The 2026 East Side Charity Classic at Sylvan Glen Golf Course in Troy capped off the best three-day stretch of weather for the Mulligan Tour season Sunday morning — and Willi Hesse made sure it ended with a finish nobody in the field will forget. Bogey on the first hole. Double bogey on the second. Two holes in and already staring at a round that looked like it might spiral before it ever started. Then Hesse made nine birdies in the next sixteen holes. Nine. He shot a 39 on the back nine, posted a net 65 (-6), and walked off Sylvan Glen as the 2026 East Side Charity Classic champion. His first individual win of the 2026 season. The two-time Tour Championship winner reminding the field exactly why his name belongs at the top of every leaderboard conversation.
That front-nine gross of 44 tells you how shaky the start was. The back-nine gross of 39 tells you what Hesse is capable of when the putter gets warm and the approach game locks in. Nine birdies in sixteen holes at Sylvan Glen is not a round you stumble into — it’s a round you build, hole by hole, after making a decision somewhere on the third tee that the round isn’t over. Hesse made that decision, executed on it for the better part of sixteen holes, and left the rest of the field unable to respond. The defending East Side champion Tim Markel finished 10th at net 77 — the title belongs to Hesse now.
Ryan Doak pushed him harder than anyone. Five birdies, an eagle, and 39% greens in regulation — a GIR number that should not produce the round it did, but Doak’s scrambling and short game kept the scorecard clean enough for a net 68 (-3) and a $24 second-place check. The eagle was the signature moment of his round, and the five birdies built a foundation that held up everywhere except right at the top of the leaderboard where Hesse was doing something extraordinary.
Helen Puffenberger finished a remarkable three-day Mulligan Tour weekend with a third-place net 69 (-2) — five birdies, an eagle, and 85% of the fairways hit at Sylvan Glen. She came to the right hole at the right time on hole 7 and claimed the $20 account credit CTP in the process. To put the full picture of Puffenberger’s weekend in context: second in the Fox Hunt on Friday evening, first at the Alzheimer’s Awareness Open on Saturday afternoon, third at the East Side Charity Classic on Sunday morning. Three events across three days. Three trips up the leaderboard. That is a performance that will define the 2026 season’s breakout stretch no matter what else happens on the calendar.
Kelly Scheff claimed fourth place at net 72 in a strong individual result at Sylvan Glen. Joe Brandenburg, Paul Parent, and Scott Wilsey all finished tied at net 73 for fifth — Brandenburg continuing to be a consistent presence on the Eastern Division calendar, Wilsey keeping his season-long momentum going, Parent delivering another solid Sunday round. Phil Parent and Chuck Withey shared eighth at net 74.
Rich Dunmore won the $10 cash CTP prize on hole 15 — a well-earned consolation on a day when his net 78 left him outside the money. Jonathan Barnes at 14th — net 80 off a gross 83 — continues to post raw ball-striking numbers that any player on this tour would envy, while the net result continues to leave him off the podium. Barnes hit 44 on the front and 39 on the back for a gross 83 that, with three strokes applied, translated to net 80. The gap between what his game looks like and where it’s finishing will close. It always does.
The 2026 East Side Charity Classic raised $340 for Make-A-Wish — every mulligan used across Sylvan Glen’s 18 holes going to a cause that matters. The Mulligan Tour thanks all of the players who showed up on a Sunday morning to compete and contribute.
Three events. Three champions — Markel, Puffenberger, Hesse. One perfect late-May weekend of Mulligan Tour golf. The calendar turns to June now, and the season is just getting started.
