May 2021 MGWA Newsletter

METROPOLITAN GOLF WRITERS ASSOCIATION

NEWSLETTER

MAY 2021

SEND IN YOUR NEWS AND NOTES: All members of the MGWA, with items for our newsletter, are urged to e-mail them to Chuck Stogel (chstogel@aol.com).

MEET MIKE DeVRIES, PLAY HISTORIC PELHAM

Registration is currently underway to attend the MGWA meeting and outing on Tuesday, June 8th at historic Pelham (NY) CC. Entry deadline, handled online via our website (metgolfwriters.org), is Thursday, June 3rd, but please sign up earlier if possible to help plan for the event. A full day of informational discussion in the morning and afternoon golf competition is planned. There will be a buffet luncheon, plus after-golf refreshments and prizes.

Noted architect Mike DeVries, who oversaw a recently completed major renovation and partial re-routing of Pelham’s classic course, is coming in from Michigan and will be with us for the entire day. He will address a morning meeting session, along with several club officials, and will entertain an expectedly lively Q&A segment.

The annual Quill & Tee two-person better ball tournament, along with an MGWA division (if there are enough entries) highlights the scheduled competition. USGA handicaps are required for the competition. As always, we will have several nearest to the pin contests. Refreshments and prizes will follow the afternoon of golf.

You may sign up for golf as an individual or enter as a two-person team for the tournament. If you wish to play in the better ball event, but do not have a partner, the Activities Committee can assign a tournament partner, if available. Several entries for June 8th are already in but note: A playing partner has been designated but has yet to sign up. Please make sure your partner also is entered to attend.

Those playing in the Quill & Tee GC segment of the better ball will have the option to also enroll in qualifying for the Met Golf Association Four Ball Championship. The top Q&T team enrolled will advance to an MGA sectional qualifying site of their choice. The championship finals for both men and women are scheduled in the autumn. There is a $20 per person fee assessed by the MGA for Q&T members to play in our qualifier, payable on-site to event coordinator Chuck Stogel prior to teeing off.

A very special day, with a varied and interesting agenda, is planned at Pelham. Much more information and details are listed under “Meetings and Outings” at our website. Please join us. To sign up, login to metgolfwriters.org.

BAUM, BELINKIE EARN PRESIDENT’S CUPS AT POUND RIDGE

A throng of 62 golfers enjoyed a wholesome day of MGWA activities and competition on May 4th at Pound Ridge (NY) GC. Although skies were mostly gray throughout, there was no rain and the challenging course designed by Pete Dye was in excellent shape. Our morning meeting was held in the club’s spacious outdoor tent, with masks worn and physical distancing, and our buffet luncheon offered a variety of items served from a unique and enchanting --- and delicious --- Pound Ridge Food Truck.

Pound Ridge GC speakers included Darren Wang from the ownership team; Brad Worthington, Director of Golf; and Larry Saperstein, General Manager. Veteran club pro Worthington and GM Saperstein are relatively new among the PRGC staff, and each provided information to our assembled group about the latest in golf and events happenings at the club. Also, it was noted, following the retirement of original course superintendent Will Heintz, top assistant Branko Zdradkoski has been promoted to the head job.

Helen Farrelly, Director of Communications at the Met Golf Association, provided our group with extensive background plus a preview of the 73rd MGA Public Links Championship which is scheduled for June 17th at Pound Ridge. Considering the caliber and superb condition of the course, the venerable MGA Publinks should provide some hotly contested competition this season.

The featured competition for the Met Golf Writers on May 4th, along with several nearest to the pin contests, was the annual Quill & Tee GC President’s Cup for our club without real estate members, contested in A and B flights with full handicaps (adjusted to the appropriate course tees). Top three finishers in the A Flight: Bill Baum, 82-11—71; Anthony Scorcia, 77-3—74 (match of cards); Yale Stogel, 78-4—74. Top trio in B Flight: Paul Belinkie, 102-30—72; Walter Bagley, 114-38—76; Bart Silverman, 101-24—77.

For a complete photo gallery of the MGWA visit to Pound Ridge: https://metgolfwriters.org/pound_ridge_photos_5-4-21.

CAM YOUNG CAPTURES KORN FERRY TOUR EVENT

Cameron Young, 24, a Wake Forest University product and son of David Young, longtime head pro at Sleepy Hollow CC, Scarborough, NY, scored a wire-to-wire win on Sunday, May 23rd, at the AdventHealth Championship and in the process became the first player to do so since 2018 on the Korn Ferry Tour. Young won by two strokes at 19-under 269 at Blue Hills CC, Kansas City, MO.

“It's hard kind of to work through them at the moment, to be honest,” said Young of the emotions after his maiden victory. “Obviously the last hour or so I probably had a good feeling I was going to win, but it's hard to get through those last few holes and, you know, hit the shots that I needed to hit. I was a little bit squirrelly down the stretch.”

