Nobody at Twin Lakes Golf & Swim Club on Sunday was going to catch Scott Wilsey. The 2026 Irish Open, presented by Erika Fitzpatrick, served up the best weather of the Mulligan Tour season so far — sunny skies, high 70s, the kind of May afternoon that makes Salem Hills in the rain feel like a different sport — and Wilsey used every bit of it. No bogeys. Four birdies. One eagle. A net 65 (-6) that was five shots clear of a three-way tie for second place. The tournament was a formality by the 12th hole. That’s when Wilsey striped a 7-iron to within five feet of the flag, buried the putt for eagle, and moved to four under par with nobody in the field capable of catching him. The back nine belonged to him. The whole day belonged to him.
Wilsey’s scorecard tells a complete story. Gross 75 on a par 71 layout — 39 on the front, 36 on the back — without a single number above par to blemish it. When he got into trouble, he got out of it immediately, sinking 20-footers to protect a card that had no business staying clean for 18 holes and somehow did anyway. The eagle. The four birdies. The zero bogeys. That’s a Mulligan Tour performance worth putting on the wall, and it earned Wilsey the $32 first-place check and a clean entry on the Irish Open’s short list of champions.
Jonathan Barnes, Paul Parent, and Helen Puffenberger all finished in a three-way tie for second at net 70 (-1), and every one of those rounds deserves attention. Barnes shot a gross 72 — the best gross score in the field by three shots — on a course where he received only two strokes. The math was the problem. Even with one of the sharpest ball-striking performances of the day, Barnes could never quite manufacture enough net separation to threaten Wilsey. He came to play and left knowing he’d done everything his game allowed. Puffenberger hit 10 of 13 fairways and made five birdies — one of the most complete driving-day performances in the field — and still couldn’t climb past the tie for second. That’s what a net 65 does to a leaderboard. Paul Parent rounds out the three-way knot with a net 70 of his own, a solid Sunday at Twin Lakes from a player who knows how to post a number.
Eric Kiekbusch finished fifth at net 72 in a clean, controlled round on the senior tees. Six players shared sixth at net 73 — Anthony Dean, Rich Dunmore, Chuck Withey, Vinnie Calles, and the Chris Dunmore – Joe Brandenburg wave finishing in a tie for 10th. Calles deserves a particular mention. One of the tour’s newer members, still working through his first full season of competitive Mulligan Tour golf, a net 73 at the Irish Open puts him in the top ten at an Eastern Division event where the competition is legitimate from top to bottom. Every result like this one changes how the leaderboard sees him going forward.
The on-course side competitions rounded out a Sunday that felt like a gift from the Michigan spring calendar. Closest-to-pin honors were spread across the field: Ryan Doak on hole 2, Joe Brandenburg on hole 6, Wilsey on hole 11, guest Fred Ciampa on hole 14, and Chris Dunmore on hole 16. Wilsey also took the longest drive prize on hole 13, adding the t-shirt and two sleeves of Callaway balls to an afternoon that already had more than enough hardware in it. Fewest putts came down to a three-way tie between Wilsey, Chuck Withey, and Jonathan Barnes — all of them minimum on the greens all day — with Barnes claiming the Black Clover ball marker on the tiebreaker after one-putting the very first hole. Barnes wins the tiebreaker. Wilsey wins everything else.
Erika Fitzpatrick’s Irish Open is three years old now, and Sunday’s edition at Twin Lakes delivered exactly the kind of afternoon the event has been building toward. The 2026 Mulligan Tour season keeps moving. The Strokes on a Rope is next on the calendar. Scott Wilsey’s name is on the Irish Open trophy. And whoever drew up Sunday’s weather forecast deserves an honorary Mulligan Tour membership.