Pacific Coast Amateur to be held at new-look Poppy Ridge
Livermore, Calif. – 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.
“It was imperative that the new course be a wonderful home for all NCGA members,” explained Blasi, via an NCGA Q&A. “One that would challenge the best while also being enjoyable for players of all abilities. To me, that was one of the exciting and challenging aspects of the project.”
The Pacific Coast Amateur and NCGA share deep ties, and the 2026 championship will mark a significant milestone.
“The Pacific Coast Am is the main reason the NCGA exists,” said Lance Parker, vice president of the NCGA Board of Directors. “In 1901, the NCGA was created specifically to send a team to the Pacific Coast Amateur. We are celebrating our 125th anniversary this year and will showcase the new and improved Poppy Ridge. Hosting some of the best amateur golfers in the nation is a true honor, and doing so on one of our two courses makes it even more special.”
The Pacific Coast Amateur is one of seven prestigious amateur championships comprising the Elite Amateur Golf Series (EAGS), where players accumulate World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points and vie for the Elite Amateur Cup. It remains the premier amateur championship on the West Coast and is circled on all amateur golf calendars in North America. It consistently receives a strong “Power” rating from WAGR, as assessed by The R&A and USGA.
Jaden Dumdumaya is the current champion, having won at Eugene Country Club in 2025. Other recent champions include Doug Ghim (2017), Isaiah Salinda (2018), Quade Cummins (2019), Devon Bling (2021), James Leow (2022), Tyson Shelley (2023) and Chaz Aurilia (2024). Noteworthy past champions who have gone on to achieve success on the PGA TOUR include Will Zalatoris, Aaron Wise, Andrew Putnam, Jason Gore, and Billy Mayfair, among others.
Much of the championship’s recent success can be directly attributed to the exceptional quality of the venue, and in 2026, Poppy Ridge will continue this proud tradition.
“The newly redesigned Poppy Ridge is an exceptional championship venue that will attract the world’s top amateurs and deliver a rigorous, fair test to determine the most deserving champion,” said Troy Andrew, executive director of the PCGA. “We are thrilled to bring the Pacific Coast Amateur to this outstanding venue for the first time.”
That championship test will present challenges like elevation changes and potentially strong wind, all on a 7,300-yard track that plays as a par 70.
“Players should have the opportunity to play every club in the bag,” said Brett Armstrong, COO of Poppy Holding, of the layout. “The green complexes have a lot of short grass around them that will either feed a ball to the hole or away from the green. Thinking about and utilizing the ground contours on approaches and recoveries will be important.”
Past host sites for the championship have included premier venues in the western U.S. and Canada such as Chambers Bay, The Olympic Club, Eugene Country Club, Seattle Golf Club, Capilano Golf and Country Club, and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, among others.
The NCGA will be the host association for the 2026 championship, with 15 other member associations from the western United States and Canada also represented in the field.
About Poppy Ridge
Located in Livermore, Calif., Poppy Ridge Golf Course is one of two golf courses owned and operated by the Northern California Golf Association (NCGA), the other being Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, Calif. The course officially reopened on May 31, 2025, after a 13-month construction and grow-in process, where an 18-hole golf course has been created with completely new routing and state-of-the-art infrastructure. The new championship-caliber venue hosted a multitude of NCGA championships in 2025 and is set for nine more in 2026. A newly renovated practice facility and short game area are complemented by an executive nine-hole course, appropriately named “The Ridge 9.”
About the Pacific Coast Golf Association
The Pacific Coast Amateur Championship is one of the oldest and most prestigious amateur golf championships in North America. The first tournament was held on the links of San Francisco Golf Club at The Presidio in 1901. After being played until 1911, the Pacific Coast Amateur then ceased to exist, only to be reconstituted at Seattle Golf Club in 1967. Today, 15 member Pacific Rim golf associations comprise the Pacific Coast Golf Association. For more information visit, pacificcoastamateur.com.
About the Elite Amateur Golf Series
Launched in 2022 to challenge the best of the best in amateur golf, the Elite Amateur Golf Series brings together the top amateur championships in a collective series of competitions, the Elite Amateur Cup. In addition to hosting the best players, Elite Amateur Cup events are contested at the best sites and have the longest history of successful champions. The Elite Amateur Golf Series maintains a proven track record that prepares elite players for the toughest competitive tests, making the championships the majors of amateur golf. Visit eliteamateurgolfseries.org for more information.