The Professional Putters Association

08/18/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
PPA and APA season stats
as of 16 August 2026.

08/18/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
The Mickey DeLucca Louisiana State Championship
Lake Charles, August 15, 16 2026

This is an eight-round tournament, with four rounds played on course #1 on Saturday and four more played on course #2 on Sunday. Seventeen players—nine pros and eight APAs—began the tournament, and seventeen players finished the tournament. That wasn’t a given, since the “feels like” readings topped out over 110°F on Saturday and over 100°F on Sunday. No one was carted off in an ambulance. Been there, done that, never again.

In the pros, Saturday belonged to Terry Simpson, who shot 103 (26-25-26-26) for a four-stroke lead over Don Parker and Lee Messinger, with Wade Sahmel another stroke behind. On Sunday, Terry, Lee and Wade jockeyed for the lead, with Don falling back. Wade’s 24 in the seventh round was low for the day and put him in a tie with Terry, one ahead of Lee. Going into the 144th hole, Terry held the lead by one over both Wade and Lee. Wade aced it, while Terry and Lee both deuced. This set up an 18-hole playoff between Wade and Terry, with Lee alone in third.

This would be Terry’s second consecutive playoff for first. (He lost to Joe Lea in 19 holes at Hurst two weeks previously.) Both players started slowly, each making only one ace over the first six holes. But then, after Wade apologized, saying they weren’t showing the spectators much, both players made five of the next six, still tied. But Wade kept going and made four of the next five to open a three-stroke lead, before a miss on the anti-climatic 18th hole. Despite the slow start, they shot 26-28. This gave Wade three wins in the last six “Mickeys.”

In the APA, Charles Tarbell used Saturday to build a seven-stroke lead over Tommy Phillips, and then walked the dog on Sunday, leading by eight over Greg Simpson through seven rounds, before easing off the gas for a four-stroke win over Greg with Chris Conradi in third and Adam Sahmel in fourth.

We hope to see everyone in Hurst for the SWPT finals weekend Sept. 19-20.

08/03/2026

The Southwest Putting Tour
2026 stats through August 2, 2026

08/03/2026

The Southwest Putting Tour
Hurst Texas, Harbor Course
August 1, 2, 2026

Some of the players were practicing at Hurst on Friday. At 4:00 PM, the temperature was 106° F, and the “feels like” was 111° F. However, a “cool front” came through that evening, and highs for the weekend’s tournaments were only in the mid-90s.

We had 17 players, nine pros, seven in APA, and one novice. In the pros, the field on Saturday was tight for the first two rounds, with four players within two strokes of David Chisum’s 59. In the last round, two players—Joe Lea and Brice Bergesen—caught David to force a three-way playoff at 88. Actually, Joe had the tournament won until he bogeyed #18. In the playoff, though. David put on a clinic. On a day when the low pro score had been 27, David shot 12 on the front, for a one-stroke lead over Joe. (Brice conceded and dropped out of the playoff.) Then, after missing hole #10, David ran off seven aces in a row before deucing #18, winning with an outstanding 23 to Joe’s 26. Some fireworks!

In the APA, Chris Conradi opened with a 27, giving him a four-stroke lead over Tommy Phillips. Chris went on to lead wire-to-wire, shooting 88, equaling the low pro score, with Tommy second, three strokes behind.

On Sunday, it looked like David retained some of that playoff magic when he opened with a day’s best 25. But pro scores were improving from the day before, with Terry Simpson in at 26 and Joe Lea and Don Parker were sitting just two back. In the second round, Terry shot a 27 to catch David, at 53, with Joe Lea two back and Lee Messinger three back. Things stayed tight in the final round, with Joe and Terry both shooting 82, one better than Lee and two better than David. In the playoff this time, Joe and Terry went 18 only to find themselves still tied, as they both shot 29. They went into sudden death, where Joe won when Terry, putting second after Joe’s ace, lipped the cup.

In the APA on Sunday, Chris Conradi started hot again, shooting 28 in the first round for a two-stroke lead over Brian Dunn. Although his scores weren’t as dominant as the day before, Chris again won wire-to-wire, shooting 92 for a two-stroke win over Brian and Steven Yancey.

08/02/2026

07/21/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
Season Statistics through 9 July 2026

07/21/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
Arlington Texas Parks
July 18, 19, 2026

The SWPT played three tournaments in Arlington, Texas, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. We welcomed back Steven Yancey, who played his first tournament this year as a test of how well he’d hold up after his heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery. (He said he was fine afterwards, but out of caution, he decided to limit himself to the one tournament.) We also welcomed back Trevor Lewin, who had been to South Africa for a couple weeks to visit relatives. And finally, we “welcomed back” real Texas heat. We hit mid-90s both days, and the tournaments at Hurst in two weeks will be even hotter (over 100°F predicted).

In the first tournament, Brice Bergesen went wire-to-wire, shooting 90 to nip Lee Messinger by 1. Jeffrey Smith and Tom Adair tied for third, another stroke behind. In the APA, Chris Conradi took the first-round lead with a 30, one ahead of his stepson James Kile, playing his second tournament in about five years. At this point, Chris faded and James took control. James finished at 92, three ahead of Chris, with Greg Simpson and Brian Dunn tying for third.

