USC Amateur Great Stewart Hagestad Wins Second U.S. Mid-Amateur Title

USC amateur great Stewart Hagestad built a big early lead and withstood a late rally to win the 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur championship on Friday (Oct. 1), defeating Mark Costanza, 2&1, in the 36-hole finale at the Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, Mass.

Hagestad's Mid-Am title is his second after also winning it in 2016 not to mention semifinal appearances in 2018 and 2019.

The title, which saw the first 18 holes played Thursday afternoon followed by Friday's second 18, hands Hagestad exemptions into the 2022 U.S. Open and the 2022 Masters.

Hagestad, the 13th ranked amateur in the world, built a seemingly insurmountable lead early in Thursday's opening 18, taking a 7up lead through 11 holes. Turns out, it was, but not without some serious drama Friday.

Costanza closed the gap to five holes to wrap Thursday's action and then won three the first six holes Friday morning to pull within two.

The finalists halved the next six holes before Costanza won the 31st to creep to within one. But following three more halved holes, Hagestad won his only hole of the second 18 thanks to a short birdie on the 35th hole to capture the 40th U.S. Mid-Am.

Hagestad, who parlayed his first U.S Mid-Am win into low amateur honors at the 2017 Masters, has also earned exemptions into the next 10 Mid-Ams and the next two U.S. Amateurs.