2025 NALG Tournament Scores
The 2025 NALG Tournament was a hotly contested event - at least in the Championship Division.
Colorado's Joe Buchholz captured his first national title with a one stroke win over three-time champion Curtis James (Oklahoma). James had the lead by a single stroke coming to the last hole but double-bogeyed the hole to finish one stroke behind Buchholz. The 18th hole at The Golf Club at Champions Circle was a very unusual hole. A player could try to drive over a lake to the fairway but it would take a carry of over 200 yards with the hole playing against the wind. Many players in the Championship Division chose to play out to the right and go down the fairway from hole #14 then attempt to hit a ball over the trees to the 18th fairway. This strategy worked well provided that you hit the ball far enough to get to the left side of the 18th hole. If not, you still had an obstructed view of the 18th green. James was in the 18th fairway but attempted to hit a strong draw to curve it sufficiently to go after the pin which was tucked in the back right of the green. Instead he caught the trees and wound up with a double=bogey. Defending champion Dan Aufderheide (Indiana) came in third one stroke behind James.
The course played very tough. The front nine played at 3500 yards but the fairways were relatively soft and not conducive to a lot of roll. That nine probably played about 3800 yards especially when accounting for the wind. There was one par-4 that played at 454 into the wind making it more like a 500 yard hole. While the back nine was shorter at just under 3000 yards, it was tight. Both nine had several holes with forced carries putting a premium on long tee shots.
Canada's Ron Frolek ran away with the Open Division shooting excellent scores of 70, 73 and 71. His 214 was 18 strokes better than Brandon Schindler from Ohio.
Lane Hawkinson (Oregon) captured his second Senior title in three years by nine strokes over NALG Chair Sid Miner. Hawkinson had three nice rounds in the 70's including two rounds of 73.
Mike Kemppainen (Washington) also captured his second Masters title in three years over Canada's Erv Froese. Kemppainen scored 230 to Froese's 234. It was Froese's third straight runner-up finish.
Jim Pfrogner won his second Grand Masters title to go with his six Masters titles and six Senior titles. Pfrogner scored rounds of 73, 76 and 72 for a 221 total which bested 1973 National Champion Jack Ruhs by 13 strokes. Ruhs was the Grand Masters champion the last two years.
Ohio's Sharon Kaplan shot 312 to edge out defending women's champion Angela Walker who scored 320.
This year there was a Junior Division where the players competed over two rounds. All three of the junior competitors were from the host state of Texas. Tanner Thornton fired a fine round of 75 the second day to edge out Neeve Goyal 158 to 160.
All the scores by both Division or Scoring Flight as shown below.
Thanks to organizers Steve Newcom, Dick Martin and Don Lightburn for a great job organizing the event.
At the awards dinner it was announced that the 2026 NALG Tournament will be held at the Keller Golf Course in St. Paul Minnesota on September 26 and 27. There will be multiple events covering most of a week so look for more information as details as solidified.
Colorado's Joe Buchholz captured his first national title with a one stroke win over three-time champion Curtis James (Oklahoma). James had the lead by a single stroke coming to the last hole but double-bogeyed the hole to finish one stroke behind Buchholz. The 18th hole at The Golf Club at Champions Circle was a very unusual hole. A player could try to drive over a lake to the fairway but it would take a carry of over 200 yards with the hole playing against the wind. Many players in the Championship Division chose to play out to the right and go down the fairway from hole #14 then attempt to hit a ball over the trees to the 18th fairway. This strategy worked well provided that you hit the ball far enough to get to the left side of the 18th hole. If not, you still had an obstructed view of the 18th green. James was in the 18th fairway but attempted to hit a strong draw to curve it sufficiently to go after the pin which was tucked in the back right of the green. Instead he caught the trees and wound up with a double=bogey. Defending champion Dan Aufderheide (Indiana) came in third one stroke behind James.
The course played very tough. The front nine played at 3500 yards but the fairways were relatively soft and not conducive to a lot of roll. That nine probably played about 3800 yards especially when accounting for the wind. There was one par-4 that played at 454 into the wind making it more like a 500 yard hole. While the back nine was shorter at just under 3000 yards, it was tight. Both nine had several holes with forced carries putting a premium on long tee shots.
Canada's Ron Frolek ran away with the Open Division shooting excellent scores of 70, 73 and 71. His 214 was 18 strokes better than Brandon Schindler from Ohio.
Lane Hawkinson (Oregon) captured his second Senior title in three years by nine strokes over NALG Chair Sid Miner. Hawkinson had three nice rounds in the 70's including two rounds of 73.
Mike Kemppainen (Washington) also captured his second Masters title in three years over Canada's Erv Froese. Kemppainen scored 230 to Froese's 234. It was Froese's third straight runner-up finish.
Jim Pfrogner won his second Grand Masters title to go with his six Masters titles and six Senior titles. Pfrogner scored rounds of 73, 76 and 72 for a 221 total which bested 1973 National Champion Jack Ruhs by 13 strokes. Ruhs was the Grand Masters champion the last two years.
Ohio's Sharon Kaplan shot 312 to edge out defending women's champion Angela Walker who scored 320.
This year there was a Junior Division where the players competed over two rounds. All three of the junior competitors were from the host state of Texas. Tanner Thornton fired a fine round of 75 the second day to edge out Neeve Goyal 158 to 160.
All the scores by both Division or Scoring Flight as shown below.
Thanks to organizers Steve Newcom, Dick Martin and Don Lightburn for a great job organizing the event.
At the awards dinner it was announced that the 2026 NALG Tournament will be held at the Keller Golf Course in St. Paul Minnesota on September 26 and 27. There will be multiple events covering most of a week so look for more information as details as solidified.
