tin Cup Classic at Hickory Creek Golf Course kicked off the highly anticipated 2026 Tin Cup Classic Mulligan Tour season. Thirty-six players, a $106 purse, and a par 4 fifth hole that the course’s number one handicap rating says you are not supposed to eagle. Eric Birkle didn’t care. He stepped up, made the eagle anyway, added four birdies, and walked off Hickory Creek as the 2026 Tin Cup Classic champion with a round-best net 72 — even par — the only player in the field to reach par on this chilly Saturday morning in Superior Township. Just like that, the Mulligan Tour has its first winner of the year.
And what a way to open a season for the 2026 Tin Cup Classic Mulligan Tour. Birkle’s eagle on the fifth — the most difficult hole on the property — set the tone for a net 72 that held up through the back nine. Nobody touched it. Two players finished at net 74 to share second: Bryan Wessel Jr. put together arguably the best round of his Mulligan Tour career, burying six birdies to climb all the way up the leaderboard; and Greg Kline — four-time Tin Cup Classic champion, the Mulligan Tour’s all-time career earnings leader at $2,969.45 — hit 57% of his fairways and fired four birdies of his own to stay right in the hunt. A $3,000 career earnings milestone is now closer than ever for Kline, and if the 2026 Tin Cup Classic is any indication, he’s not slowing down.
Fourth place belongs to Paul Parent, who may have had the most aggressive round of the day — six birdies, 57% fairways hit, net 75 — one stroke off the podium. Chuck Withey, the reigning Mulligan Tour money title holder, checked in at fifth with a net 77. Rich Dunmore and Eric Kiekbusch shared sixth at net 78, and the three-way tie at eighth — Chris Stalo, Jeff Klipa, Jeff Pasz, all at net 79 — is exactly the kind of logjam the 2026 Tin Cup Classic always seems to produce.
Off the main leaderboard, the closest-to-pin drama had its own winners during the 2026 Tin Cup Classic Mulligan Tour. Kevin Gregoire — better known around here as Kenny G — stuck his approach on hole 6 to claim the $10 cash prize, and Jeff Cubel’s laser on hole 11 earned him $20 account credit. Meanwhile, the 2026 Tin Cup Classic gave back in a big way off the course too: mulligan proceeds raised $700 for Gleaner’s Food Bank. Seven hundred dollars in one morning. That’s the Mulligan Tour.
Eight players made their official Mulligan Tour debuts Saturday — Mike Wassman, Chase Keilitz, David Jarboe, Jamie Wilson, Vinnie Calles, Nancy Wright, John Donitzen, and Jon Stanis all competed in their first competitive round on the Tour. Every round counts. Players who reach three events will see a temporary handicap kick in next weekend, and that’s when the playing field levels out and the competition gets real. The work these players are putting in right now pays dividends starting next Saturday.
As for the conditions — yes, it was cold at the 8am shotgun. Low 40s, still air, the kind of morning that tests your commitment before you even reach the first tee. But the sun found the back nine and temperatures climbed into the mid-50s by the close of play, a reminder that the 2026 Tin Cup Classic is just the beginning of a long, warm Mulligan Tour season. Next up: the Sweet Sixteen. The trophy case is open. Get after it.
