LIGA About

The Long Island Golf Association was organized in 1922. Founded by some of the area’s leading amateur golfers and others with a high interest in the game, the LIGA conducted three championship events in that first year, the Open at Cherry Valley, the Amateur at the original Lido Club and the Junior at Oakland. 

People like John Montgomery Ward from Garden City Golf Club, the Association’s first President and a member of baseball’s Hall of Fame, John N. Steams, Jr. of National Links and Piping Rock, Dr. A.T. Haight of Lido, Gardiner White of Nassau, the 1921 Metropolitan Amateur Champion, Grant Peacock of Garden City Golf Club and others gave their active support to the fledgling organization and were rewarded by its steady growth.

In the early years names such as H. W. Maxwell, Jr., Eddie Driggs, Neal Fulkerson, Jr. and those of professionals like Willie Klein of Garden City, Gene Sarazen, Macdonald Smith began showing up at the top of the scoreboards. Later years saw Mal Galletta, the Strafaci brothers, John Humm and Bob Murphy take their places as the top amateurs on Long Island. No one dominated the LIGA Amateur Championship as did Gene Francis. In the twenty-six year period starting in 1962, Gene won the Amateur seven times, finished second four times and was the medallist on four occasions. In his career Gene also found time to win the Richardson Memorial and the Long Island Junior Championship.

On the professional side, Long Jim Barnes, Joe Turnesa, Jay Hebert, Shelley Mayfield and Tom Nieporte had their names engraved on the Open Championship Trophy. Beginning with the 1939 championship, and discounting the three year period during World War II when no tournaments were held, Al Brosch of Bethpage, and later Cherry Valley, won a total of ten Open titles through 1959, a record that still stands.

The 1990’s produced a number of fine Amateur champions, among them John Baldwin, Mal Galletta III, Phil Gutterman, and Ken Bakst. The Open Championship has been captured by Bruce Zabriski on four occasions in recent years. Other winners such as Tom Sutter, Rick Meskell, Rick Hartmann, Darrell Kestner, Mike Meehan, Mark Mielke and Bob Rittberger read like a “Who’s Who” of professional golf on Long Island.

The LIGA is proud to have been associated with these fine champions, as well as with all of the competitors in our events over the years. Our tournament program has continued to grow to the point where we now run a total of thirteen championships.

Because of the work on the part of a host of tireless volunteers, who have contributed so much of their time and energies toward making the LIGA a viable concept over the years, our organization is in excellent condition today. We have a group of dedicated sponsors to whom we are most thankful. Our member clubs have continued their financial support and have also made their venues available to us for tournament play.

Finally, we have the members of the golf clubs on Long Island who have participated in our competitions and who, by their presence, have elevated our tournament program to heights never anticipated in 1922. We are grateful to all these people for their contributions to our success, and we thank them sincerely.

Looking to the future, we are rededicating ourselves to the principals espoused by the founders of the LIGA, “promoting the game of golf and forming a closer relationship between the clubs and the players on Long Island.” We have the resources in place to produce a high quality product for all our constituents, and the will to deliver.