Last year, Evan Beck made it into the championship match of the U.S. Mid-Amateur but lost. This year, there was no doubt.
Beck, the 34-year-old from Virginia Beach, Virginia, topped Bobby Massa 9 and 8 on Thursday at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia. He became the first medalist or co-medalist since 2014 to take home the title, and the victory comes with plenty of perks.
With the win, Beck earns an exemption into the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club and a likely invitation to the 2025 Masters. He also has an excellent opportunity to make the Walker Cup team for the 50th edition at Cypress Point in California, as well, as the top-ranked American mid-amateur in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
“It’s pretty sweet,” Beck said. “I’ve always dreamt of winning one of these. It’s incredible that it happened so close to home. To get all the way there and come up short (twice) is gut-wrenching. To be able to push through and prove that you can do it to yourself, more than anything, it’s pretty awesome.”
Beck took an 8-up lead into the 18-hole break over Massa, a quarterfinalist at last month’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. He won nine holes in the morning session, and then won the 19th hole to go 9 up.
Evan Beck as seen with the Robert T. Jones Jr. Memorial Trophy after winning the 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va. on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Logan Whitton/USGA)
Massa, a 36-year-old from Dallas who serves as the personal trainer for USGA president Fred Perpall, has ball speeds that reach into the 190s at points and is one of the longest hitters in the game.
However, Thursday belonged to Beck, who with his victory Thursday set up what’s bound to be an incredible year of golf in 2025.
Through this past year, the USGA has held 17 of its golf championships in the state.
The United States Golf Association will continue its partnership with the state of Wisconsin by bringing four amateur tournaments to Sand Valley Resort in Nekoosa through 2034.
Following the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills, Sand Valley will host the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2026. That tournament will be held on the newly constructed Lido, a private course on the resort. It opened for play this year.
The resort, which includes four courses, will then host the 2029 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2030 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and the 2034 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Through this past year, the USGA has held 17 of its golf championships in the state, most recently the 2022 U.S Mid-Amateur at Erin Hills.
Sand Valley hosted the 2022 Wisconsin State Amateur.
The resort occupies 12,000 acres in central Wisconsin and is owned and operated by Michael and Chris Keiser.
“We have looked forward to this day for a long time,” Chris Keiser said in a statement released by the USGA. “Amateur golf is the heart of the game. To have the opportunity to host these elite men and women over the next 10 years is a great honor, and we are thrilled to become part of the history of these great championships.”
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.
This host course for the 42nd U.S. Mid-Amateur is as blue blood as golf gets.
SCARBOROUGH, N.Y. – This place has serious curb appeal.
In a landscape that includes a multitude of courses golfers know by name and reputation, Sleepy Hollow Country Club is a unique property. The desire to host an open house of sorts prompted the membership to inquire about the possibility of hosting a USGA championship seven years ago. It was only a matter of time before the contract was signed and planning for the 42nd U.S. Mid-Amateur was under way.
And here we are.
“We take pride in our golf course and our club and wanted to show it off and see how it stands up to some of the best players in the world,” said Mickey Anania, the championship general chair and the former club president who pitched the idea of hosting. “We feel lucky to be part of such a wonderful club and wanted to give back and let people come out here to play it competitively and see it.”
The 112-year-old club was founded by gentlemen named Astor, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt. It sits prominently on 338 acres above the Hudson River with postcard views from every window of a stately Victorian mansion that is an unparalleled clubhouse.
Even the Headless Horseman logo is visually striking.
The original golf course was laid out by renowned Golden Age designer Charles Blair Macdonald. Alterations were made over time by the likes of A.W. Tillinghast and Robert Trent Jones. Recognizing the result was a challenging but disjointed layout, the club enlisted Gil Hanse and George Bahto to put the ideals and intent of Macdonald back in play.
“There wasn’t a lot of continuity in the course,” Anania said.
The lengthy project concluded in 2017. Reviews of the new sightlines and redesigned greens were overwhelmingly positive and Bill McCarthy, the USGA’s championship director for Mid-Amateur and Amateur Four-Ball championships, was all in from the initial walk-around.
Finding a co-host for stroke play was the next step.
“Mickey and I were throwing around a couple of club names and having some history in this area, I was like, ‘What about Fenway? Would they be interested?’ ” McCarthy said. “He was like, ‘We know some folks over at Fenway, let’s give them a shout,’ and everything just came together.
