In the middle of a crowded golf summer, with the PGA Tour schedule rolling, major championships still fresh in everyone’s mind and the sport’s biggest names often dominating the conversation, one of the most meaningful championships in golf returns this week at Woodmont Country Club.
The fifth U.S. Adaptive Open is being played July 6-8 on Woodmont’s South Course, and it may be the most important reminder all season that golf is bigger than scoreboards, purses and television windows. It is a USGA championship, yes. It is competitive. It has elite players, defending champions, national representation and a trophy at the end.
But it also has something golf does not always stop long enough to celebrate: a field full of players who prove the game can meet people where they are and still ask everything of them competitively.
This year’s championship features 96 players from 34 states and nine countries. The USGA received 250 entries, and 18-hole qualifiers were conducted at eight sites around the country. The youngest player in the field is 15-year-old Tommy Morrissey of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The oldest is 76-year-old Dennis Walters of Jupiter, Florida.
That age range alone tells a story. So does the field itself.
This championship should matter to every golfer. It should matter to every coach, every parent, every club professional and every player who has ever believed golf has the power to change someone’s life. For me, it also carries a personal layer because a few names in this field are not just names on a tee sheet. They are people I know, people I respect and people who represent the very best of what this game can be.
Championship Snapshot
2026 U.S. Adaptive Open
Woodmont Country Club, South Course • Rockville, Maryland • July 6-8
Field Size
96
Players in the field
Age Range
15-76
Youngest to oldest competitor
Format
54
Holes of stroke play
Categories
8
Impairment categories
Why it matters: This is not an exhibition. It is a national championship that gives adaptive golfers a USGA stage, a competitive pathway and a growing spotlight inside the larger golf world.
This Is Not an Exhibition. It Is a Championship
Albert Bowker, known around the adaptive golf community as “Chazz,” is in this year’s field as a 29-year-old qualifier from Buellton, California, competing in the Short Stature category. His presence brings one of adaptive golf’s most recognizable personalities back into the national spotlight.
Bowker has also become something increasingly important in today’s golf ecosystem: an influencer who uses visibility the right way. In an era when golf content is often driven by trick shots, swing tips, product drops and personality-driven storytelling, Chazz has carved out space by being authentically himself. He brings style, humor, energy and pride to adaptive golf, and that matters because representation in this game does not only happen on leaderboards. It also happens on social platforms, in short-form videos, in the way players share their story and in the way young golfers discover someone who looks, moves or competes like they do.
He has built a reputation that extends beyond his scorecard, but the golf backs it up. In 2024, Bowker won the Short Stature Division at the inaugural GAP Adaptive Championship and finished tied for 14th overall in the U.S. Adaptive Open. GAP described him as a staple in the adaptive golf community with a beaming personality and style, and Golf Digest has since written about his growing platform and his ability to spread the word for adaptive golf.
That combination of personality and performance gives Bowker a unique place in this championship. He is not just participating in adaptive golf’s growth. He is helping promote it, shape it and make it more visible.
Golf needs players like Chazz. Every era of the game has its personalities, the players fans remember because they bring life to a range, a first tee or a post-round interview. In adaptive golf, Bowker is one of those figures. He reminds people that inclusion does not mean softening the edge of competition. It means letting more people bring their full selves to it.
U.S. Adaptive Open Video
Albert “Chazz” Bowker at Woodmont Country Club
Watch: Albert “Chazz” Bowker speaks during the fifth U.S. Adaptive Open at Woodmont Country Club, where his personality, influence and competitive spirit continue to help bring adaptive golf to a wider audience.
Dennis Walters Is Still Teaching Golf What Courage Looks Like
Dennis Walters is the oldest player in the field at 76, but that hardly begins to explain his place in the game. Walters is competing as a qualifier in the Seated Players category, and he won that category at the 2022 U.S. Adaptive Open. He was paralyzed in a golf cart accident at age 24 after having played college golf at North Texas State University and finishing 11th in the 1967 U.S. Amateur.
For me, Dennis is not just a name in the field or a Hall of Fame story. He is a fellow PGA Professional and a friend, and I have had several meaningful conversations with him over the years. There are certain people in golf who leave you better after you spend time with them. Dennis is one of those people.
