{"id":868257,"date":"2026-10-02T12:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868257\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T12:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:54:10","slug":"andrew-bailey-wins-us-mid-amateur-to-earn-spots-in-the-masters-and-u-s-open-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868257\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Bailey wins US Mid-Amateur to earn spots in the Masters and U.S. Open next year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NEKOOSA, Wis. \u2014 Andrew Bailey took the lead for good with a birdie on the 23rd hole and played his final 17 holes without a bogey to defeat Nate Smith, 5 and 4, in the U.S. Mid-Amateur on Thursday and earn a spot in the Masters and U.S. Open next year.<\/p>\n<p>Bailey was at the U.S. Open this summer at Shinnecock Hills, but as a national sales manager for Holderness &amp; Bourne attire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got to talk to the bosses about PTO. But I\u2019ll cross that bridge when I get to it,\u201d Bailey said of a schedule that has become a lot busier in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Smith led for most of the morning 18 holes, never more than 2 up, and Bailey caught him with a par on the 18th hole on The Lido at Sand Valley. They traded birdies on the opening two holes of the afternoon, and the 34-year-old Bailey, from Cleveland, began to pull away by winning three straight holes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m disappointed I didn\u2019t win, but at the same time, I didn\u2019t do anything to lose,\u201d said Smith, a 43-year-old home builder from Idaho. \u201cHe just played an exceptional round of golf this afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bailey had thoughts about playing professionally \u2014 he never played a PGA Tour event \u2014 before severely breaking his wrist rock climbing that took more than two years to fully heal. He regained his amateur status in 2017, three years after leaving college.<\/p>\n<p>    <a class=\"Link\" aria-label=\"Local caddie limps \u2013 literally \u2013 into U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinals\" href=\"https:\/\/www.golfchannel.com\/ncaa\/news\/local-caddie-limps-literally-into-u-s-mid-amateur-quarterfinals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790945650_806_.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Matt Hutchins has walked hundreds of rounds at Sand Valley, but arguably no steps were tougher than his final seven holes\u2019 worth on Tuesday afternoon at the Lido Course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEKOOSA, Wis. \u2014 Andrew Bailey took the lead for good with a birdie on the 23rd hole and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-868257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}