Upper Seeds Advance to Semis at Long Island Amateur
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (July 21, 2020) -- Based on seeding from match play, it was an underdog day at Huntington Crescent Club as the highest seed from each portion of the bracket won a pair of matches to advance to the semifinal round of the 97th Long Island Amateur Championship Presented by Sterling National Bank. Wednesday morning's matchups will feature No. 16 seed Ryan Rittberger of Garden City Golf Club against No. 13 seed Max Siegfried of Meadow Brook and No. 15 seed Bryan Pendrick of Mill River Club against No. 11 seed Carter Prince of the host club.
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Rittberger's day began at 7:30 a.m. as part of the remaining 2-for-1 playoff, which began as a 9-for-4 on Monday evening for those shooting 3-over 73 in stroke play qualifying. After making par to win, the 19-year-old Rittberger took the final slot and upended reigning champion Prescott Butler of Piping Rock by a 2-and-1 margin. His run continued in the afternoon, edging out Brendan Smith of Bellport, who had a 23-hole victory in his Round of 16 matchup in the morning, also by a 2-and-1 margin.
Siegfried, meanwhile, is looking to make a run to the title in some way for the second straight season, having caddied for friend Butler in 2019 at Brookville. Siegfried, 22, defeated Ben Pirro of Long Island National 2-and-1 in the morning before running away to a 6-and-5 win over Turner Foster of Maidstone in the afternoon.
Pendrick, 46, is aiming to claim his second Long Island Amateur title, having won in 2009 at his home club of Mill River. He defeated Jay Sessa of Cherry Valley in the morning before holding off Shane DeVincenzo of Port Jefferson, 1-up, in the afternoon.
Finally, Prince will hope to accomplish the same feat achieved by Pendrick and win at his home club. Prince looked comfortable all day long on the familiar grounds, besting 2018 champion Colby Anderson of Nassau by a 6-and-5 margin in the morning and Patrick Healy from crosstown Huntington Country Club 3-and-1 in the afternoon.
Prince felt a bit of revenge in taking down Anderson, who had defeated him in the quarterfinals two years ago before claiming the title, but was also proud to perform for his club's membership.
"It's nice to get it done," he said of making the semifinals, "especially at your home track with your members watching."
As for tomorrow, his plans are much of the same. "Just play smart," said the 20-year-old Prince. "I'm pretty comfortable off the tee with almost any club here, but I've been hitting the driver well. So, just bomb it and you can pretty much miss anywhere here and I especially know where to miss it. It's a great opportunity and I'm excited to see what I can do tomorrow."
Matches will go off at 8:00 a.m. and 8:10 a.m., with the final set for 1 p.m.