The 2023 Golfweek Award winner for Male Amateur of the Year goes to …
What a year it was for men’s amateur golfers.
Players dominated the college game and others took over the scene during the summer. An amateur legend further cemented his legacy while one of the up-and-comers continued to make a name for himself.
When it came to selecting Golfweek‘s Male Amateur of the Year, there were plenty of candidates to choose from, but one stood out among the rest. This player did something this summer that had only ever been done once by a guy named Tiger Woods. I wonder what he’s up to these days.
The 2023 Golfweek Award winner for Male Amateur of the Year goes to …
Hagestad added another prestigious trophy to his recent haul.
PINE VALLEY, N.J. – Stewart Hagestad is having a September to remember.
Hagestad added the prestigious Crump Memorial Tournament to his recent haul of trophies Saturday, defeating defending champion Stephen Behr Jr. in a playoff at Pine Valley Golf Club.
Hagestad, 32, was a member of the U.S. side that won the 49th Walker Cup at the Old Course in St. Andrews on Sept. 3. Then he claimed the U.S. Mid-Amateur championship on Sept. 13, at Sleepy Hollow in N.Y., winning the title for a third time, 3 and 2 over Evan Beck.
Stewart Hagestad kisses the Robert T. Jones, Jr. Memorial Trophy after winning the 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y. on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
Hagestad’s Crump Memorial began in dramatic fashion with a hole-in-one at Pine Valley’s famed par-3 10th hole (known as the Devil’s Asshole) as he posted rounds of 71-72 and tied for third in 36-hole stroke-play qualifying. (Beck earned medalist honors with a pair of 68s and a 36-hole total of 4-under 136.) Tropical Storm Ophelia forced the tournament committee to shorten the weekend match play to 18 holes of stroke play to determine the champion. All non-championship flights were canceled.
Hagestad shot 3-over 73 in difficult conditions at Pine Valley, ranked No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list. He made par at the first hole, the first playoff hole, to secure the win over Behr of Alpharetta, Georgia, and claim the 98th Crump Cup.
Matthew Sughrue of Arlington, Virginia, shot a 1-under 69 to win the Senior Crump Cup. Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Georgia, finished second with a 74.
The 32-year-old has a lengthy USGA resume that includes a pair of Mid-Am wins, and a fourth Walker Cup.
[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]SCARBOROUGH, N.Y. – Mark Costanza saw it coming.
After qualifying for match play at the 42nd U.S. Mid-Amateur, the 38-year-old from New Jersey gave the bracket a customary once over. He quickly took note of a familiar name.
Stewart Hagestad.
“You see the draw before you even play the first match,” Costanza said following a suspension-free day at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, which has endured all kinds of weather this week. “You think you might match up again. There is certainly a revenge factor that I was seeking. I was ready to play.”
It’s been a couple of years since they last tangled. Hagestad eliminated Costanza in the 2021 U.S. Mid-Am final at Sankaty Head Golf Club on Nantucket.
Costanza was dialed in Tuesday, advancing to the Round of 32 by rolling in birdie putts at 17th and 18th.
Hagestad was ready, too.
The 32-year-old has a lengthy USGA resume that includes a pair of Mid-Am wins. And he just celebrated a fourth Walker Cup victory at St. Andrews.
Hagestad is moving on again after coming through with a 2-and-1 victory.
“I played great,” Costanza said. “I think I can hold my head up high. I was 5-under with no bogeys and he just beat me. He’s a great champion.”
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Hagestad collected seven birdies and will face Nate McCoy (Ankeny, Iowa) in the Round of 16.
“I knew he would be a bit more prepared for this one,” said the California native, who’s had work-related stints in New York and won MGA Player of the Year honors in 2016. “It’s not the finals, but at the same time, he knows that he is one of the better players in the field, and he’s very capable of making a deep run. I think maybe in the last few years he’s realized just how good he is. Before we went off, I tried to collect myself because I knew it was going to be a good one.”
Mark Costanza reacts to a birdie putt on the 18th green at Sleepy Hollow Country Club that gave the Morristown, N.J. resident a 1-up win in the Round of 64 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship on Sept. 12, (Photo: Mike Dougherty/Journal News)
McCoy is the son of Hagestad’s most recent Walker Cup team captain, Mike McCoy.
