By Julliana Bravo
Not every golfer gets to say they’ve won a father and son championship as a father and a son, but Mark Loomis can say just that after completing the task last year playing with his son, Ben, then 21, in the 74th MGA Father & Son Championship at Springdale Golf Club in Princeton, N.J.
Thirty-seven years earlier, he played with his father, John, at Alpine Country Club in Demarest, N.J. After a long day on the course, the Loomises tied with Claes and Anders Johncke for the championship. Since they both played out of Winged Foot Golf Club, they returned to their home course to play an 18-hole playoff.
Loomis remembers their team being heavy underdogs – even his father didn’t have too much confidence in them. But Loomis was a composed golfer even though he was just 20 years old at the time. A member of the Vanderbilt University golf team and a participant in MGA junior events, he had a roster of competitive golf experience. The Loomises cruised through the playoff to post a 75, six shots ahead of their opponents.
Loomis loved sports growing up, playing just about every one. With a little inspiration from his mom who encouraged him to do something he was interested in and loved, he eventually landed in TV sports production.
“I knew the sports,” he says. “I figured out the TV part along the way.”
After graduating with a political science degree from Vanderbilt in 1989, Loomis got his start in the TV business a year later as a production runner for ABC Sports. He worked his way up to producer, covering golf, college basketball, and college football for more than 15 years at the network. Stints at NFL Network, ESPN, and MLB Network followed. Fox Sports tapped him in 2015 to produce the telecasts of the U.S. Open and the other golf events of the USGA before he moved over to Golf Channel in 2021.
Loomis never sought out a position in golf, but he believes he was qualified because of his collegiate golf career. “Golf helped me tremendously getting started,” he says, noting that there really wasn’t anybody in the business that understood the game on a deeper level. “I was able to use that to my advantage. It was a natural fit for me.”
So much so that it led to an Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Special for the 2005 Open Championship. Loomis is grateful for the recognition, but to him, awards are secondary.
Now a freelance producer, Loomis is used to being in charge, but that wasn’t the case in the 2024 MGA Father & Son Championship with Ben, a junior at Vanderbilt who competes on the golf team. “My job was to keep the ball moving forward and straight,” he laughs.
The Loomises started on the back nine at Springdale Golf Club, but there was no magic, Loomis recollects, until “Ben hit an incredible shot on the fourth hole (their 13th). “He hit a 3-wood, and I think it was 287 yards away. Sure enough, he hit it about four feet away, and we made eagle.”
Unlike in 1987 when they got into the playoff with the same score they shot in the playoff, 75, Loomis knew they had to get to at least 6-under to have a chance. They birdied three of their final four holes to finish with a 7-under 64, one shot ahead of past champions Peter and Dave Scialabba of Meadow Brook Club.
When the Loomises finished their round, they were greeted by the McBrides, the previous year’s winners and family of the namesake McBride Cup that goes to the championship’s winners. “It was a cherry on top,” Loomis says.
The 75th MGA Father & Son Championship takes place on July 14, 2025 at Harrison Meadows Country Club.