Met Junior Begins Wednesday at Southward Ho
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (July 15, 2019) – On July 17, 70 of the Met Area’s top junior competitors will head to Southward Ho Country Club in Bay Shore, N.Y., to compete in the 102nd Met Junior Championship Sponsored by MetLife, the nation’s oldest junior championship.
Related: Pairings | Met Junior History | Met Junior Records
The MGA Foundation conducts the Met Junior as part of its extensive youth programming thanks to the support of MetLife. Over the years, the Met Junior has produced a number of winners who have gone on to outstanding achievements on both the regional and national levels. Past winners of the prestigious Mandeville Trophy include Butch and Bill Harmon, Marc Turnesa, Andrew Svoboda, Mike Miller, David Pastore, and Cameron Young. The field once again contains the region’s top junior competitors, all aiming to add their name to the outstanding list of champions.
Back in the Bracket?
Seven players from last year’s Met Junior at Siwanoy return to the field, aiming to advance once again to the match play bracket for perhaps a deeper run. After a runner-up finish last year, Will Celiberti of Ridgewood, N.J., would surely like another shot at the title in his last year of eligibility. The remaining players returning to the field were ousted in the Round of 16, including Connor Belcastro of Rowayton, Conn., Shane DeVincenzo of Port Jefferson, N.Y., Nolan Forsman of Larchmont, N.Y., Turner Foster of East Hampton, N.Y., Jimin Jung of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Brandon Valvano of Franklin Lakes, N.J.
Advancing Again?
Johnny Bush of Cranford, N.J., Jackson Fretty of Cos Cob, Conn., and Matt Minerva, Jr., of Elmsford, N.Y., all own Met Junior match play experience as well, having advanced to the Round of 16 at Plainfield in 2017.
Junior Titlists
The field is filled with regional junior champions as well, including each of the last three Westchester victors in Minerva, Charlie Berridge of Scarsdale, N.Y., and this year’s winner Doug Beney of Rye, N.Y. Recent Long Island Golf Association junior winner Matt Simon of New York, N.Y., and 2018 New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York state junior champions Bush, Belcastro, and Luke Sample of New York, N.Y., respectively.
Past Boys’ Winners
Sample also leads a group of competitors with Boys’ titles on their resumes, with the 16-year-old having won the MGA Boys’ title in 2018 and the New York State Boys’ Sub-Junior title in 2017. Tyler Lee of Addison, N.J., claimed the 2018 New Jersey title, while past Westchester winners include Berridge, Jud Langille of Ossining, N.Y., Matthew Ferrari of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., and Minerva.
Met Am Qualifiers
A number of players in the field have also successfully qualified for the upcoming Met Amateur Championship at Hudson National Golf Club, Aug. 1-4: Ben Carpenter of Darien, Conn., Fretty, Jung, Randall Lazzaro of Colts Neck, N.J., and Sample.
Format
- 36 holes of on-site stroke play qualifying (July 17), with top 16 advancing to match play
- Round of 16 & quarterfinals conducted July 18, with semifinals and championship match taking place July 19
- Field determined by four qualifiers held throughout the Met Area
- Open to juniors who have not started attending college, are not yet 19 by August 1, and who reside in the MGA territory
- Winner receives 250 points for the MGA Junior Player of the Year Award, Presented by Callaway
Southward Ho Country Club
- Founded in 1923
- Horace Havemeyer—nephew to first USGA president Theodore Havemeyer—purchased the club from a bank, giving the Club a 10-year option to purchase, which it did in 1954.
- A.W. Tillinghast design is relatively flat, but features pear-shaped, back-to-front pitched greens that have bunkers pitching in at front corners
Coverage
- 9- and 18-hole scoring for stroke play qualifying
- Live hole-by-hole scoring for match play
- Social Media: @MGA1897 on Twitter for updates throughout the day; additional content on Facebook and Instagram
- Scoring, recaps, interviews, and photos on mgagolf.org