JERICHO, N.Y. (August 23, 2007) – The final round of the 92nd Met Open Championship, sponsored by MetLife, is shaping up to be dramatic showdown featuring some of the most accomplished players from across the Met Area. Today’s second round of the 54-hole championship featured some spectacular golf from the talented field, allowing a large number of players to jump into contention. A total of 66 players out of the field of 140 made the cut, which came in at five-over-par 147.

Leading the way are Bob Rittberger of Garden City Golf Club and Charlie Meola of Fairview, who share the lead at five-under 137. Rittberger had a round that caused some buzz around the Meadow Brook property: He shot five-under 31 on his outgoing nine and birdied his 10th hole to move to six under for the day through 10 holes. He bogeyed the difficult par-four ninth hole, his 18th of the day, to finish with a 5-under 66, which is the round of the championship to this point. Meola had his second consecutive round in the 60s, shooting 68-69 to position himself in a tie with Rittberger.

After his round, Rittberger said, “I started on number 10 today, and my caddie was kidding me about getting off to a good start about getting back into this. So it was funny that I started out eagle-birdie-birdie. I played well yesterday but didn’t get as much out of my round. Today I took better advantage of the shots I hit.”

Many players in the stellar field of 140 professionals and amateurs were able to capitalize on the second day of favorable course conditions and calm winds. Frank Esposito Jr. of Brooklake andFrank Bensel of Century Country Club are one stroke out of the lead at four-under 138. Bensel shot a second consecutive 69, while Esposito shot a 3-under 68 after his one-under 70 yesterday, and afterward, he talked about the prominence of the Met Open: “This is the big one. This is the one I haven’t won, so there’s a little bit of added importance.”

One stroke back of Esposito and Bensel is a huge logjam of eight players at three-under 139. Among them is 2006 MGA Player of the Year Andrew Giuliani of Van Cortlandt, who shot a 68 today and currently stands as low amateur. Also at 139 are 2003 Met Open champion Andrew Svoboda of Winged Foot, GlenArbor professional Rob Labritz, Trump National-Bedminster professional Jim Herman, and Eamonn McLoughlin of Cherry Valley (N.Y.), who is playing in his first event as a professional. 

First-round leader and two-time Met Open champion Rick Hartmann of Atlantic struggled a bit today, shooting a two-over 73 to fall into a tie for 13th place at two-under 140. Last year’s low amateur Kevin Foley of Neshanic Valley came back from an opening-round 73 to shoot 68 today and climb into 15th place by himself.

Out of 14 former Met Open champions in the starting field, nine made the cut. Winners of other MGA championships are also well-represented, with four former Met Amateur champs (Ken Bakst, Bill Britton, Greg Rohlf and Svoboda), four former Met Junior champs (Greg Bisconti, Martin Catalioto, Garett Engel and Svoboda), and three MGA/MetLife Public Links champs (Jason Bataille, Catalioto and Mark Mielke) making the cut. 

At the end of the day, 22 players are at par or better through 36 holes. Seventeen players shot under par today, and there were 10 eagles on the course. The 7,128-yard, par-71 course at Meadow Brook drew rave reviews from the players and will provide an exciting setting for Friday’s final round. Follow all the action with updated scoring on the MGA Web site, www.mgagolf.org.