Kary Hollenbaugh won the 2026 Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout presented by Coca-Cola and Monster Energy in a three-way sudden-death playoff at Mystic Creek Golf Club, claiming her first Epson Tour title and first win as a professional.
Hollenbaugh, Juniper Jang and Kate Smith-Stroh all finished regulation at 6-under 210 to force the playoff — Jang closed with a 40-foot birdie putt on 18 to get to 6-under, Hollenbaugh made four birdies over her last five holes to match her, and Smith-Stroh, the outright leader after Friday’s opening round, nearly won it outright on the 18th green, watching a 20-foot eagle putt slide by inches before tapping in for the birdie that got her into the playoff.
Speaking in the clubhouse as a co-leader, before the playoff had been decided, Hollenbaugh credited her cousin — on the bag for her this week — with keeping her calm down the stretch: “I have my cousin on the bag and he’s super fun, and we kind of just joke around, but I can be really tough on myself, and he kept just telling me that there’s a lot of holes left… So today I was just like, yeah, I knew kind of what I had to do, and I had a few great numbers into greens and was able to be aggressive.”
She also pointed to a difficult stretch of her season leading into the week: “It’s been a really tough year for me. The past month has been kind of hard, and my game wasn’t in its best spot leading up to when I started playing on the Epson Tour, so I think just seeing the potential in my game — I’ve been putting in a lot of time and effort, mentally as well — so seeing that pay off and starting to trust it and use it on course.”
On the first playoff hole, both Hollenbaugh and Smith-Stroh made two-putt birdies to advance, while Jang made par and was eliminated.
The second playoff hole decided it. Smith-Stroh caught a break when her approach shot found the front bunker, popped out and rolled onto the green — but Hollenbaugh answered, sticking her approach to 5 feet and rolling in the eagle putt to win the title outright.
Reflecting on the win, Hollenbaugh said she knew what the closing stretch of regulation demanded: “I think I kind of knew what I had to do — make eagle or birdie on 18 to give myself a chance. So I was able to hit a good drive in the fairway, and that was step one. And then just getting on the green and giving myself a putt for eagle was the goal… I think I just did a really good job committing to every shot that I had and gave myself chances.”
Heading into sudden death, she said she leaned on the same mindset: “I knew that this hole was birdieable and that birdies were probably gonna tie. So I think that was kind of my mindset — just trying to hit my first shot in the fairway and then get the next one on the green.”
Hollenbaugh, a rookie out of The Ohio State University and a member of the inaugural 2026 LPGA LCAP Class of Top-5 Graduates, set a program record with 58 rounds at par or better during her college career and posted the second-best scoring average in Ohio State history at 72.64. She won four times as a junior — tying the program record for wins in a season — earned All-American honors as a senior, and was named to the 2026 U.S. Curtis Cup team.
The Epson Tour now takes a week off before heading out to Indian Wells, California for the final event of the season, the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells giving athletes one last chance to play their way into the coveted top-15 in the Race for the Card.
By: Carly Haines, Epson Tour