A national sales manager for a golf apparel brand spent June at Shinnecock Hills without a tee time. While the U.S. Open played out, he worked the merchandise tent for Holderness & Bourne, his employer. Less than four months later, he owns a U.S. Open exemption of his own, and the way he got it has reopened an argument over who deserves such prizes.
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That exemption came through the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and Andrew Bailey’s victory is the sharpest test yet of whether a former professional should be allowed to claim one. The 34-year-old from Cleveland beat Nate Smith, 5 and 4, on the Lido Course at Sand Valley in Wisconsin, and Smith is also a reinstated amateur. The result arrived in the middle of an unsettled policy debate, because the USGA had already temporarily paused a select number of reinstatement applications while it reviews the purpose of reinstatement and its waiting periods.
Bailey’s background gives the debate a human face. He was the Horizon League Player of the Year at Cleveland State from 2012 to 2014. He played mini tours until a wrist he broke rock climbing in 2015 took more than two years to heal. He regained his amateur status in 2017 and won the Ohio Amateur in 2023 and 2024. In the final, he took the lead for good with a birdie on the 23rd hole and played his last 17 holes without a bogey.
Smith, a 43-year-old homebuilder from Idaho, brought the heavier résumé. He made 25 PGA Tour starts and won more than $437,000 across the PGA and Korn Ferry tours. For Bailey, the reward is a U.S. Open berth at Pebble Beach and a Masters invitation as long as he stays an amateur, and he said he now has to talk to his bosses about time off.
That reward is what drove the backlash on X. Raymond Williams of Skratch shared Bailey’s journey there, and the focus soon shifted to what his entry costs others.
A user on X shared their views, saying, “if you pursue professional golf, you should not be able to play in the mid amateur. Maybe the US AM… But we have to protect US national tournaments.”
The argument frames national championships as protected ground for players who never turned pro.
The anger did not appear from nowhere. Colt Knost, a CBS Sports broadcaster, fueled the topic after saying he wanted his amateur status back, and the USGA has since put his application on hold. Smith said he felt trepidation about criticism before returning to amateur golf. The USGA approved him in three days.
Approvals that fast left some fans angry. Another user was blunt, stating, “he’s a pro who stole an Amateur’s spot.”
The gripe is about space, since every exemption he collects is a place a lifelong amateur might otherwise have held.
Defenders read the same facts differently. Brandel Chamblee argued that a past as a professional should not be a “death sentence” for amateur competition, and that those who want back in deserve the chance, though he said a player’s time and success as a pro should set the length of the wait.
Critics were not softened by that argument.
A third user had their own share of frustration with the event’s identity, pointing out, “except he was a touring pro who won a mid am which is lame AF.”
That view treats the field’s purpose as the standard, though Bailey now works a full-time sales job.
His title run was also far from a procession. Shortly before Sand Valley, he was the last man into the championship flight at the Crump Cup at Pine Valley, where he lost in the quarterfinals.
Still, a fourth user moved the argument from rules to character, insisting that “if that dude had a modicum of self respect he would decline the invitation.”
That reaction overlooks that Bailey acted entirely within rules the USGA wrote.
Most people see only the start and the finish: a player with a pro past gets reinstated, and one of them ends up a national champion. The USGA’s review sits in the middle, and it gave the same amateur label to two very different players. Bailey never played a PGA Tour event. Smith won on the Korn Ferry Tour and made 25 PGA Tour starts. Critics say the label hides that gap, while defenders say each player should be judged on conduct and eligibility. The USGA hasn’t said how it weighs one career against the other, so the result is all either side has to go on.
Bailey plays the Masters in April and Pebble Beach in June, and how he scores against those fields will say a lot about what the amateur label really covers. If he makes the cut, his supporters get an example. If he misses it, critics get theirs. The USGA is still working through its review, which could bring longer waiting periods or tougher screening, and Knost’s stalled application shows the process is already in motion. Either way, the question of whether a reinstated amateur belongs in the U.S. Mid-Amateur will travel with Bailey to Pebble Beach.