Cold. Windy. Fox Hills in early May wearing its worst disposition. The 2026 Dudlee’s Plymouth Open gave everyone who showed up Saturday exactly the kind of morning they’d been warned about — temperatures that never escaped the 30s at tee time, wind that made every club selection a guess, and a golf course that was in no mood to cooperate. Into all of that walked Chris Stalo, fresh off a trip to the legendary Pinehurst Golf Club, with a game that had apparently picked up something in North Carolina worth keeping. Three birdies. An eagle. A gross 78. A net 68 (-2). Dudlee’s Plymouth Open champion, 2026. Welcome back from Pinehurst, Chris.
Stalo’s 37 on the front nine set the tone on a day when the field was fighting the weather from the first tee. He steadied through the back — gross 41 to close — and the net 68 held up as the only sub-70 score in the field by three strokes. That’s how you win a Dudlee’s Plymouth Open in cold, windy conditions. You don’t need fireworks. You need steady, smart golf with enough of those moments — three birdies, an eagle — to build a cushion and let the course and the elements do the rest to the competition.
The biggest charge of the day came from Bryan Wessel Jr., who has been one of the most exciting players to watch in the 2026 season. Wessel Jr. made five birdies on the back nine — five — which on a cold, difficult Fox Hills back nine is the kind of scoring burst that makes the entire leaderboard look up. He ended up at net 71 (+1) for second place and a $24 check. But the round also included a triple bogey on the 16th hole that cost him any realistic shot at catching Stalo. Five back-nine birdies and a triple on 16 — that’s Dudlee’s Plymouth Open in a sentence. The course giveth, the course taketh away, and it picks its moments.
Tyler Floyd, Ned Loving, and Phil Parent finished in a three-way tie for third at net 73 — three players with very different routes to the same number on a day where par felt like a real accomplishment. Jeff Klipa and Chuck Withey shared sixth at net 74, and Kevin Gregoire — the two-time Plymouth Open champion who came in as one of the favorites — checked in at eighth at net 75 after a round that didn’t match the Fox Hills form that won him this event in back-to-back years. Tim Markel, who came in riding Chelsea Classic momentum, tied for tenth at net 77 alongside Greg Fobare, who keeps quietly posting competitive rounds in the Central Division.
Now — about Dennis L. The closest-to-pin competition on Saturday told a story that had nothing to do with the main leaderboard and everything to do with what makes a Mulligan Tour Saturday special. Ken Westerman stuck one close enough on Hills #6 to claim that prize. Randy Vershum won the Lakes #2 CTP — a nice moment for one of the tour’s newest members. And then Dennis L stepped to the tee on Lakes #5 and made a hole-in-one. His second career ace on the Mulligan Tour. On one of the coldest, windiest days of the 2026 season, in conditions where making par felt like an accomplishment, Dennis L put it in the cup on the fly. He also won the Hills #3 closest-to-the-pin for good measure — two CTP prizes and a hole-in-one in the same round. That’s a Saturday worth remembering, regardless of what the rest of the scorecard said.
While the competition played out on the fairways, the 2026 Dudlee’s Plymouth Open was doing something equally important off the course. Saturday’s field raised $780 for Leader Dogs for the Blind — a total built from the $10 per-player entry contribution combined with the Disability and Life Insurance purchases that gave everyone a fighting chance against Fox Hills in those conditions. Leader Dogs for the Blind, based right here in Rochester Hills, Michigan, has been transforming the lives of people who are blind, visually impaired, or DeafBlind for decades. The Mulligan Tour is proud to support that mission, and $780 is a number worth putting on the board alongside Stalo’s winning score.
The defending champion Eric Birkle finished 18th at net 80 — a second consecutive event where his game didn’t match the early-season form that made him the Tin Cup Classic champion and a Sweet Sixteen runner-up. The competition is calibrating to him, and the course conditions this spring have been unforgiving to everyone. He’ll be back. The 2026 Dudlee’s Plymouth Open is in the books, the Central Division has its first winner of the season, and the Mulligan Tour heads into the stretch run toward the Memorial. The season keeps moving.
