The 2026 Pine View Classic at Pine View Golf Course in Ypsilanti had all the hallmarks of a proper early-season Mulligan Tour test — cold air at the 8am shotgun, a 6,159-yard par 72 that doesn’t apologize for anything, and a field full of players who came to compete on one of the most historic venues in the tour’s history. Season 28 of the Pine View Classic, one of the original six tournaments that launched the Mulligan Tour back in 1999, produced a winner nobody saw coming — or maybe everybody should have. Mike Fox, sponsor of the 2026 Pine View Classic, tournament supporter, Bike MS fundraiser, and Michigan cycling champion for the Rollin’ With the Homies team, went out Saturday and won the whole thing. Six birdies. Net 75 (+3). First career Pine View Classic title. You cannot write a better story than the one that wrote itself in Ypsilanti on Saturday.
Fox’s six birdies were the most of anyone in the field, and he needed every one of them on a Pine View layout that played firm and unforgiving in cold temperatures that sat in the 30s at tee time and only climbed into the low 40s by the closing stretch. This is a course that eats up scorecards, and Fox poked holes all over it. He put up a net 75 that held up to the end, and when the final scores were posted, he was standing alone at the top of the leaderboard. If there’s a more satisfying win than that somewhere on the 2026 Mulligan Tour calendar, it’s going to have to work hard to match this one.
Chasing Fox home in a tie for second at net 76 were Noah Kline and Corey McCue — two players with very different routes to the same number. Kline got there with the shot of the day: an eagle on the par 5 ninth, the kind of moment that changes the entire complexion of a round and sends a charge through whatever group you’re playing with. McCue’s path was quieter but equally impressive — four birdies and 68% greens in regulation on a cold morning when the flags were not cooperating. McCue’s greens-in-regulation number is a standout data point. Owning two-thirds of the par 3s and long approach holes at Pine View in April conditions is real golf. He came up one shot short but left Ypsilanti with a check and the knowledge that his game is right where it needs to be.
Eric Birkle, Tyler Floyd, and Paul Parent each finished tied for fourth at net 78. Birkle hit 71% of his fairways and is now the tour’s model of consistency through four events in 2026 — a win, a runner-up, and three top-five finishes. Floyd, who who was one of the most dominant performers of 2025, has the game to win any time he tees it up and came within a handful of strokes of doing exactly that Saturday. Phil Parent tied for seventh at net 79, and his 50-50 stat line — 50% fairways, 50% greens in regulation — is the kind of honest performance review that tells you exactly what happened. Half the course went right, half didn’t, and it still produced a top-10 at Pine View.
Helen Puffenberger hit 86% of the fairways on Saturday. Let that number breathe for a second. Eighty-six percent. On a course with the kind of tight driving corridors Pine View presents, that is a performance worth calling out on its own. Puffenberger finished tied for ninth at net 80, and the margin between her and the top of the leaderboard came down to approaches and short game, not the tee. Kevin Gregoire and Chris Stalo shared ninth with her as well, each grinding out competitive rounds in difficult conditions.
The closest-to-pin competition was spread around the field. Kevin Gregoire — Kenny G — won on hole 2. Scott Wilsey was sharpest on 5. Jeff Pasz stuck one tight on 12. Jeff Cubel was locked in on 17. Four ProV1 sleeve winners, four well-earned prizes on the four hardest short-iron holes on the property.
And while all of that was unfolding on the fairways, the tournament’s bigger mission was doing its work off the course. The 2026 Pine View Classic raised $760 for Rollin’ With the Homies and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society — adding to the team’s cumulative lifetime total that now exceeds $62,744. Every mulligan, every registration dollar, every entry fee that flowed through this tournament helped fund the fight against a disease that affects more than two million people worldwide. Mike Fox put his name and his cause on this tournament. Then he went out and won it. That’s a good Saturday in Ypsilanti.
The Mulligan Tour heads into a busy stretch of the 2026 season with three events already in the books and a field starting to sort itself out. Fox is on the board. Birkle is relentless. McCue is finding his form. The Western Division woke up at Pine View on Saturday. It’s going to be a long, competitive spring.