A day after beginning his round with nine consecutive pars, Young enjoyed an adventurous scorecard on the front nine on Sunday. After two birdies in his first three holes, Young went bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey from Nos. 5-8 to make the turn at 2-under on the day. He held a four-stroke lead early on the back nine before tacking on birdies at the 13th and 17th down the stretch. No one seriously threatened him on the back nine.

Ten months ago, Young had no status on the Korn Ferry Tour and nowhere to play as the pandemic shut down various mini tours and qualifiers. He Monday-qualified into the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna last July and proceeded to go on a four-tournament stretch that changed his career. He finished T11 that week and earned finishes of T14-T6-T2 over the next three weeks to earn Special Temporary Membership.

“Yeah, I mean, it's been all good things,” reflected Young of his journey over the past year. “There's been so much new stuff that at times it's been a little overwhelming, especially at first. Like all of a sudden showing up to my fifth or sixth event and being allowed to come play, because for a while it was really unattainable. Playing Monday qualifiers and shooting 4- and 5- and 6-under a lot and you just don't even have a chance with those scores a lot of the time. So yeah, it's been a grind, for sure.”

Through the week Young played the par-5s at 13-under and led the field in driving distance. He now ranks inside the top-10 in driving distance on the KF Tour and top-12 in par-5 scoring average. The victory was worth $121,500 in addition to 500 seasonal points which catapulted Young from 70th to No. 26 on the Korn Ferry rankings. The combined 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour schedule will conclude with 25 PGA Tour cards awarded in August at the 2021 Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna, with an additional 25 cards awarded at the conclusion of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals (from the PGA Tour).

PEOPLE, PLACES, ETC.

New York University hired Katie Rudolph as its new head coach of the Violets men’s and women’s golf teams. Rudolph joins NYU after spending the last decade as the Chief Operating Officer for First Tee of Metropolitan New York. “I have a passion for coaching and am drawn to opportunities that help shape the lives of young people,” said Rudolph. “I’m looking forward to doing this in the collegiate setting and am confident we have developed a pipeline of First Tee kids who would consider continuing their love of golf and education at NYU.” As a player Rudolph won the Minnesota State Amateur Golf Championship when she attended Little Falls (MN) High School. She is a 2002 Wake Forest grad who served as a two-time captain of the Demon Deacons women's golf team. She finished second at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship as a senior . . . Five of the 20 club pros who played in the recent PGA Championship at Kiawah Island came out of the Met PGA section. Although none of the five made the cut, the quintet playing the first 36 holes comprised: Frank Bensel, Century CC; Alex Beach, Westchester CC; Danny Balin, Fresh Meadow CC; Peter Ballo, Silvermine GC; Rob Labritz, GlenArbor GC. Additionally, former Deepdale pro and Met Open champ Ben Polland, a member of the Rocky Mountain PGA section, comes from Manhasset on Long Island . . . OBIT: Prolific and well-respected course architect Arthur Hills died May 18th in Florida at age 91. With his architectural firm based in Toledo, OH, Hills designed more than 200 new golf courses around the world and renovated more than 150 other courses. Layouts he crafted have hosted numerous amateur and professional events, including U.S. Opens and the Ryder Cup. Hills was with the MGWA on Long Island in the 1990s when the Met Golf Writers visited the then new Colonial Springs CC, a 27-hole original handiwork in Farmingdale, NY. Opened in 1995, Robert Trent Jones Jr. oversaw a series of Colonial Springs renovations in 2007.

SUMMER OF 2021 MGWA SCHEDULE:

Monday, July 19th --- North Jersey CC, Wayne, NJ. Our MGWA Club of the Year is a gem of a course designed by Walter Travis and is undergoing a strategic plan of upgrades and renovations being overseen by Brian Schneider and Renaissance Golf (Note: Schneider may attend and address our gathering; to be confirmed). A number of special guests and other activities are being planned to help celebrate NJCC’s designation as Club of the Year. Short Game Clinic conducted by Brian Mackie, noted golf instructor. Competition: Quill & Tee men’s and women’s Club Championships and the Q&TGC member-guest tournament, held concurrently.

Monday, August 30th --- Burning Tree CC, Greenwich, CT. A classic course designed by Hal Purdy and a scenic club situated just east of the Merritt Parkway in leafy Greenwich, Burning Tree will be the site for the highly popular MGWA Team Shootout, conducted using a two best balls of foursome format. Tripp Davis, founder and principal of the architectural firm TDA --- who has overseen numerous renovation features at Burning Tree in recent years --- will be on hand and will speak to our group at the morning meeting session.

--- metgolfwriters.org ---