Prepping for his third Masters appearance, reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad authored a wire-to-wire victory Sunday at the Azalea Invitational in Charleston, South Carolina. It was not as easy as that sentence sounds, though.
Hagestad, who will turn 33 on April 10 – the Wednesday of Masters week – was part of a multi-player shootout during the final round at the Country Club of Charleston as the lead changed hands several times. A birdie on the par-4 16th hole while Matthew Troutman, playing in the group ahead of him, made bogey on No. 17, proved to be the turning point.
“Winning golf tournaments is hard,” Hagestad said with a chuckle in an interview with GGP after he signed for a 1-under 70 and an 8-under 276 total in his Azalea debut. “And it was certainly harder the last two days compared to the early rounds.”
Hagestad, a native Californian who has relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida, has competed on four consecutive victorious Walker Cup teams for the U.S. He entered the week at No. 11 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Troutman, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma from Louisville, Kentucky, shot 69 and finished one stroke back at 7-under.
Peyton Blackard, a high school junior from Fort Branch, Indiana, and a 2025 Notre Dame commit who is unranked by the WAGR, shot 67 to finish solo third at 6-under. Troutman, Blackard and Calahan Keever, a Clemson senior from Greenville, South Carolina, held the lead at various points in the Sunday shootout. Keever slipped to tie fifth with Austin Langdale at 4-under, one stroke behind Patrick McCann, who finished solo fourth.
“I wanted to focus on the little things and to feel my nerves. Winning was the cherry on top.”
Stewart Hagestad
Hagestad opened the tournament with a 5-under 66 and followed it with a 69 for a three-stroke lead at the midway point. On a calm Saturday, he offset three birdies with as many bogeys for an even-par 71 and a one-shot lead entering the final round. Upon stumbling with a double bogey at the par-3 sixth hole, Hagestad played the final 12 holes in 3-under to secure the victory.
After going 2-1 to contribute to the Americans’ Walker Cup victory in early September at St. Andrews, Hagestad won the Crump Cup at Pine Valley before claiming the U.S. Mid-Amateur title at Sleepy Hollow in New York.
The Azalea, played this year for the 76th time on the Seth Raynor-designed gem, typically attracts a diverse field. Tournament organizers target 90 players each year, and the club hopes to have a one-third split among elite juniors, top-ranked collegians and decorated mid-amateurs.
Hagestad told GGP that his objective in Charleston was to prepare for the Masters in two weeks.
“My main goal was to get some tournament rounds under my belt,” he said. “I wanted to focus on the little things and to feel my nerves. Winning was the cherry on top.”
RESULTS
Staff report