IAGA Quick Hits | 12.12.25
Pacific Coast Amateur to be held on the new 18-hole course at Poppy Ridge
From the Northern California Golf Association
The Pacific Coast Golf Association (PCGA) has announced that the 59th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship will take place July 21-24, 2026, at Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore, Calif.
This marks the first time Poppy Ridge – owned and operated by the Northern California Golf Association – will host the Pacific Coast Amateur. Its sister course, Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach, previously hosted the championship in 1996.
It was that year – 1996 – when what is now Poppy Ridge originally opened as a 27-hole facility with three 9-hole layouts. In May 2025, a 13-month total redesign and rebuilding of the course was completed, under the design of Jay Blasi, who had worked right beside Robert Trent Jones II to design Chambers Bay in Washington, which itself has hosted the Pacific Coast Amateur on three occasions (2017, 2021, 2024).
The new Poppy Ridge course offers playability, variety, and flexibility throughout its wide, undulating fairways, making it a prime location to host the top amateur golfers of the world. It also makes use of new Santa Ana Bermuda fairways and Prestige Bentgrass putting greens, combining to form an exceptional, water-efficient playing surface any golfer is meant to enjoy.
MGA Celebrates 2025 Season, Award Winners
From the Metropolitan Golf Association
The Metropolitan Golf Association honored year-end award winners on Dec. 3, hosting its annual Awards Celebration at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.
The 2025 player of the year recipients, Christian Cavaliere, Megha Ganne, and Lucas Rizo-Patron were all recognized, as was Distinguished Service Award honoree, Rich Lerner.
Golf Channel host and essayist Lerner was presented with the MGA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. Brandel Chamblee provided an eloquent introduction of Lerner, reflecting on his on-air partner’s unmatched story-telling abilities.
“Think how the game of golf has made all our lives better,” Lerner said in his remarks. “The friends we have made. The places we have gone. The laughs we’ve had. The trophies you’ve won. The bonds you’ve forged. The memories we’ve created. From my dad’s driving range to the Golf Channel to right here tonight, my life better, thanks to this association, thanks to all of you.”
Created in 1973, the MGA Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to a candidate who has contributed “distinguished service to golf and its related activities, consistent with the valued standards and honorable traditions of the game.”
Lynne Haraway Named 2025-2026 SCGA President
From the Southern California Golf Association
Lynne Haraway, an SCGA member through Wood Ranch GC, was selected President of the Association at its Annual Meeting, in October at Brookside GC. She succeeds Zack Moran.
Haraway joined the SCGA Board in 2017 following the unification between the Women’s Southern California Golf Association (WSCGA) and the SCGA. A former WSCGA board member, she played a crucial role in the unification process, which brought over 21,000 female golfers and expanded competitive opportunities for women across Southern California.
“I am so looking forward to a busy and fun year, serving the SCGA and our Southern California golf community,” Haraway said. “This organization is extremely professional, respected and ready to meet any challenge or opportunity. We are ready for 2026 and beyond.”
Joining Haraway as 2025-26 SCGA Officers are Vice President Tom Reul, Briarwood GC, Secretary John Fischer, The Los Angeles CC and Treasurer Laurence Stein, Brentwood CC. Haraway will lead a diverse board representing a cross-section of clubs, backgrounds, skills and geography.
Mass Golf’s Club Partner Program Will Now Provide Matching Grants To Supplement Municipal Course Renovations
From Mass Golf
“Let’s go check out a green,” suggested Elliott Dowling wanting to keep things moving on a sun-splashed but bone-chilling Thursday morning earlier this month.
Climbing from a stretch spongey fairway under repair for the remainder of the season, he made his way toward the elevated 4th green at Brookline Golf Course. There, three bundled-up figures stood over a patchwork of scattered leaves and weather-hardened grass, the wind cutting sideways through the trees.
In the center, Dowling, Regional Director for the USGA Green Section’s Course Consulting Service, knelt with a soil profiler in hand, extracting a plug from green layered with almost a century of history. On either side stood head golf course superintendent Michael Murphy and assistant superintendent Dean, who shifted their weight around while sharing their observations of the landscape over the years.
From a distance, the scene could’ve been mistaken for an official USGA site visit, the kind reserved for championship contenders. But Brookline, more often called ‘Putterham’ after its surrounding neighborhood, wasn’t prepping for elite tournament scrutiny.” That’s a task more fitting for its neighbor, the one with the squirrel crest and U.S. Open legacy.