Nobody in the field knows the layout at Sleepy Hollow like Brad Tilley, a longtime member of the host club. Nobody had the kind of gallery support the 40-year-old Westchester native and Connecticut resident enjoyed all week, either.
I there was an extra measure of internal pressure it was only because home games are rare in golf.
“It was just love and support from them,” Tilley said of the membership. “I know what kind of opportunity this was. No one is going to know these greens better than me. Usually that’s a huge advantage in match play.”
He finished a 2-up victory over David Szymanski (East Lansing, Mich.) in the Round of 64 on Tuesday and maintained that momentum after lunch until Bobby Massa (Dallas) went next level on the back nine in the Round of 32.
Tilley had a few timely answers but fell 2 and 1.
“(Massa) just kind of turned it on and then I turned it back on top of him and he kept it going,” he said. “We both made a lot of birdies on the back. That stretch of holes, that’s what match play is all about. I know my friends and the members wanted to see me on the other end of that, but I am sure it was a fun match for them to watch.”
Notes: He did pick up his first-ever match play win, but the run of medalist Jeronimo Esteve (Orlando, Fla.) came to an end with a 5-and-4 loss to Brett Patterson (Oxford, Miss.) in the Round of 32. “I’m a fat old guy, so I’ve been riding the bike and training at home to get ready for this week,” said Esteve, 42, a native of Puerto Rico who owns three car dealerships. He is also a cancer survivor. “I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2011,” he said. “I’m lucky we caught it early. So far, so good, man. This sounds weird but getting cancer was really good for me. It helped me shift my balance. I worked really, really hard, maybe too many hours before I got sick, and this showed me there are other things in life. I really enjoy every day now. Really. This has been a fun week.” … Sleepy Hollow member Bill Murray was at the club watching. He caddied for Kailin Downs when the club hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2002. … With more rain expected Wednesday, the USGA will be sending players off two tees to speed play.
Mike Dougherty covers golf for The Journal News and lohud.com. Follow along on X/Twitter @lohudgolf.
Here’s who will represent the United States at St. Andrews.
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — The roster for the United States Walker Cup team is set.
Following the conclusion of the 123rd U.S. Amateur on Sunday, the United States Golf Association’s International Team Selection working group and coach Mike McCoy announced the final selections to represent the American team in the 49th Walker Cup at the Old Course at St. Andrews from Sept. 2-3.
The Walker Cup is a 10-man amateur team competition between the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland. The Old Course has hosted eight previous Walker Cups, more than any other venue, most recently in 1975, when the USA defeated GB&I, 15½-8½.
Rising Stanford senior Michael Thorbjornsen, second in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, would’ve represented the United States but withdrew from the competition, as well as the U.S. Amateur, because of a back injury.
Meet the 10 members of the 2023 United States Walker Cup team.
Of the 15 amateurs who teed it up this week in Brookline, four made the weekend.
BROOKLINE, Mass. — One of the many great things about the U.S. Open, if you’re good enough, is that you can earn your way into the field. In total, 15 amateurs earned their way to the tee Thursday at The Country Club, with four of them making the weekend. It’s the first time in three years any amateurs made the cut.
Travis Vick, Sam Bennett, Austin Greaser, and Stewart Hagestad did what several of the biggest names in golf couldn’t: earn Saturday and Sunday tee times.
In total, five amateurs have won the U.S. Open, with the last coming in 1933 (John Goodman, North Shore Country Club).
Here’s where the four amateurs who made the weekend in Brookline finished.
(Editor’s note: AmateurGolf.com and Golfweek have teamed up to cover the amateur game from top to bottom.)
Amateurs have always held a special place in the history of The Masters, in part because one of the founders of Augusta National Golf Club, the immortal Bobby Jones, is regarded as the greatest amateur of all time.
The amateurs who qualify for The Masters stay in the clubhouse during the week, attend the opening dinner and play the first two rounds with former champions.
While no amateur has won The Masters, Frank Stranahan tied for second in 1947, two shots behind Jimmy Demaret and Ken Venturi held a four-shot lead going into the final round only to finish second, one stroke behind champion Jackie Burke, Jr.. Augusta member Charlie Coe played in The Masters 19 times as an amateur and finished in the top 25 on nine occasions, including 1961, when he tied for second.
