Gotterup Sets Arcola Course Record, Takes Medalist at 116th Met Am
PARAMUS, N.J. (August 2, 2018) – Chris Gotterup of Rumson fired a course-record 9-under 63 on Thursday morning at Arcola Country Club, eventually cruising to medalist honors in stroke play qualifying of the 116th Met Amateur Championship by nine shots.
Gotterup followed up his stellar morning round with a 3-under 69—enduring a 1-hour, 35-minute suspension of play due to weather—to record a 12-under 132 total. The 36 holes of on-site stroke play finished just as darkness set in, but a 4-for-3 playoff remains to decide the final positions for match play. Reigning champion Matt Mattare of Darlington, 2017 Ike champion Matt Lowe of Colonial Springs, 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist Brad Tilley of Sleepy Hollow and Louis Amira of The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club will vie for the final spots in the 16-player bracket.
“I was feeling good to start the day,” said Gotterup, who lipped out a birdie putt on the opening hole. He then converted birdies on the next three holes, and knew he was in great position after putting another circle on his scorecard on the par-four 6th.
“If I can get to those par fives [Nos. 8-9] under-par, I know I’m doing good,” said Gotterup. “And I birdied both par fives, so I was off to a hot start and kept it going in the afternoon.”
As one can expect, everything generally goes well when shooting 63. “I did everything pretty good,” said Gotterup, a rising sophomore at Rutgers. “I drove it really good, which is always key for me… I hit some solid shots, made some nice putts and that’s all it was.”
In the afternoon, Gotterup put it on cruise control and enjoyed the round. “I got it to 10 and just had some fun in the afternoon playing with a good group,” he said.
Arcola’s own Trevor Randolph—fresh off a win in the Boff Invitational, Monday—shot 2-under in the afternoon to secure the No. 2 seed at 3-under 141. Wednesday’s Carter Cup champion Carter Prince of Huntington Crescent shot 6-under 66 for the afternoon’s low round, jumping into a tie for third alongside Dawson Jones of Jumping Brook, Ethan Wall of Manasquan River and 2017 Met Junior champion Jake Mayer of Plainfield at 2-under 142.
Six players made their way to match play at 1-under 143: reigning MGA Player of the Year James Nicholas of Westchester, Ethan Ng of Knickerbocker, Gerry Mackedon of Port Jefferson, Andrew Biggadike of The Ridgewood Country Club, two-time Westchester Amateur champion Christian Cavaliere, and Ryan Davis of New Jersey National. Both Jones and Ng will be making their third consecutive appearance in match play of the Met Amateur.
Thomas LaMorte of Haworth finished at even-par, rounding out those who safely advanced to the bracket and avoiding the 4-for-3 playoff.
Matches begin at 7:30 a.m. off the par-four 1st, while the playoff will begin on the par-four 10th.