Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2026, Sand Valley Resort, Nekoosa, Wis.
The competitor in the bucket hat completed a bucket-list task on Thursday on The Lido at the Sand Valley Resort.
Andrew Bailey, 34, of Cleveland, Ohio, a national sales manager for a prominent golf apparel company, became the first from his state to claim the U.S. Mid-Amateur title, defeating 43-year-old Nate Smith, a home builder from Tetonia, Idaho, 5 and 4, in the 36-hole final.
With it comes a plethora of perks, including an exemption into the 127th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links, spots in the next two U.S. Amateur Championships, a 10-year U.S. Mid-Amateur exemption and a likely berth into the Masters Tournament next April at Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club.
Wearing his Holderness & Bourne attire, the company he has represented since 2018, Bailey and his omnipresent white bucket hat played flawless golf over the final 18 holes – six birdies and 11 pars – to turn away Smith, who was bidding to become just the third Idahoan to claim a USGA title (Jean Smith, 1995 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and Jodie Niemann, 1999 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links).
Going into the final, Ohio natives had been 0-4 in finals, dating to the inaugural event in 1981 when Pepper Pike’s Bob Lewis Jr. lost to Jim Holtgrieve at Bellerive Country Club, in St. Louis. Lewis also lost again in 1994. Bill Williamson (Cincinnati) and Jeg Coughlin III (Dublin) came up short in 2013 and 2025, respectively.
“I have no words,” said Bailey, who reached the mountaintop in his 12th USGA championship start “It’s cliché to say it hasn’t sunk in yet, but it hasn’t sunk in yet. I still think I’m trying to prepare for the next shot and there is going to be a match tomorrow that I don’t know about.
“But it’s truly an honor. I mean, to have my name on the Bobby Jones Trophy – he’s my favorite golfer of all-time – I have no words.”
Added Smith: “I feel happy. I’m disappointed I didn’t win, but at the same time, I didn’t do anything to lose. He just played an exceptional round of golf this afternoon. My hat is off to him. I’m super stoked for him. It’s amazing to be able to play that well and win this championship. That’s so difficult. I’m just fortunate to be here, and I had a great time.”
A three-time Horizon League Player of the Year at Cleveland State from 2012-14 – he was the school’s athlete of the year in ’14 and inducted into its hall of fame in 2022 – Bailey briefly tried professional golf, making what he deemed was $8,000 on mini-tours before severely breaking his wrist in 2015, leading to a career change. He spent 2½ years at Cardinal Health before being hired by Holderness & Bourne. He regained his amateur status in 2017 and qualified for the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, where he missed the cut.
Three years later, he advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sankaty Head on Nantucket Island (Mass.), where good friend Mark Costanza was the runner-up to Stewart Hagestad.
It was Costanza who sent him a text prior to the final that said he’d lose if he played tight. John Ebert, another friend from Canterbury Golf Club, his home club in northeast Ohio, told him the same thing at the lunch break on Thursday.
“Your game looks really good,” Ebert told Bailey, who had a trio of three-putts in the morning 18. “He’s like, ‘Just let the putts fall.’ And so I just focused on feeling the putter head more, not trying to force it as much, and glad it worked out.”
Bailey closed the morning 18 of the championship match with a lot of momentum, converting a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 17th and holing a 4-foot par attempt on the closing hole to go into the lunch break tied. For much of the opening 18, he trailed Smith by as many as 2 down, battling some nerves and the light drizzle that greeted the players when the match began at 7:30 a.m. CDT.
Bailey and Smith traded punches on the front nine and were tied until the latter drained an 8-foot birdie on the 10th hole. Another birdie on No. 12 built his advantage to 2 up. The two traded birdies on 13 and 14, and Smith held that 2-up lead until the final two holes.
Bailey played the first 18 holes in the equivalent of 1-under 70, while Smith, who had not seen the 18th hole in any of his previous five matches, shot even-par 71.
“It was huge,” said Bailey of his late turnaround. “I felt like I should have been 3 down at the turn and it was my goal to get it to even [by the lunch break]. It’s like, okay, let’s just control that, delete [the first] 18 from our minds, and go play a new one, which is what I tried to do.”
Everything changed over the next 14 holes. Bailey jumped right out of the gate by making a 5-foot birdie after Smith converted his 10-footer for par. Then on the 20th hole, Bailey made a remarkable 25-footer for par before Smith registered his lone birdie of the afternoon round from 15 feet.
Bailey claimed three consecutive holes from No. 23, all with birdies, one of them conceded on the par-4 24th when Smith sculled a greenside bunker shot and then nearly whiffed his fourth before giving Bailey his 20-footer.
Smith three-putted the par-5 25th for par and missed a 6-foot birdie that would have won the 27th.
Birdies on Nos. 28 and 30, the latter from 8 feet, put the match virtually out of reach.
Smith had two good chances to cut into the margin on 31 and 32, but his putter would not cooperate.
That had not been the case in his first five matches, including a 5-and-4 victory over three-time champion Hagestad in the Round of 32. Smith is relatively new to high-level mid-amateur golf after taking an eight-year hiatus from the game following a professional career that took him to the highest levels of the game. He regained his amateur status in 2022 and has now qualified for three U.S. Mid-Amateurs.
Bailey just never opened any cracks for his opponent on this overcast day in central Wisconsin. With just 4 feet between him and victory on the par-3 32nd green, Bailey calmly stroked the ball into the hole and gave his biggest fist pump of the week. Hugs with his Sand Valley caddie Pete Olig and members of his family ensued before he finally received the trophy and gold medal.