Ryan Moore, winner of the NCAA Championship, the US Amateur, US Public Links and Western Amateur in 2004, was the last amateur to finish in the top 20 at Augusta, tying for 13th in 2005.
After the pandemic limited the number of amateurs in last year’s field to just three, the list of participants has doubled this year. Austin Greaser, Stewart Hagestad, Aaron Jarvis, Keita Nakajima, James Piot and Laird Shepherd will all be aiming to win the prestigious Silver Cup, awarded each year to the low amateur in the field.
Hailing from the United States, England, Japan and for the first time ever, the Cayman Islands, all amateurs took their own distinctive paths to Augusta National.
Here’s a look at the six amateurs who will be competing for this year’s Silver Cup:
The semifinal matches are set for the 96th annual George Arthur Crump Memorial Tournament at Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey.
Three-time champion Michael Muehr of McLean, Virginia, beat tournament medalist Jeronimo Esteve of Windermere, Florida, in his morning match and Kris Mikkelsen of Atlanta in the afternoon. The 2019 champion will take on 2016 runner-up John Sawin of Pebble Beach, California, in Sunday morning’s semifinal match of the 96th annual George Arthur Crump Memorial Tournament at Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey. Jason Anthony of Fairfield, California, will play 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, California, in the final four.
Defending senior champion Gene Elliott of West Des Moines, Iowa, will face his fellow Hawkeye and longtime pal Michael McCoy of Norwalk, Iowa, in a Sunday morning semifinal match of past tournament champions. Michael Kelley of Westerville, Ohio will play against Matthew Sughrue of Arlington, Virginia on the other side of the bracket.
Pine Valley Golf Club, the No. 1-ranked classic course on Golfweek’s Best list, is a private club that traditionally opens its doors on the final day of the competition. However, it will not be open to the public for Sunday’s final match of the 2021 Crump Memorial Tournament.
Just when it appeared the U.S. was going to take a healthy lead, Great Britain-Ireland rallied to earn a tie on Saturday morning.
JUNO BEACH, Florida – Just when it appeared the United States was going to take a healthy lead in the 48th Walker Cup Match after Saturday morning’s foursomes at Seminole Golf Club, Great Britain and Ireland rallied to earn a 2-2 tie.
The Americans had sizable leads in three matches and were tied in the other on the back nine, but GB&I found their form on Seminole’s devilish closing holes.
This Walker Cup may go the distance; it certainly did in the morning session. It’s the first time since 1983 that all four matches went to the 18th hole.
Both teams had to go to alternates for the first time in the Walker Cup’s 99-year history because of a stomach virus that ran through both teams the last few days. The only reason the alternates were on site this year was due to COVID-19 precautions.
GB&I alternate Jake Bolton made a 30-foot par putt on Seminole’s treacherous 17th hole to lift him and partner Angus Flanagan to a 1-up victory over Stewart Hagestad and William Mouw.
Bolton then hit an approach shot from Seminole’s range to 10 feet at the 18th hole to clinch the victory and enable GB&I to not lose any ground against the heavily-favored Americans who are trying to win on home soil for the fifth consecutive time.
“Obviously, our point is hugely important now,” said England’s Bolton. “I think the guys have a lot of self-belief, and I don’t see why that should change. We’re all good players, and we all deserve to be here, so we’re going to give it our best shot.”
As it was, one of the U.S.’s two wins came when Cole Hammer, well, hammered home a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to help him and partner Davis Thompson eke out a 1-up victory over Alex Fitzpatrick and Barclay Brown. Hammer and Thompson had led by three with five holes left.
“What a wild match,” Hammer said. “It was a lot of up-and-downs, and we just had to stay in there and try to do our thing. I was just lucky enough to be able to roll in that putt.”
Irishmen Mark Power and John Murphy of GB&I fought back from a 3-down deficit after 10 holes to win four of the last five holes to win 1-up over Quade Cummins and Austin Eckroat. Power and Murphy didn’t lead until the 17th hole, squaring the Walker Cup at 1-1.
