Amateurs rose to the top in the opening round of the 105th Met Open Championship Presented by Callaway, occupying six of the top seven spots.
WEST CALDWELL, N.J. (August 18, 2020) – After the first round of the 105th Met Open Championship Presented by Callaway, a trio of players lead the field with rounds of 4-under 67s, while amateurs take up six of the top seven spots.
Amateur Dawson Jones of Eagle Oaks, fresh off a performance in the U.S. Amateur, finished his round in the morning wave to take the early lead. Jones, the 2019 Ike Champion and 2019 University of Rhode Island graduate, carded five birdies, picking up just one bogey. Jones rattled off four birdies in a five-hole span on holes 2 hrough 6, putting him alone atop the leaderboard early in the championship.
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“I think I hit 16 greens in regulation, and a lot of them were pretty close, within 20 to 30 feet, and my short putting was definitely the best part of my game today,” the 22-year-old said. “I think I only missed one putt from inside of eight feet and that was on the 18th hole for birdie. I’ll probably play the course the same way I did today, I was very comfortable out there and I’m just going to keep doing me, it’s working so far,” said Jones.
Finishing late in the afternoon, amateur Ryan Davis of Watchung Valley added his name to the top of the leaderboard thanks to five birdies and just one bogey on his card. “I felt like I did everything well today, my irons were good, I was good off the tee, I was really happy with my round.”
Davis took advantage of the two par 5s on the front nine (nos. 6 and 9), making birdies on both. “I hit two pretty good drives, and if you hit a good drive you can hit a long iron in,” the 2018 Met Amateur champion said. “I just played it safe to the fat side of the green and then just lagged my two putts up there and walked away with birdies.”
Davis, 22, stayed consistent all afternoon through his round. “I was really strategic about my approach shots into the green. I never really was in trouble, and even with my one bogey I did have a putt for par. I was really happy with how I managed the course, I think that was the key for today,” he said.
Also finishing in the late afternoon, Casey Pyne of Stanwich’s scorecard included six birdies, but the highlight of his round was a hole-in-one on the par-3, 205-yard 14th. “I hit a four iron, a little bit of a cross wind, and I hadn’t really hit a good long iron,” the 32-year-old assistant professional said. “The last hole I had the same club and I hit a terrible shot, so when I got into [14], I kind of had a different swing thought, was kind of hoping for the best and it came off perfect, landed about 8 feet short right, had a little bit of a draw on it and rolled right into the cup,” Pyne said. “I have three [holes-in-one] but that’s the first one I’ve been able to see actually go in, so we got pretty excited there.”
Pyne was able to stay consistent after the excitement and finish his round with pars, including a clutch par save on the par-418th. “I love the golf course, you’ve got to really place it off the tee and then around the greens and it definitely suits my game. My strong points were definitely putting and short game,” said Pyne.
Amateurs were definietely in the spotlight at Mountain Ridge. Matt Mattare of Darlington ended the opening round a stroke behind the leaders, finishing with a 3-under 68. Seeing the course for the first time today, Mattare was another player to only have one bogey on the card. The 34-year-old notched two consecutive birdies before the turn, and one birdie and one bogey balanced out his back nine. “I just played rock solid tee to green, I hit every fairway, I think I might have hit every green, and if I didn’t I was in the fringe,” said the 2017 Met Amateur winner.
“This course, if you keep it in front of you, if you keep it in the fairway – the greens are really tough but they roll so pure that if you get it on the line, it’s going in,” he said.
Three more amateurs finished near the top after rounds of 2-under 69: recent New Jersey State Amateur champion Austin Devereux of Manasquan River, Sam Goldenring of Brooklake, and Met Amateur runner-up and 17-year-old Luke Sample of Old Oaks will all continue their attempts to become the first amateur winner since John Stoltz won in 2005 at Old Westbury. Only seven amateurs have won the Met Open in the championship’s 105 year history.
Twelve players finished at 1-under for the first round including two former Met Open champions: Bill Hook of Knickerbocker, Tim Hegarty of Winged Foot, 2015 champion Ben Polland of Deepdale, Pat Fillian of Echo Lake, reigning MGA Senior Open champion Shaun Powers of Fairview, 2018 Ike winner Luke Graboyes of Watchung Valley, 2019 MGA Player of the Year Chris Gotterup (a) of Rumson, Steve Shellock of Suneagles, recent Ike runner-up Ethan Ng (a) of Knickerbocker, Thomas Avant of Arcola, 2014 champion Grant Sturgeon of Arcola, and first-time competitor and PGA Tour winner Jason Gore of Hamilton Farm. Powers also had a hole-in-one, acing the par-3 16th.
With a number of competitors finishing at event par and right in the mix, Wednesday’s second round will determine the low 54 players (plus ties) to make the cut and advance to the final round on Thursday.
Since last hosting the Met Open in 2000, the classic Donald Ross layout at Mountain Ridge has gone through extensive changes, highlighted by tree removal and restoration work led by architect Ron Prichard. Perhaps most notably, Ross’ outstanding green complexes were recaptured—enlarging the square footage of the putting surfaces, bringing more run-off areas in to play and creating challenging hole locations.
Mountain Ridge has a stellar record of producing outstanding champions, with Tom Neiporte (1966), George Zahringer (1985) and Mike Gilmore (2000) previously etching their name in the MGA record books in the three Met Opens hosted by the club. Two more rounds will determine the new names to be etched on the Walker L. Trammell trophy.
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