Brett Cooper Claims LIGA Mid-Am
INWOOD, N.Y. (October 14, 2020) -- After falling two shots short of the title in the same event a season ago, Brett Cooper of the Sewane Club captured the 2020 LIGA Mid-Amateur Championship presented by Keystone Electronics Corp on Wednesday afternoon at Inwood Country Club.
Cooper, who finished two shots behind champion Jonathan Jeter of Nassau Players Club in 2019 at Noyac, earned his redemption with a 4-under 67 en route to a three-shot victory at Inwood.
“This is a big deal for me for a couple of reasons,” Cooper said. “My grandfather and my dad were both members at Inwood for an extended amount of time and being able to win my first stroke-play event here was a big deal.”
Cooper, who was in the first pairing of the day, was consistent all morning. After opening with a pair of pars, the 29-year old carded a birdie on the par-5 third. He followed that with a pair of pars on the next two par-5s. With the wind howling, the champion ran into his only trouble of the day at No. 6, where he bogeyed two of the next three holes. But just before making the turn, Cooper got back on track. He sank a birdie putt on the par-4 ninth to enter the back nine at even-par 37.
Cooper carried that momentum into the final nine holes. After a birdie to open the inward nine, he remained steady with pars on the next three holes. Cooper made his move starting at No. 14, where he rattled off three consecutive birdies to move to 4-under.
“It was a really good stretch,” Cooper said. “I had some really good putts with varying distance but not a lot of break, so I was able to roll them in which was great.”
Pars on Nos. 17 and 18 got him in the clubhouse at 67, a number that no one could catch all day. “I wanted some redemption,” he said. “This is one I had circled. Once I saw the course, I had this one circled since day one.”
Darin Goldstein of Deepdale finished as the runner-up, three shots behind Cooper. After a double bogey on his opening hole, Goldstein settled down and posted just one more bogey the remainder of the round.
Michael Auerbach of Bellport, Michael Manceri of MGA eClub New York City and Billy Byrnes of Nassau Players Club rounded out the top six, all shooting even par 71.