Sleepy Hollow Country Club (Photo: Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)
“I think without a doubt this is the best combination of courses we’ve ever had for a championship.”
“I think it’s right there with anything I’ve seen,” said Nathan Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Am winner and future captain of the Walker Cup team who’s played in 51 USGA championships. “Through the years, anyone I’ve spoken to about Sleepy Hollow has raved about the club, so it’s nice to finally get up here and experience it. It’s a lot of fun.”
Only the weather is drawing objections so far.
“I’m not holding up very well, but the course is great, the course is fine,” added Smith, who finished up a 3-over round of 74 on Sunday. “It’s hard even without the weather and when you play it in a downpour, it’s a lot. The challenges are everywhere.”
Sleepy Hollow member Brad Tilley hit the first shot of the championship on Saturday and signed for a 71 before play was suspended.
“I have been thinking about this round of golf for three years,” he said.
Preston Dembowiak of Kernersville, N.C. watches his approach to the 18th green at Sleepy Hollow Country Club during the second round of stroke play at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship on Sept. 10, 2023. (Photo: Mike Dougherty/Journal News)
Admission to the championship is free so when the weather did break on Sunday, a number of spectators came to the club for a look around.
Hosting a USGA championship typically comes with a price tag. An event with a limited footprint like this one can run between $200,000 to $400,000.
“The members paid a portion and we have two generous sponsors, Major League Baseball and Grant Thornton,” Anania said. “The USGA helps out a little, too.”
Giving up the course for a week can be an unpopular decision for a busy club, but Sleepy Hollow delivered more than 200 volunteers for the week so there is support. Might the membership look into hosting a more prominent USGA championship like a U.S. Amateur or U.S. Women’s Amateur if the feedback is positive?
That’s usually the next step and those events come with national television exposure.
“I can’t really speak for the club on that, but we will have conversations with the USGA,” Anania said. “Our goal here was threefold, for the USGA to have a wonderful tournament, for the players to walk away from this week and say, ‘Wow, they left us wanting for nothing,’ and for our members to have a really good time.”
Mike Dougherty covers golf for The Journal News and lohud.com. Follow along on X @lohudgolf.
It was an all-Irish final at the 41st U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.
It was an all-Irish final at the 41st U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Erin Hills in Wisconsin. In the end, it was Matthew McClean knocking out Hugh Foley, 3 and 1, on Saturday.
McClean, 29, an optometrist from Belfast, is just the second international golfer to win a U.S. Mid-Amateur. He’s also the second Irishman in 2022 to win a U.S. Golf Association championship, following Padraig Harrington, who won the U.S. Senior Open in June.
“Yeah, fantastic,” said McClean. “Sort of probably hasn’t sunk in just yet. It’s been a very long week, but I’m sure once we sort of sit down this evening, it’ll sort of sink in a wee bit more, but yeah, it’s unbelievable really.”
The win earned McClean a nice batch of prizes: a gold medal, custody of the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy for one year, exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, an exemption into the 2023 U.S. Open (which will be at The Los Angeles Country Club) as well as exemptions into the 2023 and 2024 U.S. Amateurs. He has also earned a likely invitation to the 2023 Masters Tournament.
The 36-hole final was more than simply the end of the competition; it also marked the conclusion of a long journey for McLean and Foley, who traveled to the U.S. together, departing Dublin on Sept. 5, sharing rental cars and housing along the way. Their host in Colgate, Wisconsin, was Dan Benedum, who ended up as Foley’s caddie. Benedum’s friend Jack Enea, meanwhile, was on the bag for McClean.
McClean took a 5-up lead with six holes to play after draining an 8-footer for birdie on the par-4 30th hole but Foley won the next three holes to tighten things up.
A lipped-out putt from 30 feet on the 34th hole kept McClean from clinching but he won the title on the next hole after Foley missed the green and failed to get up and down.
“I made a late charge there, decent back nine,” said Foley. “But he held up great with those pars there at the finish. He deserved it today.”
McClean entered the week ranked 120th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, while Foley was 195th. They both raised their hopes of representing Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup Match on the Old Course at St. Andrews in September.
Defending champion Stewart Hagestad was knocked out in the Round of 16 by Josh Persons.
Future U.S. Mid-Amateur sites
2023: Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Scarborough, New York
Stewart Hagestad and Mark Costanza will finish the 36-hole final on Friday in Nantucket.
NANTUCKET, Mass. – Not sure if there’s a better place on earth than the Northeast in the fall. Do I say this as someone who grew up in New Hampshire? Yup.
