Butler, Sessa Earn LIGA Player of the Year Honors
Butler Prescott & Jay Sessa
MINEOLA, N.Y. (November 20, 2019) -- Following outstanding seasons, Prescott Butler of Meadow Brook and Jay Sessa of Cherry Valley have been named the Long Island Golf Association's Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year, respectively, for the 2019 season.
Related: Player of the Year | Senior Player of the Year
A tie for 12th along with second low amateur honors in early June's Long Island Open Championship at Hempstead Golf & Country Club quickly made Butler, 21, a player to follow through the summer. Less than two weeks later, the University of Alabama golfer fired a 4-under 66 at Brookville Country Club to take the top qualifying spot in the Long Island Amateur Championship. He tore throught he bracket and punctuated the victory with an 11-and-9 victory in the 36-hole final. Nearly as satisfying as the victory was the fact that the win earned Butler an exemption into the 104th Met Open Championship at Piping Rock, where he's also a member.
Through the middle of the summer Butler qualified for the 64th Ike MGA Stroke Play Championship, tied for fifth in the Michael Hebron Amateur Championship at Bethpage Black, advanced to match play in the Met Amateur Championship at Hudson National Golf Club, and logged another quality finish with a tie for sixth in the New York State Amateur. His steady play in the area's top events kept him among the top contenders for the player of the year title, but his final appearance before returning to Alabama sealed the deal.
At Piping Rock, Butler shot 1-under 212 for the championship to finish tied 29th overall and tied for fourth low amateur. The 245 points shot Butler's total to 1,110 for the season.
While Jonathan Jeter of Nassau Players made a late charge with a win in the Long Island Mid-Amateur Championship and runner-up finishes in the MGA Mid-Amateur and Sand's Memorial Four-Ball Championship, he came up just short of Butler with 1,103 points for the season.
Brett Cooper of Seawane (965), Christopher White of Garden City Golf Club (931) and MGA eClub - Long Island member Ben Pirro rounded out the year's top-five finishers.
Sessa used a steady year to claim his sixth Senior Player of the Year title in the last eight years. The 63-year-old began the season with a runner-up finish in the Richardson Memorial Championship before making the cut at the MGA Senior Amateur, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Havemeyer Invitational (Senior Dvision) and qualifying for match play in the Long Island Amateur.
Sessa then made the cut at the British Senior Amateur before adding a third place finish in the Glen Head Classic (Senior Division) and making the cut in the Long Island Mid-Amateur Championship.
Two of Sessa's three largest point-accumulating results came in the closing stretch of the season, as capturing third low amateur honors (115) and tying third at the Arthur Weber Memorial Senior Amateur Championship (165) helped send him to the top of the listing. To end the year, Sessa also advanced to match play in the Nassau Invitational (Senior Division) and tied third in the Sands Memorial Four-Ball Championship (Senior Divison).
With 823 points on the season, Sessa eclipsed Arthur Weber Memorial and Sands Four-Ball winner Ed Gibstein of Glen Head (611) for the yearlong honor among those 55 years of age or older. Jon Doppelt of Fresh Meadow (573), Don Enga of Cherry Valley (550) and Dennis Lynch of Nassau Players (456) round out the top five on the listing.
Both Butler and Sessa will be recognized at the Long Island Golf Association's Annual Meeting, November 21 at Southward Ho Country Club in Bay Shore, N.Y.