“We got a couple bad breaks early on, but we just had to not force anything,” Murphy said. This is a golf course of mistakes so let’s let them make the mistakes.”
Cole Hammer of Team USA putts on the 18th green as teammate Davis Thompson looks on during Day One of The Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club on May 08, 2021, in Juno Beach, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
American alternate Mac Meissner, inserted because of John Pak’s illness, teamed with Ricky Castillo to help the U.S. to a 2-up victory over Jack Dyer and Marty Lamb.
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, from being sick on Thursday night to being able to play this morning,” Meissner said. “I was so nervous on that first tee ball that I hit on that second hole, but after that, we calmed down and we played some awesome golf coming in.”
Because of the stomach virus affecting both teams, the USGA changed its rules so the captains could delay announcing their foursomes and singles lineup until late Friday night and midday Saturday, respectively.
“It’s been bizarre for a lot of reasons,” said U.S. captain Nathaniel Crosby Jr., a Seminole member. “I think we have a one-up lead on guys who got sick this week (eight U.S. players to seven for GB&I).
“Hats off to the USGA for being flexible. You don’t want to put guys out there who are sick and ask them to play 36 holes.”
There are eight singles matches Saturday afternoon. Seminole is hosting the Walker Cup for the first time in history.
Afternoon Singles
(All times ET)
2:30 p.m. – Alex Fitzpatrick, GB&I vs. Pierceson Coody, USA
2:41 p.m. – Mark Power, GB&I vs. Davis Thompson, USA
2:52 p.m. – Ben Schmidt, GB&I vs. Ricky Castillo, USA
3:03 p.m. – Ben Jones, GB&I vs. Tyler Strafaci, USA
3:14 p.m. – Joe Long, GB&I vs. Quade Cummins, USA
3:25 p.m. – Angus Flanagan, GB&I vs. Austin Eckroat, USA
3:36 p.m. – Barclay Brown, GB&I vs. John Pak, USA
3:47 p.m. – John Murphy, GB&I vs. Cole Hammer, USA
The pairings are out for Saturday morning foursomes at the Walker Cup, and both sides have brought in an alternate.
After a 12-hour delay, pairings are out for the first foursomes session at the Walker Cup. With a stomach bug sweeping both teams – making some players’ status in the matches uncertain – officials bought themselves a little time by delaying the release of pairings to Saturday morning.
Both teams have dipped into their pool of two alternates, with the U.S. bringing in Mac Meissner to pair with Ricky Castillo in the second match out and Great Britain and Ireland using Jake Bolton in the final match.
It’s no surprise to see Alex Fitzpatrick, alongside Barclay Brown, in the GB&I lead-off spot. He was first out in every session two years ago when the matches were played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, and picked up two points for his team then.
Hammer said Friday afternoon that he didn’t make any requests about the order, but starting off the day suits him.
“I haven’t asked to do anything this go-around, but I do like going out early, kind of setting the tone,” he noted.
Hammer and Hagestad provide anchors on both ends of Saturday’s foursomes for the U.S.. They’d be a good match together, but should also make for a tough matches with their respective partners.
Davis Thompson, a former top-ranked amateur in the world, will play alongside Hammer. Hagestad noted in March that Thompson was probably high on the list of preferable partners for many members of the team.
“I think everyone on the team is going to say Davis,” Hagestad said, “because he’s just such a stud.”
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John Pak, the only other U.S. returner from 2019, is not in the opening lineup, nor is reigning U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci or Pierceson Coody. The U.S. could also pull in its second alternate, Cooper Dossey, in future matches if needed.
As for GB&I, Benjamin Schmidt, Ben Jones and reigning British Amateur champion Joe Long are absent the foursomes lineup.
Eight singles matches will follow Saturday morning’s foursomes matches.
Morning Foursomes
8:20 a.m. – Alex Fitzpatrick and Barclay Brown, GB&I vs. Cole Hammer and Davis Thompson, USA
8:35 a.m. – Mark Power and John Murphy, GB&I vs. Quade Cummins and Austin Eckroat, USA
8:50 a.m. – Jack Dyer and Matty Lamb, GB&I vs. Mac Meissner and Ricky Castillo, USA
9:05 a.m. – Angus Flanagan and Jake Bolton, GB&I vs. Stewart Hagestad and William Mouw, USA
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Nathaniel Crosby has just the squad he wanted this week for a backyard version of the Walker Cup. Crosby, 59 and returning as captain for the U.S. side this week at Seminole Golf Club (where he’s a member), logged many miles in scouting this team. He popped up everywhere from Bandon, Oregon to Miami.
