The Metropolitan Golf Association has announced the members of their eight-man amateur team which will compete in the 4th Governor Hugh L. Carey Cup Matches on the old course at the Portmarnock Golf Club in Portmarnock, Ireland (just north of Dublin) on May 7-9.

The competition will consist of Four-ball, Foursome and Singles matches on May 8th and 9th, preceded by an “Am-Am” tournament on May 7th.

The MGA’s team is careful balance of savy veterans and accomplished youths sure to make the 4th Carey Cup an exciting event.  Selected to represent the MGA are: George Zahringer III, 47, of Deepdale, an eight-time MGA Player of the Year, who has won the Met Amateur five times, the Ike Championship twice, and is the only player ever to have won the Met Amateur and Met Open in the same season; David Kwon, 20, of Bergen Community, the 2000 Met Amateur and MGA Public Links champion; Ed Gibstein, 41, of Engineers, the 1994 Ike champion and three-time winner of the Richardson Memorial; Joe Sommers, 47, of Winged Foot, last year’s Westchester Amateur champion and eight-time MGA International Team member; Marc Turnesa, 22, of Rockville Links, winner of the Long Island Amateur and runner-up in the Ike last year, and a former (1994) MGA Junior champion ; Austin Eaton, 31, of Sterling Farms, winner of the Nassau Invitational and third in the Middle Atlantic Amateur last year; Peter Meurer; 43, of Silver Lake, runner-up in last season’s MGA/MetLife Public Links and two-time defending Staten Island Amateur champion; and Casey Alexander, 41, of Lido, runner-up in the 2000 & 1998 New York State Mid-Amateur.

Joseph C. Cantwell of Rockville Centre, NY, immediate past-president of the MGA, will serve as the MGA captain.

During the first day of the competition at Portmarnock, the teams will compete (in true Walker Cup style) in Fourball matches in the morning and in alternate-shot (Foursome) matches in the afternoon.  The second day of the Cup will feature only singles matches.

The Am-Am preceding the Matches on May 7 will help raise funds for the MGA

Foundation’s junior golf, educational and GOLFWORKS student intern programs.  The Am-Am will be supported by individuals from the Met Area and Ireland and offers the opportunity to play a round with some of the finest amateurs on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Carey Cup Matches are named for former New York State Governor Hugh L. Carey who founded the event as a means of stimulating sportsmanship and goodwill between the two countries.  It was inaugurated in 1996 at Hudson National Golf Club in Croton, NY, and since then has alternated between the two countries.  The MGA captured the inaugural Cup in 1996, but the GUI was since went on claim the 1998 Cup at Portmarnock and in 1999 at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton. NY.

The Portmarnock Club, which will host this year’s Carey Cup tournament, is ranked third best in Ireland by Golf Digest and among the top 100 courses in the world by GOLF Magazine.  It has been called the “purest links in Ireland,” and its par-3 15th hole, which plays alongside the Irish Sea, is considered among the greatest holes in the world.  Few courses would make for a more challenging and picturesque site for this 4th edition of the Carey Cup than the classic “old course” at Portmarnock. 

For more information on the 4th Governor Hugh L. Carey Cup Matches or other MGA events, contact Richard J. Cerame of the MGA at (914) 347-4653 or via e-mail at rjcerame@mgagolf.org.