January

January 12, 2011 – While the Met Area remains frozen in a winter wonderland, the best golfers in the world are teeing it up in Honolulu, Hawaii, this week for the first full-field event of the 2011 PGA Tour season. The Sony Open in Hawaii begins on Thursday, January 13 at Waialae Country Club, one of the most scenic and historic tracks on the PGA Tour. The field includes four players with Met Area ties, each of whom looks to begin 2011 on a high note and improve his standing on Tour.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (January 22, 2010) – Led by defending champion Cameron Wilson of Shorehaven Golf Club, the top amateur players in the Met Area will travel to Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., for the 108th Met Amateur Championship from July 29-August 1. The MGA returns to Quaker Ridge for the first time since 2004, when George Zahringer III cruised to a seven-stroke victory at the Ike Championship.

Stanwich’s Scott Niven Receives Sherwood A. Moore Award

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (January 19, 2010) – The 2009 Met Open at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., provided all the excitement that local golf fans have come to expect from the area’s premier event. This year promises more of the same, as the Met Open sponsored by MetLife returns to another world-renowned golf course – Bethpage Black. It’s been nine years and two U.S. Open Championships since the last Met Open was held at the Black course and much has happened since Johnson Wagner defeated Rick Hartmann by three strokes to claim his first of two Met Open titles.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (January 11, 2010) — For more than a century, the Metropolitan Golf Association has conducted its championships at some of the best venues in golf, and 2010 continues that tradition. The Association’s three major events—the Ike Championship presented by Canon; the Met Amateur; and the Met Open sponsored by MetLife—are hosted by three of the most outstanding courses in the Met Area.

Every month former MGA Senior Director of Rules and Competitions Gene Westmoreland will answer one question posed by the readers of the MGA e-Revision Newsletter. Gene recently received the following Rules question from a reader:

Q: If your ball lies under a tree or shrub and your swing knocks down some leaves or branches is that a penalty?

Gene responds:

Elmsford, N.Y. (January 4, 2010) – The 2000 Met Open Champion, Mike Gilmore, was named the new head golf professional at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Formerly the head professional at the Piping Rock Club on Long Island, Gilmore has spent his entire 27-year career working as an assistant or head professional at MGA member clubs. Gilmore replaces John Buczek, who moved back to North Carolina this past fall.

ELMSFORD, N.Y (January 4, 2010)- After a brief winter hiatus, this week marks the start of the 2010 professional golf season. The PGA Tour gets underway in Hawaii, beginning January 7th, with the SBS Championship at the Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui. Only 2009 PGA Tour winners are eligible for this event, and the field of 28 players includes U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, who conquered the rain at Bethpage Black in June.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (January 4, 2010) - Five participants from The First Tee of Metropolitan New York were selected as First Tee scholars for the class of 2010. From the Nassau County chapter at Eisenhower Park, Lisa Agoglia, Dominick Ferrante, Richard Donovan, Jeremy Gross were chosen, and Paul Toohey was selected from the Mosholu chapter.