SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – In the midst of his 16th year on the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour, Willie Mack III’s dominance over multiple generations of APGA Tour competitors seems to know no limits or expiration date.
The Flint, Michigan native blazed a trail around TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course that a crowded leaderboard could not keep up with on Wednesday, carding a 7-under-par 64 in the final round to win the APGA at TPC Scottsdale by two strokes. He extended his mark as the APGA’s active wins leader by claiming his 19th APGA triumph.
Mack III claimed a $15,000 winner’s check from a $50,000 purse and earned 500 points toward the Cisco Cup Series and the APGA’s Jeff Dailey Player of the Year standings. Through support from Thunderbirds Charities, a Phoenix-based non-profit organization and partner of the APGA Foundation, the APGA at TPC Scottsdale purse doubled in size from the 2025 event.
Mack III was one of nine golfers who started the final round within two shots of the lead, and he recorded an overall 36-hole score of 12-under 130 following an opening round 5-under 66 on Tuesday.
“It was, kind of, jam-packed going into today,” Mack III said. “I’m glad I shot 7-under, and hopefully I can keep it rolling. It feels good because I usually don’t play well in Scottsdale. So it kind of just means my game is going in the right direction. It’s exciting. I’m happy.
“The Thunderbirds … I went to the (PGA TOUR) Waste Management (Phoenix Open) and met a couple of them. They are a great organization and I’m just happy they could help out with the purse this week and put a little more money in our pockets.”
Shreveport, Louisiana native Ryan Alford and Santa Clarita, California native Jonathan Kang tied for second place at 10-under 132.
Finishing in a fourth-place tie at 8-under 134 were Michigander Andrew Walker and Canton, Georgia native Steve Kibare, who is one of three APGA Tour golfers (along with Joey Stills and Luis Gagne) who will compete at final-stage, 36-hole qualifiers toward the 2026 U.S. Open on Monday.
The APGA Tour’s only three-time winner in 2025, Mack III became the tour’s first two-time champion in 2026. He also won the Cisco Black History Month Classic in February. In the other three APGA events this season, Mack III finished runner-up twice – in January’s season-opening APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines and May’s APGA Daugherty Foundation Championship – and T8 at the APGA at TPC San Antonio.
Wednesday marked Mack III’s fifth victory in his last 11 APGA starts, and he has won three of the last four APGA events in the western United States, dating back to twice winning during the APGA’s 2025 Fall Series.
“There’s some great players on the tour and you really have to come out here and play well,” Mack III said. “It gives me a lot of confidence playing the APGA Tour and getting my game ready for the end of the year, and going into (PGA TOUR) Q-School.”
Mack III took the lead early in Wednesday’s final round after making birdie on three of his first four holes. Alford leap-frogged Mack III atop the leaderboard during the middle of Mack III’s round but the Orlando, Florida resident took back the lead for good when he made three consecutive birdies from holes 15-17.
Said Mack III: “No. 16, that par-3, one of the best iron shots I’ve hit. I think it was playing 225 (yards) and I hit it to, I think, eight feet. Made a great putt there. I think birdieing that gave me a little confidence coming down to the last two holes.”
Much of the field scorched TPC Scottsdale in Tuesday’s first round. Michigan State product Troy Taylor II, John-Baptiste Hakizimana and Andrew Fernandes shared the lead at 6-under 65. Scottsdale, Arizona resident Joe Hooks was among six golfers perched at 5-under 66.
One-time APGA Tour winners Taylor II (Westerville, Ohio) and Hakizimana, a native of Rwanda now residing in Hobe Sound, Florida, notched four of their seven birdies from Round 1 on the front nine while Fernandes (Cerritos, California) kept a bogey-free scorecard with four of his six birdies coming after making the turn.
All three Round 1 leaders played the final round over par, with Taylor II and Hakizimana placing T9 after each shot 1-over-72 on Wednesday. Hooks placed T6 at 7-under 135 after closing with a 2-under 69.
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 APGA Tour tees up its sixth event of its 2026 season at the third-annual APGA Juneteenth Classic at Chester Washington Golf Course in Los Angeles from June 15-17, and the season runs through November with 12 tournaments from coast to coast.
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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 12 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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