U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 1, 2026

Andrew Bailey

Sand Valley Resort

Press Conference

Q. Andrew, congratulations.

ANDREW BAILEY: Thank you.

Q. First of all, what does it mean? You played a lot of USGA Championships, 12 maybe.

ANDREW BAILEY: This is my 12th.

Q. What does it mean to finally be a United States Golf Association champion?

ANDREW BAILEY: I have no words. You know, it's cliche to say it hasn't sunk in yet, but it hasn't sunk in yet. I still think I'm trying to prepare for the next shot and there is going to be a match tomorrow that I don't know about.

But it's truly an honor. I mean, to have my name on the Bobby Jones Trophy, which he was my favorite golfer of all-time, is -- you know, I have no words.

Q. Yeah. The display of putting and shotmaking in the afternoon, because I think you had three three-putts in the morning.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah.

Q. Somebody told me that. No bogeys. I think you played 4-under golf. Just the golf you played after the lunch break, describe what that was like.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah, I got to shoutout two friends. Friend of mine Mark Costanza who lost in the finals to Stew Hagestad in 2021. He goes, you're not going to win it if you play tight. You got to play loose and free. I think I just played tight this morning and I recognized it.

And then friend of mine John Ebert who is a Canterbury member just gave me an affirmation at the turn for the 18. He's like your game looks really good. He's like, just let the putts fall. And so I just focused on feeling the putter head more, not trying to force it as much, and glad it worked out.

Q. Seemed like the key, maybe the turnaround started with the win on 17. You birdied it.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah.

Q. 18 to go into the lunch break tied instead of being down, how much was that a factor turning the momentum for you?

ANDREW BAILEY: It was huge. I felt like I should have been 3-down at the turn and it was my goal to get it to even.

You know, it's like, okay, let's just control that, delete 18 from our minds, and go play a new one, which is what I tried to do.

Q. Your wife comes in I think this morning.

ANDREW BAILEY: Came in this morning.

Q. And your dad.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yep.

Q. Talked to a couple of your friends. Guy from Holderness.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah.

Q. What does that kind of support mean to you? I don't know if you saw them right away.

ANDREW BAILEY: It's just a lot of love. You know, I do it all for them, too, so, you know, they're all such great people. They give so much to me. You know, my wife was kind of corralling the army, and I was so nervous I was not going to get it done when they came up here but so glad I was able to.

Q. Were you at Shinnecock last year?

ANDREW BAILEY: I was working at Shinnecock last year. Merchandise tent.

Q. How you going to figure that out for next year?

ANDREW BAILEY: We'll see. Yeah, I mean, I volunteered my time at Shinnecock, but, yeah, I got other priorities at Pebble Beach next year.

Q. And you got another likely invitation coming to Augusta. I don't know if you've ever been there.

ANDREW BAILEY: I've been to two Masters in 2010 and 2016, and that hasn't sunk in yet.

Q. Both those majors, anybody you want to play a practice round with? Thought about that?

ANDREW BAILEY: No, I haven't thought about it yet. I am having a hard time thinking about that far in advance at the moment.

Q. First Ohio guy to win this. Two, three guys that previously, Robert Lewis, Jeg Coughlin last year, and then Bill Williams and you're the first to finally get it done. What does that mean?

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah, it means a lot. I know -- I knew Mr. Lewis very well. I caddied at a club, the Pepper Pike Club, that he was a member at. I have fond memories of him and how hard he was working on his game even into his 70s.

He was a really close friend of Bob Fairchild who has been a mentor of mine. And Tristan Lewis is a good friend, and obviously Bill Williams.

So to get it done for the Buckeye state a pretty cool.

Q. Yeah.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah.

Q. You were briefly a pro. I don't know how serious you were with the pro stuff. You said mini tour stuff?

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah.

Q. You said you broke a wrist.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah.

Q. Was that the major factor --

ANDREW BAILEY: It was. It was a pretty serious wrist break. I was an avid rock climber in addition to golf and fell 20 feet and snapped my wrist in half. Tried to play an event after it healed up and just said, this is going to be too long of a road.

Like I said, kind of fell out of love with the game for a couple years. Architecture got me back into it. Pretty sweet to get it done at The Lido.

Q. Yeah. You said you were an architect buff. Where did that come from? Obviously this place is an architectural dream for guys who like architecture.

ANDREW BAILEY: Yeah, it all originated from a friend of mine, Andy Johnson, who runs the Fried Egg. You know, when I was starting to work for Holderness & Bourne I worked a PGA show for them in 2016, met Andy, read some of his blogs. I'm like, this is really cool.

I played municipal golf growing up. I'm not a country club guy, so it was all new stuff to me. I just started reading and researching and wrote a couple articles for Andy.

It reinvigorated me wanting to go play golf and then competition kind of soon came thereafter.

Q. What's it like to win at a place like Sand Valley which has all these nuances to it?

ANDREW BAILEY: It's pretty cool because I came here for six years for work and never got play any golf. Only came up here to sell. So to get to spend a little over a week here playing golf and to win here, I feel like it was you know a little bit of good Karma on my side for having put in the hours.

Q. What are you going to do next year to get ready for all the stuff coming your way?

ANDREW BAILEY: I don't know yet. I don't know yet. I got to talk to the bosses about PTO and all that stuff.

But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Q. Congratulations, Andrew. Well played. Enjoy all the perks that come with it.

ANDREW BAILEY: Thank you.