The inaugural Hickory Masters was successfully launched on May 13-14 at the Circolo Golf Villa D’Este, a 100-year-old golf course in Como, Italy.
Organized by the Hickory Golf Masters SA (HGM), a company based in Lugano, Switzerland, the world’s first Hickory Masters attracted close to 40 golfers from 14 countries/regions around the world, including 13 professionals from eight European countries plus Australia and China Hong Kong.
Hickory Masters 2026 Players
Markus Brier, an Austrian tour professional, who has two wins on the DP World Tour, won by a single stroke ahead of overnight leader Paolo Quirici from Switzerland, who shared second place with German tour professional Thomas Gögele.
The two-day competition experienced Scotland-like weather: sunshine and a light breeze in the first and rain and thunderstorms in the second. Players on the second day were faced with additional challenges by two interruptions due to lightning and thunder.
Paolo Quirici, arguably the “world’s best Hickory golfer” according to Claus Mühlfeit, Hickory Masters 2026 event manager, was still in the lead at the second weather-related interruption. Paolo was the 2013 World Hickory Open champion as well as the 2024 and 2025 China Hickory Open champion. Playing in the final round, Paolo and his closest rival, Markus Brier, had two and a half holes left to play. Paolo put himself in contention with a birdie on the 16th. Brier managed to keep up with Paolo thanks to a chip-in for par, and then made a series of birdies on the 17th and 18th holes.
Brier ultimately secured the ‘Silver Rake Niblick’, Hickory Masters’ specially created trophy, by a single stroke.
Markus Brier and Paolo Quirici
The Hickory Masters 2026 is now in the books. It is the first major tournament in the history of hickory golf. Perry Somers of Australia, the 2010 World Hickory Open champion, enthuses: 'This is the first tournament ever where hickory golf is experienced in its entirety. The same rules apply as 100 years ago: original clubs, no replicas, everyone using the same ball and wearing a shirt and tie or bow tie. I love it.”
Hickory Golf Masters SA was co-founded by Paolo Quirici with a clear vision of preserving the soul of golf and the hickory golfing tradition from over 100 years ago. Hickory Masters started out as the global standard-bearer for golf as it was originally played—with pre-1935 hickory clubs, traditional rules, and timeless etiquette. The clear manifestation of Hickory Masters is: “Where history is not just remembered – it’s revered.”
Prior to Hickory Masters 2026, HGM opened the Hickory Golf Masters Museum on December 4, 2025 at the Via Peri 11 in the center of Lugano, Switzerland.
The Museum showcases an exceptional collection of original hickory clubs, vintage apparel, and a photographic exhibition featuring some of the most iconic figures of early golf — Tom Morris, Harry Vardon, James Braid, Walter Hagen and Lawson Little — capturing a time when elegance, precision and character defined the game.
At the heart of the Museum lies an extraordinary collection of original clubs crafted by Tom Stewart Jr., one of the most respected clubmakers of golf’s golden age. Among them are around 360 clubs once played by legends such as Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet, Gene Sarazen, Harry Vardon, Ted Ray, Jack White, James Braid, Tom Morris and many others — offering a rare glimpse into an era when technique and artistry were inseparable.
HGM Museum
This remarkable heritage is preserved in Lugano thanks to Phil Gibbs, an American collector who spent over 35 years searching for, restoring and safeguarding genuine hickory clubs. His long-held wish was that the collection would find a true home. The HGM Museum honors that promise, marking a symbolic passing of the baton between two generations united by the same vision: celebrating golf as both cultural treasure and sporting legacy.
Within the Museum is a restoration workshop, where antique clubs are brought back to their original beauty using traditional techniques that honor historical authenticity.
Paolo Quirici
On behalf of the China Golf Museum and the Society of China Hickory Golfers, I invited all Hickory Masters participants, including professionals, to play at the 3rd China Hickory Open on November 16-18. And I personally invited Markus Brier to join us in Hong Kong for two reasons. Frist, so that he can find a partner from Austria and form Team Austria to compete in the National Competition on November 16, and second, for my selfish hope that he can again beat Paolo Quirici, two-time China Hickory Open champion, preventing him from winning the 100-year-old dragon silver bowl trophy for a third consecutive time, and taking it home!
Wayne Xing and Markus Brier
