Heritage – Stocker Cup

Inspiration · 1990

A Friend, A Vision, A Legacy

In 1990, past USGA President Sandy Tatum and PGA Tour Professional George Kelley founded the Stocker Cup in honor of their dear friend and Preserve Golf Club visionary, Peter C. Stocker, who tragically perished while surveying the very ranch upon which the club now stands.

The principal aim was to create an event that honored the man and the game he loved — combining two great joys of his life: golf, and the spirit of fellowship engendered through competition.

1990

In a time before television, amateur golf represented the pinnacle of the game and nowhere more prominently than on the wind-swept Monterey Peninsula.

— Sandy Tatum & George Kelley, Founders

Ambition · West Coast Golf

Restoring West Coast Prominence

Tatum and Kelley shared the ambition to restore the West Coast to its place of prominence in the world of amateur golf. As commercial interests crowded in, something had been lost — something the two men intended to restore in the name of their friend, Pete Stocker.

The Stocker Cup represents the best traditions of amateur golf. A top-flight field of nationally recognized mid-amateurs compete for the West Coast’s most coveted mid-amateur invitational trophy.

Co-Founder

Sandy Tatum

USGA President · Past

A past President of the United States Golf Association, Sandy Tatum represented the highest office in American amateur golf. His vision for a world-class mid-amateur event on the Monterey Peninsula gave the Stocker Cup its prestige and national character from the very first edition.

In Memoriam

Peter C. Stocker

Preserve Golf Club Visionary

Peter Stocker was the driving force behind the creation of the Preserve Golf Club within the Santa Lucia Preserve. A visionary real estate developer and founding partner of The Santa Lucia Preserve, he perished while surveying the 20,000-acre ranch that would become his greatest project. The Cup is his lasting tribute.

Co-Founder

George Kelley

PGA Tour Professional

A former PGA Tour Professional and lifelong champion of amateur golf, George Kelley brought competitive credibility and deep knowledge of the game to the founding of the event. Together with Sandy Tatum, he crafted a format that would attract the finest mid-amateur talent on the West Coast year after year.

Stewards of the Fellowship

Amateur Golf as It Once Was

The team format provides a unique opportunity to nurture enduring friendships while competing at the highest level in a place of stunning natural beauty on the Monterey Peninsula — one of the most storied stretches of coastline in the history of the game.

Patterned on the celebrated AT&T National Pro-Am format, each invited mid-amateur is paired with a low-handicap amateur partner, selected either by the tournament committee or at the player’s request — creating the simultaneous Tatum Trophy Best-Ball competition.

“Something had been lost — something the two men intended to restore in the name of their friend.”

The Preserve Golf Club — a Tom Fazio design rated among America’s top 200 courses by Golf Digest — is set to approximately 7,100 yards for championship play, offering a supreme test of mid-amateur golf in a setting unlike any other in the world.

Championship Timeline

Thirty-Five Years

1990
The Founding
Sandy Tatum and George Kelley establish the Stocker Cup at Preserve Golf Club in memory of Peter C. Stocker.
1991
Inaugural Champion
Tad Buchanan wins the first Stocker Cup, setting the standard for fierce mid-amateur competition on the Monterey Peninsula.
2003
A Future Tour Champion
Brandt Snedeker claims the Stocker Cup title before embarking on a decorated PGA Tour career including a FedEx Cup title.
2021
Back-to-Back Dynasty Begins
Michael Jensen wins the first of consecutive Stocker Cup titles in 2021 and 2022, one of only a handful of back-to-back champions.
2025
35th Anniversary
Parker Sisk captures the 35th Stocker Cup at 6-under par, continuing the event’s tradition of elite mid-amateur competition.

The Format

54 Holes. One Trophy.

The Stocker Cup is a 54-hole, individual stroke play mid-amateur invitational. The field is comprised of nationally and regionally accomplished competitive golfers, divided into two divisions: Division A (Scratch Mid-Amateur) and Division B (Handicap less than 10).

Running concurrently is the Tatum Trophy — a 2-man Better-Ball competition modelled on the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am format, in which each invited mid-amateur is paired with a low-handicap amateur partner.

The Committee reviews several hundred applications annually to assemble the most competitive, diverse mid-amateur field possible. Entry requires a current GHIN Handicap Index and a submitted golf resume.

The Heritage

A Friend, A Vision, A Legacy

Restoring West Coast Prominence

Amateur Golf as It Once Was

Thirty-Five Years

The Founding

Inaugural Champion

A Future Tour Champion

Back-to-Back Dynasty Begins

35th Anniversary

54 Holes. One Trophy.

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