I cannot help but be proud of him, not only for what he has done as a player and performer, but for what he has represented to the game for nearly five decades. He has lived a life in golf that would be remarkable under any circumstances, but the way he has used that life to encourage, entertain, teach and inspire others is something every PGA Professional should appreciate.
For nearly five decades, Walters has taken golf to people through “The Dennis Walters Golf Show,” a one-hour trick-shot clinic that has traveled more than 3.5 million miles and included more than 3,000 performances. He is also a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, an Honorary Lifetime Member of the PGA of America and a Ben Hogan Award for Courage winner.
There are people who play golf, people who promote golf and people who embody why golf matters. Walters has done all three. His presence at Woodmont gives the championship a living bridge between golf’s past, present and future. He is not here as a ceremonial name. He is in the field, with a scorecard in his hand, still competing and still teaching the game how wide its reach can be.
Amy Bockerstette Keeps Showing the Game What Confidence Sounds Like
Amy Bockerstette’s name is already familiar to many golf fans because of her unforgettable connection with Gary Woodland at the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. But her story is much bigger than one viral moment. Bockerstette, 27, of Phoenix, was born with Down syndrome and is making her fifth U.S. Adaptive Open start this week as a qualifier in the Intellectual Impairment category.
She also founded the “I Got This” Foundation, which provides golf instruction, playing opportunities and organized events for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities. She has also been active with LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, further extending her influence beyond her own competitive career.
Bockerstette’s message has always been simple, but that does not make it small. “I got this” became a phrase people attached to one moment, yet it has grown into something much more meaningful. It is confidence. It is access. It is the idea that golf can become a place where players are seen for what they can do, not limited by what others assume they cannot.
That is why Amy’s continued presence in this championship matters. She has moved from viral inspiration to lasting impact, and that is a much more meaningful legacy. Golf does not need to simply applaud her story. It needs to learn from it.
The Defending Champions Add More History
There is serious history on the line at Woodmont, too. Kipp Popert, the three-time defending men’s overall champion from England, has a chance to add to one of the most dominant runs in the early history of this championship. Kim Moore, who captured the women’s overall title in 2025 after also winning the inaugural event in 2022, can continue building her own place in U.S. Adaptive Open history.
That is another reason this event should not be reduced to a feel-good story. Feel-good stories matter, but this championship also has competitive weight. Popert, Moore, Bailey Bish, Ryanne Jackson, Simon Lee and others have already started building a history book for an event that is still young enough to remember its first tee shot.
The best championships do both things. They tell us who won, and they tell us why it mattered.
Why This Week Matters for the Whole Game
Golf has spent years trying to talk about growing the game. Sometimes that phrase gets thrown around so much that it loses its meaning. The U.S. Adaptive Open gives it meaning again.
Growing the game is not only about attracting new customers, building new facilities or creating new formats. It is about making sure the game’s doors are open wide enough for people to see themselves walking through them. It is about a 15-year-old like Tommy Morrissey, a fantastic young man I have been lucky enough to spend time with, earning his first start. It is about Albert “Chazz” Bowker using his influence and personality to make adaptive golf more visible. It is about Dennis Walters, a fellow PGA Professional and friend, still showing up, still competing and still inspiring after a lifetime of service to golf. It is about Amy Bockerstette turning confidence into a movement.
This championship should be watched, promoted and celebrated because it shows golf at its best. Not perfect. Not polished for a commercial. Better than that.
It shows golf as a game that can adapt without losing its soul, compete without losing its compassion and inspire without asking anyone to feel sorry for the people playing it. That is an important distinction. The U.S. Adaptive Open is not asking golf fans for sympathy. It is asking for attention, respect and appreciation.
Those things are earned at Woodmont.
The fifth U.S. Adaptive Open is not just one of the most meaningful events on the golf calendar. It is one of the clearest windows into what this game can become when it decides everyone belongs.
Bigger Than The Scorecard
What The U.S. Adaptive Open Shows Golf
Access Matters
The championship gives adaptive golfers a visible USGA pathway and validates the idea that competitive golf should have room for more players.
Competition Matters
The stories are powerful, but the championship is real. Players earn spots, chase titles and compete under a USGA spotlight.
Representation Matters
Young golfers watching at home can see players who look like them, move like them or share their challenges competing on a national stage.
Bottom line: The U.S. Adaptive Open is not just a feel-good event. It is one of golf’s clearest examples of what growing the game is supposed to look like.
PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on R.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
