The U.S. Mid-Amateur, often called the Mid-Am for short, is the leading annual golf tournament in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for post-college amateur golfers, organized by the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

. It was first played in at Bellerive Country Club in

Creve Coeur, Missouri Creve Coeur is a city located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, a part of Greater St. Louis. Its population was 18,834 at the 2020 census. Creve Coeur borders and shares a ZIP code (63141) with the neighboring city of Town and Co ...

, near

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. The Mid-Am was the first new USGA championship in 19 years, since the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur was added in 1962. Qualifications for the Mid-Am are similar to those for the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

, except for the following: *Competitors must be at least 25 years old as of the opening day of the main tournament. *Competitors must have a USGA handicap index of 2.4 or lower, as opposed to 0.4 or lower for the U.S. Amateur. The U.S. Mid-Amateur does not have a gender restriction, but there has never been a female champion. The USGA's analogous event for women only is the

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur The U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur is one of thirteen United States Golf Association national championships. First played in 1987, it provides amateur women over the age of 25 an opportunity to compete for a national championship. Entrants must have a g ...

, first played in 1987. The USGA specifically intended the Mid-Am as a championship for post-college golfers who were not pursuing golf as a career, as virtually all golfers who pursue a professional career decide to do so no later than their early twenties. This was most likely a response to the fact that less than half of all U.S. Amateur qualifiers are 25 or older, and most older golfers found themselves disadvantaged in competing against college golfers who typically play much more often. Like the U.S. Amateur, the Mid-Am consists of two days of

stroke play Stroke play is a scoring system in the sport of golf. In the regular form of stroke play, also known as medal play, the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In a regular stroke play competition, the winner is the ...

, with the leading 64 competitors then playing a knockout competition held at

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

to decide the champion. The profile of Mid-Am champions, with respect to age, is somewhat similar to that of U.S. Amateur champions before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In that era, more top-level golfers chose to remain amateur, and the average age of U.S. Amateur Champions was higher. While the list of winners is considerably less illustrious than that of the U.S. Amateur, one notable winner was Jay Sigel, a three-time winner of this event and a two-time U.S. Amateur champion who went on to play the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, open to golfers age 50 and over, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, f ...

. The winner receives an automatic invitation to play in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

and the U.S. Open (starting in 2018).

Winners

* ''Match was conceded due to injury''

Multiple winners

*4 wins: Nathan Smith *3 wins: Jay Sigel, Stewart Hagestad *2 wins: Tim Jackson, Spider Miller, Jim Stuart

Future sites

Source

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site
(most information is in the archive sections) Amateur golf tournaments in the United States Mid-Amateur Golf Championship