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SILVER SPRING, Mary. - If you have watched enough golf on TV before, you've seen the moment. Player holes winning putt, crowd applauds, toddler scampers into player's arms or reaches out to hold his or her hand. Everybody says, "Aww!" World #1 Scottie Scheffler has had plenty of those moments with his young sons in recent years.
But I did not expect a version of that scene to unfold at an amateur tournament outside of Washington, D.C. But it did happen, and it underscored how competition does not need to have millions of dollars on the line to be meaningful.
What matters is access and opportunity. As long as golfers live for the chance to try and shave those strokes that will turn defeat into victory, and as long as there are others trying to do the same around them, there will be drama, catharsis and gratitude when it's all said and done. These things are universal.
Playing the Scheffler role on a crisp mid-October day was Nabeel Khan, a former University of Connecticut golfer who now lives in Ohio with his wife and two young sons. His rounds of 70 - 73 - 70 gave him a five-shot margin of victory and made him the champion of the fourth annual National Links Trust Championship, held in 2026 at Northwest Golf Course, a pleasant midcentury parkland layout in Silver Spring, Maryland. Khan holed his par putt on the final hole and his son was glued to Dad's hip seconds later. He and the family had made the 7 1/2-hour journey from home by car - a daunting task for any parent of young ones.
That sweet winning moment transpired before a crowd of 30 or so participants from the tournament's men's and women's divisions, watching appreciatively, beers in hand. Among the observers was Mia Zanghetti, who had taken down the women's championship for the third straight year a few minutes earlier. The mood was more Happy Hour than major championship. My own disappointment at following up a nice opening-round 72 with a pair of 76s faded almost immediately. It was far too beautiful a day in golf to be upset.
At a time of creeping costs, the National Links Trust (NLT) Championship is a triumph of affordability and access and an extension of its parent organization's mission. Since its founding in 2019, the NLT has stewarded the game in Washington, D.C., overcoming a laundry list of challenges in service of area golfers. With ongoing legal proceedings surrounding the future of East Potomac Golf Course, the NLT has focused on improving conditions and programming at two other National Parks Service facilities in the District of Columbia: Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park.
In addition to hands-on management of Langston and Rock Creek, the NLT has lent expertise and shared best practices with other municipal golf facilities interested in becoming the best assets they can be in their own communities. Those cross-country relationships spurred the formation of the National Links Trust Championship in 2023.
From the beginning, the National Links Trust Championship was envisioned as something of a successor to the United States Public Links Championship, which the USGA conducted from 1922 (1977 on the women's side) until it fell defunct after the 2014 men's and women's editions. Several state golf associations have continued holding public links championships, but the NLT felt it had an opportunity to restart a national-scale event that centered the public golfer.
The National Links Trust Championship is open to mid-amateur (age 25 and older) golfers who do not hold private club memberships, with men's and women's divisions. A handful of qualifiers are held during the summer at municipal facilities across the country to fill the field, who have come together for 54 holes of competition each of the last four Octobers. The first three editions were held at East Potomac before the switch to Northwest Golf Course, part of a strong Montgomery County municipal course system, for 2026.
One of the driving forces behind the NLT and its Championship is senior adviser and tournament chair Sinclair Eaddy, Jr., who had a successful career in finance before attaining positions of leadership in golf. In addition to serving as the president of the Maryland State Golf Association, Eaddy is a member of the Executive Committee of the USGA, chairing its Investment Committee. He believes the NLT Championship plays a valuable role in what he calls "the ecosystem of public and municipal golf."
"What we tried to do with the National Links Trust Championship was to create a venue for public and municipal players, who are skilled and who have lower handicaps, to provide meaningful competition," Eaddy said. "Those opportunities have dwindled for a variety of reasons over the past few years, whether it's the discontinuation of public championships or state associations discontinuing their own [similar events]. There's been a gap there, and so we think the National Links Trust Championship bridges that gap and creates additional opportunity."
Creating an opportunity is one thing; elevating it is another. The National Links Trust Championship delivers a first-class competitive experience. The three tournament rounds are run with the seriousness and efficiency of state-, regional- and national-scale events by Anera Sports and the Amateur Golf Alliance (AGA), which has operated the Concession Cup and currently runs the Women's Amateur Championship, an event that in just six years has become the most prestigious mid-amateur and senior women's golf tournament in the country outside of the USGA's championships. Anera CEO and AGA VP Rob Addington served as executive director of the Texas Golf Association from 2001 to 2018; he and his team know what it takes to put on a great event.
Hospitality was a theme of the 2026 National Links Trust Championship, with a pre-tournament reception, post-tournament-round lunches and even an on-site physiotherapist. Plentiful Rules officials and lost-ball spotters recruited from regional golf associations helped play move along smoothly each day. The golf course was in wonderful shape considering some recent turbulent weather. I have been fortunate to play competitive amateur golf since I was young; the National Links Trust Championship is one of the best tournaments I have ever participated in. It would be an honor to take part in a future edition.
One noteworthy aspect of the National Links Trust Championship is its utter affordability. The entry fee for the tournament was just $80, and participants venturing to D.C. from far away each received a travel stipend to help defray some of their expenses. The NLT has secured high-profile sponsors for the event, including title sponsor Dick's Sporting Goods, founding partner Morgan Stanley and others like Ashworth Golf, Golf Genius, Hyperice and more.
The National Links Trust Championship is still in its infancy, but it is set up for long-term success. Long-term plans are still being formulated, but Sinclair Eaddy, Jr. could see it traveling the country like the U.S. Public Links used to. "We can envision a future where this championship would move to other municipal venues around the country," he said.
As to specific regions or cities, Eaddy believes it is still too early to say for sure, but the cities that hold well-attended annual qualifiers for the event could point the way. "I think that's largely dependent on the level of engagement and participation we see in various cities," he said.
Tyler McKeever, a former Auburn University golfer who now lives in Atlanta and plays out of the thriving, city-owned Bobby Jones Golf Course there, won the inaugural National Links Trust Championship and has competed every year since, including a runner-up finish in 2026. He has been an evangelist for the event since its inception. "I just can't say enough about the leadership of the National Links Trust," he said. "These guys are pursuing something that, in my mind, should be pursued: supporting public golf on a national level."
McKeever also believes the tournament has room to grow in prestige and name-recognition, and he is one of many past participants who relentlessly spread the word about it. "I want to see more public links champions come join us in this endeavor, because we are growing, but we need more players from around the country," he said. "It's a simple thing, right? But affordability and access go hand-in-hand, especially in golf."
Kind of like a grateful tournament champion and his little boy.
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