Cincinnati native Hall wins his ninth APGA Tour title in kicking off the three-even APGA Farmers Insurance® Fall Series
RANCHO MIRAGE, California – The dichotomy of the two sudden-death playoff competitors was intriguingly sharp in contrast. On the 18th tee Wednesday afternoon stood Kevin Hall – a veteran of the APGA Tour since its inception in 2010 – and 21-year-old Grant Lester, who by his own admission, turned pro “technically yesterday. I’ve been a pro for, like, 36 hours.”
As expected, the golfer with countless years of playing in high-pressure situations emerged victorious. Hall, who turns 44 next week, captured his ninth career APGA Tour title at the APGA at Mission Hills on Mission Hills Country Club’s Pete Dye Challenge Course.
Hall, a Cincinnati native, earned a $10,000 prize for winning the APGA at Mission Hills, the 11th of 15 tournaments on the 2026 APGA Tour schedule. The tournament is also the first of three events in the APGA Farmers Insurance Fall Series, conducted for the sixth consecutive year.
This is the fourth consecutive year in which Hall has won an APGA Tour event since turning 40. Hall ranks third in career APGA wins among active APGA golfers, trailing only Willie Mack III (20) and Marcus Byrd (11).
“The older I get, the bigger every win is,” said Hall, who shares the same birthday as APGA Tour co-founder and Chairman Ken Bentley. “The level of play keeps going up, up, up, and I have to work that much harder to stay up there. But I’m up for it. To get it done this week, it is an amazing feeling.”
Hall and Lester finished the regulation 36 holes at 7-under-par 137. They took to the par-4, 398-yard 18th hole, lined with water on the left from just beyond the forward tee box to the green, for what wound up being a one-hole playoff.
While Hall found the right side of the fairway with his drive, Lester pulled his hybrid off the tee into the water. He took a drop just past the set of tee boxes and hit his next shot, with a 3-wood, into the water again.
“I was definitely feeling a little nervous,” Lester said. “I had the wind coming off the left, off the tee. I misjudged the wind. And then the 3-wood, that was a bad swing. Got up-and-down from a pretty tough bunker shot but at that point it didn’t really matter too much.“
Playing in the final group in Wednesday’s final round, Hall needed to close out regulation with a birdie on the 18th hole minutes before the playoff. He striped his drive into the middle of the fairway and hit a sand wedge from 107 yards to about seven feet, and he made the downhill, left-to-right putt.
Hall said his game plan for playing No. 18 was to “stay away from the water.” Despite hitting his second-shot approach into the water greenside, Hall comfortably won the playoff with a bogey.
Playing in the same group was Yorba Linda, California native Jonathan Yoshihiro, who was also one shot back of Lester at the time but he hit his tee shot into the water and took himself out of contention. His final hole resulted in a double bogey and he finished tied for fourth at 4-under 140.
APGA Tour young gun Ivan Barahona, from Van Nuys, California, placed third at 6-under 138. For a brief time, he was the leader in the clubhouse until Lester made birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 to pull ahead at 7-under.
For the first time, each full-field event in the APGA Farmers Insurance Fall Series is open to any professional men’s golfer regardless of APGA Tour membership status.
Lester spent his freshman year at Columbia University and transferred to San Diego State for his sophomore year before dropping out of school in the middle of last school year and returning home to Washington D.C. He decided to make his pro debut at the APGA at Mission Hills this week, plans to play as many APGA Farmers Insurance Fall Series events as he can, and would consider taking up APGA Tour membership if the opportunity presents itself in the future.
Said Lester: “Everyone was very welcoming to me, especially when I told them this was my first (pro) event. I love the mission of the tour. I’m part black and pretty much every tournament I play, I’m like the blackest guy there, which is kind of odd. I feel a little bit of community here, in that sense.”
Jonathan Larson, a Phoenix resident and Bellingham, Washington native, was another golfer without APGA Tour membership who took the opportunity to enter his first APGA Tour event. He spun a 7-under 65 and held a two-stroke lead over Hall after Tuesday’s opening round.
With the APGA at Mission Hills having concluded, the APGA Farmers Insurance Fall Series moves onto the APGA at El Dorado (September 28-30, El Dorado Park Golf Course, Long Beach, California) and the APGA at Cedar Crest (October 25-27, Cedar Crest Golf Course, Dallas, Texas).
Founded in 2010, the Advocates Professional Golf Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring an inclusive future through the game of golf. The 2026 APGA Tour season runs through November with 15 tournaments from coast to coast.
About the APGA Tour
The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring an inclusive future through the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works diligently to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs, and by introducing the game to inner city young people. In addition to conducting 15 tournaments awarding more than $1 million in prize and bonus money in 2026, the APGA has organized a Player Development Program to aid golfers as they work to chase their professional golf goals.
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