LAS VEGAS (Aug. 13, 2026)–Matt Mitchell rallied to beat Ralph ‘RJ’ Arone 3&1 to win the 2026 Nevada State Match Play Championship. The three-day stroke play/match play tournament was held Aug. 10-13, 2026, at DragonRidge Country Club.–by Bill Bowman
Following an opening day of stroke-play for seeding purposes, Arone and Mitchell battled opponents through two days of 36 holes of match play each day. Tuesday featured the round of 36 matches followed in the afternoon by the round of 16. Then came the quarterfinals and semifinals on Wednesday which set up Thursday’s 36-hole finale.
Both players were coming into the 2026 tournament off impressive showings in the 2025 Nevada State Match Play where Mitchell lost to Arone in the quarterfinal round.
This year, Mitchell turned the tables in beating Arone—this time for the crown.
“It’s my first Nevada state title so this is super cool,” Mitchell said. “You have to play really good golf to get into these state tournaments and really, really good golf to win. It was nice to pull it off.”
It wasn’t easy.
Mitchell was three-down on three separate occasions in the title match before going on a run where he won five of six holes midway through the second 18-hole session.
“RJ had five straight birdies early and was playing great and there was nothing I could do about it,” Mitchell said. “My thought process was just to play my game and not worry about how good he’s hitting it. I was trying to get to 10-under through the two matches and thought if I got there, I’d have a good chance.”
Mitchell hit his stride midway through the second 18 holes as he caught up and then passed Arone.
“I was hitting it pretty decent but I just didn’t make a lot of mid-range putts early,” he said. “I knew I would have to start making them to beat RJ and I wound up making a lot of 10-18 footers later that really got me going.”
Mitchell said the four days of marathon golf didn’t really take a toll on him.
“The thing is you don’t know how much golf you’re going to be playing,” he said. “I had an average seeding round so I could have played 18 holes the first round of match play and been done. You’ve just got to keep focused and try to move on in each match.”
Mitchell said losing to Arone in this event last year didn’t play into his thoughts this year.
“RJ’s an elite amateur and a top player on the Michigan team (following playing at Bishop Gorman),” Mitchell said. “To battle him neck-and-neck and win is pretty cool. Last year, he just killed me. He was five-under-through six holes and gave me no shot at all.”
This year, Mitchell is hoisting the trophy.
“If I can play that level of golf going forward, I have a good shot at winning a lot of amateur tournaments,” he said. “I just played solid golf all week.”
Mitchell, who played baseball at UNLV and now works in the gaming industry, is coming off a victory in the 2026 Southern Nevada Amateur and now has six wins in 2026.
2026 Nevada State Match Play Championship
Finals
Matt Mitchell def. Ralph ‘RJ’ Arone, 3&1
Semifinals
Matt Mitchell def. Preston Harris, 3&2
Ralph Arone def. Kyle Prolo, 3&2
