Holtz, Coughlin to Meet in 36-Hole Final at Troon C.C.

Arizona is home to a plethora of wildlife. From rattlesnakes to coyotes, Javelina pigs and bobcats, all can be found in and around Troon Country Club, the host site for the 44th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.

Brandon Holtz, however, is sporting birdies this week. Considering he played basketball for Illinois State, perhaps they should be renamed Redbirds.

The 38-year-old real estate agent from Bloomington, Ill., who was a reserve shooting guard from 2005-09, registered 11 birdies over his two matches on Wednesday, including a 3-and-2 semifinal victory over Christian Cavaliere, of Katonah, N.Y., to advance to Thursday’s 36-hole championship match.

Holtz’s opponent will be Jeg Coughlin III, 28, of Dublin, Ohio, who eliminated defending champion Evan Beck, of Virginia Beach, Va., 1 up, in the other semifinal. Beck, 35, was vying to become the first player in U.S. Mid-Amateur history to play in three consecutive finals.

On Wednesday, Holtz birdied the final four holes of his 19-hole quarterfinal encounter against Justin Hueber, rallying from 3 down with five to play, and then after the lunch break, he birdied the first four against Cavaliere. In his two victories on Tuesday, Holtz registered 13 birdies against no bogeys. There were a few bogeys on Wednesday, but they were offset by his bevy of birdies.

“I just started hitting it close and got confident with it,” said Holtz of his putter. “That’s all you need is some confidence and a good stroke and usually it turns out well.”

His performance was reminiscent of last year’s first semifinal when Bobby Massa, who was eliminated in this year’s quarterfinals on Wednesday by Cavaliere, made five birdies and an eagle and a bogey (6-under 29) over the first nine holes in a 4-and-3 victory over Drew Kittleson. Holtz shot 5-under 30 against Cavaliere.

Holtz becomes the second ex-Illinois State athlete to reach a U.S. Mid-Amateur final, joining 2008 runner-up Todd Mitchell, an infielder who played briefly in the New York Yankees farm system before getting into the insurance business. He won the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball title with 2014 Mid-Am champion Scott Harvey. The two Bloomington residents play a lot of golf together at Crestwicke Country Club, and Mitchell and Holtz have been communicating by phone this week.

Ironically, neither Holtz nor Mitchell competed on Illinois State’s golf team. Holtz tried professional golf full-time for six years (2010-15) after graduating in 2009, then competed in the occasional pro event like the Illinois Open for the next few years before regaining his amateur status a year ago.

Now, he’s a victory away from playing in next year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club as well as receiving a likely invitation to next April’s Masters.

Outside of a hot putter, Holtz said it has been his driver that’s made the difference this week. Many of the competitors have chosen to go with irons, hybrids or fairway metals off the tee, but the long-hitting Holtz has thrown caution to the wind by playing aggressively.

The strategy is paying off. In his quarterfinal comeback, he outdrove Hueber by 100 yards on the 387-yard, 10th, the first extra hole, leaving just a 42-yard pitch, which he stuffed to 2½ feet for a winning birdie.

“I’m hitting [my driver] the best I’ve ever hit it,” said Holtz. “Like I said yesterday, a lot of these guys are hitting 3-wood/hybrid off some of these tees, and I am just teeing it high and letting it fly.”

Holtz built as much as a 7-up lead against Cavaliere, a Boston College grad who operates his own custom golf apparel company (Tremont Sporting Company) that specializes in headcovers, hats and leather goods. But Cavaliere, the champion of this year’s New York State Open and Azalea Invitational who qualified for the 2023 U.S. Open, showed why he is No. 300 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®. He birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 15 and won the 14th with a par to get to within 3 down.

Matching pars on the 315-yard, 16th hole would end his comeback bid.

Coughlin, an Ohio State graduate who also briefly played professionally and reached the second stage of PGA Tour Q-School as an amateur last fall, was emotional after holding off Beck, the highest-ranked mid-amateur in WAGR (No. 30). This is his third USGA championship, but his first time qualifying for match play. Last month, he missed the cut in the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club, and he suffered a similar fate in the 2023 Mid-Amateur.

With two-time PGA Tour winner and Scottsdale resident Kevin Streelman on the bag – he started on Monday after competing in last weekend’s tour stop in Napa, Calif., following a six-month hiatus due to a torn meniscus – Coughlin remained calm and collected, even as the pressure turned up.

