Full Field Set for 59th Nebraska Match Play
Championship Begins Monday at Oak Hills Country Club
OMAHA (June 21, 2026) – Oak Hills Country Club in Omaha will host the 59th Nebraska Match Play Championship, June 22-26, and a full field of 156 players will compete.
It will be the first time hosting a men's major for the club since 1990, the Nebraska Amateur. It's been 40 years since Oak Hills hosted this championship, when Omaha's David Walker won the 1986 title.
The format has changed to one round of Stroke Play Qualifying, with a cut to a bracket of 64 for Match Play. The Championship followed this format for several years, but will return to it for the first time since 2014.
After Monday's qualifying round, the field will be cut to 64 players and seeded into a match play bracket. Match play begins Tuesday, with the Round of 64, followed by the Rounds of 32 and 16 on Wednesday, the Quarterfinals and Semifinals on Thursday, and the 36-hole Championship Final on Friday.
The field of 156 players features five past champions. Beau Petersen of Gretna is the most-recent champ in the field, winning his title in 2024 to become the youngest champion in Nebraska Match Play history. The Northern Illinois golfer was just 18 years, 8 months and 9 days old at the time. Petersen is paired with one of the hottest junior golfers in the state, Carter Honnens of Lincoln, and Mike Siwa of Omaha for Stroke Play Qualifying. They'll tee off No. 1 at 2 p.m. on Monday. Honnens is coming off wins at the NSAA Class A Boys Golf Championship and the Nebraska Junior PGA Championship,
The 2023 Champion is in the field as well, and Table Rock's Calvin Freeman is already off to a hot-start in 2026. Freeman and Siwa finished tied for runner-up honors at the Nebraska Four-Ball in May, and the Southeast Community College golf coach followed that up with a win at the Allen Capital Group Championship in Grand Island earlier this month. Freeman currently leads the SWAG Point Standings. He will be joined in qualifying by another top junior golfer, Zack Erstad of Lincoln, and Alex Farrell of Elkhorn, in the group behind Petersen at 2:10 p.m.
Elkhorn's Ryan Nietfeldt, the 2003 Champion, and Lincoln's Travis Minzel, the 2004 Champion, are both in the field and paired together for qualifying. They will play along with Bennington's Glenn Bills, who fell in the Semifinals to Petersen on his title run in 2024.
Nearly 40 years after his win in 1987, Bill Spangler of Lincoln is back to compete again. The 64-year-old nearly made the cut two years ago, and would be one of the oldest to do so if he succeeded this year.
Field Overview
- Total Players: 156
- Cities Represented: 25
- NebGolf Member Clubs Represented: 38
Age Breakdown
- Average Age: 27.4 years
- Youngest Player: Leo Hong (Lincoln) — 14.7 years old
- Oldest Player: David Allen — 67.1 years old
- Senior Golfers: 10
- Junior Golfers: 45
Age Distribution
- Under 18: 30 players
- 18–24: 66 players
- 25–39: 30 players
- 40–54: 26 players
- 55+: 4 players
Handicap Index Facts
- Average Handicap Index: +1.05
- Handicap Index Range: +6.2 to 3.7
- Plus Handicaps: 109
NebGolf Champions in the Field: 20
Christopher Atkinson, Omaha (2021 Nebraska Junior Match Play)
Jackson Benge, Omaha (2022 Nebraska Junior Match Play)
Jayson Brueggemann, Lincoln (2008 Nebraska Amateur)
Brian Csipkes, Gretna (2022 Nebraska Senior Amateur; 2022 & 2023 Nebraska Senior Match Play)
David Easley, Lincoln (2021 Nebraska Amateur; 2024 Nebraska Mid-Amateur; 2006, 2012 & 2020 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Calvin Freeman, Table Rock (2023 Nebraska Match Play)
Blake Giroux, Bennington (2022 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Ryan Knispel, Omaha (2019 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Ben Kottmeyer, Lincoln (2025 Nebraska Junior Match Play)
Brock Kuhlman, Columbus (2026 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Travis Minzel, Lincoln (2004 Nebraska Match Play; 2010, 2011 & 2018 Nebraska Mid-Amateur; 2011 & 2015 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Ryan Nietfeldt, Elkhorn (2002 Nebraska Amateur, 2003 Nebraska Match Play, 2001, 2013 & 2019 Nebraska Mid-Amateur; 1993 & 1994 Nebraska Junior Amateur, 1993 Nebraska Junior Match Play, 2019 & 2022 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Beau Petersen, Gretna (2024 Nebraska Match Play; 2023 & 2024 Nebraska Junior Amateur)
David Ping, Elkhorn (2008 Nebraska Mid-Amateur)
David Ringler, Lincoln (2023 Nebraska Senior Amateur)
Ryan Rogers, Omaha (2018 Nebraska Junior Match Play)
Bill Spangler, Lincoln (1987 Nebraska Match Play)
Connor Steichen, Omaha (2021 Nebraska Junior Amateur)
Scott Tridle, Lincoln (2011 & 2015 Nebraska Four-Ball)
Owen Tucker, Lincoln (2023 Nebraska Junior Match Play)
Play begins at 8 a.m. for Monday's Stroke Play Qualifying round. Pairings for qualifying are available on the championship website below, along with the scoring page and additional information.
Nebraska Match Play Championship
About NebGolf
The Nebraska Golf Association (NebGolf), founded in 1966, is comprised of all members of public and private clubs and/or municipal or regional golf associations which utilize an approved handicap service recognized by the USGA and provided by NebGolf. Our mission is to uphold and promote the game of golf and its values to all golfers in Nebraska. Among the duties of the Association include governance of member clubs and service as their handicapping and course rating authority, conduct of state golf championships, local USGA qualifying & other notable competitions, promotion of junior golf, presentation of worthwhile educational programs and support of allied golf organizations in Nebraska. The Nebraska Golf Association is an Allied Golf Association of the USGA and carries out core services including Handicap Administration and Oversight, Course Rating, Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status, Tournaments and USGA Championship Qualifiers and USGA Initiatives and Community Programs.
