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 – seven birdies and 10 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.