Beck, the runner-up in this year’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, birdied the par-3 15th to trim his deficit to 1 down, but couldn’t get closer, despite chipping in for birdie on 16 and making a 4 on the par-5 17th. Coughlin answered each of those with birdies of his own, and then on the 448-yard closing hole, his 146-yard, 9-iron approach from a fairway bunker was executed perfectly, with the ball stopping 6 feet from the flagstick. Beck was unable to make his 45-footer for birdie, and a two-putt was all Coughlin needed to get into the final.

How good was the golf? The two competitors combined for 15 birdies, and three holes were tied with birdies (11, 16 and 17).

“Evan is such a great player,” said Coughlin, who has been supported this week by his mother, Karen Lane, and girlfriend Madelaine Fahlgren. “You don't win a U.S. Mid-Amateur without hitting unbelievable shots. There's a lot of emotion coming out of me because this game is just so hard. Just to get to enjoy this with my friends and family, we've still got work to do, but it's hard not to let the emotion come out.

“I love match play. I'm a competitor through and through. To have the opportunity to play somebody heads up is a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Coughlin eliminated South Dakota State men’s golf coach Parker Edens, of Brookings, S.D., 3 and 2.

What’s Next

Thursday’s 36-hole final will begin at 7 a.m. MST and continue after the lunch break. The afternoon starting time will be determined when the first 18 is completed. Admission is free, and spectators are encouraged to attend.

Notable

• Semifinalists Christian Cavaliere and Evan Beck received bronze medals as well as exemptions into the next two U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, scheduled for Sand Valley Resort, in Nekoosa, Wis., and Jupiter Hills Club, in Tequesta, Fla.
  
  
• Each of the finalists are now exempt into the 126th U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, in Ardmore, Pa.
  
  
• A member of the Troon Country Club staff has a direct connection to a USGA champion. Nicole Niemann, the club’s director of sales and marketing, is the sister of 1999 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion Jody Niemann, who played collegiately at Arizona State.
  
  
• A total of 10 extra-hole matches have been played this week. The record is 14 at Sea Island Golf Club (2004) and The Vintage Club (1985).
  
  
• Evan Beck saw his streak of leading or being tied end at 52 holes when he lost the third hole to Christian Brand in the quarterfinals. His deficit lasted only three holes, and he never trailed again after making a birdie at the par-4 eighth.
  
  
• Brandon Holtz has his father, Jeff Holtz, on his bag this week.
  
  
• Evan Beck’s 2025 competitive golf season has come to an end. He is getting married this fall.
  
  
• Christian Cavaliere has two more events in New York this fall and then will represent the Metropolitan Golf Association in the Carey Cup at Portmarnock Golf Club in the Republic of Ireland.
  
  
• Jeg Coughlin became friendly with his caddie Kevin Streelman, who competes on the PGA Tour, a little more than a decade ago at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club, where Coughlin’s family are members.

Quotable

“I’m ready. I’m excited. Let’s get after it…I’m going to take an ice bath tonight for sure. The homemade ice bath.” – Brandon Holtz on playing his first 36-hole match

“I’ll reach out to him tonight to see if he has any advice for me. We play a lot of golf together.” – Holtz on fellow Bloomington, Ill., resident and 2008 Mid-Am runner-up Todd Mitchell

“What does he bring? He brings 20 years of PGA Tour experience. He's just such a calming presence. Like I said yesterday, we get to walk the fairways and just surrender to God's will and just walk in our faith. What a beautiful place to get to walk in God's creation, and to get to share it together with Kevin is just a beautiful experience.” – Jeg Coughlin III on the influence of PGA Tour winner Kevin Streelman on his bag

“Listen, I'm human. How do you block it out, right? You've got a chance to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur [on Thursday]. You've got a chance to play in the Masters [and U.S. Open]. I know all this, obviously. At the end of the day, it's like any round of golf. You go out and play them one at a time and add them up at the end and see where she falls. But, of course, I'm human so of course I'm going to think about it.” -- Coughlin

 “Really tough format. Jeg played really well. [I] made a bunch of birdies coming in, and he made birdies, too. Just part of the deal. A lot of luck involved in the format. I was lucky last year and not this year. That's the way it goes.” – Evan Beck

“It was definitely not an ideal start. I had been playing the front nine really well, and this is probably the worst I've played the front nine all week. And combined with him shooting 5 under, it just was not a good matchup, so I was in a pretty big hole. Tried not to lose any confidence or any hope and tried to grind it out and put some pressure on him, but there just weren't enough holes left.” – Christian Cavaliere

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.