Golfers often jump at the chance to team up and compete together – especially when they don’t get to do it that often. Such is the case in senior amateur golf, and this week’s International Senior Invitational offers a perfect chance for team play.
The International Senior Invitational, to be played Oct. 8-10 at Cartersville (Ga.) Country Club, is a nationally ranked “tournament within a tournament.” An individual champion will be crowned after 54 holes, as well as a three-man team champion based on a three-count-two format.
Cartersville Country Club has been a recurring host for this event since 2023, and before each year’s event, a local charity is selected as a beneficiary. The tournament’s charitable arm annually raises about $10,000.
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that detail, Jonathan Mattox, general manager at Cartersville Country Club, describes a deep volunteer corps and local interest that includes area high school players who come out to see top senior talent. It’s a way for the course to help “showcase our little town,” Mattox noted.
“We have an amazing golf course that we enjoy showing off every year for this event, it’s a very important part of our schedule for the year – the club but also the whole community gets behind this event,” Mattox told Golfweek before the 2025 event. “We raise a lot of funds for local charities.”
Earlier in 2026, the USGA granted an exemption into the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open to the winner of the International Senior Invitational, which is among the deepest fields in Golfweek’s year-long Senior Nation schedule. The international nature of the event has drawn top seniors from across the world, including England, Scotland, Germany, Canada and Ireland.
While last year’s individual champion, Joe Lyons, hailed from Ireland, the winning team represented the U.S. The three-man team from South Carolina, anchored by Yancey Johnson and Rick Cloninger, edged a team from Utah in a very close finish. Neither Johnson nor Cloninger, however, are returning as both are set to compete this week in the South Carolina Senior Amateur.
Notably, at the 2024 International Senior, two former USGA champions combined to lead their Georgia team to victory. Bob Royak and Doug Hanzel, winners of the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2019 and 2013, respectively, teamed up with Robert Sheats for the team victory that year.
Among that threesome, only Royak returns for the 2026 tournament, but with an interesting twist. Royak this year will team with Chad Branton, a Cartersville member and International Senior Invitational board member, and Billy Mitchell to form a formidable squad that easily ranks as a favorite entering the event.
Steve Maddalena, recent winner of the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship, will play with Jerry Gunthorpe, winner of two Golfweek senior events over the past year, and Stephen Nichols.
Tim Peterson, named Golfweek’s Senior Player of the Month in April, is teaming up with his usual four-ball partner John Brellenthin along with Jim Lehman, Tom Lehman’s brother and manager. All three are pillars of golf in Minnesota.
Another formidable grouping highlights some of Louisiana’s top talent. Billy Joe Tolliver, a former NFL quarterback, will play on the same team as Todd Doss, a rising talent in senior golf who has three national senior victories to his name so far this year, and Rod Baronet, a former Louisiana Senior Amateur champion.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: International Senior Invitational returns to Cartersville CC with deep field
