Los Alamos County Golf Course tournament draws deep Memorial Day field

Memorial Day at the Los Alamos County Golf Course looked less like a quiet holiday and more like a neighborhood gathering built around scorecards. The county course hosted a two-day tournament Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, with 9 a.m. shotgun starts both days and a two-person best ball net format that kept partners moving together across the 18 holes.

The Championship Flight set the tone for the weekend. Scott Winegar and Eric Rich finished first gross, while Tony Fox and Stacy Howze won first net, underscoring how the event gave both strong and mixed handicap teams a place to compete. Other winning pairings included Mike Finney and Eddie Sanchez, Dave Apel and Tom Gravlin, Kevin Brake and James Merhege, Steve Williams Sr. and Steve Williams Jr., George Chavez and Orlando Chavez, and Tyler Naughton and Tony Shin, a list that suggests a field deep enough to fill multiple flights and keep familiar names cycling through the clubhouse conversation all weekend.

That kind of turnout matters in Los Alamos, where the golf course has long served as more than a place to play. Built in 1947 by the Atomic Energy Commission, the 6,800-yard, par-72 layout sits at about 7,400 feet on the Pajarito Plateau at the base of the Jemez Mountains. Los Alamos County calls it one of the oldest 18-hole golf courses in New Mexico, and New Mexico tourism materials identify it as the state’s second-oldest 18-hole course. On a holiday weekend, those details turn into something practical: a local recreation space that keeps residents in town and offers a high-altitude summer round without a long drive.

The tournament came just weeks after Los Alamos County reopened all 18 holes on April 30, 2026, following improvement and warranty work. For regular players, that made the Memorial Day event an early-season marker as much as a competition, a sign that the course was fully back in rotation for summer play.

The Los Alamos Golf Association has described the Memorial Day event as an annual two-day best-ball tournament with 80% handicap applied, a structure that helps golfers of different abilities compete together and keeps club events accessible. The 2026 event page also noted a 50/50 raffle with proceeds going to Los Alamos High School scholarships, tying the weekend to a local benefit beyond the leaderboard. In a town where big golf events have long found a home, including the Atomic City Invitational, the Memorial Day tournament again showed how the county course functions as a community venue as much as a sports venue.