Now he’ll have to figure out his work schedule around all of his upcoming events next spring and summer.
“I’ve got to talk to the bosses about PTO,” said Bailey. “But I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”
He was scheduled to be at Pebble Beach to support Holderness & Bourne just like this past June at Shinnecock Hills.
But now he’s playing the famed seaside course with the world’s best players.
And you can bet that bucket hat is coming along for the ride.
What The Champion Receives
- A gold medal
- Custody of the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy for the ensuing year
- Exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships
- Exemption into the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links
- Exemptions into the 2027 U.S. Amateur at Oak Hill Country Club, in Pittsford, N.Y., and
- 2028 U.S. Amateur at Whistling Straits, in Kohler, Wis.
- A likely invitation into the 2027 Masters Tournament
- Named engraved on the 2026 USGA Champions’ plaque that will reside in the Hall of
- Champions inside the USGA Museum & Library, in Liberty Corner, N.Y.
Notable
Runner-up Nate Smith received a silver medal, exemptions into the next three U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Amateur and an exemption from local qualifying for the 2027 U.S. Open.
Next year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur will be contested at Jupiter Hills Club, in Tequesta, Fla.
This was the first of four USGA championships to be contested at the Sand Valley Resort. The 2029 U.S. Junior will be staged on The Lido; the stroke-play co-host has yet to be announced but likely will be the Sand Valley Course. Venues for the 2030 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and 2034 U.S. Girls’ Junior have yet to be determined.
A total of 103 Sand Valley Resort caddies were employed for this week’s championship and Pete Olig, who has been at the property for three seasons, wound up on the champion’s bag. Andrew Bailey said he randomly landed Olig and the two forged a bond since the opening practice round on Sept. 24.
Graham O’Connor-Brooks, a competitive mid-amateur golfer from Libertyville, Ill., and a sales representative with apparel company Holderson & Bourne, drove up to the Sand Valley Resort on Wednesday night to watch co-worker Andrew Bailey.
Also in Bailey’s gallery was his wife, Shelly, who flew in Thursday morning from Cleveland along with his father, Ken Bailey and friends Rick Deichert and John Ebert. Denver resident Kevin Carlin, a childhood friend, also flew in on Wednesday night. Shelly and Andrew just celebrated their six-year wedding anniversary.
Bailey attended two previous Masters Tournaments in 2010 and 2016.
Nate Smith had his father, Ken Smith, on his bag all week. Two friends from Jackson Hole, Wyo., Chris Dick and Tom Fay made a surprise journey to Sand Valley Resort, arriving on Thursday morning. Andy Shiels from Nashville, Tenn., and his buddy, K.P., came up Wednesday night and surprised him on the practice putting green.
Two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North, a member of the USGA Executive Committee from Madison, Wis., handed champion Andrew Bailey the trophy at the informal prize ceremony on the 14th green. Fellow EC member Jim Gorrie addressed the 75 or so spectators gathered around the green.
Wisconsin residents Phil Poletti and Doug Fry served as the referees for the morning and afternoon rounds, respectively. Will Cawthon, the director of rules and championships at the Chicago District Golf Association, was the first-tee starter all week on The Lido. The forward observers were Tom Toal (morning), Dennis Reed (afternoon) and Glenn Meyer (both rounds).
Quotable
“It’s just a lot of love. You know, I do it all for them, too, so, you know, they’re all such great people. They give so much to me. You know, my wife [Shelly] was kind of corralling the army, and I was so nervous I was not going to get it done when they came up here but so glad I was able to.” – Andrew Bailey on his small group of supporters who came in for the final
“It means a lot. I knew Mr. Lewis very well. I caddied at a club, the Pepper Pike Club, that he was a member at. I have fond memories of him and how hard he was working on his game even into his 70s. He was a really close friend of Bob Fairchild who has been a mentor of mine. And Tristan Lewis is a good friend, and obviously [2013 runner-up] Bill Williamson. So, to get it done for the Buckeye State is pretty cool.” – Bailey on ending the 0-fer Mid-Amateur drought for Ohio competitors
“It was a pretty serious wrist break. I was an avid rock climber in addition to golf and fell 20 feet and snapped my wrist in half. Tried to play an event after it healed up and just said, this is going to be too long of a road. I kind of fell out of love with the game for a couple years. Architecture got me back into it. Pretty sweet to get it done at The Lido.” – Bailey on why he ended his professional golf dreams
“It’s pretty cool because I came here for six years for work and never got play any golf. Only came up here to sell . So, to get to spend a little over a week here playing golf and to win here, I feel like it was you know a little bit of good karma on my side for having put in the hours.” – Bailey on winning at the Sand Valley Resort
“It was a dream week. I played well versus Stew [Hagestad] and I didn’t play well in the afternoon match [against Matt Paradis], but that’s how this goes. I’ve been on the other side of that where you play well and you lose. That’s what happened this afternoon. I played decently. The putter didn’t really get going like it was, and part of that is because Andrew kept the pressure on me all day so those putts were harder to make.” – Nate Smith
“Tt’s funny, because I kind of put all my efforts into trying to make the [USA] Walker Cup [Team] this year and just had a fairly disappointing summer. Didn’t play as well as I thought I could. Coming into this tournament [I put] very low expectations upon myself. I was like oh, we’ll probably pull back the schedule next year. There is some other life stuff I need to focus on, my wife, family things. Now it’s like, oh, we’re back here again [for the next three years]. No, it’s going to be a great opportunity. Like I’m stoked about the Country Club at Charleston [in 2028]. I lived there. I have in-laws there. So that was like circled on my radar.” — Smith
