This is AmateurGolf.com's coverage hub for the 2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur. Bookmark this page — live updates will stack at the top of this article throughout championship week, from the first stroke-play tee shot Saturday through Thursday's 36-hole final.
The championship at a glance
The 45th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship runs September 26-October 1 at Sand Valley Resort in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. A record 6,124 players entered — eclipsing the previous mark of 6,060 set in 2023 — and 264 made the field, all amateurs 25 and older with a Handicap Index of 2.4 or better. Two rounds of stroke play split across The Lido (7,219 yards, par 71) and the Sand Valley Course (7,122 yards, par 71) cut the field to 64 for match play, with every match contested on The Lido and a 36-hole championship match deciding it Thursday.
It's the first USGA championship ever played at Sand Valley — the first of four awarded to the resort through 2034 — and the first national championship in The Lido's strange, resurrected life.
Schedule
| Date | Round |
|---|---|
| Saturday, Sept. 26 | Stroke play, Round 1 (The Lido / Sand Valley Course) |
| Sunday, Sept. 27 | Stroke play, Round 2; low 64 advance (playoff if needed) |
| Monday, Sept. 28 | Round of 64 |
| Tuesday, Sept. 29 | Round of 32 and Round of 16 |
| Wednesday, Sept. 30 | Quarterfinals and semifinals |
| Thursday, Oct. 1 | Championship match, 36 holes |
What's on the line
The winner receives the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy, an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Open, exemptions into the next two U.S. Amateurs, a ten-year Mid-Amateur exemption, and — per longstanding tradition — a likely invitation to the 2027 Masters Tournament. One week in the Wisconsin sand barrens, and an April tee time at Augusta National can follow.
Players to watch
Stewart Hagestad
The name that hangs over every Mid-Amateur. The 35-year-old won this championship in 2016, 2021 and 2023, and a fourth title at Sand Valley would tie Nathan Smith's championship record of four. The venue could hardly suit him better: his 2023 win came on the C.B. Macdonald architecture of Sleepy Hollow, and The Lido is Macdonald's template golf at maximum scale.
Brandon Holtz
The defending champion beat Jeg Coughlin III 3&2 at Troon in 2025 and returns with nothing to qualify for and everything to defend. He arrives sharp, too — Holtz won the Illinois Mid-Amateur by six shots in August.
Evan Beck
The 2024 champion — a 9-and-8 winner at Kinloch — and a 2025 semifinalist, as steady a match-play performer as the mid-am ranks have.
Grady Brame Jr.
The 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion is exempt and arrives in form.
Christian Cavaliere
A semifinalist a year ago, among the most consistent mid-ams in the country.
The 2025 quarterfinal class
Christian Brand, Parker Edens, Bobby Massa and Justin Hueber — all four 2025 quarterfinalists are back in the field.
Past champions still dangerous
Matt Parziale (2017) and Scott Harvey (2014) remain exempt — and remain threats.
The international class
WAGR exemptions bring a global flavor, including Guatemala's Sebastian Barnoya, Brazil's Matheus Balestrin and Argentina's Andres Schonbaum among the top age-eligible point leaders in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The venue
Match play belongs entirely to The Lido, Tom Doak and Brian Schneider's exacting re-creation of C.B. Macdonald's lost 1917 Long Island masterpiece — a course that existed only in photographs for 80 years before reopening in the Wisconsin sand in 2023. Its greens average over 12,000 square feet, its template holes — Alps, Redan, Channel, punchbowl — were designed as arguments between two players, and its heroic, alternate-route architecture was built for exactly the kind of golf this week will produce. Read our full feature on The Lido for the remarkable story: two million cubic yards of dredged sand, a Navy bulldozer, and a home golf simulator that brought it back from the dead.
How to follow
Live scoring runs through the USGA — at usga.org and on the USGA App — all week, and AmateurGolf.com will post updates here after every session: stroke play leaders, the cut, bracket results, and full reports from the quarterfinals on. The USGA's 2026 media plans include coverage of its amateur championships across NBC platforms; we'll add specific broadcast and streaming windows to this section as soon as they're confirmed.
Catch up on our Mid-Am coverage
The Field Is Set: What 6,124 Entries Bought at the 2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur — Our deep dive on the record-breaking field and the exempt class.
The Lido: The Course That Died in 1942 Will Decide the 2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur — The full resurrection story of the match-play venue.
2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifying Roundup — Site-by-site results from the summer-long chase for a spot at Sand Valley.
6,124 Golfers Want In — Why the Mid-Am has become the biggest tournament in the post-college game.
U.S. Mid-Amateur tournament page — Past champions, results and event details.
