Hagestad goes low in morning round of 114th Met Am
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (August 4, 2016) - Stewart Hagestad of Deepdale put on a show during the morning round of on-site qualifying at the 114th Met Amateur Championship, firing an MGA championship record of 9-under 61 at Country Club of Fairfield. The previous low Met Am qualifying score for 18 holes was 64, which has been done three times, while the previous overall championship record was Timothy Hagerty's 8-under 62 in the 2008 Met Open that also took place at Fairfield.
Hagestad, who was seeing the course for the very first time, birdied the opening two holes. After a bogey on the par-4 third, Hagestad reeled off three birdies in a four-hole stretch and added two pars to turn in 4-under 32. He then began his inward nine with an eagle-three to quickly move to 6-under overall. He carded four-straight pars, then closed with another birdie barrage, making three over the final four.
The next best scores were five shots back, as Thomas La Morte of Haworth and William Rand of East Hampton tallied matching 4-under 66s. La Morte had five birdies on his round, with one miscue coming on the par-4 fifth. His day began on the 10th, and he carded birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 13 for the quick start. Rand had seven birdies of his own, while scattering three bogies in as well. Rand also got off to a quick start, scoring birdies on four of his first seven, starting off the first.
Kyle Brey of Bethpage and Brian Komline of Black Oak came in at 2-under 68 and are well positioned for taking a quality seed into match play. Five more competitors came in with sub-par rounds, with Sam Bernstein of Century, Mike Stamberger of Manasquan River, Connor Daly of Siwanoy, recent Carter Cup champion Ethan Ng of Fiddler's Elbow and John Felitto of Echo Lake all carding 1-under 69s.
The afternoon round, and final 18 holes of on-site qualifying, is underway. The top 16 players will advance to match play, which will be played for the remainder of the championship. Two rounds of matches are scheduled for Friday, while the semifinals take place Saturday and the 36-hole championship match on Sunday.