“There weren’t any awkward moments,” he said of the selection process.
No player on the resulting 10-man U.S. team is ranked worse than No. 34 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, with half ranked inside the top 10. Even filling the mid-amateur requirement was a no-brainer – 30-year-old Stewart Hagestad makes it so.
“He would have been on the team whether he was 18 or 60,” Crosby said of Hagestad, who advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur in August.
Given this particular South Florida venue, Crosby was just as much of a no-brainer pick in the captaincy department. He’s the latest in a long line of Walker Cup captains to hold a membership at Seminole, Golfweek’s top-ranked private course in the state of Florida. Crosby knows the place as well as anyone, having first seen the golf course in 1976 when he played four days in a row with George Coleman (club president from 1981 to 1992), his father Bing Crosby and a family friend.
“As a 14-year-old, I shot 76 in a pretty good wind and George Coleman was so impressed with that, he said, ‘I’ll bet you if we play three more times…,’ I said, “I’ll beat that,’” Crosby recalled to Golfweek in May 2020. “And I shot between 75 and 77 the next three days and Coleman won $20 from me.”
When Crosby was an undergraduate at the University of Miami in the early 1980s, he made sure to use each of his allotted 25 rounds per year as a guest at Seminole. He won the first member-guest he played in 1979 as a guest of Doc Hoover, who was a frequent playing partner of Ben Hogan’s and “everyone’s favorite orthopedic in town.”
When Crosby last captained the Americans at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, there was significant personal history, too. Crosby was a member of the U.S. squad that won there in 1983.
“I can’t really say I’m more excited about it because Hoylake was my first and, you know, had the history there but being that I’m at home and down the street, it’s a phenomenal opportunity for me to have a special experience in front of my homies and family,” Crosby said.
Jack Nicklaus and U.S. Team Captain Nathaniel Crosby chat during a practice round at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club. (Chris Keane/USGA)
Many golf fans got eyes on the iconic Donald Ross design in May 2020, when Seminole hosted the TaylorMade Driving Relief charitable match between Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff.
Hagestad expects the course to show well again this month.
“Depending in the wind and the conditions, it will play differently every day and … obviously changing tee markers and kind of how it’s all playing, they have such a great level on where it is for the day,” he said. “The course knowledge that’s there, just kind of the golf IQ of the membership and the genuine care that they have for it, it’s pretty spectacular.”
Traditionally, the Walker Cup is played in early September, but was moved to May to avoid Florida’s hurricane season. The two-day matches fall squarely in the college golf postseason – with conference championship having just wrapped up and NCAA Regionals set to begin May 17.
Eight of the 10 players on the U.S. team are currently on a college roster. Five of the GB&I players currently play college golf in the U.S.
In the aftermath of the American’s comeback victory to defeat GB&I on home soil in 2019 – the first road win for a U.S. team since 2007 and just the second since 1991 – Crosby referenced foursomes preparation as being a key part of his team’s preparation. Crosby said he got an idea of pairings for this week from a December practice session, and as players came in and out of Seminole in the lead-up to the matches.
Jack Nicklaus and Stewart Hagestad chat during a practice round at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club. (Chris Keane/USGA)
Each day begins with four foursomes matches between eight singles matches on Saturday afternoon and 10 on Sunday afternoon. In 2019, the U.S. won four and a half of a possible eight points in foursomes.
That year, Hagestad paired twice with then-17-year-old Akshay Bhatia, the youngest player ever selected to a U.S. Walker Cup team. At Seminole, Hagestad said, it’s important to pair with someone who complements your weaknesses.
“It’s not like we haven’t played it before, I think we’ve just been outplayed,” Hagestad said candidly on the format. “It just comes down to play better.”
The Americans did that, too, in 2019. The two-day matches can go by quickly. There isn’t time to waste.
“In match play, you have to come out swinging, you can’t kind of get into the rhythm of it.”