The only thing that could make it better: head down to Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 65-degree weather to watch the 40th U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sankaty Head Golf Course.
The long week included 36 holes of stroke play, with the low 64 players entering a match-play bracket. Then after two days of matches, the last four players teed it up Thursday morning in the semifinals.
Stewart Hagestad, Nicholas Maccario, Mark Costanza and Hayes Brown were those last four standing, with a trip to the 2022 U.S. Open and 2022 Masters on the line.
Hagestad, 30, was matched up against Brown, who became the first 64 seed to advance to the semifinals in the 40-year history of the Mid-Am. In fact, Brown, 32, was bidding to become the first 64 seed to win any USGA championship since seeding began in match-play championships in the mid-1980s.
Hagestad, meanwhile, is an experienced player, with a resume that includes low-am at the Masters in 2017. He got out to a quick lead, winning the first three holes with pars. They went back and forth for much of the match, and walked off the 12th green with Hagestad still 3 up. He then made eagle on the par-5 15th to close out the match 4 and 3.
The 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, Massachusetts. Photo by Chris Keane/USGA
In the other semifinal match, Costanza, 32, took advantage of a 3-under front nine, and made the turn 4 up on Maccario, the Massachusetts native who was seeded 59th. Maccario fought back on the second nine, with wins on Nos. 12 and 13, but Costanza immediately returned to 3 up after a birdie on the par-3 14th.
Maccario, who got married on Sept. 18 and had his wife Meredith on the bag this week, was able to stay alive on 16 with a birdie, although the match was pushed to dormie. Each player made a 5 on the par-5 17th , and Costanza advanced to the finals with a 2-and-1 win.
On to the final
After the USGA trophies were placed on the No. 1 tee, the first 18 holes of the 36-hole final match got underway, and it was a nervy start for Costanza.
His opening tee shot found the hazard area left of the fairway, forcing a provisional. He would immediately go 1 down after making a double bogey. They halved three holes in a row, with Costanza getting up-and-down on multiple occasions to stay alive, while Hagestad was hitting fairways and greens.
But Hagestad’s win on the par-4 5th started a dominating stretch. He won six of the next seven holes, pushing his lead to 7 up through 11.
On the par-5 17th, Hagestad hit a great chip from short of the green to all but guarantee a birdie. Costanza hit an average shot from the right greenside bunker to about 12 feet, but buried the must-make putt.
On 18, Hagestad and Costanza found the fairway, and both had wedges in hand to attack for closing birdies. Costanza found the green with his approach; Hagestad made a rare mistake and flew the green long, leaving a difficult down hill chip from an awkward lie.
Costanza two-putted for par, while Hagestad struggled with his chip, leaving it 12 feet short, and then missing a sliding par bid.
Hagestad will sleep on a 5-up lead but knows it’s not over.
“I haven’t done a thing,” said Hagestad, who is now 19-3 in match play in this championship and could win his 20th on Friday. “[Costanza] gave me a couple holes early, but he’s got a ton of firepower. It’s a good start, but it’s not much more than that.”
On Friday, the two will resume their 36-hole final at 7:30 a.m. ET with Hagestad holding a 5-up lead.
The champion will earn a gold medal and will take possession of the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy for one year, as well as exemptions into the 2022 U.S. Open Championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, the 2022 Masters Tournament, the next 10 U.S. Mid-Amateurs and the next two U.S. Amateurs.
Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles is firmly on the U.S. Golf Association’s championship schedule.
Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles is firmly on the U.S. Golf Association’s championship schedule. The prestigious private club will show up as a backdrop to three amateur championships over the next decade: the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, 2026 Curtis Cup Match and 2030 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
Most recently, Bel-Air was the stroke-play companion course to the 2017 U.S. Amateur at Riviera Country Club. It previously hosted two USGA championships: 1976 U.S. Amateur and the 2004 U.S. Senior Amateur.
“Bel-Air is one of the country’s most prestigious courses, steeped in golf history, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate three more USGA championships there,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships, USGA. “The USGA is looking forward to continuing to build our relationship with this esteemed club.”
Located in the heart of Los Angeles, Bel-Air is a private club with an 18-hole course originally designed by George Thomas and recently renovated by Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf Design. The course is known for its dramatic topography as well as the impressive suspension bridge that spans a canyon on the 225-yard par-3 10th and serves as a stunning backdrop for the 18th hole.
