2026 Match Play Championship — Semifinals & Final
When the bracket was set two days ago at Huron Meadows, Tim Markel was a respectable sixth seed with two 2026 wins to his name and a reputation as a steady, dangerous player. When it was over Sunday afternoon, he was a two-time Match Play champion, a nine-time Major winner, and the owner of a nickname that fits like a glove: Major Markel. The 2026 Mulligan Tour Match Play Championship belonged to him from the first shot of Saturday morning to the final concession Sunday afternoon, and nobody in the field made a more convincing case for the title across three rounds of match play golf.
The semifinals on Sunday morning set the stage perfectly. In the top half of the bracket, Jeff Cubel — the 8 seed who had already delivered the tournament’s signature upset by dismantling defending champion Tyler Floyd 7 & 5 on Saturday — met Ken Westerman, the 12 seed who had ended Sudden Greg Fobare’s season in Round 2. Cubel got the job done 2 & 1, a workmanlike win that advanced him to his first Match Play final and capped one of the best individual bracket runs in recent tournament memory. In the bottom half, Markel met Chris Stalo — the number two seed, the most consistently positioned player on tour all season. It wasn’t close. Markel won 6 & 5 in a performance that sent a message loud enough to be heard from the first tee to the 18th green: the trophy was already spoken for. In the third place match, Westerman conceded to Chris Stalo after nine holes, giving Stalo a third-place finish and some consolation after his semifinal defeat, while Westerman walked away with fourth — a remarkable run for the 12 seed that nobody had advancing past the first round.
The championship match between Markel and Cubel was a fitting final. Cubel had earned his place — three straight wins, including a blowout of the defending champion — and he brought his best. But Markel was simply better on Sunday. The same crisp ball-striking that produced 72% GIR at the Fox Hunt earlier this season showed up again on the Huron Meadows layout, and Markel closed it out 3 & 2, leaving no doubt and no drama. The trophy was his. The ninth Major was his. And with it, a nickname that will follow him for the rest of his Mulligan Tour career.
Nine Majors. The only player in MT history to reach that number is Greg Kline, whose 28 career wins and all-time earnings record are the benchmarks every serious competitor on this tour measures themselves against. Markel now stands alone in second place on the all-time Majors list, a milestone that puts his name in a conversation that not many players ever reach. Two Match Play titles. Nine major championships. And a 2026 season that started quietly with the Chelsea Classic in April and ended Sunday afternoon at Huron Meadows with his hands on one of the biggest trophies the Mulligan Tour puts on the table.
The bracket has been retired, the scorecards turned in, and the 2026 Match Play Championship has its champion. Major Markel. Remember the name — he’s making sure you will.
Huron Meadows Delivers Drama, Upsets, and One Very Busy Putting
2026 Match Play Championship — Rounds 1 & 2
The 2026 Mulligan Tour Match Play Championship didn’t waste any time announcing itself as one for the ages. Sixteen players walked onto Huron Meadows on Saturday morning. Four walked off with their tournament intact. And by the time Sunday’s semifinal bracket was set, nearly everything the pre-tournament predictions had mapped out was in flames — which, frankly, is exactly what Match Play is supposed to do.
The first round opened with the expected and then immediately delivered the unexpected. Tyler Floyd, the defending champion, took care of business early — dispatching Thom Mulhern 4 & 3 in one of the day’s most lopsided result and reaffirming his status as the man to beat. Stewart Levine gutted out a 1 Up victory over Lance Evert, exactly the kind of grinding win that suits his game. Tim Markel and Jonathan Barnes both looked dominant — Markel winning 5 & 4 over Rich Dunmore, Barnes answering with a stunning 5 & 4 demolition of Tom Moran that sent a message to the entire bracket. Ken Westerman, the 12 seed that virtually no one had advancing, quietly knocked off Willi Hesse — a result that raised eyebrows in the clubhouse and sent the two-time Tour Championship winner home earlier than expected. Then came the match everyone was watching: Scott Wilsey vs. Greg Fobare. Eighteen holes. All Square. Putting green. Wilsey had been warned — in print, before the tournament started — that letting Sudden Greg get to the putting surface in a sudden-death situation was a losing proposition. The warning went unheeded, and Fobare did exactly what Fobare does, draining the decisive putt to advance and sending Wilsey to the consolation bracket with a lesson he won’t soon forget.
Round 2 is where the bracket truly caught fire. Jeff Cubel — the 8 seed who squeaked past Chuck Withey 2 & 1 in Round 1 — walked onto the course against defending champion Tyler Floyd and proceeded to deliver the upset of the tournament, winning 7 & 5 in a performance that wasn’t close and wasn’t lucky. It was dominant. Floyd, the man who had Huron Meadows figured out better than anyone in the field, never found his footing, and Cubel put him away with holes to spare. If Round 1 was a warning shot, Round 2 was a statement. Ken Westerman then did something almost as remarkable — he ended Sudden Greg Fobare’s magical putting green run, beating the three-time putt-off champion 4 & 3 in a match that wasn’t decided by nerves or a late putt but by Westerman simply outplaying him over 15 holes. The man who shot under his age at Hudson Mills is now two wins away from the championship. Chris Stalo survived Jonathan Barnes in the tightest match of the round — 1 Up — in a battle that could have gone either way and probably deserved extra holes. Barnes finally exits without his 2026 win, but not without a fight. Tim Markel closed out the semifinal bracket by beating Levine 2 Up, his third consecutive strong performance in a week that has established him as one of the most dangerous players still standing.
In the consolation bracket, the stories were equally compelling. Thom Mulhern beat Chuck Withey 1 Up in a match that came down to the wire. Scott Wilsey — stinging from the putting green loss to Fobare — bounced back with a 5 & 4 win over Willi Hesse, which is either a sign that Wilsey found something or a reminder that Hesse’s early exit was a significant bracket surprise. Tom Moran won 3 & 2 over Jeff Feikens to stay alive. And Rich Dunmore — the man who has been on the wrong side of two putt-offs this season — finally won one, going All Square with Lance Evert and then converting on the putting green to advance. It’s the redemption arc Dunmore has been chasing all year, and even in the consolation bracket, it matters.
Sunday Semifinals:
The final four is set, and it couldn’t be more intriguing. Jeff Cubel vs. Ken Westerman is a matchup nobody had on their bingo card — the 8 seed who just beat the defending champion against the 12 seed who just ended Sudden Greg’s season. One of them is going to the championship match. Chris Stalo vs. Tim Markel is the closest thing to a coin flip left in the bracket — Stalo’s World Rankings pedigree against Markel’s two tournament wins and momentum. Both matches tee off at 7:40 AM Sunday, with the Championship and 3rd Place matches at 12:50 PM. Huron Meadows has already given us more than we bargained for. Sunday promises to finish the job.