Get Ready for the 2026 PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes

Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of PGA Magazine.

Thousands of golfers journey to the coast of southern Oregon each year to play at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, seeking an authentic links golf experience with the goal of making memories on some of the country’s highest-rated courses – and everyone goes home a winner. The stakes will be decidedly different when 312 of the game’s top PGA of America Golf Professionals arrive on property this month for the 2026 PGA Professional Championship, which is being hosted by Bandon Dunes for the first time on April 26-29.

Instead of playing for bragging rights with members or buddies over a beverage at the Resort’s famed McKee’s Pub at trip’s end, the field will be competing to become the PGA Professional Champion, along with a possible spot on this year’s U.S. PGA Cup Team and, of course, one of 20 coveted invitations to the Corebridge Financial Team for next month’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. And, for the first time since 2018, all four rounds will be broadcast live on Golf Channel in prime time for the entire country to see.

The 2026 PGA Professional Championship will be played on the resort’s Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes courses, which are both ranked in the top 10 of Golf Digest’ s 100 Greatest Public Courses. Bringing the PGA of America’s top member championship to one of the country’s top golf resorts for the first time is creating a heightened sense of anticipation for everyone involved with the 2026 PGA Professional Championship, from the large staff of PGA of America Golf Professionals on site at Bandon Dunes to the defending champion.

“I’ve never been to Bandon Dunes, and I’m really excited to go – it’s always been a bucket list destination for me,” says Tyler Collet, PGA, winner of the 2025 PGA Professional Championship at Florida’s PGA Golf Club and Assistant Golf Professional at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida. “I’m really looking forward to it, and I think all the players feel that way. I’m a big believer that we should have the best venues for our biggest member championship, so I’m really happy to see it at a venue like Bandon Dunes.”

Last year, Collet put on a dominant performance to win his first PGA Professional Championship by a whopping 10 strokes at PGA Golf Club in what was essentially a home game for him – he slept in his own bed each night, living just 25 miles from the host site in sunny Port St. Lucie. This year’s PGA Professional Championship is more than 3,000 miles west – and a world away in terms of the weather and topography, as Bandon Dunes sports conditions more like those of the Scottish courses that inspired its layouts.

“I’ve talked to a lot of members at John’s Island who’ve been to Bandon Dunes, and they’ve let me know it could be perfect – or it could be raining, sleeting or blowing 50 miles an hour,” Collet says. “I’m used to playing in the
wind in Florida, but I hope my rain gear stays in my bag.”

According to Bandon Dunes PGA of America General Manager Jeff Simonds, it may be wishful thinking on Collet’s part.

“It’s the Oregon coast in the springtime – players are going to see rain, wind and sunshine, probably all on the same day,” says Simonds, a PGA Master Professional who has been at Bandon Dunes since 2004. “Adaptability is
going to be everything, because the conditions are constantly changing at Bandon Dunes.”

Constant change is a good way to describe the history of Bandon Dunes itself. Since the property opened in 1999 with its single namesake golf course along a remote stretch of the Oregon coast – more than two hours west of Eugene and five hours south of Portland – the facility has steadily expanded in terms of golf courses and impact on the game. The original David McLay Kidd-designed course has been joined by four other 18-hole
courses, along with three par-3 courses and a putting course, all designed for walking golf with a robust caddie program. All five 18-hole courses at Bandon Dunes are rated in the top 30 of Golf Digest’ s 100 Greatest Public Courses, with Pacific Dunes at No. 2 and Bandon Dunes coming in at No. 9 on the prestigious list.

Bandon Dunes may be hosting its first PGA Member Championship, but Developer Mike Keiser made PGA of America Golf Professionals a key part of the property’s personality from the start.

“The history the Keiser family has with PGA of America Golf Professionals is significant to the growth of Bandon
Dunes,” Simonds says. “The resort’s early success was built on PGA Professionals bringing groups down from clubs like Eugene Country Club and Colombia Edgewater, especially during the off-season, which really gave us a good base of activity.

“When the PGA of America reached out to us about hosting the PGA Professional Championship, that made it easy for the family to say yes – because of the importance of PGA Professionals to the growth of Bandon Dunes, as well as the number of golf professionals we have on our own staff.”

Alternating host sites for the PGA Professional Championship between the east and west coasts is a planning priority for the PGA of America, and the Championship has been played four times at the Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Oregon, and most recently in the Western U.S. in New Mexico in 2023. Bandon Dunes has a longstanding relationship with the USGA, having hosted a number of championships like last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, and the resort is famously booked to capacity up to two years ahead of time.

Despite the scheduling hurdles, Bandon Dunes was all-in on finding a way to host the PGA Professional Championship when the opportunity was presented.

“When you’re talking about a property that operates at peak demand year-round choosing to host an event for 312 PGA of America Golf Professionals, that’s a meaningful commitment – they’ve made an active choice, at a real opportunity cost, to lean into hosting a PGA of America Member Championship rather than filling the resort with other guests. That’s above and beyond,” says PGA Senior Director of Member and Amateur Championships Matt Weinberger, PGA. “Bandon Dunes’ leadership, from the Keiser family to Jeff Simonds’ team, are doing this because they’ve supported PGA of America Members since Day 1 of the resort opening. And that’s because PGA Members have supported Bandon Dunes – it’s a genuinely strong relationship, and that’s what made this year’s PGA Professional Championship possible.”

While many competitors in the 312-player field may have visited the property on recreational trips, few have played Bandon Dunes or Pacific Dunes under championship conditions. The PGA of America Championships team is excited about the many options for course setups on the courses, which offer numerous teeing options and multiple contingencies for potential playoff scenarios. The PGA of America’s Trenton Blundell,
PGA, will handle course setup on Pacific Dunes, while Weinberger and PGA Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh will do the same on Bandon Dunes. The PGA of America’s Garrett Bernhardt will be in charge of tournament operations and PGA Rules Committee Chair Ted Antonopoulos will oversee play.

“Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes have some interesting course setup options, and we’ll have some meaningfully different options for hole locations and tees each round,”

Weinberger says. “It’s not often you can host a championship somewhere with so many options, and it’s pretty special – we’re really looking forward to using all the options at our disposal to challenge the best PGA of America Golf Professional players in this very strong field.”

And for Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, hosting the PGA Professional Championship cements the property’s
relationship with the PGA of America and its members.

“As a PGA Member, I’ve always thought Bandon Dunes would be a great site for the PGA Professional Championship, but I never really expected it could happen given how busy we are,” Simonds says. “I’m so thrilled that the PGA asked, and now that the Championship is upon us the excitement is really building. A lot of players in the field have been here before with guests, and they’re looking forward to playing Bandon Dunes in a competitive environment where they’ll be playing for a chance at winning a championship and a place in the PGA Championship – and in history."