TST #6 No Fixins, No Ground Given
Talking Rock Golf Course | July 5th, 2026
A Major changes the math. More points on the table means more separation at the top, and more reason for the field to check the standings before they check the wind. That was the shape of TST #6 at Talking Rock. Not a test of who could go low on a Sunday. A test of who wanted it more with the season now past the halfway mark.
On the Net side, the man to catch limped in. Evan Koppa arrived nursing a swollen ankle, and for a field that had been chasing him all year, that was the first real crack of daylight. On the Gross side, the race was more crowded. Chris Myer held the lead coming in, Mark Johnson within reach behind him, and Vitaly Yaromich and Reid McIntyre both close enough to strike. Plenty of season left to settle it.
Forty-eight players teed off under a sky that did everyone a favor. Sunny, warm, nothing like the extremes this tour has seen. A perfect day for golf, and Talking Rock is a course that deserves one. With 18Birdies stepping in as prize sponsor for the Major, the points on the leaderboard weren't the only thing worth chasing.
Talking Rock has become one of the tour's favorite stops, and it's not hard to see why. The course is cut through standing timber scorched by wildfires years ago, and it was in pristine shape for the Major. That kind of care shows up everywhere on property, from the staff to the amenities, and nowhere more than the driving range, a long sweep of grass with the mountains standing guard behind it.
The day even threw in an unscripted subplot. A blaze broke out at the halfway house, the barbecue specifically, catching the woman running it off guard. A few of our players didn't hesitate. They stepped in, got it under control, and had the fire out before it became anything more than a good story. The only casualty was lunch. No hot dogs, no fixins, for anyone.
Steve Buse played in the third group out, which meant his score sat on the leaderboard the longest. He made it a hard one to catch. Two birdies on his final two holes brought him home at even par, and the rest of the Gross field spent the afternoon chasing a number that never came down. Bryson Marshall, fresh off a round in the 60s during a practice trip earlier that week, finished second at plus two. Vitaly Yaromich rounded out the podium at plus three.
Net came down to the 18th hole and a three way tie. Steve Buse and Thomas Ruth were already in the clubhouse when James Swift played his final hole with no idea where he stood or whether he had a stroke coming. He wasn't playing the math. He was just playing his game. It worked. Swift made par, and it was enough to win his first TST event. Behind him, Thomas Ruth edged Buse for second on a better back nine.
The standings barely blinked. Chris Myer left Talking Rock still in front of the Gross race, Mark Johnson still shadowing him in second, the two of them locked into a rivalry this tour will be watching all summer. Behind them, Vitaly Yaromich made his move, climbing into third and putting himself back in the conversation. On the Net side, the swollen ankle didn't cost Evan Koppa anything that mattered. He's still out front by a wide margin, far enough ahead that the real fight now is for second, where Mark Johnson and Brenden Blair are going at it directly. And James Swift, a name nobody was tracking before this week, is a name now worth tracking. A first win has a way of doing that.
The tour heads to Summerland Golf Course on July 19 with the two biggest races of the season no closer to settled than they were the event before.
