A home builder from Idaho will face an Ohio-based national sales rep for a prominent golf apparel company for the right to hoist the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy as the champion of the 45th U.S. Mid-Amateur.

Nate Smith, 43, of Tetonia, and Andrew Bailey, 34, of Cleveland, each won a pair of matches on Wednesday at The Lido to set up their 36-hole showdown on Thursday in central Wisconsin. In the semifinals, Smith outlasted Texan Mikel Martinson, 2 and 1, while Bailey defeated 2025 U.S. Open qualifier Matt Vogt, a dentist from Indianapolis, Ind., 4 and 2.

The winner not only receives a gold medal and custody of the trophy for a year, but also an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links and a likely invitation to next April’s Masters Tournament.

Both would be the first from their respective states to win the title. Only two other Idahoans have won USGA titles: Jean Smith (not related) at the 1995 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and Jodie Niemann (1999 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links). This will be the second consecutive year Ohio is represented in the final; Jeg Coughlin III (Dublin) lost to Brandon Holtz at Troon Country Club. The late Bob Lewis Jr. lost a pair of finals, including the inaugural playing in 1981, and Bill Williamson came up short in 2013.

Neither competitor had gone past the quarterfinals in any USGA championship; Bailey reached the last eight in 2021 at Sankaty Head on Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts.

“This afternoon was a dogfight,” said Smith, a two-time Idaho State Amateur champion (2024, 2026) as well as the 2025 Snedeker Memorial, a mid-amateur event held in Point Clear, Ala., run by Haymes Snedeker, the younger brother of 2026 U.S. Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker. “We both were a little shaky out of the gate and he really showed some tenacity out there.  

“But what a great guy. We had an amazing match. This is what the Mid-Am is all about.”

Smith, who hasn’t played the par-4 18th hole since the second round of stroke play on Sunday, broke the tight match open with three consecutive wins from No. 9, two with birdies and a par on No. 11 after Martinson found a fairway bunker that he thought he cleared with his tee shot.

Martinson never quite recovered, despite winning Nos. 12 and 16 with birdies.

“I’m disappointed,” said Martinson, a U.S. Mid-Amateur rookie who played briefly as a pro before regaining his amateur status last year. “I wish I could have gave Nate a little better fight. I know we pushed it to 17, but I’m not sure what happened on my 11th hole today. That bunker is 260. For my ball not to cover that downwind hitting it pretty decent, I mean, I don’t know if something happened to my driver or what. I didn’t really hit another good drive after that.”

Smith, a former two-time All-American at Duke University, did have some success as a professional, playing on the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour (won the 2010 WMB Classic in West Texas where Martinson now works as an oilfield salesman) and one year on the PGA Tour before tearing his meniscus at the Farmers Insurance Open. That’s when he began to lose the passion for the game.