Baltimore Country Club (East Course) · Lutherville, Md. · Aug. 29–Sept. 3, 2026. This story previews Thursday's championship match; follow our live scoring and coverage hub for the final.
Of the 156 players who arrived at Baltimore Country Club for the 71st U.S. Senior Amateur, the last two standing live in the same South Carolina city. Thursday's 18-hole championship match is an all-Spartanburg affair: 2023 champion Todd White, 58, against Mike Sposa, 57. They are neighbors, contemporaries and both victorious USA Walker Cup alumni — and after a week that scattered the top seeds, they navigated opposite halves of the bracket to set up the only meeting the draw would allow.
There's history here, too. The pair met a year ago in the Round of 64 at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, where Sposa won before riding that run to the semifinals, falling to eventual champion Michael McCoy. Now the stakes are a national title — and, for White, a place among the most decorated names in the championship's history.
Todd White: chasing a second crown
White, a high school history teacher and golf coach, is bidding to become the 15th multiple-time U.S. Senior Amateur champion — and the first since North Carolina's Paul Simson in 2012. His résumé already runs deep: the 2023 Senior Amateur title, the inaugural 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball crown alongside current USA Walker Cup captain Nathan Smith, and a spot on the victorious 2013 USA Walker Cup team. Briefly a professional, he qualified for the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills before turning to education.
His path through Baltimore has been paved on the closing holes. White birdied the par-4 17th to beat Rick Stimmel in the Round of 32 and again to oust No. 2 seed Brian Quackenbush in the Round of 16 — a hole he has played in every single match this week. In Wednesday's semifinal against Tim Hogarth, that familiarity proved decisive. White won the first two holes with pars and led 3 up through 14 before Hogarth clawed back two with wins at 15 and 16. Where Hogarth had not needed to play the 17th all week, White had a bank of reps there — and delivered one more birdie to close out a 2-and-1 victory.
“Got to give Tim credit,” White said. “He hung in there when he was 3-down. He fought it back. It's just a thrill to be in the finals again.” There was no time to celebrate: “I've got to put some assignments online for my students tomorrow. I've got to get in touch with my upper school principal... to let them know I'll be playing in the championship match.” A White win would also complete a curious symmetry — he would have beaten a Walker Cup competitor in each of his final matches across both titles, having downed 1995 GB&I player Jody Fanagan to win in 2023.
Mike Sposa: the pro's return, and a friendship with the 17th
Sposa's road to amateur golf ran through the professional ranks. A University of Tennessee product, he won the 1998 Boise Open on the Korn Ferry Tour, made 174 PGA Tour starts and qualified for two U.S. Opens (1997 Congressional, 2001 Southern Hills) before stepping away from the game and later regaining his amateur status in time for last year's Senior Amateur, where he reached the semifinals. He is a Callaway equipment representative and, in 1991, was part of the victorious USA Walker Cup team at Portmarnock — the last time the Match was contested in Ireland before this week's edition at Lahinch.
If White owns the 17th, Sposa may own it more. He aced the par-3 in the opening round of stroke play, birdied it to win the hole against Michael Ketcham in the Round of 32, birdied it again in Wednesday's quarterfinal against Tony Wise, and rolled in a long birdie there to close out Corby Segal in the semifinals. “It's funny, too, because in the practice round I came up short,” Sposa said of the hole, which played 168 yards Wednesday. “I think that was a benefit for me... because I improved on that greatly.”
His semifinal against Segal followed a familiar script: after Segal drew first blood, Sposa won three straight from the seventh — highlighted by a 35-foot birdie at the difficult par-3 ninth — then answered a late Segal push by winning the 16th and birdieing the 17th for a 2-and-1 win. “At 57, I think that's something I've gotten better at controlling,” Sposa said earlier in the week of his patience. “I don't try to hit heroic shots because my body won't allow it.”
The comeback that nearly stole the week
The finalists earned their spots, but Wednesday's enduring story belonged to a man who won't be in the final. In the morning quarterfinals, Corby Segal — the PGA Tour Champions caddie making his championship debut, with his 17-year-old son Dallas on the bag — fell 6 down through seven holes to Mark Small. What followed was one of the greatest 18-hole comebacks in USGA history: Segal chipped away, won four straight from Nos. 14–17 to square the match, got up and down from a greenside bunker at 18 to force extra holes, and completed the rally at the 20th when Small missed a short par putt. Remarkably, the avid poker player pulled it off without making a single birdie — and, per the USGA, left Baltimore that day without a birdie in 37 holes. “The best part has been having my son Dallas here with me to experience this... tournament golf at the highest level of amateur golf,” Segal said.
What's on the line
Both finalists were already exempt into a raft of championships — the 2027 U.S. Senior Open at Oak Tree National, next month's U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sand Valley, and the 127th U.S. Amateur at Oak Hill. Thursday's champion adds exemptions into the 2027 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Jupiter Hills and the 2028 U.S. Amateur at Whistling Straits. Semifinalists Hogarth and Segal took home bronze medals and are exempt into the next two U.S. Senior Amateurs at Seattle Golf Club and Biltmore Forest Country Club.
How to follow
The 18-hole championship match begins Thursday at 7:30 a.m. EDT at Baltimore Country Club's East Course. Admission is free and spectators are encouraged to attend. We'll have live updates on our coverage hub throughout the morning.