Stewart Hagestad etched his place in amateur golfing history as he secured a third US Mid-Am title this week at Sleepy Hollow.
Hagestad, who had previously won the tournament in 2016 and 2021, became just the third amateur to win the tournament three or more times, pulling level with Jay Sigel and just one behind record-holder, Nathan Smith.
The American surged into a 5-up lead after 18 holes of the 36-hole Championship match against Evan Beck, and further increased his lead to 7-up at one point the following day, after play was delayed overnight due to fog.
Beck cut Hagestad's lead to just 3-up with eight holes remaining, but the 32-year-old held firm to secure a 3&2 victory and earn his third invite to The Masters.
“It’s anything beyond what I would have ever dreamed of,” Hagestad said after victory. “When you’re a kid, you dream of playing in USGA events. I still remember my first one in 2008, and just the lights were so bright and the course was so long and the course was so hard, and to sit here and to look back and say that I’ve won three USGA championships, I mean, that’s unbelievable.
"Evan is such a good player. I know that he's one of the best in the world. He's got a ton of horsepower, and I saw some of his matches, and I kind of had a feeling it might come down to the two of us.
"Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought this was possible. I'm going to need a minute to kind of decompress, but there's a lot of emotions going right now.”
Hagestad was part of the US team that defended the Walker Cup at St Andrews earlier in September
With the victory, Hagestad also joins the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan, who have won the same USGA championship three times. As well as his invite to Augusta National, he will also earn a spot in next year's US Open which takes place at Pinehurst No.2.
The career amateur's triumph also comes just a matter of weeks after he went 2-1 at St Andrews in the Walker Cup to help Team USA secure a 14.5-11.5 victory and win the tournament for the fourth time in a row.
In his first appearance at The Masters, Hagestad became the first US Mid-Amateur champion to make the cut, eventually finishing T36. In 2022, he missed the cut but did finish T60 at the US Open later that year.
