Pickus Wins the East Valley Classic with a Ballsy Net 66
Jim Pickus doesn't make a lot of noise. He doesn't announce himself on the first tee, doesn't celebrate after good shots, and apparently doesn't check the leaderboard either. According to his playing partners, Pickus finished his round on 18, walked off the green, and was genuinely surprised to learn he'd won the East Valley Classic. That's Jim. Quietly dangerous, annoyingly composed, and now a winner on the Summer Tour, taking down the field in the East Valley Classic!
Pickus shot a net 66 — six under par — to claim the title at Superstition Springs Golf Club, pulling away from a loaded field that included two of the hottest players on Tour.
Driver in Hand, No Apologies
The story of Pickus's round wasn't just the score — it was how he got there. On a course known for tight fairways that beg for irons and hybrids, Jim repeatedly pulled driver and dared Superstition Springs to punish him. His playing partners called it ballsy. The scorecard called it correct.
He made bogeys. More than a few. But not one of them turned into two, and that discipline is what separated him from the field on a day when the cut fell at net 74 and only 15 players made it through.
His signature moment came on the par-5 11th, where Pickus striped a tremendous second shot and converted the eagle. The crowd — such as it is on a Sunday morning in Mesa — took notice. The only problem? Ken Galica, playing elsewhere on the course, also eagled the hole. No skin. Just a great shot that got matched. Pickus shrugged and kept going.
His short game was the real weapon. Up and down from positions that would have derailed most rounds, clutch par saves in the five-to-ten foot range, and a putter that never flinched when the moment called for it. By the time he tapped in on 18, he'd built a two-shot cushion over the field without ever appearing to be in a hurry.
The Champions Group Delivers
The featured group at Superstition Springs didn't disappoint. Jim Pickus (1st), Jason Allen (3rd), and Kevin Hall (T4) combined to occupy three of the top four spots on the final leaderboard — a rare occurrence that made their foursome the center of the day's story.
Jason Allen, coming off his Players Championship victory last week at Longbow, picked up right where he left off. His net 70 — two under par — earned him a solo third-place finish and continued one of the hottest stretches on Tour. Allen was throwing darts on the front nine and applied real pressure to Pickus throughout the round. A cold putter on the back nine ultimately kept him from making a serious run at the title, but back-to-back podium finishes following a major championship win is the kind of form that makes the rest of the field uncomfortable.
Kevin Hall fired the low gross round of the day — an even-par 72 — while finishing tied for fourth at net 71. On most Sundays, that's the headline. This wasn't most Sundays. Alongside Pickus's winning performance and Allen's continued run of form, Hall's round almost got lost in the shuffle. Almost. Cart partner Dan McGurren, meanwhile, was doing what Dan McGurren does — providing exactly the right vibes for a group that didn't need any extra motivation but appreciated it anyway.
Satchfield Makes His Case
Jay Satchfield had a round that deserved more attention than it received. His net 68 — four under par — was good enough to finish runner-up and would have won a significant number of Summer Tour events outright. Satchfield was dialed in all day, making a serious bid to become the third consecutive first-time winner of the 2026 season — a footnote worth noting, but hardly the point. A few late blemishes kept him from catching Pickus, but the performance announced him as a legitimate threat for the stretch run.
Leaders Stumble, Race Tightens
The season standings took an interesting turn at Superstition Springs. Brennon Shay, Dale Cohen, Tim Kartman, and Joel Miller — four of the top seven in the Desert Cup standings — all missed the cut. Those missed opportunities allowed Nick Auditore and Shawn Lambert to make the cut and strengthen their positions inside the top ten. The gap at the top didn't close dramatically, but another week of separation between the cut-makers and the cut-missers is exactly how standings races get interesting in the back half of a season.
Match Play Delivers an Instant Classic
The biggest moment of the day had nothing to do with stroke play.
The Match Play Championship Series delivered a genuine instant classic in Match 2, as Slice 'Em and Dice 'Em — Brennon Shay and Danny Jean — defeated the Cleveland Chad Browns — Matt Newsome and Andrew Chorley — in 19 holes, evening the series at one match apiece and setting up a winner-take-all rubber match next week at Lookout Mountain.
The match see-sawed throughout the day. Neither team could gain lasting separation, and they headed to extra holes with everything still to play for. Two playoff holes failed to settle it. On the third extra hole — a par 3 — both Cleveland Chad Browns players missed the green, chipped close, and made tap-in pars. The pressure landed squarely on Brennon Shay.
He answered with one of the shots of the season.
A 45-foot sweeping right-to-left birdie putt that tracked the entire way and found the bottom of the cup. Match over. Series tied. The Cleveland Chad Browns had done everything right and still lost. That's match play.
The rivalry now gets the Game 7 treatment. Everything on the line, one week, Lookout Mountain.
Looking Ahead
The Summer Tour heads to Lookout Mountain next week for what promises to be one of the most compelling days of the season — a winner-take-all Match Play rubber match running alongside the stroke play competition, with the Desert Cup standings tightening and the back half of the schedule coming into focus. The field knows what's at stake. So does Jim Pickus, who will tee it up next week as the defending champion of the East Valley Classic and, apparently, still surprised he won it.