Andrew Bailey wins U.S. Mid-Amateur and books a trip to Pebble Beach

In June, Andrew Bailey was at the U.S. Open working for his employer, the golf apparel company Holderness & Bourne. Next June he will be playing in it. Bailey, 34, from Cleveland, Ohio, won the 45th U.S. Mid-Amateur on Thursday, beating Nate Smith 5 and 4 in the 36-hole final on The Lido at Sand Valley Resort in Nekoosa, Wisconsin.

He is the first player from Ohio to win the championship. Ohioans had lost all four of their previous Mid-Am finals, going back to the very first edition in 1981.

Three three-putts, then a bogey-free afternoon

Bailey had three three-putts in the morning round and trailed for much of the first 18 holes in light drizzle. Smith, a 43-year-old home builder from Tetonia, Idaho, went ahead with an 8-foot birdie on the 10th, made it 2 up on the 12th and still held that lead with two holes of the morning to play.

Bailey turned the match before lunch. He holed a 6-foot birdie on the par-5 17th and a 4-footer for par on the 18th to go in all square, having played the morning in the equivalent of one under par to Smith’s level.

In the afternoon Bailey played his final 18 holes bogey-free, with seven birdies and ten pars, according to the USGA. He won three holes in a row from the 23rd, all with birdies, one of them conceded after Smith struggled out of a greenside bunker on the 24th. Further birdies at the 28th and 30th put the match almost out of reach, and he closed it out with a 4-foot putt on the par-3 32nd green.

Paths to the final

Bailey, the No. 3 seed after stroke play at five under, beat Mariano Malmierca, Matt Schall, John Eades and Grady Brame Jr. before a 4-and-2 semi-final win over Indianapolis’s Matt Vogt. Smith, the No. 45 seed, beat three-time champion Stewart Hagestad 5 and 4 in the round of 32. He then beat Mikel Martinson 2 and 1 in the semi-finals.

Pebble Beach, Augusta and ten years of Mid-Ams

As champion, Bailey receives:

• A place in the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach
• A likely invitation to the 2027 Masters
• Exemptions into the 2027 and 2028 U.S. Amateurs, at Oak Hill and Whistling Straits
• A ten-year exemption into the U.S. Mid-Amateur

Smith, whose father Ken caddied for him all week, earns a place in the 2027 U.S. Amateur and an exemption from local qualifying for the 2027 U.S. Open.

A wrist broken climbing, and a reinstatement debate

A three-time Horizon League Player of the Year at Cleveland State, Bailey tried professional golf on the mini-tours before badly breaking his wrist in a 20-foot rock-climbing fall in 2015. He regained his amateur status in 2017, and this was his 12th USGA championship.

Both finalists are former professionals: Smith made PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour starts before an eight-year break from the game and was reinstated as an amateur in 2022. Golf Monthly reports that seven of the eight quarter-finalists this year had professional playing experience, and the USGA has said it will re-evaluate its reinstatement guidance, though nobody broke any rules.

Bailey’s first job, he joked, is asking his bosses for more time off. Next year’s championship is at Jupiter Hills in Florida.

Sources

• USGA: Ohioan Bailey claims title at The Lido
• AmateurGolf.com: 2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur final results and bracket
• PNGA: Nate Smith finishes runner-up at U.S. Mid-Amateur
• GOLF.com: He sold shirts at this year’s U.S. Open. Next year, he’ll be playing in it
• Golf Monthly: Why the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship is causing controversy again