Mike McCoy’s amateur career already was sufficiently impressive to stand on its own, but greatness does not come with an expiration date, as he demonstrated on Thursday, winning the U.S Senior Amateur Championship and making a bit of history in doing so.
A Des Moines, Iowa, native, McCoy, 62, defeated Greg Sanders of Anthem, Ariz., 3 and 2, in the final at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, and became the first in history to have won both the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship and the U.S. Senior Amateur.
“Anytime you do something for the first time, I guess, it’s pretty special,” he said. “I think it’ll get done again. There’s some good mid-ams coming behind, so somebody is going to do it. But it’s good to be first, and I never really gave it much thought until this week. Pretty happy about it.
“I feel great. I feel great. I’m so honored to win a USGA championship. I love the USGA. A lot of my whole golfing history has sort of been built upon their championships and trying to get to them and advance and someday win one, and I finally did. And, of course, I never dreamed I’d win another one. And I got a chance to captain the Walker Cup team and play on a Walker Cup team, so it’s been a dream come true. I love the USGA and everything it stands for. I’m just really honored to be the champion.”
McCoy is an amateur legend in Iowa, having won the Iowa Golf Association amateur of the year award a record 11 times. He won the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2013, earning him a Masters invitation in 2014 (he missed the cut). Moreover, he won the Senior British Amateur in 2022, played on the 2015 U.S. Walker Cup team, and in 2023 captained the U.S. Walker Cup team to a victory on the Old Course at St. Andrews.
McCoy dominated the U.S. Senior Amateur final, beginning with his winning the first three holes. He was 5 up through eight holes, too steep an obstacle for Sanders to overcome.
“I putted pretty solid, and again, drove it in play, because there’s a lot of little trees around here, and these trees can get in your way,” McCoy said. “I avoided those most of the week, and I didn’t beat myself. I didn’t just give him any holes. I made him stay in there and fight to the end. Yeah, I think that was the key is just not throwing any holes away.”
Both finalists earned excemption into the 2026 U.S. Senior Open at Scioto Country Club.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