In the second tournament, players were bunched together until Lee Messinger shot 27 in the second round. This was the best score of the day, and it gave Lee a four-stroke lead over Geoff Mosk. In the last round, Lee closed with eleven straight deuces, but his lead was too much. Lee finished at 89, one ahead of Terry Simpson. Brice Bergesen and David Chisum tied for third at 91. In the APA, Tomy Phillips, the player-of-the-year points leader took the first-round lead at 31, but then he crashed spectacularly in the second round with a bogey-filled 40. (Back-and forth, back-and-forth on 10 and 14.) This put six players in contention with scores of 65 to 67. Out of the pack James Kile emerged with a final round of 30 for 95, giving him a two-stroke win over Greg Simpson. Chris Conradi and Charles Tarbell tied for third at 99.

On Sunday, David Chisum started with a 27 and a three-stroke lead. But then Lee, who had lost three straight locals on this course to David, blasted a 24 to take a three-stroke lead over Geoff Mosk, with David another stroke behind. No one could catch Lee as he won with an 84, three better than David and four ahead of Brice Bergesen. APA player Mike Huckaby returned on Sunday from a family vacation in Arkansas. He led wire-to-wire, but he never had the lead by more than a stroke. He ended up shooting 91 to edge James Kile and Gary Plain by one.

06/16/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
Season stats through the Mike Baldoza Texas Open, June 14th

06/15/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
Mike Baldoza Texas Open
Dallas Texas
June 13, 14, 2026

This past weekend, the SWPT played the Mike Baldoza Texas Open, an eight-round, two-day event at the Adventure Landing in Dallas, a former Putt-Putt. There were eight pros and eleven APA players. (We almost lost one of the eight pros before we started. Brice Bergesen had terrible pain in his back, but he did manage to play, although it was painful to watch him.)

This tournament was a struggle. A couple of holes had been recently recarpeted, an obstacle was moved in front of the cup on hole #5, and some concrete cracks have gotten worse over the years. Then on Sunday morning, we got a downpour. After the rain paused, we tried to start the tournament, but only the APA players had teed off when more rain came. We finally did get the tournament going, but we played on slowly drying carpets for Sunday’s four rounds. The last time the Texas Open was held on this course, the winning pro score was 230; this year it was 253. For the APA, the winning total went from 253 in 2020 to 269 this year. Even on Saturday, before the rain, scores were up.

On Saturday, the pros traded the lead round-by-round. David Chisum held it after the first round, only to lose it to his father, Mike Chisum, who then lost it to Don Parker, who lost it back to David Chisum, after he shot the weekend’s best round (26). David stood at 123, and Lee Messinger and Don Parker were three back, with Mike Chisum another stroke behind.

On Sunday, after a hiccup (36) in the fifth round that allowed Lee to take the lead by one, David steadily pulled away, ending at 253, four better than Lee. Brice Bergesen, who had mostly recovered, shot the days best rounds (123) to take third one stroke behind Lee.

In the APA, it looked like Greg Everly would cruise. His 61after two rounds gave him a six-stroke lead over Chris Conradi. But then Jerry Medina shot the day’s best APA score (29) to jump in front by a stroke. Greg got the lead back in the fourth round, 130 to Jerry’s 132, with Tommy Phillips in third at 136. After seven rounds, Tommy had pulled to within one of Greg, with Jerry six behind Greg. But by the start of the back nine, Tommy and Greg were tied, with Jerry having pulled to within three. With three holes to go, Greg held a one-stroke lead over his two opponents. His careful layup on #16, a drop-off hole, while his playing partners both bogeyed, was the difference. Greg finished one stroke ahead of Jerry, whose 29 in the last round was again the low APA score of the day. Tommy ended another stroke back in third.

Is it sad or just ironic that in 2020, when the Texas Open was last played here, Jerry Medina, trailing Chris Conradi by twelve (!) strokes, had put on a furious charge, only to lose by one. And this year, his day’s best was again one stroke short.

06/05/2026

Southwest Putting Tour
Mike Baldoza Texas Open

Impact of World Cup games on SWPT tournaments: As mentioned at Don-L’s Putt Shack last weekend, the first World Cup game in the DFW area (Netherlands vs. Japan) will be in Arlington on Sunday, June 14 at 3:00 PM. If you will need a hotel room for the Mike Baldoza Texas Open on Saturday & Sunday, June 13-14, at the Adventure Landing in Dallas on Coit Road, you may want to lock that down now. Kat Adair said she didn’t have any problems getting a hotel in North Dallas for that weekend, but it still seems sensible to get the room early. We wouldn’t expect any impact on traffic or restaurants, given the course location and the game start time. The SWPT will also hold tournaments at the Arlington Putt-Putt on the weekend of July 18-19, but by that time, the World Cup games in DFW will be over. The last one, a semifinal, is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14.