Alaska golfers to compete at Lamey Cup with Team PNGA
This year, the PNGA Lamey Cup – the annual Ryder Cup-style match play opener to the PNGA championship season – will include representation from Montana and Alaska, increasing the number of teams competing in the event from four to six.
The Montana State Golf Association will have its own 10-player team, while four players on behalf of the Alaska Golf Association – Sam Olson, Erik Thompson, Rob Nelson and Sarah Limesand – will partially comprise a second new team playing under the PNGA logo, the other players of which will be selected from various PNGA member associations. Each Alaska golfer is from Anchorage except Olson, who’s playing out of Palmer.
The 19th PNGA Lamey Cup will be held April 27-29 at Victoria (B.C.) Golf Club, with British Columbia Golf serving as the host association.
The event features 10-player teams – excepting the four players from Alaska – from each of the six member associations under the PNGA umbrella, and they will contend in a series of four-ball, foursome and singles matches over two days of competition.
On Team PNGA, the quartet of Alaska players certainly represents the best of golf in that state. In recent years, Olson has been a regular participant in Alaska’s Kordus and Birdie Juice Cups, both of which feature a similar format to the Lamey Cup. Olson, born and raised in Anchorage, now calls nearby Palmer home, a base that has allowed him to play several of Alaska’s best courses and master a craft that earned him a Lamey Cup berth.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to be one of the first representatives from Alaska for this event,” Olson said. “There has been a lot of buzz in the golf community up here about Alaska’s future in the Lamey Cup, and it’s definitely something everyone wants to be a part of. We take a lot of pride calling Alaska home, and I foresee that a lot of competition is going to revolve around being one of the chosen players in the future for our state.”
Once a hockey player, Olson’s golf involvement has allowed him to fulfill his competitive spirit in a non-contact fashion. Given the dormancy of Alaska’s golf season throughout most of the year and particularly during the recent winter months, he’s been using every resource available to him, such as launch monitors and a few trips to warmer climates to play. In any case, he’s ready to wear The Last Frontier on his sleeve all day, every day.
“I’ve met so many amazing people through golf in Alaska,” he said. “My best friends are from the golf world up here, and I just want to represent not just our state, but our people well.”
Olson will be joined in the men’s mid-amateur category by Thompson, who is also a lifelong Alaskan. He still considers Anchorage Golf Course and its corresponding city home.
“Representing home is always an honor,” Thompson says. “Add to that the uniqueness of the golf community in Alaska and it’s even more special. The golf community in Alaska is fairly small but very tight knit; we all root for each other in any competition, and I know there will be broad support for Team PNGA back home.”
The 2026 Lamey Cup won’t mark Thompson’s first competitive match play rounds, either. Having played in the Memorial Cup – another Ryder Cup-style event that pits Anchorage against the rest of the state – he knows how to craft a winning formula, having done so as the 2025 captain of the victorious Anchorage team. Experiences like those and others have given Thompson the juice to compete in Victoria this year.
“Looking into the venue as well, I’m even more excited to get down there and compete at such a historic club,” he said. “It’s going to be a blast.”
Count both of the current Alaska Senior Amateur Champions into the excitement. Limesand, though originally of Montana, picked up golf in her 20s and has now been a member of the Alaska Women’s Golf Association for over two decades.
“I’m excited to compete in the Lamey Cup and represent Alaska, as I don’t think people associate Alaska with golf,” Limesand said. “We have some really great players, and it will be nice to showcase their strengths.”
Also providing excitement for Limesand is the impeccable 18 holes of Victoria Golf Club, which she affectionately referred to as the “Pebble Beach of Canada.”
“It’s both exciting and a bit intimidating,” she said of the high-prestige package. “The course and club look incredible, and having the chance to play at such a historic venue truly feels like a dream come true.”
As for Nelson? He’s a former pro who retired in 2005, moving to Alaska at that time. He’s made the most of his time in the 20-plus years since, most recently captaining the Alaska Team in the 2025 Memorial Cup opposite Thompson. He also won the 2025 Alaska Senior Men’s Amateur.
The four Alaska players figure to have a strong team surrounding them, too, with proven players like Leslie Folsom, Craig Doell and Gretchen Johnson among their PNGA teammates.
The PNGA Lamey Cup is one of 11 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.
