A Season Without a Bad Week

Elsen played eight events, made the cut in every one, and finished in the top 10 in all eight. Four were wins, two were runner-up finishes, and one was a third-place finish. In a season where many of the division’s best players spread their points across ten or more starts, that kind of efficiency set him apart.

The wins came in team and individual events alike. He opened his season by winning the Tommy Belen Better Ball (JBA Morell) on May 30 and 31, then added a T3 at the Bobby Bryant Stroke Play a week later. In August, he won the 30th Amateur Stroke Play at PGA National with rounds of 72 and 67 for a 5-under 139.

The Second Places That Added Up

The two runner-up finishes mattered as much as the wins. Elsen reached the final of the 41st Mid-Amateur Match Play Championship, winning four matches at Jonathan’s Landing before falling to defending champion Will Davenport, 4&3, in the final.

And at the 30th Abacoa Junior Senior, he and partner Gregory Cecchini shot a better-ball 61 on Sunday, 11 under for the round, to climb into a three-way tie at 14-under 130 and force a playoff that Richard Donegan and Ryan Howison eventually won. Elsen and Cecchini finished tied for second.

Those results turned a strong season into a runaway. Heading into the final stretch, Elsen led the Open standings by a narrow margin over Donegan and Scott Turner. The Kibbey, Wagner & Blum FourBall and the Tour Championship moved him out of reach.

Three Weekends to Close It Out

On October 3 and 4, Elsen and Greg Etimos won the 36th Kibbey, Wagner & Blum FourBall at BallenIsles, beating Patrick Dewey and Sebastian Ostos in a two-hole playoff for their third straight Open title in the event. A week later came the Abacoa Junior Senior and the 61. Then, at Mayacoo Lakes on October 17 and 18, he closed the season the way he started it: with a win.

The 2026 Tour Championship presented by Tiger Woods was played in rain and wind, and par was a good score. Elsen shot 72 on Saturday and 70 on Sunday, finishing at even-par 142 to win by one over Scott Butler. It was a title that had been close before. He finished second at the Tour Championship in 2024 and again in 2025, and this year he won it, at his home club.

A Career That Was Already Deep

Elsen has been a fixture at the top of PBCGA leaderboards for several seasons. He won the Palm Beach Kennel Club County Amateur in both 2023 and 2024, the association’s biggest event of the season, and he has been a regular contender in the FourBall, the Stableford, and the Bobby Bryant. At 38, he now has four Player of the Year titles in a row to go with a career that was already full of trophies.

Behind the Champion

Richard Donegan finished second with 815.00 points, powered by a stretch that included the Palm Beach Stableford, the Amateur Four Ball, and the Abacoa Junior Senior. Scott Turner was third at 760.00, Scott Butler fourth at 583.33, and Patrick Dewey fifth at 544.17.